patrick.net

Philistine says

Linkedin doesn't work by giving your email out.

A guy asks you for your Email, he then from his LI profile(I assume) sends you a Join LI request. Not much different than MySpace worked. If I give you my email, I expect you to send your email back. When I get those LI invites, the person's email is not shown, you must first sign up for LI, then you can link to that person.

I don't have any problems getting work. I can work two and three contracts simultaneously, on top of a full time job at an office.
I don't need to play virtual "FORT" with some Internet wise ass, who doesn't get the whole email exchange thing.

And OH!!! I'm a bit of Socialnetworkphobe.

But when I stop getting ten emails a day from my resume on

Monster
Dice
and
Indeed

Then I'll rethink this whole virtual grabass thing.

Let me throw a bit of a wrench into your strategy.... how do you know they won't turn into another myspace?

FortWayne says

Let me throw a bit of a wrench into your strategy.... how do you know they won't turn into another myspace?

- in general, all companies go out of business. it's just a question of "when".
- tech companies become obsolete faster than other companies.
- web companies become obsolete faster than tech companies.

fb will turn into myspace eventually. we just don't know when this will happen. could be a year from now, could be 50 years or longer (if they are successful innovating).

people that think fb is worth $300/share are clueless. that would give it a market cap similar to google.

except google has a massive $11 billion in net income and facebook has a puny $53 million in net income (need to increase it 200 times to catch up to google). so unless you think facebook can find an extra $10 billion under the couch cushions you're dreaming.

SFace says

Myspace never reached 1B users or stopped begging for money

Even after Rupert bought them?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/markets/10063498/Rupert-Murdoch-warns-Facebook-faces-same-fate-as-MySpace.html

B.A.C.A.H. says

Philistine, do you work at linked in? Own shares in it?

Nope, not even interested. I think LI is pretty ridiculous, but mostly innocuous.

fb won't grow 50% year over year for the next 3 years.

even at these unrealistic growth rates, the stock still wouldn't be worth $300/share (when it's at $38/share today).

reading "analysis" on patnet is like reading the funnies. hilarious!

SFace says

The way I see it, FB can be a 40% operating margin business. If you slap a 40-50% growth for the next three years, we're talking about a 15B dollar busines with operating profits of $6B or $4B net of tax.

lol hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

I hope the stock crashes. FB is awful. Total crap.

I have never ever seen one FB ad on my phone. While I see many many Google ads all over the net

If you want shit stock buy FB it's total worthless junk

MershedPerturders says

ya and selling your private data to the NSA.

Privatized selling of data :)

SFace says

Rev ($B) yOY
2009-2013 (forecast)

0.8

2 150.00%

3.7 85.00%

5.1 37.84%

7.3 43.14%

FY13-Q2 53% accelerating again

who the hell knows what 2016 will look like but 15B is within reach and that will take EBITDA at around $7B - $8B based on how revenues are leveraged.

linear extrapolation. lol.

prices always go straight up!!

Here's the thing. None of us posting here on P.net are FB's actual target customers. We are too old and too ingrained in the "old" way of socializing and gathering information. Their strategy is to be THE internet for today's youth that will become the future's working and earning adults. Zuckerberg has outright said that his goal is to change how people socialize and to have FB be the medium through which information is exchanged. Not just pictures of your lunch, but ALL types of information. To most of today's adults, FB seems like a novelty with some marginal usefulness. To today's adults' children, it is a utility like water or electricity. Good or bad, and there are plenty of arguments either way, these kids are going to grow up and social media will be at the center of their social universe. Will FB remain relevant? Nobody knows. Comparing it to Myspace seems sort of nonsensical to me though since FB has been actively working to position themselves in every aspect of people's lives. Supposedly they are even trying to bring FB to "dumb phones" like Nokia stick phones so that everyone on earth can have access.

Where will their revenue and stock go? That depends on how well they execute on their strategy of being THE internet for the next generation of adults. Google has been trying to do this for years, and has had pretty good success at it. FB looks like it has the resources, and investors seem to be becoming increasingly convinced that they will be able to execute on their strategy. Personally, I have no idea how that will pan out. I do know that people love mindless entertainment and gossip, and people tend to seek out entertainment even more when hard times hit the economy. Since FB provides virtually endless (and FREE) brain-drain capability, I don't see it going away. It's like TV, but you basically tailor your experience to whatever you want with increasingly minimized effort as FB finds new ways to suggest stuff for you to look at.

