Growth Report : Bernanke

Gurus Ring the Bell

Ian Wyatt — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:13:00 GMT

Gurus Ring the Bell

Ahh, the newsletter crowd is getting bullish. My inbox is full of stock-picking gurus saying now’s the time to be bold and buy stocks. Fear is rampant, they say. Distant relatives are calling in the wee hours asking for advice. The VIX is at an all time high. 59% of respondents to a CNN poll feel a depression is either very likely or somewhat likely.

And you know what? I agree. About being bullish, not about depression.

My trading guru, Benson George, the man behind TradeMaster Daily Stock Alerts saw a silver lining to Monday’s gut-wrenching decline. Namely, the 800 point sell-off came on relatively light volume.

I know, it’s a little difficult to call an 800 point drop orderly, but if there ever was an orderly decline, that was it.

Then there was the substantial recovery off the lows. Clearly, buyers are seeing value at current prices. Now, how long it will take for the buyers to gain the upper hand remains to be seen.

I do know that if Bernanke is trying to prep the market for a rate cut at the upcoming FOMC meeting on October 29^th, he should save his breath. We’re ready. Do it. Do it now.

Victor Sperandeo, of Trader Vic fame, maintained in one of his books that the key to making an interest rate move effective was surprise. Fed moves work best when they are a surprise. And any action that comes during a FOMC meeting is not a surprise.

Bernanke should pull another fast one and cut rates 20 minutes before the market opens tomorrow. That’ll help certain companies’ balance sheets immediately. Bill Gross over at PIMCO wants a full point rate cut. Sounds good to me. At this point, it’s about investor confidence. A big rate cut would definitely help.

A Bottom or THE Bottom?

Of course, I have to hedge my rally call. I do think we’re set for some kind of a rally. But I’m not, repeat not, ringing the bell at the bottom. I’m on record saying that employment has to show improvement before there’s sustainable upside for stocks. And the U.S economy is on pace to lose a million jobs in 2008.

No economy can lose that many jobs and still manage to grow significantly. And don’t forget, consumers don’t have the extra refi cash they used to fuel the last bull market.

In other words, there’s upside for stocks in terms of valuation. But growth? I’m not sold on that one just yet. Still, every one knows the story of how Warren Buffett made his fortune buying beaten down stocks in the 70s.

Earnings Season

I wonder if all the newly bullish realize that earnings season kicked off today with Alcoa (NYSE:AA)? With so much going on, it would be easy to miss. But there’s no way earnings are good. And there may be a few nasty surprise waiting in 10Qs. Because what the heck, when news is already bad, you might as well get it all out there, right?

That’s probably why Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) chose to announce a secondary offering to raise cash at the same time it announced a 68% drop in earnings. You might think investors would be glad that BofA even had earnings.

I can only guess that, somehow, the $10 billion stock offering put a damper on the enthusiasm. And the fact that offering was only two-thirds subscribed probably didn’t help. Neither did the 50% cut in dividend. (Of course, it’s only polite to rein in your own spending when you’re begging for cash, but that doesn’t mean investors have to like it.)

BofA got whacked for better than 24%. And by my rough calculations, that accounts for 20% of the Dow’s drop today.

Here are some stocks I’m targeting for a valuation-based bounce:

General Electric (NYSE:GE) jumps to mind. That stock has hit an 11-year low. It’s important to note that GE has to access the credit markets to fund operations, which could be problematic. But on the other hand, GE’s already done a secondary, and Buffett added some liquidity as well. Earnings are October 10.

Intel (Nasdaq:INTC) quickly recovered from these levels back in 2002. Before that, you’d have to go back to 1996 to find the last time it was under $17. Earnings are October 15.

And Verizon (NYSE:VZ) has hit support at $30 that dates back to 1995. They report on October 27.

I’m sure there are some more speculative stocks that might fare better in a liquidity driven bounce. But for short-term trading opportunities, I favor the blue chips. And for the record, I’d rather buy AIG than anything emerging market related. And I’m not buying AIG.

Best regards,

Ian Wyatt

Chief Investment Strategist

Growth Report

PS – I’m launching a new daily e-letter Monday, October 13, 2008. It’s called 24/7 Investor’s Daily Profit. The website is in place. Feel free to check out the new website, www.247investor.com, and sign up for Daily Profit.

After the Bailout

Ian Wyatt — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 21:15:00 GMT

After the Bailout

I can’t help but wonder if Monday’s bailout vote would have been different if the Dow Industrials were down 770+ points before they started the roll call.

