Shares on sale. I picked up a few more Nike. Nothing else inspires.
I don’t like the Justice Department suing Apple over ebook pricing. Personally, I think the suit has no merit. It seems the lefties in Washington love attacking successful companies — like IBM, Microsoft and now Apple. STOOPID. Ultimately it doesn’t affect the share price. But in the short-run it typically does.
Google is getting some traction. Which means it’s getting some attention. More articles. More talking.
Medical tourism. Want your hip replaced? Travel to Thailand or India. It’s cheaper. And hip. (Sorry about that.) Read Jim Surowiecki’s latest New Yorker piece.
What do you think of my web site?
It’s not good.
But I’ve had a few thousand hits already.
How do I get advertisers?
You need more hits.
But…
The lesson from yesterday’s conversation with a budding Internet entrepreneur has several lessons:
+ You’d better learn software programming — at the very least HTML. At the most SQL. Your web designer takes too long.
+ You’d better learn how to deliver high quality editorial content. Journalism school, or a few books on journalism would help.
+ You’d better have a marketing plan. Putting up a web site without figuring ultimately how to get advertising revenues is a waste of time. Unless you’re Instagram and sell for $1 billion — with absolutely no revenues and no profits, but some very very talented programmers that the buyer (Facebook) clearly wanted big-time.
My son and my accountant swear by TurboTax. They electronically file your return, saving you time and effort in many ways. You also get you refund fast and electronically into your bank account.
New records in lowness. Natural gas fell under $2 a gallon — that’s major. Interest rates continue to fall. TBT remains the world’s worst investment:
The product is great. I love ViaSat’s fast satellite Internet service. I’ve tested it. I’ve written about it. And I want it. But buying it today is a pain and listening to the CEO makes me puke.I despair for the stock (VSAT).
All this annoys me since Peter Lynch’s classic investment theory is “go find a great product and buy the stock.” But not if the management sucks.
This is ViaSat’s CEO Mark Dankberg on Engadget’s site where he did an interview, which included:
So ViaSat-1 is the highest capacity satellite in the world, but eventually it won’t be able to support additional customers. Are there plans for a ViaSat-2?
Yes there are and what we’re trying to do is come up with something that’s got even better economics. At the stage we’re at we have a new design, which has new system capabilities. That’s kind of what we did with ViaSat-1, we came up with a satellite design approach that was really unique. We designed the way the satellite worked, and how it interacted with the ground. And that’s what we’re doing now, again, for ViaSat-2, in a different way, to get an even better result. We’re working with some solid manufacturers and we have to wait until we get back a definitive firm proposal we can buy, and we’re getting close to that.
Will the Exede infrastructure that customers are investing in now be compatible with a future product? Will customers be able to see a benefit once ViaSat-2 launches?
A lot of the ways that we’re going to get improvements in the economics is through new technology insertion, so it’s not necessarily true that a terminal you buy today will work on the new satellite. Well, it may work on the new satellite, but it may or may not deliver all of the benefits of the new satellite. …
Dankberg’s full moronic interview with Engadget is here.
Favorite three recent New Yorker cartoons.
It’s passover.
That means an eight day holiday and a stroll in the park in their finest fineries. I took this photo yesterday afternoon on Roosevelt Island, underneath the 59th Street Bridge.
If I remember rightly, she comes from a family of ten and he from a family of eight. They anticipate having at least that many. Depends a lot on God. Here’s hoping they have fun trying. They’re newly married.
Oh yes, his hat? It costs $1,500 and is typically made of beaver, though he wasn’t sure. His coat was shiny black and his socks bright white. They were sweet and very young. Note the Cherry Blossom is out, and gorgeous.
Only in Texas.
My friends swear this sign is true. They claim the neighbor called the cops to get rid of the sign. The cops said it was legal and there was nothing they could do.
Sell in May, and go away?
Not yet.
