Showing posts with label VirnetX. Show all posts
Showing posts with label VirnetX. Show all posts
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Port 24 update
I finally had a chance to revisit the Port, and spent a while cleaning it up.
MITI was bought out, CLSN and DCTH had reverse splits (boy do I wish I'd sold those prior to the mothball!) and a few calls expired worthless.
This morning I check out the prices of CLSN, DCTH, and PIP and "sold" them at the bid.
Just now I couldn't resist and picked up 2000 shares of VHC.
So the current Port looks like this:
Cash $27,780.30
1500 ARQL
1200 BTX
2600 CLDX
2500 CORT
1100 EXEL
7000 NNVC
6000 PPHM
1600 SGMO
2000 VHC
1800 ZIOP
Total worth (as of this moment) is $213,642.30.
That is a return of 113%, and annualized to about 16% over nearly seven years. Almost 4 of those years, the Post has been neglected to a sorry degree, too! Not bad.
I'll be more active now, and utilizing calls as usual to pick up additional income.
Good luck to all portfolios in the days ahead!
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
VirnetX (VHC) and Uni-Pixel (UNXL)
Good morning!
Last night, VHC received the final judgment in its court victory against Apple from last November. The jury award of $368M was confirmed, along with daily damages that total about another $18M+. Their request for an injunction (yes, an injunction against the iphone4 (!) amongst other products) was denied. The parties were ordered into mediation within 45 days to come up with a license for royalties – or else the judge will impose one. All in all, a clear win for VirnetX AND the trial against Cisco starts in two weeks – on the same patent suite, in front of the same judge who oversaw victories against Microsoft and Apple, and who used to be a software engineer.
Add to that this morning the USPTO reviewed and confirmed several core patents that VHC holds.
Uni-Pixel makes touchscreens and films that may represent an order of magnitude improvement in cost and flexibility for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). They have signed several agreements and licenses in the last few months (including Texas Instruments and an unnamed “major PC maker”).
The company had its 4Q12 earnings call last night and I expect good things for all of 2013 from this company. They are ramping up to production mode and have $5M in pre-orders already. Wall Street seems to be cheering them on today, with the price up 23% to the $23+ level.
Excellent news from both.
Best regards,
Trond Hildahl
--This is presented for educational and informational purposes only, and should not be construed as personalized legal, tax, investment, or financial advice. Stocks may lose value and this is not recommendation to buy or sell this particular issue.
Last night, VHC received the final judgment in its court victory against Apple from last November. The jury award of $368M was confirmed, along with daily damages that total about another $18M+. Their request for an injunction (yes, an injunction against the iphone4 (!) amongst other products) was denied. The parties were ordered into mediation within 45 days to come up with a license for royalties – or else the judge will impose one. All in all, a clear win for VirnetX AND the trial against Cisco starts in two weeks – on the same patent suite, in front of the same judge who oversaw victories against Microsoft and Apple, and who used to be a software engineer.
Add to that this morning the USPTO reviewed and confirmed several core patents that VHC holds.
Uni-Pixel makes touchscreens and films that may represent an order of magnitude improvement in cost and flexibility for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). They have signed several agreements and licenses in the last few months (including Texas Instruments and an unnamed “major PC maker”).
The company had its 4Q12 earnings call last night and I expect good things for all of 2013 from this company. They are ramping up to production mode and have $5M in pre-orders already. Wall Street seems to be cheering them on today, with the price up 23% to the $23+ level.
Excellent news from both.
Best regards,
Trond Hildahl
--This is presented for educational and informational purposes only, and should not be construed as personalized legal, tax, investment, or financial advice. Stocks may lose value and this is not recommendation to buy or sell this particular issue.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Marketocracy results
Well, I am a big fan of full disclosure, but this is a hard post to write. The Marketocracy website allows anyone to participate in managing a mutual fund - fake of course. Nevertheless, you are bound by some rules; you can't bet it all on one stock, as no one stock can be more than a certain percent of the total. You can't be on margin, and you must be at least 65% invested. If you want to be a sector based fund, then a certain percentage of the holdings must be in that sector. They do all the calculations across months, quarters, and years to figure your returns and most importantly, compare those returns against the other marketocracy funds.
The best of the best are called the M100 - the 100 best performers, long term; culled from the 85,000+ managers and the 100,000+ funds being managed. Those 100 actually make a little money, too - the company uses the best managers' ideas to run an actual mutual fund and those managers are compensated. It is no secret that I firmly intend to be one of those manangers one day.
