Snowcat's Hot Stock Update!

[snowcat]

08/07/06
What's the use of happiness?  It can't buy you money. – Henny Youngman

The Stock Market was down today on an Alaskan Oil Spill and the Middle East situation getting more heated.  Iran has its hands right on the heart of the world's oil pipeline at the Strait of Hormuz, so oil prices can jump quickly as fears increase.

I would be looking at how I could take advantage of the oil situation now as prices seem headed up.  Maybe buy into the energy stocks or buy puts on everything else.

The Fed will meet tomorrow and if they raise rates or lower rates it will impact the market, but I am not sure which way.  I will tell half of you the market will go up and half of you that the market will go down.  That way at least some people will think I know what I am doing.

ABLE was up a bit and ALJ gained back what it lost Friday.

Canadian Oil Sands Trust was up a dollar, CWPC.ob up 5% and miner, BOB.v was up another 38% today like it was on Friday! (Unless there is something wrong with my ticker)
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/cq?d=v1&s=sbux+mvl+bob.v+cos-un.to+cwpc.ob

MVL, the licenser of Spiderman, X-Men and other characters had a positive conference call and was up nicely.  They have a bunch of movies due out next year including 'Spiderman 3' and 'Ghost Rider', with Nicholas Cage.

One I found that looks good is a Medical REIT, MPW.  They own medical related properties, have a nice chart and an 8% yield.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=MPW&t=6m

NFI, yielding 17%, blasted off today, following Friday's earnings, but finished the day much lower on high vol.  I will keep an eye on where this one goes.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=nfi

Tonight, "Girl Fight", a series about attractive girl kickboxers, 9pm, on The Oxygen Network.  At last, a women's show I think I might like.  I knew I was evolving!  Snowmonkey!

good story

I went to a pool party this past weekend, and a friend of mine in his late 40's walks into the backyard with a beautiful 18yo. wearing a bikini top and cut off shorts, on his arm.

Someone asks "is that your daughter?"

He says "no, it's my girlfriend!"

All the guys drop their beers in shock and envy.......

then he says......"nahhhhh - its my daughter, my wife is in the house with the other yentas."

[nullzero]

Nice tastes I bought MPW at 12.25 about 2 weeks ago. Its nice to see others are noticing that attractive stock. Healthcare REIT with lots of room to grow and a nice div. . Good long term hold in this economy. Check out NBG as well for a foriegn bank euro play to hedge against dollar. Im planning to stick alot of money in NBG, MPW, FXE, FCE, and rest into utilities for a recession portfolio.

[snowcat]

ACCIDENT IN TEXAS: YOU HAVE TO LISTEN!

It's a phone call from a man in Texas who witnessed a car accident involving
4 elderly women. It was so popular when they played it on CHUM FM that
they had to put it on their site.

This is so funny and his laugh is contagious! Close your eyes and just envision his word pictures !!!



Click here:    http://www.chumfm.com/MorningShow/bits/march24.swf



Banks in stable countries are good.  The healthchare REIT got a good write-up in Monday's IBD.  I will quote it if I can find it.  There are a bunch of good looking stocks with high yields out there, including several Blue Chips in the 5% range.  But I can get a 1 year CD that pays more than that with NO risk.  The stock market is as rigged as horse racing and professional rassling.  Pass it on.

[snowcat]

08/08/06
Money can't buy you happiness.....but it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery. – Spike Milligan

The Fed did not know whether to raise or lower interest rates, so it did nothing.  This sent the market lower.  Oil prices slid despite the mess in Alaska.  BP, it seems, stands for Big Problems.  The Energy Czar, however, said we have plenty of oil on hand – probably enough to last until 7:30 tonight.
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/060808/energy_bp_production.html?.v=4

So what should you do with your money??? Hold it very tightly.

Oil prices go up, stocks go down.  Stocks go down, oil stocks go down.  Stocks are stocks and commodities are commodities.   Don't get the two confused or think they are related.  They are and they aren't.  Make sense?  I did not think so.