Harry Newton who still feels like crap. Here’s his unlicensed medical advice:
If you’re coughing, spluttering, wheezing, headaching, or your body is doing anything weird… you’re NOT sick, you got allergies, like me and daughter Claire and everyone else in the NorthEast. Drop a Claritin NOW. In fact, if you’re not got any of the above, drop one every day for the next few weeks. It’s really awful out there. And you’ll soon feel like crap. March was the warmest ever. All the trees are confused.
whats making you sick is too much New Yorker mag and MSNBC
Harry, I have a stock idea that I find inspiring – Sturm Ruger and Company (RGR).
In many ways, this company resembles Apple, just not with computer technology. Sturm Ruger is a highly regarded firearms manufacturer with a very devoted customer base and strong earnings and revenue growth. RGR is a well managed company that manufactures their products here in the USA, guarantees their product for life, and is highly appreciated by their customers for their excellent customer service. Their products are considered to be among the highest quality in the business.
Sales have been soaring for a number of reasons. Firstly, gun sales in general have been strong due to the fact that we have a Democrat in the White House. The same thing happened under Bill Clinton. Many Americans believe (erroneously) that a Democratic president will take away their ability to buy guns, and have been relentlessly stockpiling firearms. This will continue as Obama likely wins a 2nd term.
Secondly, Ruger has released a large number of new offerings over the past year. As their products are highly regarded for their performance, quality and long term reliability, sales have been on fire. In fact, Ruger recently had to suspend new sales because they can't keep up with demand.
RGR currently has a return on equity of around 30% (!) and exactly 0 long term debt (!). The valuation of the stock is a little high, at a PE of 24 today, but good companies don't come cheap. The major risk to the company would be Federal legislation restricting firearms, but I think the odds of that are rather low. It would be political suicide for a politician to go against the NRA and its legion of members.
Author's disclaimer: Yes I do own this stock and intend to accumulate more if it falls during the summer doldrums. That's why I'm enthusiastic about it.
I love Turbo Tax, however, it seem to have the opposite effect on my bank account: money always seems to be electronically TAKEN OUT fast….
Here's a tip from someone who has suffered allergies all his life – find a Walgreen's and buy WAL-ACT – this is the original Actifed formula, which is no longer made by Actifed. Walgreen's keeps it behind counter and you'll have to sign for it, but you don't need a script. Actfed was very effective in combating the symptoms of Havfever, trees, dander, etc, but was reformulated to remove it's effective component. Walgreen's still makes the original formula as Wal-Act. Try it. You won't be sorry.
3 more quick comments. 1. “It seems the lefties in Washington love attacking successful companies…” Surprise, surprise Harry, I guess this is something new to you. 2. “The price of natural gas has now fallen to under 2 ….” Clearly this is without a doubt and can only be attributed to the “evil speculators.”……Harry just ask your girl Nancy Policy, remember her the former Speaker of the House. 3. Only in Texas….Harry since you are a big fan of Richard Russell why don't you give us a little commentary regarding his latest thoughts? I'm sure you remember him commenting on the chart pattern of Sturm Ruger.
“Journalism school, or a few books on journalism would help.” — Arrrrgh…. the biggest fools I ever worked with were J-school graduates. Much bigger fools as a class than even lawyers. (“Fools” defined as intellectual snobs determined to guide and impose their will on others despite their own huge shortcomings.) As far as J-school helping you learn to write, I think that READING and emulating some outstanding contemporary writers (Victor Davis Hanson comes to mind) would be the best “schooling.”
Filing online is dandy I guess… as long as you don't itemize, have rental properties, have your own business, or do any of those other things that can save you / earn you money.
3 quick comments. 1. Coming back from CA to the fully pollinated NY probably hit you worst this year than last. The pollen season started earlier. 2. Do people mind you taking their picture? You must be a smooth operator. 3. VIA-SAT, could this be a good purchase for GOOGLE ?
1. And the pollen season started with a vengeance.
2. Some do. I ask nicely.. I told them I loved the hat.
3. I can't imagine Google buying them. I don't think they've got permission yet to serve JetBlue!
One thing Harry, natural gas is priced around $2 per million BTU's (not gallon)
apologies, $3 per million BTUs, $2 per thousand cubic feet (the number often quoted on CNBC)