Krispy Kreme and Law Enforcement Officers Team Up

This is more in the nature of corporate PR than anything to do with the financial markets, but I couldn't help laughing:

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. and local law enforcement officers have united again this year for the annual Cops on Doughnut Shops program to benefit Special Olympics. Police officers will sit on the roofs of local Krispy Kreme stores throughout the U.S. to raise funds for the Law Enforcement Torch Run and increase awareness of the Special Olympics movement.

I laud them both for supporting a worthy charity, but I can't help wondering what kind of structural damage is going to be done when the cops who usually spend their time sitting inside donut shops hoist themselves onto the rooves.

Weekly Summary

Another week has passed ...


It's pretty clear that H3 Enterprise s (HTRE) Petel (PTEI), and possibly Blue Star (BLSH) have gone sour and are unlikely to bounce back - I may dump them next week and salvage what cash is left, and start looking for another position or two to replace them.



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Slow News Week ...

The week is almost over, and there hasn't been any press at all about the companies I've invested in. I suppose that no news is good news, but it's very unusual for things to be this quiet.

Weekly Summary

In spite of improvement in the larger market, my own portfolio has lost a bit of ground this week - but then, penny stocks don't track the larger market, so that's to be expected:

Stock Holdings:	$5,231.75
Cash Balance:	$263.59
Total:	$5,495.34
Invested	$5,000.00
Difference	$495.34

Unfortunately, I was unable to upload a screenshot - Blogger is returning an "internal error" message. I tried several times and re-created the image twice. Still no luck, so what you see is what you get this week.

Revlon chairman buys 600,000 shares

In a press release today, Revlon announced:

The chairman of cosmetics maker Revlon Inc. bought 600,000 shares of Class A common stock, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

This was an AP release, not a "PR Newswire" or some other no-name source, so there's a greater chance that he's buying in because he believes he'll make a profit, rather than to bolster stockholders' waning confidence.

GOGB becomes GOIG

In a move that's all to familiar to anyone who's played with penny stocks, GoIP Global changed its trading symbol (GOGB => GOIG) and did a 200-for-1 reverse split on Friday.

Typically, companies do this when they're in danger of being delisted for falling below 0.0001 - and typically, a reverse split is followed by the company dumping tons of new shares on the market, usually before the online brokerages catch up with the name change (hence, you can't dump your shares for a couple of days after the stock is renamed) driving the stock down to its pre-split levels and screwing everyone involved, with the exception of the brokerage that makes a commission, crooked insiders, and the executives who give themselves a fat bonus for their hard work.

But oddly, this didn't happen ... GOIG slipped a bit, then bounced back up.

Granted, trading is still light (one transaction for 2500 shares today, just before the bell), and it's entirely possible that the price is being manipulated ... and there's still plenty of time for the company to dump shares ... but for the moment, it's a strange phenomenon, the likes of which I haven't seen before. There was no press release from the company to explain this - before or after - which is also quite unusual.

I suspect I'm not the only one waiting for sufficient volume to cash out and get free ... and I tend to doubt that I'm out of the woods just yet.

Weekly Summary

Another week's progress shows signs of recovery, but it may be false hope:


The remark about "false hope" pertains to GOIP Global, which has apparently done a reverse-split today and changed ticker symbols. That's almost never a good thing. I've cashed otu and taken profit, but when it starts trading again, the leftovers will probably be meager. Since it's presently (over)valued at $750, that will wipe out the value of my current holdings, and erase the profits I've made year to date.

On the bright side, Petel has bounced back from death's door - just last week, I was considering dumping the remainder. Ironically, this is another company on which I've already taken profits. Maybe the lesson learned is to cash out completely?

In Search of a Niche

A press release today entitled "SOYO Continues to Target the Spanish Speaking Market" boasted that ...

[The company's] 32-inch and 47-inch SOYO brand of LCD TVs are now available through Shop Latino TV. Additionally, the 32-inch and 47-inch LCD TVs are available through the Shop Latino TV website

This is a bit of surprise, as the company had another press release on February 20 of this year entitled "SOYO Continues to Target the Niche Consumer," in which it claims to be specializing in smaller sets for dorm rooms and recreational vehicles.

In the end, it's pretty clear that the company continues to clutch at straws, desperately looking to appeal to a target market in which they can be profitable. As much as I'm pulling for them, they could learn a thing or two about marketing ... or at least about consistency of message, and vision.

Worst Stock in the World?

Today, Tim Beyers of Motley Fool labeled Krispy Kreme as their "Worst Stock in the World" - indicating that ...

Over the year ended Oct. 28, 2007, the date of the most recently available report, Krispy Kreme paid $12.4 million in interest expense on an average debt balance of $103.2 million. That's 12%. I know credit cards that charge less than that.

Krispy Kreme and its still debt-dunked business model ... Wednesday's Worst Stock in the CAPS world.

Following their announcement this morning that their cost of debt will rise another 2%, the price of the stock plummeted.

I'm not running scared - industry wags have been wrong before, and the data this one cites is over six months out of date. Thus far, my losses on KKD are less than five percent, which is well within my level of tolerance for a long position such as this.

Weely Summary

This week, I've held the positions I've had. There are a few other investments I'm watching, and now that the market is showing signs of general recovery, it may be time to consider putting more funds into the market.

Of the positions I've taken Petel is the worst - but I've already taken profits and am riding free shares. A few others are borderline, but most are holding their own pretty well.

The only change I'm seriously considering at this time is dumping GoIP Global - this stock has looked good on paper for several weeks, but there is no volume (as in none - zero shares traded) most days. I was able to dump half of my holdings in small amounts, paying multiple commissions to unload it, but turning sufficient profit to cover them. I may consider liquidating the remainder in the same fashion, just to get free of the situation before it goes south.

Petel Reports 82% Increase in Revenue

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