Members of Congress that voted against the Paulson Asset Management plan seemed to be responding to political concerns. Apparently Capitol Hill phone lines were clogged with angry voters. And voting with President Bush isn’t the best career move these days.

Most in Congress agree that doing nothing will certainly lead to higher unemployment and foreclosure rates (and more angry voters). They wanted the bill to pass, but didn’t want to be on record as having voted for it.

I suppose that’s understandable. Whether you want to blame the Democrats and Nancy Pelosi for undermining the vote, the fact remains that the American public wasn’t sold on the bill. First of all, the word “bailout” is poor marketing. It gives the impression that Paulson and Bernanke simply want to help their banker buddies. And frankly, the terms of the bill didn’t do a lot to dispel that perception.

Bernanke argued against setting salary caps on CEOs who sold impaired mortgage-related assets to the government. And the plan to buy these impaired assets at above-market prices smells of cronyism.

Marking to Market: Fair Value Accounting

Over the last couple of days, the issue of “marking-to-market” is getting a lot of attention. Financial institutions are required to mark their assets to the market. They have to value their assets according to the price they’d fetch on the open market. Since nobody in their right mind would buy anything that even remotely looks like a mortgage backed security, those assets have to be carried on the books as a huge loss.

Makes sense. I can’t claim my house is still worth what it was 3 years ago. And I sure can’t adjust my brokerage statement to reflect what I think a stock should be worth. To let banks value their assets at anything other than what they can sell them for is utterly ridiculous.

Don’t get me wrong. I see the point. If banks can value their assets at a higher level, they suddenly have enough capitalization to raise their creditworthiness. Then they have the ability to sit on these mortgage-backed assets until the market (hopefully) improves.

The only problem with this is it’s not reality. It’s wishful thinking. And any move to suspend mark-to-market accounting is a sin of the exact nature that got us into this mess. Namely, that there’s no downside risk.

Nothing but Downside

So Congress goes back to vote on some new version of the bailout plan Thursday. And given Monday’s record-setting decline for the Dow, I suspect Congress and their constituents are a bit more amenable to passing the bailout bill. I just hope Congress avoids the real bailout issues, like suspending mark-to-market accounting, and instead focuses on truly helpful measures like increasing FDIC insurance limits and expanding unemployment benefits.

Traders certainly seemed to be hopeful. On Tuesday The Dow took back more than half of its Monday losses. But it’s still going to be interesting to see what happens in the wake of a passed bailout bill.

It seems a pretty good bet that stocks will rally further, at least in the short term. But it’s hard for me to get fundamentally bullish about massive government intervention. The dollar is enjoying a little return to faith rally. But ultimately, $700 billion coupled with the massive amounts of cash being made available by the Fed seem more than a little inflationary.

And while we might stave off disaster, there are still fundamental problems with the US economy that won’t be fixed by helping banks with their mortgage related credit problems.

Where’s the Money Going

Monday was a very interesting day, trading wise. While the total point losses were huge, some sectors did very well. Biotech and alternative energy rallied strongly. Both sectors are about as far from mortgages as you can get. But they do depend on investment, which is a little incongruent.

In any event, Pacific Ethanol (Nasdaq:PEIX) shares shot up from $1.30 to $2.08 in the final 30 minutes of trading. Of course, it gave most of it back on Tuesday.

Beacon Power (Nasdaq:BCON) and Quantum Fuel Systems (Nasdaq:QTWW) made a similar late day jumps only to fall back. Only Ocean Power Technologies (Nasdaq:OPTT) managed to hold its gains.

In the biotechs, Altus Pharmaceutical (Nasdaq:ALTU) and Helicos Biosciences (Nasdaq:HLCS) gave back their Monday afternoon gains.

Gold prices have been extremely volatile. But not much has changed with the miners, which means they aren’t doing well. Oil prices seem to be highly correlated to the bailout plan. Traders appear to believe the bailout will mean stronger economic activity and hence more demand for oil.

Now I hate to keep saying the same thing over and over, but I’m still a big fan of the MLPs. I first mentioned these stocks in my column on September 17. One of the stocks in the free report I offered, Eagle Rock Energy (Nasdaq:EROC) opened at $10.41 that day. 2 days later it closed at $13.75.

Today, Eagle Rock closed at $10.53. Now, I’m not going to predict another 32% run in two days. But I won’t be surprised to see it move higher when the bailout bill passes.

Also, my special report is still available here.

