The manipulation of silver is about to end

The price of silver is manipulated. The price of silver is intentionally kept low. While this is criminal, it's not illegal. Yet for decades, COMEX, the commodities exchange, has been in cahoots with the biggest silver investors at the expense of the little silver investor. This is about to end, thanks to some regulatory changes that may offer the biggest opportunity for silver investors between January and March of 2011.

What has changed?

Rumors are flying that more than 25 lawsuits have been filed against commercial investors such as JP Morgan and HSBC, accusing them of price manipulation to keep the price of silver artificially low.

The Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which is to the COMEX what the SEC is to the New York Stock Exchange, has passed a new law which will force COMEX to play fair, forbidding such massive short positions on silver.. The actions of the CFTC are one more reason for last November's 14 percent price rise in silver. The price manipulation of silver is about to end.
Read more.

Tri-Technology (Nasdaq: TRIT)

Accordingly to the World Bank, 90% of the rivers and lakes in China are heavily polluted. Because of urbanization and industrialization, tons of toxin waste are discharged into these waterways yearly. This is a huge problem for China and a great opportunity for companies that have the technology to help the government mitigate this problem.

TRIT is one of these companies. It is a small company based in Beijing. As at 30.9.2010, the total number of shares issued was only 8.03 million. The company is growing very fast. In 2007, its revenue was $4.7 million; in 2008, it was $8.4 million, and for the 12 months ended 30.9.2010, it reached 35.1 million. The company has cash of $29m and very little debt.

Click here for more.

Today's Denial Could Be Tomorrow's Reality

Someone says that in China there are two types of companies. The ones with the government as an important shareholder and the ones that fail. What about Malaysia? In the past, it's probably the other way round. But things have changed. Look at KPJ, Kulim, Telekom, TDM and EPIC. Did they not benefit from their connections with the government?

EPIC is now given the exclusive rights to build, manage and operate a duty-free shopping complex in Tasik Kenyir. Why do you think that they give it to EPIC? The answer is obvious. Because, the Trengganu State Government (TSG) is its major shareholder.

Not long ago, Ahmad Zaki Resources' stake of 20% in EPIC was bought over by TSG for about RM3 per share. TSG now controls over 60% of EPIC.

I am intrigued as to why EPIC is not mentioned when people talk about oil and gas. Actually, it is a specialist in this sector. Its services include: fabrication, engineering works, manufacturing & assembly, wire line & rigging, and testing & inspection of equipments, warehousing. etc.

EPIC owns the Kemaman Supply Base (KSB) which caters to the needs of over 250 companies supporting the petroleum industry. Major companies already operating in the area are: Petronas, Esso, Cari Gali Hess, Talisman, Petrofac, Newfield and Murphy. Later this year, some 50 more companies will be added to the list of clients when its expansion plan is completed.

EPIC's other core business is in the management and operation of the Kemaman Port which is one of the deepest ports in Malaysia. Other positive attributes of the company is its strong balance sheet.

As at Sep 2010, it has RM97,275,000 cash in its coffer. Its debit/equity ratio is only 0.063, and its current ratio is 3.88. On top of all these, its barrier of entry is extremely high.

For the year ended Dec 31, 2010, EPS is forecasted to be not less than 30 sen. In view of the present bullish market, and looking at other counters, a PE of 12 for EPIC is not illogical. This works out to RM3.60 per share.

Is privatization on the card for EPIC? TSG says no. But, often today's denial is tomorrow's reality. Only time will tell.

An excerpt from Bursa reads as follows:

Review of performance

The Group achieved revenue of RM72.85 million in the third quarter under review, an increase of RM29.10 million or 67% compared to RM43.75 million reported in the same quarter in the preceding year. The Group recorded profit before tax of RM20.84 million, an increase of 45% compared to RM14.36 million achieved in the same quarter in the preceding year.
For the nine months ended 30 September 2010, the Group generated revenue of RM181.83 million, an increase of RM47.91 million or 36% compared to RM133.92 million achieved in the same period in the preceding year. The Group recorded profit before tax of RM57.27 million, increase by 36% compared to RM42.19 million achieved in the same period in the preceding year.
The increase in revenue and profit before tax was mainly due to increase in port operations and oil and gas activities.