And that is why I am writing so sheepishly today. They update the quarterly returns quite late - Q2 was just posted about a month ago. And in my Heartstone Health fund (http://www.marketocracy.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/Portfolio.woa/ps/FundPublicPage/source=CmOhHbFfEfOmLoNbMaKiAbDf), I was the 7th best fund (yes, 7th, not top 7%!!!) for the three month period. For the 3 year returns, for as long as I've HAD the fund for more than 3 years, I've been in the top 89%, and this quarter I came in at #67 overall.
I was ecstatic, of course, but now for the disclosure. Since they posted the results in September, I knew already that my 3rd quarter results were going to equal my second quarter results to the downside. Yes, I fear that I may well be the 7th WORST fund across the universe this coming quarter. Celsion dipped about 40%; VirnetX went from the $30s to about $20; and Dendreon crashed from the $30s to about $10! To be frank, I am not sure if any holding had a positive return in this quarter.
Since I am a sector fund (biotech/healthcare) my beta is quite a bit higher than the S&P 500. Beta is a measure of how volatile I am versus the market-as-a-whole. It is the long term that matters, of course, and I'm fully confident that I will come back and with a vengeance. Bring on the fourth quarter!
Regards,
Trond
The best of the best are called the M100 - the 100 best performers, long term; culled from the 85,000+ managers and the 100,000+ funds being managed. Those 100 actually make a little money, too - the company uses the best managers' ideas to run an actual mutual fund and those managers are compensated. It is no secret that I firmly intend to be one of those manangers one day.
And that is why I am writing so sheepishly today. They update the quarterly returns quite late - Q2 was just posted about a month ago. And in my Heartstone Health fund (http://www.marketocracy.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/Portfolio.woa/ps/FundPublicPage/source=CmOhHbFfEfOmLoNbMaKiAbDf), I was the 7th best fund (yes, 7th, not top 7%!!!) for the three month period. For the 3 year returns, for as long as I've HAD the fund for more than 3 years, I've been in the top 89%, and this quarter I came in at #67 overall.
I was ecstatic, of course, but now for the disclosure. Since they posted the results in September, I knew already that my 3rd quarter results were going to equal my second quarter results to the downside. Yes, I fear that I may well be the 7th WORST fund across the universe this coming quarter. Celsion dipped about 40%; VirnetX went from the $30s to about $20; and Dendreon crashed from the $30s to about $10! To be frank, I am not sure if any holding had a positive return in this quarter.
Since I am a sector fund (biotech/healthcare) my beta is quite a bit higher than the S&P 500. Beta is a measure of how volatile I am versus the market-as-a-whole. It is the long term that matters, of course, and I'm fully confident that I will come back and with a vengeance. Bring on the fourth quarter!
Regards,
Trond
Monday, July 25, 2011
Today's trades and new Port24 additions
I have two trades for covered call fanatics, today. PIP and VHC both have very good arguments for a trade which yield 14 and 8%, respectively.
PIP is trading at $2.74, with the Aug11 $2.50s selling for $0.65. You'll end up losing 24 cents on the shares, if exercised, but gain the 65 cents on the option, netting 41 cents profit per $2.74 share - over 14% for a month. On the downside (especially important to note if they lose their lawsuit) you are "protected" down to $2.09.
VHC is trading at $34.55 with the Aug11 $35s selling for $2.80. That is an 8% dividend while you wait, with an extra 1% of capital gains if exercised.
I think both of these will end where they are, or higher, on 8/19/11.
---
On the Port24 front, I miss having NBIX already, but will not buy in again here.
I bought 2500 CORT at $3.82, 6000 PPHM at $1.78, and 1800 ZIOP at $5.87. I am trying to buy lots of stock that end up somewhere around $10K at a whack.
I sold 20 Jan12 $2.50 calls against 2000 of the 6000 PPHM (Peregrine Pharma) for $25/contract. This is about a 14% return for the 6 month period, with an additional 40% return if exercised. I LOVE this risk/reward ratio, especially since I've only sold options on a third of the position. If the price rises into the $2s again, I will sell more, at much higher premiums.
I also sold 18 Aug11 $6 calls against the ZIOP (Ziopharm) for $25/contract. While "only" a 4% return for the month, I am more than willing to either lose the stock if over $6, or rinse and repeat under $6.
