Not shocked, not even surprised. This is the market as it lives and breathes today. It's part of the reason why some people went into the real estate business. Especially in Hawaii, land is more than gold. It's certainly a limited commodity. But I digress. Damn this market is schizo!
On my recently updated A- pick list, seven stocks are down and three are up.
The three A- kings that are standing tall today are Garmin, Nintendo and Under Armor. Garmin is robust and hit $100 for the first time. Yes, I'm still in a house of pain because I passed on GRMN earlier in the week at $83 on the eve of earnings. So much for a pullback. GRMN is kicking tail as the rest of the market drowns in red. Nintendo (NTDOY.PK) is up fractionally in the $57 range. Current bid is $57.35. Tempting at this level since it pulled back from $65 on July 26. This is the first stock I've owned that is subject to an outside market. Completely. As a pink sheet here, it doesn't trade in extended hours. The stock simply, though it doesn't necessarily have to, trades as a mirror to "7974," which is its ticker on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. When extended hours ends in the U.S. — 8 p.m. Eastern — the TSE begins trading. Too bad there's no overlap.
The big gainer of the A- kings is Under Armor (UA), which roared to $68.24 before pulling back. UA is trading at $64.75, up 4.4%. The stock has a short interest of 50% and has been en fuego since blowing out earnings estimates this week.
The downers included Foster Wheeler (FWLT), which has given back more than 5% today and is trading at $111.42. Though FWLT announced a nice deal with Sinopec on Wednesday, the stock sold off more than 6% today. With earnings due out on Wednesday, FWLT looks like a discount buy here. Crocs (CROX), meanwhile, is down 2.4% to $58.88. The stock has seen dwindling volume in recent days and was due for a pullback after being up in four out of the last five sessions. CROX is trading at $58.97.
Ron Snyder, Crocs CEO, exercised options on more than 234,000 shares on Tuesday. He sold them at $59 to $60.10 each, which means he raked in nearly $14 million. His reward for another outstanding quarter. Those who think CEOs get paid too much will quibble. I suggest that they apply for his job and try to steer this juggernaut as well first.
I'm completely for restraint when it comes to outlandish salaries. I'm also for the kind of incentive-based pay that Snyder gets. You perform, you are rewarded. Happens in professional and college sports, as well, so the socialist line of thinking should apply there, as well. There's a reason why America continues to produce great companies, even in an economic slowdown, while more socialist-flavored, laid-back nations remain stagnant.
When's the last time France produced a great company anyway? But again, I digress.
Apple (AAPL) is down nearly 2% today for no other reason than a general market selloff. With the Nasdaq down 1.5% (40 points), the Apple tree is going to take a few hits from the bear ax. If it turns out that all this volatility is because the big boys on the street are selling their winners to cover the ineptitude of the sub-prime mortgage mess, I'll be very disappointed. Ha.
No comments:
Post a Comment