I like this stock and I am presently heavily invested in it.

AS USUAL, YOU BUY, SELL OR HOLD AT YOUR OWN RISK ABSOLUTELY.

Have a way with Sleeping Beauties and grow rich

Keeping concubines is expensive. But keeping Sleeping Beauties (SB) is a sure way to wealth. In stock-market lingo, SB are undervalued stocks with great potentials, lots of cash, and great assets. They are prime targets for takeovers.

Generally SB are illiquid, unloved and undiscovered. Mutual funds, hedge funds and analysts are not interested in them. Traders are not interested in them as well. Once identified and awakened, they become the darlings of the market. Their prices will sky rocket, and those having them can laugh all the way to the bank.

Those who wish to keep SB must have the knowledge to identify them, cash to buy and hold, the time to monitor, and the patience to wait. If you have idle cash, you should start looking for SB. One thing good about them is that they will pay you fairly well while you wait.

I love SB. They are unexciting but they make lots of money for you. And that's what you want. Right?

Don't get married to SB. Once they are overvalued, they should be sold.

You work hard for your money. Make sure they work smart for you.

Mitra Jaya

Mitra Warrants: Expiry date: Feb 11,2011; Exercise price: 1.80; Last traded at 0.13

Mitra has been in the news lately. Since the announcement of procuring a contract valued at RM53,500,000 to be completed in 10 months time, effective from Jan 01, 2011, the stock price has been moving up. At the time of posting this post, it is done at 1.75.
It is rumored that the price will be pushed up to RM2.00 before the expiry date of the warrants to encourage the conversion of the warrants into ordinary shares. Does this make sense to you? Think about it.

Protasco

Activity at Protasco has improved. As shown in the weekly chart above, the stock is now well on track to move higher. Buy some and get some new year angpows.
Best of luck, and as usual, you buy at your own risk absolutely.

TDM still at a discount at RM3.39 per share

What to expect in 2011

Expectation of a general election is the catalyst to a bullish 2011. Small-cap and mid-cap stocks are likely to narrow the gap of price between them and the big-cap blue chips.

The Government Transformation Plan (GTP) to mitigate corruption and crime is of prime importance. If this major plan can be carried out with firmness, fairness and transparency, much can be achieved. Foreign funds are more likely to come in and keep on coming in.

The other major plan is the Economic Transformation Plan (ETP) which is meant to boost private sector investment and transform Malaysia into a high-income country. The success of the ETP depends on how well the GTP is implemented.

Corruption in any country is hard to curb; crime is in the same category. If the GTP is successfully carried out, undesirable activities, such as illegal gambling, gangsterism snatch thieves and prostitution will be greatly curtailed. This will create a clean and peaceful environment for the country that is a priority to conducive to good living.

Merger and Acquisition (M&A) is the other catalyst that is likely to spur the market to greater heights. The government is encouraging this. Expectation is high in this activity and many M&As will come on stream as the year progresses.

Malaysia is lucky that it is relatively safe from natural disaster. It is also endowed by Mother Nature with abundance of fresh water, clean air, arable lands and useful commodities.

There is no reason why it can't be as prosperous as Singapore. With the right approach, 2011 should turn out to be a Super Bull in motion.

Foreigners More Active than Locals

According to Bursa, foreigners bought Rm11 billion and sold RM8.4 billion of stocks in December, 2010. This means an inflow of RM2.6 billion of foreign money.
The total trade for the month was RM35.7 billion. Thus it can be seen that foreigners were more active and traded more than the locals.
Some analysts say that foreign funds inflow has slowed down since some 3 months ago. If this trend were to continue, then probably, foreign funds may come to a trickle by the end of the 2nd quarter when the QE2 easing comes to an end.
To read more, click here.