BMWman,

Great analysis.

SFace,

This one is a keeper in my opinion. The potential is there. Not a $300 stock, but $70-$80 stock in 2-3 years is definitely a possibility. I agree it was a break away gap, and the gap will not get filled. There's so much strength in the stock in the recent days. Sorry I couldn't get in on the day of your recommendations, but I also avoided the JCP purchase, so it was a wash. :)

For the critics, if you think you're so good, especially you hysteresis, why don't you put a couple of your picks/recommendations out there for us to see so we could compare?

Aside from SRS as mostly a day-trading vehicle for which I don't see much downside in a sideways-to-down market (tapering looming) and rising inters rates, I can offer MSTX: crappy management with questionable history including reverse splits and name changes, therefore trading near all time lows around cash value per share with one particular interesting drug in the pipeline (funded through commercialization on successful phase 3 trial) which is MST-188. Downside: wherever your stop loss is below 42 cents, upside, 2x-3x, but with a first target sell at around 65 cents (where recent investors' warrants are priced) or below. No investment advice here ;)

E-man says

Just bought $400 shares of FB. Will see where it's going to be in the next couple of years. :)

Did you really buy them, did the transactions complete? Or will you magically remember that you didn't buy them when they are down 10% next year?

E-man says

Just bought $400 shares of FB.

Why bother with such a small position? Your transaction cost alone is what, 4% on this one?

E-man says

Yep. We just completed our renovation on the condo and rented it out. Staying home this morning to pay some bills, but gotta run some errands shortly. Next week should be busy again renovating our recent 3 beds, 2.5 baths acquisition. I have been so busy that I had to pull out of my tennis tournament 1/2 way through. The tournament just completed this Sunday.

After this last project, I'm taking the rest of the year off to work on my game plan for next year, which is commercial acquisitions.

Winning or losing on stocks is chump change. It doesn't make a dent in my networth. It's legal gambling in my opinion. I will start invest the money in my IRA in buying notes and tax liens in the next couple of years after the low hanging fruits in this real estate cycle are gone. Why screw around with the stock market when you can consistently make 12% to 18% buying notes and tax liens?

Of course, to each his own.

Wait a minute. Do you guys remember me asking anything about E-man's rental empire and how much money he has? I sure don't.

Straw Man says

Why bother with such a small position? Your transaction cost alone is what, 4% on this one?

$400 is chump change to E-man. He's the real deal baby. Onto his next commercial acquisition as we speak.

Straw Man says

E-man says

Just bought $400 shares of FB.

Why bother with such a small position? Your transaction cost alone is what, 4% on this one?

100 free trades per year with Wells Fargo. I couldn't use all of the free trades they give me.

Goran_K says

Wait a minute. Do you guys remember me asking anything about E-man's rental empire and how much money he has? I sure don't.

To show you that people have other purpose in life. Not sitting around chatting on Patnet all day long.

E-man says

@mell,

PK and I just rented out our 2 bedroom condo in Evergreen for $1,950/month. We bought it in March for $210k and financed 75% of it at 4.125%. Similar units have been sold between $300k and $325k depending on the conditions of the property. We bought one identical unit last year for $155k and rented it last year for $1,750/month. We did a cash-out refinance and pulled out $157,500 on this unit at 4.25%. What a difference a year made.

Now moving onto our next renovation project, which is the 3 beds, 2.5 baths townhouse. We closed it in June for $315k. Comparables are in the mid $400k. Why screw around with stocks when we can build equity at this pace. :)

Nice, drinks and food at the next upcoming patnet meetup are on PK (or you) then, so I heard!

E-man says

To show you that people have other purpose in life. Not sitting around chatting on Patnet all day long.

Really? Is that why you decided to wave your dick around on Pat.net? Because Pat.net isn't that important to you?

I drive a Ferrari, make millions, in fact, I don't have to work at all. I have so much disposable time I can brag about it on Pat.net.

Just letting you guys know so you won't think I consider this site or your peasant responses important. Peasant fucks.

btw, I'm a Christian. God is good. He's always protecting my hoard of wealth.

p.s - I love you SFace.

E-man says

To show you that people have other purpose in life.

Tenants and toilets and purpose in life do not belong in one sentence, IMO. Landlording is something you fall back at in your old age or after you fail at anything productive. To flaunt this as your sole occupation and purpose in life all over the Net is bizarre.