Best regards,

Ian Wyatt

Chief Investment Strategist

Growth Report

Paulson Asset Management, LLC

Ian Wyatt — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 19:43:00 GMT

Paulson Asset Management, LLC

So now the Treasury has a massive $700 billion bailout plan on the table. The idea is to create a government agency to deal with bad mortgage related debt, sort of like how the Resolution Trust Corp. (RTC) dealt with $394 billion in assets of failed banks during the S&L Crisis in the 80s.

You probably recall how regulators would swoop in on troubled banks, close them down and turn their assets over to the RTC, who would then dispose of them, sometimes for pennies on the dollar.

It was like free money for some savvy investors as they were able to buy assets on the cheap from the RTC. Still, many shareholders in failed banks like Silverado and Lincoln never recovered their money.

That’s got me curious as to how Paulson Asset Management, LLC (PAM) will deal with the mortgage-related assets it takes on. Clearly, some of those assets, like the credit default swap derivatives, are essentially worthless and will remain so.

However, there’s certainly a fair amount of mortgage-backed securities that have been written down to near-zero out of necessity, because no one will buy them now, but will probably regain some value in the future.

After all, why else would PIMCO’s Bill Gross say that he’s expecting to be called by PAM (Paulson Asset Management), to help manage the mortgage-backed assets it buys?

Economic Socialism: Puttin It Mildly

My point here is that we’re seeing much more than economic socialism, or the economic communism that Jim Rogers alluded to recently. This is more akin to Valdimir Putin’s hostile takeover of Yukos Oil.

Politics aside, there’s a profit-motive here. Think about it. The Fed and Treasury lent AIG $85 billion. AIG can either pay up (with 11% interest) or the Fed and Treasury get an 80% stake in the company. And from what I understand, AIG has a matter of days to come up with the loot.

At $5 a share, AIG is worth around $13 billion right now. At the start of the year, it was worth around $130 billion. As of June 30, 2008, AIG had $67 billion in tangible assets, down from $95 billion a year earlier.

Obviously, those tangible assets are worth less than $67 billion now. Nobody will buy them.

But what will they be worth a year from now, after most of the bad debt out there has been exposed and investors can make informed decisions about what’s got value and what doesn’t?

That’s OUR $85 Billion

I suspect that PAM’s stake in AIG could be worth a decent sum in a few years. Same goes with whatever assets PAM’s $700 billion buyout fund targets.

It seems to me, since PAM is using taxpayer money to fund its investments, the American people should be considered shareholders. We should share in the spoils.

Now before you think this suggestion is like investing social security in the stock market, there’s a very important distinction here. For instance, PAM can change the rules anytime it wants to. Stock price going down? No problem. Just make it illegal to short.

The more I think about it this idea, the more I like it. And for the record, I have no problem with Bill Gross as the Chief Investment Officer.

What Will Congress Do?

Now I want to be clear about something. I might sound a little flippant with my suggestions here. But this financial mess is very serious. It’s a massive fraud, and the government’s bailout plan doesn’t mention even the slightest slap on the wrist for the offenders or deal with homeowners problems.

Of course, there will be new regulations. There always are. But they never seem to do what they’re intended to do.

As the panic from last week’s market rout eases a little, and Bernanke and Paulson testify before Congress, Congress seems to be taking a harder line on the bailout plan, which is good.

Because, again, I want to know how PAM intends to dispose of billions in impaired assets.

And what’s more, Bernanke apparently wants to buy impaired assets from banks at a premium to current value, and hasn’t really talked about what he’ll do with them. That’s a problem.

If you remember the S&L Crisis, you’ll recall that there was a lot of criticism as to how the RTC disposed of its assets. Much of it was real estate, and in less than desirable markets, as well. Still, many felt that the RTC sold at prices that were way too low to compensate investors for their risk. (The New York Times reported about a resort with an $8 million book value selling for 695K.)

If Bernanke and PAM buy impaired assets at a premium with no realistic plan of how to monetize them, then they’re simply seeking to recapitalize failing banks at taxpayers expense. If so, this PAM shareholder has to vote no.

So what Should We Do?

I’d tell you to call your Congressmen, but they’re busy. Plus, judging by the tone of yesterday’s Q&A following Bernanke and Paulson’s testimony, I’d say they’ve got the message. Taxpayers are not wild about bailing out banks.

Why not expand the powers of the FHA and let Americans with mortgage problems refinance to a lower rate? At least that would address the “real” problem, which is default and foreclosure.

As far as investing goes, my advice hasn’t changed from last week:

“There’s one asset class I like a lot right now. It’s something of a defensive play, mainly due to the high dividend yield. But there’s also a case to be made for some capital appreciation.