Lake Kenyir

Lake Kenyir of Trengganu covers an area of 38,000 hectares or 91,846 acres. It has 30 rivers feeding the lake, 25 waterfalls and 340 islands of which, one is as big as Singapore. It is already a tourist attraction.

The Trengganu government wishes to upgrade this tourist destination by putting up a duty-free shopping complex. It has allocated 20 hectares of land in one of the islands for this purpose.

Lake Kenyir is home to 8000 species of flowers, 2500 species of plants, 1000 species of birds, 370 species of orchids and much much more. Read more here.

EPIC is given the enviable task to build this shopping paradise. This is bullish for EPIC which is one of my picks for a profitable 2011.

To know more about EPIC, click here.

Happy investing.

FimaCorp

On Tuesday Oct 19, 2010, I predicted that FimaCorp would hit RM6 by end of 2010. (Please refer to my post on that day).

Today the stock had a good run. It opened trading at RM5.75 and moved up steadily. With 567 lots traded for the day, the stock hit RM6 at 4.40 p.m. with 120 lots traded at that price. It closed at RM5.96 for a gain of 26 sen for the day.

Now that this sleeping beauty is stirring in its slumber, I think it's time for it to wake up. By the first quarter of 2011, it should move up another 50 to 80 sen without much difficulty. But I am hoping it reaches this target within the rest of the trading days in 2010.

Who knows? It may actually be there in the next trading day.

Tomorrow is Christmas Day, and I wish all my Christmas friends, "Merry Christmas and a Happy & Prosperous Happy New Year."

Profiting from panic selling

Panic selling occurs when a stock price rapidly declines on high volume. This often happens when some event forces investors to re-evaluate the stock's intrinsic value, or when short-term traders are able to force the stock price down far enough to trigger long-term stop-losses. The entire process creates a tremendous opportunity for bottom-fishers to initiate long positions, especially if the event behind the panic selling was non-material or speculative in nature (such as an SEC investigation or an analyst opinion). Here we shed light on the panic-selling process and introduce a model that can help you predict the right time to take a long position after panic selling occurs. Read more.

PN 17, What is it?

While there are more than a thousand companies listed in Bursa Malaysia, not all of them are in a financially sound position. Although at the point of listing, these listed companies must meet the Listing Requirements of Bursa Malaysia, given time, the company’s financial position and business direction can change for the better or for the worse.

There are many reasons for these changes, such as change in management, risk profile, management team’s experience, foresight, financial appetite, over-gearing etc.

Prior to 2005, listed companies that are in this PN17 condition are classified under PN4.
Read more.

Shai Agassi - Electric Cars

Is it too late to buy gold?

In the last thirty years of the last century, gold’s popularity peaked in 1980 — precisely as it bubbled over an all-time high. Interest rates were near an all-time high. Inflation was raging in the double digits. A recession was months away. It was the “perfect case for gold” according to many. And yet what followed was a slow-motion, two-decade long crash in gold. It wouldn’t see $675 an ounce again until 2005 — 25 years later.
Gold’s Recent Decade-Long Run
Odds are, you’ve seen and heard a ton of advertisements for and news articles about gold over the past few years. Starting in mid-2001, gold has grossly out-performed the broad stock market indices, increasing four-fold versus the S&P 500′s 0% return.
Read more.

Better Be Safe Than Sorry

冰箱門上勿貼磁鐵
Remove any decorative magnet from refrigerators
有趣，但是非常重要的發現！
一群普林斯頓大學的研究人員發現了可怕的事！
幾個月來，他們餵養兩組老鼠：第一組的食物存放在冰箱，第二組的食物也存放在冰箱，不同之處在於冰箱門上貼了一些裝飾磁鐵。
這項實驗的目的是要看看電磁輻射（門上的裝飾磁鐵所產生）對食物的影響。
令人驚訝的是，嚴格的臨床研究指出，吃“輻射”食物的這組老鼠比另一組老鼠致癌機率高出87％。
更令人費解的是，沒有任何政府或衛生機構在此事件上做出的任何聲明。不過，還是建議把任何磁鐵裝飾從冰箱門上拿掉，遠離食物，以防萬一。
Remove any decorative magnet from refrigerators,
and put it far away from any food.
IMPORTANT ~
Interesting but very important finding!
A number of researchers at Princeton 's University have discovered something scary!

