Jake Huneycutt

Total Rating:
+4 / -2

117 Comments

    • Fri Nov 14th 08:02 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Wal-Mart May Get an Anti-Trust Reprieve, But...
      What information out there suggests that there are any plans by anyone to try to break-up Wal-Mart based on anti-trust concerns? I don't think I've ever heard of a retailer getting hit on anti-trust and Wal-Mart still has considerable competition with Target (on the department store front) and several grocery chains.

      I think Wal-Mart is more likely to suffer if gas prices start coming back up. The Wal-Mart business model is based on the assumption of cheap gasoline. If gasoline costs $5/gallon, people start buying from their neighborhood grocery stores (a few miles away) rather than driving 10 miles out to the Wal-Mart Supercenter.
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    • Fri Nov 14th 06:54 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Friday Market Preview: Was Dow 8,000 the Bottom?
      If this were a typical market crash, I would say that 8,000 would likely be the bottom. However, a lot of the huge declines are being driven by hedge fund liquidations --- as such, I think it's anyone's guess as to where the bottom is going to be. Maybe it's 7500 or 7000. But there are a ton of stocks that look like bargains out there.
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    • Thu Nov 13th 12:48 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Raser Technologies: The Ugly Duckling of Alternative Energy
      Chris B,

      P/E ratios aren't always a great way to value a company and they are particularly bad for evaluation companies with high up-front costs. I'd argue you need to look at book value and cash flows and if Raser is successful on the geothermal front, it appears as if it would be a very great bargain even if they bring in half the cash flows they expect.

      My problem with ORA has been that their stock has looked significantly overvalued for a while. It's starting to look a little bit better now that it's dipped down into the mid- to upper- $20 range, but I still view it as a riskier investment than Raser due to the high built-in expectations (which apparently makes me a contrarian, but that's fine). Since there seems to be a large swath of investors who despise Raser based on their lack of success for their Transportation sector, it appears to me that their stock offers a much more attractive opportunity. Like I said in the article, even if their Symetron stuff fails, I'm not sure it matters so long as the geothermal segment succeeds given their current valuation.
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    • Wed Nov 12th 15:33 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Defining a Depression
      Great article!

      I do like that last bit of advice, too.
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    • Wed Nov 12th 13:44 PM | Rating: 0 -1
      Commented on:
      A Wal-Mart Earnings Miss Is Likely to Entice Short Sellers
      I'm not exactly sure where you are hearing masses of people suggesting that a company is "too big for its stock price to go down" --- especially right now. It sounds as if you are arguing against a ridiculous straw man.

      There's definitely a case to be made that Wal-Mart's stock is overvalued, but I don't get the point in this article. We're in the midst of one of the worst stock market crashes in history and nearly the entire market has gone down --- who on Earth is arguing that there are companies "too big" for stock market price declines?

      The only reason Wal-Mart has been semi-immune thus far has less to do with "being big" and everything to do with being in an industry that happens to benefit from a recessionary environment --- groceries.
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    • Wed Nov 12th 09:44 AM | Rating: 0 -1
      Commented on:
      A Wal-Mart Earnings Miss Is Likely to Entice Short Sellers
      What do you mean "is Wal-Mart too big to fail?" Are you suggesting that Wal-Mart is going to go bankrupt? And how do you jump from Wal-Mart missing earnings expectations to Wal-Mart being on the brink of bankruptcy?

      Wal-Mart may be a little bit overvalued; that's certainly arguable, but I'm baffled by the comparison to Circuit City.
      View article »
    • Wed Nov 12th 09:35 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says General Motors (GM) is too big to fail. She wants 'immediate action' to help troubled automakers, but faces resistant Republicans and a noncommittal White House. (Bloomberg)
      Ugh. Why have the Democrats become the party that runs in to try to rescue every failing corporation? There is oversupply in the auto market; "saving" the automakers isn't going to fix the problem.