Oil refiner and convenience store operator, ALJ had some good earnings and chugged ahead towards 40.  GIGM had some great earnings results, shot up fast and pulled back.  GIGM runs online gambling sites (but they have had better results than E-Trade and TD Ameritrade).
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?t=6m&s=ALJ&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=gigm

Billionaire, Marc Cuban, started his own "stocklemon" type site, "Stocksleuth", where he finds dirt on popular stocks.  His first victim is XNL, the company that has been praised by some of the best magazines for their ability to turn garbage into ethanol.  According to Stocksleuth, there is more than garbage stinking up XNL.

http://www.sharesleuth.com/

Disclosure: Moneybags Mark Cuban, the majority member of Sharesleuth.com LLC, sold short 10,000 shares of Xethanol's stock at a time when the price was around $12.65. Cuban also has sold short about 25,000 shares of UTEK Corp. (UTK: AMEX), a Florida company that is a large Xethanol shareholder.)

Good to see someone making money in this market.  Not.

Let's do lunch.  Snowwy

[snowcat]

08/09/06
A danger foreseen is half avoided. – Thomas Fuller, clergyman

We foresaw the danger of this market a month ago and it got worse!  For the most part, we got out, right?  More oil concerns drove prices lower today as NGA, NVEC, HSR, AAPL etc....continued to crater.

ALJ and similar oil refiner/convenience store operator, DK looked good.  Earnings on DK were up and the stock jumped up a dollar and CIB and ISIG also had good moves.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/cq?d=v1&s=dk+gv+cib+inin+q+

NFI continued to drop after the good earnings when it shot up and fell down in the same day.  A good sell sign.

Since I have stopped trading, I am less tense and am able to concentrate on more important things.

MPW is a REIT that specializes in health care facilities.  It develops, acquires and leases properties and also makes mortgage loans to health care operators.

Funds from operations increased 21%, 25% and 47% the past 3 q's.  Revenue rose 63%, 64% and 96% in the same period.

The Birmingham, Ala based co. pays a $1 div or 8.2%.  The co has raised the div 5 straight q's.

MPW will report 2nd q results after the close today.  Let's see what happens.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=mpw

Tonight I am going to the NY Mets game.  I got practically front row seats, so it should be a fun game.  I will wear my Mets jersey and hat in case they need a pinch hitter.

Stay focused on the positive.  Snowpenis

[nullzero]

MPW all the way good to see other fellow board members in this great stock.

[snowcat]

08/10/06
If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. – Will Rodgers

The market was a little up today as if anyone would notice.  Some terrorists were thwarted and captured and oil prices were down $2.  Bans on hand carried items on planes caused passenger bottlenecks in airports as there will once again be a security crackdown b4 boarding an airplane.

Kendall noticed URBN broke out of its funk today, but I worry whether people are going to spend money on fancy clothes in the near future.
http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=URBN&p=D&b=5&g=0&id=0

Nullzero noticed that pricey eateries like CAKE, PFCB AND CPKI have taken noticeable dives in recent weeks.  With more of our salaries going towards energy costs, will we have the disposable income to support excesses like eating in restaurants and buying luxuries?  Donald Trump will not have to think twice, but the average Joe who treats himself to The Cheesecake Factory might.  Nullzero thinks these are going down further!
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/cq?d=v1&s=cake+pfcb+cpki
Prices were up a little on these eateries today (maybe they will announce a dollar menu), but the trend is still down.  The drop in oil prices will not impact my wallet for a long time, if at all.

On the economic front, if Republicans get their cut in the inheritance tax, they promise to over tip. – Michael Feldman

XNL responded with nothing coherent to the accusations that the company is a sham in the article by Stocksleuth.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/060810/20060810005648.html?.v=1

Energy stocks took a beating today with NGS down 15%!
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=NGS

CIB continued up almost a buck in its trek towards 30.

Stock "GURU" Mark Skouson is giving hints in his mailers that his next big 10 bagger (besides his wife) is CMED.  CMED uses ultra sound to combat cancer.  Earnings are due out on 8/17.  http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=cmed
There will likely be a big move (up or down, I don't know – there is a lot of option activity). 

Last night's Mets game was great.  It was Perfect weather, Pedro was pitching and there was the return of fan favorite, Mike Piazza, who now plays for the Padres.  Piazza got a standing ovation, hit two homers (and almost a game winning third) but the Mets won anyway.

And don't forget that letting the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier'n putting it back in! (Will Rodgers again).  - Snowcatz

[genegene]

Great Stuff! 

You are playing DK and ALJ like a fiddle.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?t=3m&s=DK&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=alj !


Look at what Toby Smith says about XNL

August 11, 2006

THE XETHANOL SLAM-JOB

Dear WaveRiders,

In all my years in the investment securities business, the actions of Mark Cuban and his ShareSleuth.com Web site may indeed be the most incredible act of stock manipulation and exploitation I have ever witnessed.