For several months, they were feeding two groups of mice:
The first group with food kept in a refrigerator, and the second group with food kept in a refrigerator as well but with several decorative magnets on the door.

The objective of this experiment was to see how electromagnetic radiation (that coming out from the decorative magnets on the door) affect food items.

Amazingly, rigorous clinical studies stated that the group of mice that consumed the “radiated” food had as much as 87 % higher probability to get cancer than the other group of mice.
Inexplicably no Governments or health associations, institutions have given any statement in this regard.
However and just in case, is recommendable to remove any decorative magnet from refrigerators, and put it far away from any food.
(The above article is sent to be by one of my blogger friends. If you are not sure what is what, remember:
Discretion is the better part of valor.
Prov. It is good to be brave, but it is also good to be careful.; If you are careful, you will not get into situations that require you to be brave. Son: Can I go hang gliding with my friends? Father: No. Son: But they'll say I'm chicken if I don't go! Father: Discretion is the better part of valor, and I'd rather have them call you chicken than risk your life.)

Why Silver Why Now

Among the emerging markets that have done well since 2009, Malaysia is placed 3rd place from the bottom. Indonesia gets the pride of place. Turkey gets the silver and Thailand gets the bronze.

Singapore stands at the 10th place among the 14 countries mentioned. Malaysia, being the laggard has a lot of catch-up to do. If it wants to get any where near Indonesia, there is a tremendous amount of space to cover. Does this mean that Malaysia is poised to move up fast from now?

One threat facing these emerging markets, according to David Sterman is: Inflation. Read more.

Mergers & Acquisitions (M & A)

In our fast-changing world, M & A is essential for survival of the fittest. He who can adapt and change accordingly to the circumstance will emerge as the winner.

The purposes of M & A are to enhance competitiveness, create cost-efficiency, boost revenue, and improve earnings per share. Hence, the rage when an M & A is announced.

A merger is different from an acquisition. When two companies combine forces to build a new entity, it's called a merger. A new name will probably come about for the new company. If Proton and MBMR merge, a new name, something like P & M may emerge as the new company.

When a big company takes over a small company, its called an acquisition. The small company simply disappeared while the big company retains its old name. The reverse of M & A are spinoffs and carve-outs.

An M & A is supposed to create a win-win situation. But not all M &As are bed of roses. Many have not turned out to be as lucrative as envisaged, and many are fiascos. One reason why an acquisition may fail is that the style of management of the acquiring company may not suit the old guards of the acquired company. Flexible working hours, a relaxed dress code and easy access to top management may become things of the past. This may create resentment resulting in shrinking production.

Thus when an M & A is announced, it may not be a time to cheer but a time to weep and fear. Nevertheless, an M & A announcement is often a catalyst that has a dramatic impact on the stock price. This creates the opportunity to make some fast bucks.

In an acquisition, the target company's stock price will rise the fastest. If you have the ability to identify companies that are likely candidates for takeovers, you hold the key to great wealth. Of course this ability does not come without much knowledge and experience. So it is not easy. But then, who says that money-making is easy?

Foreign Funds To Continue Buying

Foreign investors were net buyers of local stocks, helping the index to an intra-day record of 1531.99 points on November 10.

They accounted for 28.38 per cent of the total value of trade in November worth RM39 billion, with local institutional funds accounting for 30.16 per cent of the value traded.

International investors' purchases are at their highest in more than one-and-a-half decade, as low returns from abroad and Malaysia's own economic liberalisation help attract investments into equities.

The appreciating ringgit, ease of credit and inflow of capital helped push Malaysia as the fastest growing market for mergers and acquisitions in the Asia-Pacific region this year with some RM21.3 billion deals on the table. Read more.