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.

Did the News Hold Clues?

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If any metal embodies the chrome-like luster of the future, it is silver. This makes it the ideal candidate for an analysis using that most high-tech of investment tools, alternative data.

Silver has also been making headlines recently: in July of this year, it broke out of a long-term range it had been stuck in between $15-20 an ounce for over five years, reaching a peak of $29 on August 10.

The breakout could represent an important turning point in metal’s price-evolution. The question for us, however, is could anything in the news analytics of silver have forewarned investors such a significant move was on the horizon?

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Dan David Shorts Portnoy

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ValueWalk held its latest virtual contrarian investor conference, organized by ValueWalk, Contrarian Podcast and Breakout Point, today, and Dan David of Wolfpack Research was one of the presenters. He explained why he sees Remark Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:MARK) as a good short.

He said one of the most popular bull cases for Remark Holdings issued by promoters like David Portnoy, is the company’s 5% stake in Sharecare, a company popularized by Dr. Oz and worth up to $1 billion in an initial public offering. Remark has talked about the possibility of a Sharecare IPO for years.

The problem is that Remark Holdings’ stake in Sharecare has been repossessed and is being held by the Kent County Sheriff in Delaware. The company had agreed to payments of $1 million but didn’t make good on those payments. He believes there is no chance Remark will own a stake in Sharecare going forward.

David also said the company claims to own the Chinese company KanKan, but he doesn’t believe it does. He said Remark Holdings’ agreements don’t create contractual ownership. He said to comply with China‘s laws, which restrict foreign ownership of entities in industries the Chinese government sees as sensitive, Remark employs a structure known as a wholly owned enterprise and variable interest entity (VIE).

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Pop-u-lar

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I’ve been online since 1981. I was on BBS systems back in the days of dial-up 300 baud acoustic modems. You’d think I’d have the whole online thing nailed by now, but I don’t. I am not the least bit clever about how, for example, I make use of my Twitter account.

I’ve got about 21,400 followers, which I guess isn’t terrible. But even a brief glance around Twitter reveals 15 year olds who have accomplished absolutely nothing who have way more followers than I do. I honestly just don’t know what I’m doing.

As such, when I send out a tweet, it typically gets just a sprinkling of Likes and Retweets, and maybe a comment or two.

FedAlgo
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Why Trupanion Could Plunge

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ValueWalk and its partners hosted its latest contrarian virtual conference, organized by ValueWalk, Contrarian Podcast and Breakout Point today, and one of the presenters was Bradley Safalow of PAA Research. He pitched pet insurance company Trupanion Inc (NASDAQ:TRUP) as a short position.

In fact, he said it’s one of his favorite short ideas and possibly the best short he’s come across in his career. The stock tumbled in premarket trading after his presentation, falling by as much as 7%.

Safalow expects the shares to fall below $10. He describes it as a “structurally flawed, unprofitable company positioned to growth investors as a tech/SAAS story.” He argues that Trupanion Inc will never be profitable.

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