And I gotta tell you, I've gotten to know Mark through time spent on various Fox News events, and I really like the guy!

But I've got to wonder what he is thinking here, and more importantly, what he is doing? I hope to converse with him shortly and find out.

Because either he just does not get that when you sponsor a way over-the-top slam job on a publicly traded company and at the same time hold at least a 10,000-share short position, it's unethical at the very best.

I can't for the life of me understand why a smart, charismatic billionaire would stake his reputation on such a crazy stunt, but now at least I can say I've seen everything in the world of stocks.

Listen, ever since we were notified on this misguided (at best) attack on Xethanol (XNL), I have been working with management and others to rebut the incredibly inaccurate slam job done by ShareSleuth.com on XNL (to see the entire slam, paste this link in your browser:
http://sharesleuth.com/2006/08/moons...ness.html#more ).

And FINALLY, this afternoon XNL published their response to this slam job.

I will have more to report tomorrow, as I will be in New York City (God
willing) and will do everything I can do get additional data out of the company.

NOT THE FIRST TIME WE'VE SEEN THIS HAPPEN

To put this attack in context, think back to the past butcher job done on an energy trust we held (and sold at a 64% profit), Williams Coal Seam Gas (WTU), for context from Barron's during 2004-2005.

The journalist wrote the in that slam job that royalty trusts are a scam, the fields are running low, the residual value of the properties are about
$2
instead of $15 value, etc., etc. on the "scoop" of a couple of hedge funds who were short the stock.

Bear in mind this stock traded about 25,000 shares a day, and the Barron's article schmeissed the stock in half on the open, down 55%.

Sound familiar?

When I got the facts back to our subscribers we did TWO important
things:

1) We bought HUGE amounts of shares.
2) We crushed the short sellers by putting "good until cancelled" sell orders for the stock at $10 higher than our target price.

And this is what I want you to do tomorrow.

If Mark Cuban is going to pull this kind of stunt, we will fight back as hard as we can and hopefully teach the indiscriminate shorts a lesson here.

Listen, this is a Legacy stock, for crying out loud. We have a very small allocation of our capital in these stocks, and for many of our retired subs, you should NOT hold this stock.

But all the evidence coming into us on ethanol says that corn ethanol is not going come close to making a significant dent in our daily fossil fuel requirements. There's simply not enough corn or land to make ethanol AND at the same time feed livestock and people.

Cellulosic components are the best rootstock for ethanol production, and Xethanol is one of the only public ways for us to play the cellulosic ethanol wave we expect to grow at a 100%+ rate for the next five years, at least.

THE XETHANOL REBUTTAL

ShareSleuth claims that Xethanol facilities are NOT producing ethanol.
This is
an out-and-out untruth -- either a blatant lie or misinformation.

Xethanol states for the record that its Blairstown, Iowa, facility is producing ethanol at the rate of 450,000 gallons per month, which is currently generating a gross profit of more than 50 cents per gallon. And the company will be reporting full details of this on its Form 10Q filing with the SEC.

The ethanol that is produced is sold through Aventine Renewable Energy, which confirmed this information to me today. XNL also confirmed today that the expansion on the Blairstown site to add 35 million gallons per year of capacity is proceeding on schedule.

In addition, Xethanol has announced a planned expansion of 50 million gallons per year in Augusta, Ga., and 35 million gallons per year in Spring Hope, N.C.


The ShareSleuth report tries to make Xethanol look to be a sham and it's simply not true. The company is still in the development stage with lots of upside, and lots of operation and execution risk. That's why we have its in our Legacy portfolio. But a sham it is not.
     

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And to call it a sham and be short the stock should be illegal -- and in fact, I believe a strong case could be made because there is no journalist privilege if you are responsible for the publishing of a slam-job article AND are currently short the stock.

But forget the legal issues -- the ethical line has been clearly crossed, without a doubt.

In its statement today, Xethanol goes on to rebut the other false claims made in the ShareSleuth article, defending its scientists and technology, its finances and its management and corporate governance.

BOTTOM LINE

This is just another in a long line of slam jobs that are part of investing in emerging, new industries. What makes this one so vile and unethical is that Mark is actively shorting the stock he is paying his "journalist" to vilify.

Mark, buddy, you are perfectly in your rights to publish anything you want about Xethanol -- this is America and our freedoms are what sets our country apart from others.

But to publish such untruths AND make a buck off it (not to mention hurt the small investors) crosses the line, big time. I think you at least owe our subscribers an apology for the disinformation you published.

