ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
California governor Jerry Brown surprised the state by announcing $6.6B in additional tax revenues that were not expected in the last tax year. In the context of Silicon Valley’s frenetic scramble for new hires, perhaps these revenues would be much less surprising. The job market is hot for engineers, start-ups are getting funded (and acquired), … Read more
Excerpt from an article I published on Seeking Alpha. Click here to read the entire piece: Google (GOOG) is down 9.2% since reporting earnings April 14 and now sports a forward earnings multiple of 13. At $525, GOOG is at 7-month lows and is again close to the psychologically significant $500 price level. This combination … Read more
Three and a half years ago, I concluded that options for Google (GOOG) should be sold, not bought, ahead of earnings. This advice seemed to generally apply ever since as GOOG tended to move just enough after earnings to devalue near-the-money calls AND puts. Friday’s 11% post-earnings pop was a rare, and impressive, exception to … Read more
With tongue reaching for the cheek last week, I declared the market both extremely undervalued and very overvalued, guessing that “as earnings season grinds on, I suspect the near-predictable pattern of post-earnings fades will finally wear thin, giving way to more bullish behavior.” I did not expect the turn to happen so clearly and dramatically … Read more
Big-cap tech stocks have been some of the poorest performers during the recent sell-off in the stock market. Google (GOOG) stands out as one of the worst of the bunch. All technical indicators are pointing to even lower prices before some kind of bottom gets established. I am fond of trading GOOG between earnings reports. … Read more
Google (GOOG) has had a rough 2010. While the NASDAQ is up 1% for the year, GOOG is down 10%. Buyers have finally flocked to GOOG in the past week as the stock hit oversold levels, and the stock has perked up for the first time in 2010. (GOOG was one of several stocks I … Read more
In my last piece on Google (GOOG), I neglected to post an update to my chart on the company’s revenue metrics using the 2009 fourth quarter earnings report. The chart below shows that revenue per employee has now returned to the highs at the beginning of GOOG’s existence as a public company. Assuming that net … Read more
Google (GOOG) fourth quarter earnings last night were largely as expected: “Google reported revenues of $6.67 billion for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, an increase of 17% compared to the fourth quarter of 2008…GAAP EPS in the fourth quarter of 2009 was $6.13…compared to $1.21 in the fourth quarter of 2008…Non-GAAP EPS in the … Read more
Google (GOOG) is now down 5% for the year, under-performing the NASDAQ which is essentially flat for 2010. The sudden surge in volume in GOOG suggests that a large group of traders and investors are selling on the news of the Nexus One release. This volume represents the most active trading in GOOG since its … Read more
Today, Google (GOOG) closed above $600 for the first time since January, 2008. This milestone places the stock right at the minimum price target I estimated for the GOOG post-earnings trade. With a month remaining before January options expiration and the stock market stuck on “cruise control” for now, I believe I have much more … Read more