James,OT follow up-shorting SOC
FWIW, My .02, shorting bad companies that deserve to go in the dumper is not off topic and 100% relevant to the thread.
I'll assume you know Sunbeam's history. Sunbeam has 2.2 billion of debt, four businesses that are mediocre at best and are currently losing a fortune every quarter, and still bleeding cash profusely a year after everybody forgot about them.
Including me! No I have not followed SOC since enjoying Chainsaw Al's well-deserved come-uppance last year. Unfortunately he left quite a trail of bodies -- fired productive employees and deceived shareholders. His diatribe "Mean Business" at the height of his "career," is hopefully in the 99 Cents Store's cutout bins now--deservingly so. That said, I was not aware how horrendous and perhaps irreversable a state he left the company in. And I assume shareholder suits over the restated financials are still outstanding? Yikes.
Still, SOC has a battery of name brands with some residual value....or does it? Unless there is some intangible value, your point that SOC is still a short even at this juncture is well taken. Too bad...this is a wrecked company that did not have to be wrecked. Thanks for sharing it.
If you don't know why I shorted Amazon, you've been living in a cave for the last year.
I think not even Fred Flintstone could justify AMZN's value now :-) I admit though I like Bezos' affable techno-geek nice guy style. Not a rationale for investing in his company though.
Which brings me to TheGlobe.com. Go to the website theglobe.com and explore around while thinking about how this could possibly make any money. I was looking for an absolutely ridiculous internet company - here it is. The co-CEOs are both 24 years old. They started this website when they were undergraduates at Cornell. $3 million in revenues last quarter but somehow they lost $6 million on the bottom line. They have $20 million in cash left over from the IPO and they burn it at the rate of $5 million a quarter. Start the stopwatch. The stock is well off its highs, but this is a "company" that is overvalued if it trades for $1. I was surprised I could borrow shares so easily.
Now these guys OTOH on a recent TV piece on net co's left me more than a little underwhelmed. The only caveat here (an this is just an off the cuff general thought) is can these guys get their hands on more cash to keep things going??? Or sport some "net valuation figures" like number of hits, that will give the stock a bounce??
Best of luck
Mike |