CORT (Corcept) is a stock I will hang onto for a couple months, assuming there will be a runup into the $5s or more as the FDA PDUFA date approaches. I'll sell calls at that point.
Port24:
19.8% annualized return (since 5/14/2008)
$5,468.80 in cash
1500 ARQL (0)
1200 BTX (0)
2600 CLDX (0)
9000 CLSN (0)
1600 DCTH (0)
300 DNDN (0)
1100 EXEL (0)
2000 MITI (0)
7000 NNVC (0)
2500 PIP (0)
1600 SGMO (0)
2500 CORT (0)
6000 PPHM (20)
1800 ZIOP (18)
PIP is trading at $2.74, with the Aug11 $2.50s selling for $0.65. You'll end up losing 24 cents on the shares, if exercised, but gain the 65 cents on the option, netting 41 cents profit per $2.74 share - over 14% for a month. On the downside (especially important to note if they lose their lawsuit) you are "protected" down to $2.09.
VHC is trading at $34.55 with the Aug11 $35s selling for $2.80. That is an 8% dividend while you wait, with an extra 1% of capital gains if exercised.
I think both of these will end where they are, or higher, on 8/19/11.
---
On the Port24 front, I miss having NBIX already, but will not buy in again here.
I bought 2500 CORT at $3.82, 6000 PPHM at $1.78, and 1800 ZIOP at $5.87. I am trying to buy lots of stock that end up somewhere around $10K at a whack.
I sold 20 Jan12 $2.50 calls against 2000 of the 6000 PPHM (Peregrine Pharma) for $25/contract. This is about a 14% return for the 6 month period, with an additional 40% return if exercised. I LOVE this risk/reward ratio, especially since I've only sold options on a third of the position. If the price rises into the $2s again, I will sell more, at much higher premiums.
I also sold 18 Aug11 $6 calls against the ZIOP (Ziopharm) for $25/contract. While "only" a 4% return for the month, I am more than willing to either lose the stock if over $6, or rinse and repeat under $6.
CORT (Corcept) is a stock I will hang onto for a couple months, assuming there will be a runup into the $5s or more as the FDA PDUFA date approaches. I'll sell calls at that point.
Port24:
19.8% annualized return (since 5/14/2008)
$5,468.80 in cash
1500 ARQL (0)
1200 BTX (0)
2600 CLDX (0)
9000 CLSN (0)
1600 DCTH (0)
300 DNDN (0)
1100 EXEL (0)
2000 MITI (0)
7000 NNVC (0)
2500 PIP (0)
1600 SGMO (0)
2500 CORT (0)
6000 PPHM (20)
1800 ZIOP (18)
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
CLSN news, VHC, and Port24 add (SGMO)
I bought 1600 SGMO for the Port at $6.14 this morning. No calls sold yet... this is the second time Sangamo has appeared in the Port24!
Celsion had their conference call for Q1 last Friday. The primary news is that they are about 37 patients away from full enrollment in the HEAT trial. That should be accomplished by mid July so now we have a pretty much fixed timeframe. I expect a runup to occur anywhere from a few days to a month; unfortunately this may coincide with a general market slump and so the effect may be slightly muted. Nevertheless, this is my best opportunity seen in the next couple months.
While I normally look at biotech, I have to mention VirnetX (VHC). I've held it in my real money accounts since $6.50 last June and it is now $23. While of course I wish I'd highlighted it here earlier, I am more confident in it now; while near term it may certainly go lower (high teens, perhaps?) if you hold through the end of the year I think we may see the $30s or $40s. I may explore this further in a future post, but there is some great info out there on the InvestorVillage.com website for VHC.
Regards,
Trond
Celsion had their conference call for Q1 last Friday. The primary news is that they are about 37 patients away from full enrollment in the HEAT trial. That should be accomplished by mid July so now we have a pretty much fixed timeframe. I expect a runup to occur anywhere from a few days to a month; unfortunately this may coincide with a general market slump and so the effect may be slightly muted. Nevertheless, this is my best opportunity seen in the next couple months.
While I normally look at biotech, I have to mention VirnetX (VHC). I've held it in my real money accounts since $6.50 last June and it is now $23. While of course I wish I'd highlighted it here earlier, I am more confident in it now; while near term it may certainly go lower (high teens, perhaps?) if you hold through the end of the year I think we may see the $30s or $40s. I may explore this further in a future post, but there is some great info out there on the InvestorVillage.com website for VHC.
Regards,
Trond
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