So I am reiterating our Strong Buy price under $8 here for your Legacy portfolio.

And to help remove the stock from short-selling inventory, I'm recommending putting a "good-until-cancelled" sell order for $30 on the shares you hold.

Pay back is a you-know-what.

Hit 'em straight,

Toby

[genegene]

I will be filling in for Snowcat today.

08/11/06
Good judgment comes from experience and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.-
Will Rogers


Stocks dropped for a change.

XNL was up 20% at one point as investors bashed Marc Cuban for shorting the stock and then announcing on his "investigative" site that the stock was a stinker.  Market "guru" Tobin Smith called his actions irresponsible and urged his zombies....er......readers to buy XNL under 8.  The stock had a heavy short position, so jumped on the buy action.  What happens next week is anyone's guess.  PEIX, the ethanol stock which Bill Gates is an investor in has taken a beating over the past month too.  Maybe Gates and Cuban can battle it out in the battle of the billionaires!

OCN financial, the mortgage lender with a less than stellar record of being a fair lender hit 15 today.  This may make the IBD 100 and get some additional exposure.  It also makes itself available to large mutual funds that will generally not buy stocks under 15.
The chart is a beauty and despite rising interest rates and decreasing home sales, their aggressive work force has been increasing sales.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/cq?d=v1&s=dk+alj+ocn+inin

ININ finally caved in.  Its recent drop was a sign of what was coming.

The gasoline/convenience store duo of ALJ and DK were each up a dollar.  DK is a fairly new issue and is very aggressive in acquiring service stations in the south east US.

Here is an interesting site called the 'Daily Blog Watch' where you can find interesting investing tidbits from a variety of Blogs.
http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/newsanalysis/investing/10303192.html?cm_ven=YAHOO&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA

This is a great site if you like to hunt for your own stocks.  You just put in the parameters of the stock you want (let's say, stocks that increased by 20% on 2x adv) and they come up.  Be your own stock picker!  Make big Bucks!
>http://www.multibagger.com/fooltrade/screener.asp

Let's look for some good news in the Middle East this weekend.  I hear the President of Iran invited Mel Gibson over to discuss Middle East politics. - genegene

[genegene]

08/14/06
If you're riding ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it's still there. – Will Rogers

The cease fire in the Middle East eased fear in the markets and there was more buying than selling.  Oil prices dropped a bit with hopes that the terrorist situation can be resolved.  Unfortunately, that might involve wiping out a whole bunch of turnip heads. (Note that I do not mention the terrorists by a race or a religion, because that would be stereotyping – from now on, I will just refer to them as the "turnip heads".  It is not a slur and should not offend anyone.)  Let's see how long that lasts.  Things appear to be business as usual in other parts of the Middle East.

I have got a bunch of attractive stocks on my list which I think will zoom when Wall Street returns from the Hamptons.  One of those used to be on the Top 10 under $10 list.
http://biz.yahoo.com/special/low081406.html

HMSY has become a very attractive, investment stock, as opposed to rampant speculation.

HMS Holdings Corp., through its subsidiaries, provides various cost containment and payment accuracy services relating to government healthcare programs in the United States. The company, through Health Management Systems, Inc., works on behalf of government payors to help contain healthcare costs by recovering expenditures that were the responsibility of a third party, or were paid in error. Its customers include state and county Medicaid programs, Medicaid managed care plans, child support enforcement agencies, state prescription drug plans, and other public programs. HMS Holdings, through Reimbursement Services Group, Inc., works on behalf of public, voluntary, as well as profit hospitals to document services that qualify for reimbursement through Medicare cost reports and other government payment mechanisms. The company was founded in 1974 and is headquartered in New York City.

What better ways to make money than by helping people manage their money?  The chart is a thing of beauty and volume is growing steadily.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=HMSY

ININ bounced back a bit from last weeks beating, up 7% on average volume.  It is a promising looking software stock caught in a shaky market.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=ININ

DK did well today, as it approaches 20.  Gas station/convenience stores are a good combination.  Look how ALJ has done the past month and PTRY looked great until May.  DK is in the same industry.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?t=1y&s=PTRY&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=alj

Diet company, MED, is getting spanked after hours.  Maybe people are just eating less now because they can't afford to eat or drive to McDonald's.  –

And remember to always drink upstream from the herd. – Will Rogers.

Genegene

[snowcat]

The Snowcat is back! 

