I'd like to make a couple of comments. First of all, my apologies if I promoted the Energy Stock Page in my last post and I will make sure not to so again in the future. Having said that, I'd like to address the issue of the background of the editors and their agenda and hope that my discussion is not construed as advertising of the site, but rather a response to a concern brought up with regards to it. Once again I want to say that I feel the contents of the web-site should be enough to satisfy any concerns of visitors regarding our credibility. Basically, we profile companies that, in our opinion, are undervalued based on the parameters that we outline in our profiles. Our 1998 and 1999 profiles have, on average, appreciated by over 60% since their profile dates. I think this fact provides some evidence of our agenda. I want to stress, however, that the purpose of our site is for informational purposes and we intentionally avoid recommendations in the profiles because we want to encourage investors to evaluate any investments they make themselves. We would like our site to be a source for investors in their due diligence process as well as a place to possibly discover potential investments. We are including the Primer on our site as a further means for investors to educate themselves.
I commend Richard and Paul on their concerns over the source of the profiles. I think investors should approach the entire investment process with a level of skepticism. I don't, however, agree that disclosure of someone's name or position necessarily removes any concerns of their agenda. I have yet to see a professional brokerage or research report that discloses the intent of the writer. If you ask anybody with experience with capital markets, they will tell you that there are many "games" played by brokers. I would argue that a past history of a broker's results is what carries weight when evaluating them. Many well known brokers have made erroneous recommendations. A fine example would be Probe Exploration, which was touted by some institutional brokers at price levels of $5 to $7, before falling down to the $0.40 range. My point is simply that investors should not blindly accept any information or opinions they come across. If you are investing you should know what you are investing in, why you are doing so and where are the potential risks. I think our site can assist that process. That is our goal. |
