MIVA Dropped

This morning, I dumped my position in MIVA, which I bought into in February in hopes that they could either turn around the companies they'd consolidated or sell them off to bigger players, but neither has happened thus far and there's no sign that it ever will.

The result, a net loss of 52.4% ...



They've been flirting with disaster for a few months now, and have bounced below and back above my usual stop-loss of 50% for penny stocks - I finally decided to get off the dime, before the share-price fell to a dime - and divert the cash to better bets.

Weekly Summary

It's been a week of ups and downs on the market, and the net result has been largely a break-even from the week before:


Most of the Wall Street's mood-swings deal with uncertainty over the government's plan to bail out the financial sector, and the only stock directly affected is Freddy Mac, which has recovered nicely from its initial tumble.

It may be that buying in wasn't such a bad idea after all, and that it's taking some time for things to be set right ... though there's still a chance I'm dead wrong, and it will fall back to nothing. To some degree, that's true of each of my positions.

Weekly Summary

At ten end of a rollercoaster week on the markets, my portfolio has regained some ground:


Primarily, my gains come from Blockbuster Video, which rose nearly 40%, and Revlon, which gained 8% as investors regain confidence in these struggling firms. I'd hoped (and expected) that they would rebound sooner than they have - but I suppose it's better late than never.

Reverse split boosts Revlon shares

Rvlon (REV) shares underwent a 10-for-1 reverse-split today, as they had announced some time ago. And then, something very strange happened: the shares gained value.

It's been my experience that a stock that consolidates shares in fear of being delisted (or in hopes of upgrading" to a better exchange) generally experiences a massive decrease in market capitalization on the very first day - and while I will always be skeptical, having been burned several times before, I'm very pleasantly surprised.

I've considered moving the shares to my big-board portfolio, as the company is no longer a "penny stock," but have decided against that: even though REV is not a penny stock now, it was when I bought it, so I'll keep the shares where they are until I decide to sell them.

Weekly Summary

Things have changed quite a bit since last week, and one risky play has wiped out my profits for the entire year:


The question I ask myself when a deal goes south like this is: would I do it again? And the answer: probably so. I knew when I got into it that it was a hard-way bet and I was bucking the market ... and if things had worked out differently, I'd have cashed out nicely. As it stands, I have a ghost of a chance that it may recover later this year, and another tax write-off if it doesn't. Way it goes, sometimes.

On the bright side, if I played it safe and bought into an index fund, I'd probably be in the same shape, almost to the penny: the DOW, the S&P 500, and the NASDAQ composite are all down about 15% for the year - so what's the difference?

Freddie Mac - Whacked

Yesterday, the Treasury Department announced a takeover of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. While the bailout eased market tensions, it's bad news for shareholders: the stock price of both companies took a nosedive.

I knew when I got into this that I was betting against the house, and last week's recovery of the stock price was an encouraging sign - but the surprise announcement this weekend completely erased that, and I've gone from a 66% profit to a 72% loss in a single trading day.

That's just the way it goes, sometimes.

For now, I'll hold my shares rather than dumping them, on the hope that the market's reaction was an over-reaction and the stock price will recover - though it's equally likely (and some would say even more likely) that the firm will sink from a conservatorsip to full-blown nationalization in the coming months.

Weekly Summary

It's been a four-day week in the markets, and while the last couple of days have been brutal on the big boards, there's not been much change in my holdings:


Second quarter reports are trickling in, and I don't see anything particularly alarming, though the upcoming reverse-split of Revlon has me slightly edgy, I don't foresee needing to make any changes in my portfolio in the near term ... but then, one never knows.

Revlon plans equity rights offering

Revlon is continuing to show signs of improvement: today the company announced plans to pay down $170 million in their debt using cash raised selling off its Bozzano business in Brazil ($63M) and an equity rights offering to current common shareholders ($107M).

Following the announcement, the stock took a 6% dive (from $1.34 to $1.26), presumably fueled by panic from investors who don't understand the meaning of "equity rights offering" and assumed it would dilute the value of their shares.

If the dive had been steeper, I'd have snapped up a load of cheap shares to make a profit on the rebound, when cooler heads prevail. As it stands, I'll earmark some cash for when the rights offering goes through.

Unfortunately, the company also restated, in the same announcement, that it still plans to move forward with a 10-for-1 reverse split of its stock later this month to solidify its position (translation: to keep from being delisted), which suggests that management is nervous about its ability to effect a turn-around, at least in the short run.