08/15/06
Never miss a good chance to shut up. – Will Rogers

Or was that throw up?  The market surged ahead on good inflation numbers and lower wholesale costs.  The NYSE was up over 100 points on strong trading.  I think the announcement was just done to coincide with the momentum from the Middle East cease fire.  Wal-Mart announced their first drop in profit in a decade and home sales are declining.

There were nice gains in GOOG, AAPL WFMI and some other high end stocks while some small cap favorites like SIMC and MED got the tanning of their lives on a 10q delay for SIMC and good earnings for MED!
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/cq?d=v1&s=simc+med

"When I saw some beached whale in a bikini sitting by the side of the pool, pulling out a tube of suntan lotion that was lodged in her belly-button, I knew it was time to short Med" - said astute investor, Dick Trickle.

TPTH, a cancer detection imaging company which was falling like a stone the last month got a buy-out offer and jumped 72%!  Why if I bought yesterday and sold today, I would have been rich, rich, rich!!!
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=tpth

OCN continues its climb past 15 with a small, but steady gain; while DK and HMSY gave back some of yesterday's gains.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/cq?d=v1&s=ocn+dk+cib+hmsy

HSOA (formerly HOM) had a big gain this morning, but gave it all up when word got out on a new Stocklemon report.  These things are killers:

This morning Stocklemon reviews the latest earnings report from Home Solutions (NASDAQ:HSOA). This company is due some additional scrutiny following a major PR misrepresentation Stocklemon discovered earlier this year.

Now they have issued guidance claiming 300% more revenues are coming the 2nd half of the year than they booked in the first half. Wait until you see who their largest single customer is. Meanwhile, share expansion is running far ahead of any other metric.

Rollups are popular on the street and at the deli counter. But in both contexts, buyers need to be sure what quality of ingredients are rolled up inside.

Cautious investing to all.


PS For those of you who were short Medifast (MED) based on a Stocklemon report, nice going, but at these prices after yesterdays earnings the stock is looking cheap. They just got accepted for listing on the NYSE and we believe the stock is overreacting today to the downside...good luck.

That's all for today, tomorrow, a new stock find (if I find one).  Snowster

[Lucas Scott]

Welcome back Snowcat. That genegene guy didn't seem to have a clue what he what he was talking about   I shorted MED @ 12.69. A day late but I think it goes to the 200 dma (10.42) before it bounces.

[snowcat]

MED is headed for the NYSE shortly.  At this price it is a good value.  Do not hang around too long b4 taking profits.

Check out RTK one of my favorites that trades in a channel with a top at about 5.5.
A good story stock!

From Wealth Daily:

There is a Coal to Liquids bill that is going thru congress soon.

RTK has been inching up

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=RTK&t=5d

America's roadmap to energy independence begins in the next few weeks. I'm referring to US Senate Bill 3325 and US House Bill 5778.

You can find the full text of these bills on the Library of Congress THOMAS search engine.

Now, you probably haven't heard much talk about these bills. But trust me, you will.

That's because these bills, if passed, could literally break America's dependence on foreign oil once and for all.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that we'll break our foreign oil addiction over night. I think it'll take some years. In fact, we think the US is experiencing an epic energy transformation. We're leaving the age of oil and entering into a new era.

And that new era starts with the passage of these bills.

You see, House Bill 5778 is titled the Coal-to-Liquid Fuel Energy Act of 2006... and Senate Bill 3325 is titled Coal-to-Liquid Fuel Promotion Act of 2006.

What is coal-to-liquid (CTL)?

In short, coal can be converted into liquid fuels like gasoline or diesel. One of the CTL techniques is the Fischer Tropsch. It was used in Nazi Germany, and for many years by Sasol in South Africa because, in both cases, those regimes were politically isolated and unable to purchase crude oil on the open market.

So they converted coal into liquid fuel to run their automobiles.

Given that the US has abundance of coal reserves, developing a coal-to-liquid infrastructure makes perfect sense.

And everybody wants a piece of it. Including the US government. It's easy to see why.

With over 270 billion tons of proven coal reserves, the United States is the Saudi Arabia of coal. If the United States converts just 5 percent of its estimated recoverable coal reserves, it would be equivalent to the 29 billion barrels of proven oil reserves in the United States.

Speaking in front of reporters, Senator Conrad Burns from coal-rich Montana said... "This legislation gives us independence from foreign sources of fuel, it ensures that our national security and that our military will have the fuel they need..."

