I don't know if the readers at Forbes appreciated the value of the recommendations in the article last week, but they would have done rather well if they followed up on what they read. From the Going Short article.
"You're going to hear the word insolvent a lot," he says. Middleton has company in profiting by shorting financial stocks lately. But few shorts have been as vocal, or as prescient, as the Howard University graduate and self-taught stock-picker. Middleton, 41, started his BoomBustBlog in September 2007 and four months later declared Bear Stearns to be "in a fight for its life" at a time the investment bank's shares were trading above $90. On April 1 of last year he ridiculed regulators for blaming Lehman's problems on rumor-mongering short-sellers.
"I can solve this mystery," Middleton wrote with typical braggadocio. "The source of the rumors is Lehman's balance sheet."
Middleton says his Web site, www.reggiemiddleton.com, has 3,500 subscribers, including several hundred who pay up to $2,500 a year for access to more detailed financial reports. In the case of Alexander's, he used a video camera to record how empty its Brooklyn malls were.
Middleton's site combines self-promotion with meticulous financial analysis that is often delivered with a whiff of bathroom humor (a list of overpriced banking stocks last year went out as the "Doo-Doo 32")."
This is what I gave them to publish (a mere sampling of what is currently online for subscribers):
| Middleton's Short Picks | Ticker | Price* | Reason To Short | Price as of 3/6/2009 | Percent Change | Return if subscribed to Reggie | $50,000 evenly invested in short margin account would yield (for the one week after the Forbes article | $50,000 invested in the Barclay's hedge fund index as of last month would have yielded |
| Wynn Resorts | WYNN | $ 20.95 | Shrinking margins; 50% premium to discounted cash flow | $ 15.40 | (26.49)% | 50% | $ 15,033.41 | |
| Alexander's | ALX | $ 140.40 | Problems with commercial real estate holdings | $ 137.82 | (1.84)% | 3% | $ 10,349.15 | |
| Markel | MKL | $ 265.81 | Financial investments to deterioriate; selling at premium to rivals | $ 225.21 | (15.27)% | 29% | $ 12,902.07 | |
| Ralcorp Holdings | RAH | $ 60.60 | Cereal, packaged good maker faces margin pressure | $ 54.85 | (9.49)% | 18% | $ 11,802.81 | |
| Sears Holdings | SHLD | $ 36.76 | Recession to hurt earnings, revenues | $ 35.53 | (3.35)% | 6% | $ 10,635.75 | |
| Total | $ 60,723.18 | $ 47,000 | ||||||
| *Prices as of Feb. 27 close. | 21% | -6% | ||||||
| Come see me at BoomBustBlog.com | ||||||||
This doesn't included the veritable implosion that is to occur in the subject of the latest REIT report, or the potential fraud to be uncovered in the consumer retail sector report, or the stuff that I have backpiled struggling to get out.
Let this serve as a notice to the MSM (the mainstream media) in general. There's a new sherrif in town, and he doesn't look, sound, perform nor act like the conventional MSM favorites, ex. Cramer. I am actually trying to make money! You people are really going to get your money's worth this month. I will be holding an institutional conference call for the month of March - potentially within a week. There may be a strategy issue to share.
To all, come meet, greet and chat with me at the Algonquin Hotel in NYC. Register and RSVP here, it's free: BoomBustBlog Networking - Trading Reggie's Research
For those who are interested, more on the MSM and why they should align themselves with high quality blogs - the transformation of the MSM:
A change is gonna' come Monday, 08 December 2008
Continuing the conversation of the future of main stream media... Tuesday, 09 December 2008
The Future of Main Stream Media, pt 3 Saturday, 13 December 2008
Sometime, to grow, you have to stick to your Core Compentencies!