It’s MLPs. Master Limited Partnerships. These companies own and operate pipelines for oil and natural gas, mostly in the Southwestern U.S. These companies have pretty stable revenue streams because they sell capacity in advance. MLPs are required to pay 95%+ of their income in dividends to maintain their tax exempt status. And they rely on credit to expand their operations, and hence, revenue.

Many MLPs are currently trading at 52-week lows. I believe this is because their ability to expand has been impaired by the banking liquidity problems. But these companies have stable revenue and they pay dividends of 6-11%. That alone makes them a good place to park your cash until the markets get better.

Plus, as the lending situation improves over the next few months, you could see as much as 30% gains for the stocks as investors anticipate revenue expansion.”

Here’s the link I posted last week to get my favorite MLPs. Most of these stocks have jumped 10+% since lows last Thursday.

Best Regards

Ian Wyatt

Editor

Big Idea Investor

Inflation, The Fisher King and a Solar Stock

Ian Wyatt — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:12:00 GMT

Inflation, The Fisher King and a Solar Stock

And to think, investors cheered the Fed’s decision to hold interest rates unchanged.

Today, the Producer Price Index, a popular low-ball measure of wholesale inflation, came in twice as hot as expected at 1.2%. That 8.9% rise is the biggest jump since 1981. I don’t think anyone cares to hear the annualized number.

In case anyone is curious, the inflation rate for July of 1981 was 10.76%. A year later, Paul Volcker’s rate hikes had slashed inflation to 6.44%. Speaking of Volcker, his name is certainly being tossed around a lot lately. And not just for his endorsement of Presidential candidate Barrack Obama.

Apparently I’m not the only one invoking his name as a model for Bernanke. Larry Kudlow’s “Where's Bernanke's Inner Volcker?” takes a similar position as my “Princess and the Dragon” article here on August 5 – interest rates are too low and should be hiked.

The Fisher King?

At least there’s one member of the FOMC who seems to understand that inflation needs to be dealt with pronto. Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher has dissented at every FOMC meeting this year. He has advocated smaller cuts to help the financial meltdown and he’s been on the side of higher rates lately.

Maybe I’ll start calling him the Fisher King. In the Arthurian legend, the Fisher King keeps the Holy Grail. But he has a lingering injury and cannot move of his own will. And so long as he is injured, there is a blight on the land. So he sits and fishes.

I’d say there’s enough connection there to make it an intriguing metaphor. The Fed’s Fisher can’t move rates on his own. And until rates are higher, inflation is likely to remain a blight on the U.S. economy.

In the week following the FOMC’s last meeting on August 5, the Dow put on an amazing 544 points. Amazing, because homebuilders and financials were leading the charge. It should be no surprise that the Dow has since given all that back. And then some.

A Keen Eye for the Obvious

The obvious reason is that it’s dawning on investors that the banking liquidity problems are far from over. Just the other day, bankruptcy specialist Wilbur Ross told CNBC that a thousand banks could fail. Of course, Wilbur would be in hog heaven with that much feed in his trough.

I see it a little differently when it’s the former chief economist for the IMF saying that …”we’re going to see a whopper…”. Now an economics professor at Harvard, Kenneth Rogoff side with the Fisher King in saying that the Fed shouldn’t have cut rates as much as it did to help the financial sector.

Still, the one item that stuck with me the most is the Freddie Mac bond sale from Monday, August 18. Apparently it was undersubscribed. Ya don’t say?

And stocks sold off as a result. Shocking. I’ve always had a keen eye for the obvious.

A Solar Stock

Well, just a few minutes ago, my senior analyst Benson George called me over to his office. Benson’s the mastermind behind my stock-trading machine, TRIGR. If you ever need someone to turn support and resistance points or moving average breakouts into mathematical formulas, he’s your man.

Apparently, Candian Solar (Nasdaq:CSIQ) jumped over 3,000 points in TRIGR’s ranking system to take the number 3 spot. The 3,000 points were awarded due to new analyst coverage and some recent increases in earnings estimates that leave Canadian Solar with a forward P/E of 7.3.

I can’t tell you whether thin-film or polysilicon technology will be the big winner in the solar energy sector. But I can tell you what happened the last time Canadian Solar rose to the top of TRIGR’s rankings.

It was April 10, 2008. the stock closed at $23.75 that day. Over the next month, it made it as high as $34.10 on May 12. The next day, Canadian Solar announced blowout earnings. The stock closed at $40.78 on May 13 and $44 on May 14.

The stock eventually peaked at $51 in mid-June. Now, it’s almost back to where it started in April. Support looks good at $25. Just thought you’d like to know.

