Slope of Hope Blog Posts

Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.

A Nano Cap Bargain (by DPinsen)

By -

Despite my general bearishness these days, I just added a long position. Below is the scoop on it, but first a quick heads up about something else: we're giving away an iPad 2 at the end of this month on Short Screen. If you're interested in entering the contest, you can find the info on it here.

Wireless Xcessories Group, Inc. (Pink Sheets: WIRX.PK) is a Pennsylvania-based nano cap that designs, manufactures, and distributes accessories for cellular phones, including those manufactured by Apple, Nokia, Samsung, Research In Motion, and other companies. One example of the thousands of accessories WIRX sells is this protective iPhone cover:

Pink Skulls Pattern Protective Cover for an iPhone 4

According to company’s most recent financial summary, its cell phone accessory business didn’t do too well in the first three quarters of 2010: it had a loss from operations of $89,000 or $0.02 per share in the first 9 months of 2010, which the management attributed in part to problems with the implementation of new business software (nevertheless, it had net income of $167,000 or $0.04 per share over the same period due to gains from the company’s investment in marketable securities).

WIRX's chart does't look great either:

WIRX may not be a great business, but it appears to be selling at a great price: according its most recent financial summary, the company had no debt and net working capital of $7.3 million as of 9/30/2010; as of Thursday’s close, it had a market cap of $3.8 million.

On March 15th of last year, the company declared an annual dividend of $0.10 per share. We should know soon whether the company declares another annual dividend, and, if so, how much it will be.

A few cautions about this stock: it’s illiquid and thinly traded (I had trouble buying more than a few thousand shares a day without going over the ask), and the company’s financial statements haven’t been audited since it voluntarily deregistered its common stock in the spring of 2008. Based on its final 10-K, filed on March 28th, 2008, Audit Integrity had rated the company as having a conservative Accounting & Governance Risk (AGR®) score of 85 out of a possible 100, ranking it in the top 96th percentile among the approximately 8,000 companies rated by Audit Integrity at the time.

January Trade Deficit (by MacroStory.com)

By -

For a country trying to export itself to prosperity, we seem to have the trend wrong.  The trade deficit for January 2011 increased by $6 billion as imports outpaced the growth of export at a faster rate than in prior months.  This will have a negative impact on Q1 2011 GDP forecasts.   Although well off its 2005-07 highs, the trade deficit is nearly 50% greater than it was just a year ago. Additionally China reported their first trade deficit in seven years which begs the question who will be the source of increased US export growth?

 

 

 

 

Submitted by Macro Story.  To read more, please visit - MacroStory.com