We discussed this name earlier this week as a wind play... [Jun 10: American Superconductor (AMSC) with $450 Million Follow up Order from China]Much like Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) (which I highlighted in early May in the upper $40s, and is now in the mid $60s) this has been a "hope" company for a long time - long on promise, but short on execution. [May 8: Energy Conversion Devices - Is the Turnaround Finally Here?] But we've seen how the ship has appeared to come in for ENER, and perhaps the ship is coming in for controversial AMSC as well. They received a huge follow up order today. This appears to be a 3 year contract for $450 million. Considering the company is only doing under $200 million in revenue in total this year, the magnitude of this contract is enormous for this size of ...

In this environment, unlike most of the past 2 months we have to pick spots and assume our purchases (as we layer in) will lose money in the near term. This is different than when we buy a pullback in a market that is generally in an uptrend (mid March to late May) - where when you make a purchase on a pullback, you expect a quick bounce. So with that in mind, I am continuing to rebuild a position in DryShips (DRYS), the dry bulk shipper (with deep sea drilling thrown in); but not expecting any sustained move up in the near term. But my first buy target has been reached, so I am executing a purchase.Now, as the rest of Wall Street joins my thesis (eventually) of a global slowdown these stocks could take it on the chin from a perception point ...

The name may sound funny, but the Little Sheep (0968.HK) restaurant chain is a business well worth your investigation. Little Sheep is a chain of 'hot pot' restaurants that is famous for its Mongolian-style mutton dishes. Little Sheep is a huge business in China. In 2006, it grabbed an amazing 11.8% of all the full-service restaurant business in China! There are currently around 350 Little Sheep restaurants around China, but the company will be using the IPO proceeds to finance an aggressive expansion plan. At 27 times 2008 earnings, it is a little pricey, so I would wait for a pullback. You will have to wait though because U.S. investors are not allowed to buy Hong Kong IPOs for 40 days.

I really like Chinese gaming company Perfect World (PWRD) from a fundamental perspective; after selling off from its guidance after a very good earnings report [May 19: Perfect World - Good Earnings, Light Guidance - Buying the Dip] the stock spent a few days in purgatory before making a nice rebound. However, at this point technically we have some technical resistance ahead, both the 50 and 200 day moving averages lie ahead; the 50 day in the $26s and the 200 day around $27. Honestly this is as perfect of a setup as you could ask for from a technical perspective. Sell now right below resistance areas, and rebuy either (a) on a move over $27 or (b) on a pullback. So I'm executing the first part of that strategy (sell) here around $26.20... then for the second part (buy back), if the stock ...

I don't see any particular news today but Zhongpin (HOGS) is up over $13.00 this AM (+15%) so I am taking profits, and moving this position to just a "holding stake" (0.1% of fund). Earlier this week, they did put out a press release with some updates on their new processing plants. This is a very thinly traded issue with high volatility so I'm taking this 2 day spike as an opportunity to cull the position and will buy back sold shares on a pullback.Zhongpin Inc. (HOGS), a leading meat and food processing company in the People's Republic of China ("PRC"), today provided an update on the construction of its new prepared meat facility at Zhongpin's Industrial Park located in Changge City, Henan Province and its frozen and chilled pork processing facilities in western and eastern Henan Province.On March 12, 2008, Zhongpin began construction of ...

Here is a rare piece of dis-inflationary commodity news. China Aluminum Corporation (also known as Chalco) cuts its wholesale spot price of aluminum by 16.7%. I don't own Chalco and I sold my energy stocks 2 weeks ago and this is another piece of confirmation that tells me commodity prices are overdue for a pullback.Temporary...but a pullback nonetheless.

I think the title says it all. The new longs sure don’t look nearly as bad as today does. Also a bullish close makes today constructive. The very low volume also makes this seem like a nice fearful pullback. ROYL and AVAN worked immediately!!!! That is how they are supposed to act!!!

The greatest IPO of 2008, Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) is a story of the ages. Visa shares hit $89 this month but have since fallen to $75.  Visa shares are down almost 14% since the high, so could this be the entry point we have been waiting for? Masters, here is the latest buzz: Via StreetInsider.com: Following the initial surge in Visa's stock price after its IPO on March 19, which also created upside in shares of MasterCard, the two credit card company's have since pulled back from record highs: shares of Visa moved as high as $89.84 (on May 7) just a day after MasterCard broke the $300 level, but both stocks have fallen about 9% from these levels. Considering each company's RSI (relative strength index), Visa and MasterCard seem to be moving to their most ...

Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) is an interesting tale - this has been for many many years been a "hope" stock i.e. more promise than execution - I remember the hoopla surrounding it at the turn of the century ... the last time people were all hyped up about alternative energies (at the time the big fuss was about new wave car batteries and the like). This company has morphed over the years with a confusing array of business lines (trying to decide what it wanted to "be"), but recently has added a newer and more business savvy executive team, and while they still have a few business lines .... the excitement is their solar business, which has turned into the dominant line at the company. Much like First Solar (FSLR), ENER has a thin film process so by staying away from the polysilicon shortage issue they have some potential to ...

Much like I did with Ctrip.com (CTRP) last week [May 2: Cutting Ctrip.com to Almost Nothing] I am going to cut these 3 positions to almost nil; they are small positions at this time as I cut them at lower prices, but the gains (% wise) have been huge, and the stocks are not near any major support. Fundamentals remain strong in all the stocks so there is no change in that area. Further, this does not mean the stocks need to pullback anytime soon but consistent with my strategy, I am simply going to take the last of these gains off the table and wait for meaningful pullbacks, after some staggering moves. These positions are in the 0.5-0.7% range of the portfolio, so I am essentially dropping them to what I call "holding positions" aka tiny positions (0.1% or 0.2%), but not selling them out ...