Best Regards,

Ian Wyatt

Chief Investment Strategist

Growth Report

PS – The last time Canadian Solar (Nasdaq:CSIQ) made it to the top of TRIGR’s rankings, it went on to post a 102% gain. Find out how high it goes this time with TradeMaster Daily Stock Alerts .

The Hero's Dilemma: Kill the Dragon or Rescue the Princess?

Ian Wyatt — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 20:47:00 GMT

The Hero's Dilemma: Kill the Dragon or Rescue the Princess?

Our previous experiences with "stagflation," as the double economic whammy of slowing growth and rising inflation is known, occurred in the '70s and early '80s.

Market veterans still recount the Legend of Former Fed Chief Paul Volcker as if it were a cautionary tale for children -

"...and then, Volcker held interest rates aloft (to a now unthinkable 20%) and vanquished the foul worm (inflation rates of 13%)."

Volcker made his heroic choice. He fought the dragon first. Once that threat is no more, living happily ever after with the princess is no problem.

But if we understand the true nature of this Hero's Dilemma, we see that stagflation isn't really a double whammy. In the modern era (the only era that matters), stagflation is caused by one thing: high oil prices.

Sure, one could argue that the condition of stagflation is exacerbated by several factors, like a bombed out housing market, a weak U.S. dollar or a financial crisis. But ultimately, it's rising oil prices that both slows economic growth and causes prices to rise.

Volcker really had no choice at all.

Any attempt to invigorate the economy with lower interest rates would only push oil prices higher. In other words, if you rescue the princess first, then the dragon eats you both.

Memo to Bernanke: The Dragon's Breathing Down Your Neck

So another FOMC meeting has come and gone. And as expected, the Fed did nothing to surprise the financial markets. Most of the time, it's good monetary policy to give the market what it wants.

But we're quickly getting to the point where Fed Chief Ben Bernanke has to make a heroic choice. At least, that's how it seemed a week ago, before oil prices dropped 20%.

It would appear that Bernanke is keeping his sword in its sheath, hoping that falling oil prices will render the necessity of choosing between the princess and the dragon moot.

Stocks rallied strongly today in reaction to Bernanke's non-decision. The average investor can usually be counted on for hope. But ultimately, I don't think many investors are comfortable with a Fed relying on luck to take care of the problem.

The meteoric rise of oil prices could have been a bubble. And we could be seeing that bubble deflating right now. But there's one way Bernanke can be sure: raise interest rates, strengthen the dollar and actively force oil prices lower.

That might put the princess through the ringer for another few quarters, but princesses have a way of coming out of tough situations looking pretty good.

For my money, I'd rather see Bernanke deal the dragon a mortal blow.

Time to Live Happily Ever After?

I'd like to think that the oil "bubble" is popping. I'd like to think that the effects from that main driver of inflation will soon be reversed. But I just don't see the current economic problems having a fairy tale ending without a fight.

That's probably why interest rates rose on T-bills after the Fed's statement. Investors might like the news. But the bond market seems to think that higher rates are coming. And that's probably not good news for stocks.

So what's an investor to do? Well, my stock picking machine (which, by the way, is called TRIGR) is still turning up some great stocks to short. In fact, on July 29, one of its Top Shorts was WCI Communities. Yes, that WCI Communities, the one that filed for bankruptcy on August 4.

Actually, TRIGR's been pulling up WCI Communities regularly since May 8. Of course, it also targeted IndyMac on May 12, 2008, and we all know how that turned out.

We also closed two other short positions yesterday - Western Refining (NYSE:WNR) for 17% since July 31 and Accuride (NYSE:ACW) for 16% since July 30.

Today, TRIGR turned up Hansen Medical (Nasdaq:HNSN) as a Top Short. In light of the decent gains TRIGRs pulled up with its Top Long Biotech stocks, the sight of a medical devices company on the Top Short was worth another look.

I'm not sure how Hansen Medical ever commanded a $1 billion market cap on $16 million in revenues. And I suspect it'll have difficulty holding on to its current $300 million market cap without a massive jump in revenue. Judging by the ever-widening loss estimates from the covering analysts, such a jump in revenue isn't forthcoming.

You might want to give this stock a look as a potential short opportunity while Bernanke tries to figure out what to do about that pesky dragon.

Ian Wyatt

Chief Investment Strategist

Growth Report

TRIGR is an electronic stock-picking machine that selects long and short opportunities for the TradeMaster Daily Stock Alerts service. For more information on how you can have your profits powered by TRIGR, click here.