      If we're going to throw around government money, it should at least be spent on something we need, such as infrastructure improvements --- not to articifically sustain a contracting industry (which won't work anyway).
      View news story »
    • Tue Nov 11th 19:05 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Raser Technologies: The Ugly Duckling of Alternative Energy
      Shorty & Alpha,

      Now that I used the word "revenues" in the article; I realize I probably should've said "cash flows", as I'm not necessarily quite as concerned with actual GAAP revenues as much as I am the cash flow element.

      Why do you say that Thermo is almost definitely a negative IRR? Not that I'm disagreeing --- I'm just curious to hear your analysis. My thought was that it was probably be close to break-even or slightly negative, but the value of all their properties and their know-how is worth something as well, and at $3-$5 per share, I think even if they don't live up to expectations, there still might be some value in the company.

      AlphaMS,

      I regret not clarifying some of my thoughts further. You are correct in that the power system technologies are not technically theirs --- however, to my knowledge, they are amongst the first to utilize it on this scale. Given the nature of the geothermal industry, I believe their early experience with UTX's technology might be a bit of an advantage. Mind you, they aren't out there manufacturing widgets, so even if others have access to the same equipment as they do, there is still significant value-added by them that can not be imitated without doing the same things they have.

      I certainly wouldn't suggest I have full trust of all the insiders of the company (trust must be earned, after all), but at this stage, given the market's valuation, I simply believe that the likelihood is that they are worth more than $4 or $5. And they might be worth quite a bit more. It's no safe bet, but it's not a bad position in a diversified high-risk portfolio.
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    • Tue Nov 11th 08:46 AM | Rating: +1 0
      Commented on:
      Starbucks Will Restructure and Rise Once Again
      I don't know --- it seems like the Starbucks brand itself is worn at this point. It's a coffeehouse with a cookie-cutter format all over the nation; I'm not sure how they did so well for so long as it was. They will probably be a value at some price point, but I'm betting their glory days are behind them.
      View article »
    • Tue Nov 11th 08:28 AM | Rating: +1 0
      Commented on:
      Raser Technologies: The Ugly Duckling of Alternative Energy
      JGK,

      I definitely agree on UTX --- it would be nice if they spun that division off. Much of RZ's success can be traced to that.
      View article »
    • Thu Nov 6th 13:18 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      A Buy & Hold Forever Dividend Stock Portfolio
      Honestly, I think buying into an index fund forever would be wiser, but it would be interesting to see your returns on this in 5 and 10 years.
      View article »
    • Wed Nov 5th 10:33 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Kill Sarbanes-Oxley - Gingrich
      Hear, hear, Lex!
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    • Wed Nov 5th 10:23 AM | Rating: +1 0
      Commented on:
      Kill Sarbanes-Oxley - Gingrich
      SarbOx is a classic example of how rushing through reforms can have a negative impact. I think something had to be done about accounting standards after Enron, WorldCom, etc.; but Congress really should've taken their time on addressing more of the concerns with SarbOx.

      Mind you, this was one of the reasons I was not happy with the entire rush to pass a bailout bill. Did we not learn from SarbOx how it is better to get things right than to rush through whatever garbage we can?
      View article »
    • Mon Nov 3rd 14:08 PM | Rating: +1 0
      Commented on:
      Perhaps the biggest surprise of Barron's Big Money survey was the fact 83% of those surveyed said they're beating the S&P 500 this year. "There is pretty much zero chance" that almost all of them are outdoing the S&P, Paul Kedrosky says, "so the rest of their views should be discounted appropriately."
      Why is there almost 0 chance? Logically speaking, if they have any success shorting or have any significant cash position, it would not necessarily be that difficult to beat the S&P 500. Beating the S&P 500 this year isn't any great accomplishment.
      View news story »
    • Sun Nov 2nd 18:03 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Evergreen Solar: Why This Overlooked Company Is a Good Investment
      31October,

      I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark that you didn't actually read the article since that was already addressed in the article. In fact, that was the major point in the article --- the losses are deceiving because fixed costs eat away at their profits right now, but once production is ramped up considerably, that will no longer be the case.
      View article »
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