Both of these bills are up for vote in the coming weeks. With the American public livid over rising energy costs, we believe these bills will pass with overwhelming majorities.

When these bills pass, the stock of a tiny $4.75 coal-to-liquid company headquartered in Denver, Colorado is going to skyrocket.

This is the same company whose CEO spoke in front of Congress last May. I have to believe that what he said had a major influence on lawmakers.

Out of all his testimony, here's the passage that I think sealed the deal:
"The company has developed a five-point strategy for commercialization...

We are aggressively pursuing multiple strategic projects in the US, with the goal of getting plants up and running at several sites very quickly. Third, we are developing a repeatable and scalable design that allows for expansion of production up to 50,000 bpd per plant that will provide for a very rapid expansion of the industry once the first plants are operational and proved out."
If each state in the Union had 3 to 4 CTL plants, we could nearly eliminate all foreign oil. In fact, the US has roughly 2,778 power plants. If half of those were CTL plants, we could produce 69 million barrels of liquid fuel every day.

That's why we're advising our traders to buy the company's stock now. I would like to personally invite you to participate with us in this trade.

If you're interested in buying this $4.75 CTL stock, go here: http://wealthdailymail.com/cntdir.asp?num=907

[snowcat]

08/16/06
Never slap a man who's chewing tobacco. – Will Rogers.

The Market was up about 100 points again for the 2nd straight day as investors have their rose colored glasses on.  Word is that things are looking good for the economy and the Fed does not plan to raise rates again in September.  Go figure.

After MED took a spill yesterday due to great, but not amazingly great, earnings (it is due to be listed on the NYSE soon, too), another IBD 100 name got rocked.  Scoreboard maker, DAKT, fell almost 30%.  The reason: earnings.  Do not hold through earnings.  Good or bad, it will probably hurt.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=dakt

There is a bill in the Senate called the "Coal to Fuel Energy Act", as mentioned in "Wealth Daily, today.  http://www.wealthdaily.net/ America has plenty of coal, and with the shortage of oil; it is worth looking into this process.  SSL has been using this process for years, but American companies SYNM and RTK may profit by it.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/cq?d=v1&s=rtk+synm

Some stocks I watch were up a bit today.  Metal processors, ERS and SIM had some decent volume.  While word is that China may be cutting back on copper imports.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/cq?d=v1&s=isig+ers+mikr+sim

Water stocks do not get much respect, but the root of much of the fighting in the Middle East has to do with water rights.  The changes in the climate will have an impact too.  There are many ways to invest – bottled water, water treatment systems, water resource management, water purification and infrastructure.  Here are some to keep an eye on:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/cq?d=v1&s=ve+bmi+vmi+ttek+layn+mwa+wts
TTEK looks especially good.

A man who never trusts himself never trusts anyone. – Paul de Gondi, statesman

The market looks a little better, but be careful of earnings announcements! -Snowy

[snowcat]

08/17/06
Never kick a cow chip on a hot day. – Will Rogers

The market leaped in the morning and calmed by the end of the day as earnings from HP and a drop in oil prices helped the market maintain its brief rally.  If things improve, the Fed may have to raise rates to slow things down.  They can't let us have too much fun.  The market is still in a downtrend, and though there are signs of life, do not dive into the market face first yet.

A few of my favorites continued to ride high.  Tech Company, NVEC broke out from its slow upward trend and into 5th gear today with a 13% jump on huge volume.  NVEC holds patents on a data memory system which is fast and economical – and could be a big step towards many technological advances.  It was 60 a few years ago, came back to earth and is moving again.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=nvec

Real estate owner and magazine distributor, AXR, is getting the best of its low float, up another 4%.  This stock took a major dive with the rest of the market after a great review by Mr. Market – dropping almost 20 points, but has fought its way back.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=axr

Chinese medical company, CMED, which was also a fallen angel, was inching up until today's good earnings.  The stock dropped but ended up in the green.  The company has a process that battles cancer with ultra sound.  GE has a nice stake in this one.  "Guru" Mark Skouson is pumping this in his mailings (but does not reveal the name of it)  - (Chinese Man)
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=cmed

PVC pipe maker, PWEI, which was listed as a stock with high short interest two weeks ago, continued moving up with a 6% gain today on good volume.  The company has a pe ratio of less than 5!
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=PWEI

Those pricey restaurants that were down have been up the past few days, along with pricey grocery store, WFMI.  I guess people thing that the world is getting better.  That is nice to know. 

Another thing that is nice to know is that tomorrow is another day.  Snowcat