Straw Man says

Tenants and toilets and purpose in life do not belong in one sentence, IMO. Landlording is something you fall back at in your old age or after you fail at anything productive.

Yeah man. Someone who claims they can sit on their ass from one of the most unproductive activities in a capitalist society claiming they have a purpose. What is the world coming to?

E-man says

Jealousy I see. I started my journey right here on Patnet as a newbie in 2009. I didn't listen to the bears and have made millions for myself, my family members and a couple of investors including someone I met on Patnet. Now you call that waiving dick? Sure, whatever you say.

I'll let you know when I get "jealous" of someone bragging about their wealth and millions on the internet. Hasn't happened yet, and there are a lot of you on Pat.net!

E-man, but how rich are you, and can you tell us more about it?

Straw Man says

E-man says

To show you that people have other purpose in life.

Tenants and toilets and purpose in life do not belong in one sentence, IMO. Landlording is something you fall back at in your old age or after you fail at anything productive. To flaunt this as your sole occupation and purpose in life all over the Net is bizarre.

Actually, I call that forward thinking. I'm building an asset class that will take care of my family and my heirs for years to come. Anyways, gotta run now. Chat later.

E-man says

I didn't listen to the bears and have made millions for myself, my family members and a couple of investors including someone I met on Patnet.

How did you make millions since 2009? Flipping homes?

nw888 says

How did you make millions since 2009? Flipping homes?

Definitely not bragging about it on Pat.net.

E-man says

Why screw around with stocks when we can build equity at this pace. :)

Well, if you had put $400K in SRS at $20 you would have made $100K in a couple of weeks as it is approaching $25 now, of course before capital gains tax. That seems to beat flipping homes to me. But what makes real estate so interesting (and dangerous for the rest of the world) is that you get that kind of taxpayer-backstopped leverage that you would never get from your brokerage (because it could go broke instantly), plus all kinds of tax gimmicks such as no capital gains up to 250K when selling a house after 2 years or longer. And if things go south you can just walk away or whine to Obama for yet another refinancing scheme paid by the taxpayer, whereas making a huge wrong bet in stocks can definitely cream you. In that respect real estate definitely has a (mildly put) "unfair" edge.

@mell,

I'm totally in agreement with you. Real estate, no doubt, has an edge over other investment when it comes to tax treatment.

Say you buy a $1M apartment building. You depreciate it against your cashflow so you don't pay taxes on your cashflow/gain. You can tap into the equity without paying taxes through out the years by doing cash out refinance. By the time you're about to kick the can, and it's worth $5M. You have financed it with a $4M loan without paying taxes on the $3M cash out. You pass it down to your kids. The kids can turn around and sell it the next day for $5M FMV and not having to pay any taxes on the $1M.

So let's recap. You get to spend $3M without paying taxeson it. That's $100k/year for 30 years. You depreciate the building without paying taxes on your gain against the cashflow income. Your kids get to keep $1M in equity without paying taxes afterward.

Who came up with these loopholes? Ah, it's the 535 members of our country. I guess they're looking out for their own best interest, not ours. Reality is a bitch sometimes isn't it? :)

Zephyr and ptiemann left because people pointed out that they were being dishonest about their stock purchases like you were? Doesn't seem like a big loss if that's the case.

E-man says

Who came up with these loopholes? Ah, it's the 535 members of our country. I guess they're looking out for their own best interest, not ours. Reality is a bitch sometimes isn't it? :)

As I said there is no way denying that edge, but don't blame me, I cannot vote and if I could I'd have voted for Ron Paul ;) Plus, it is mostly an edge for the big players and savvy upper middle class to upper class players who may be able to time the market correctly and have enough liquidity to buy and sell fast or to weather a downturn in prices, rents and tenants and those who get bailed out (as long as the bailouts/debt game can continue). I don't find rent-seeking and flipping very productive as compared to investments in other fields, but it's not my job or prerogative to judge individual investments, plus some landlords are doing a good job (you can find them if you take time to search). Btw. the 250K housing cap-gains exemption I think is a CA law only, so that may explain wider swings here as well. But math doesn't lie and the question is which asset classes (if not all) will crash or become illiquid when the US debt gets out of control and the yields take off.

mell says

But math doesn't lie and the question is which asset classes (if not all) will crash or become illiquid when the US debt gets out of control and the yields take off.

It's basically playing hot potato with a grenade.

"the 250K housing cap-gains exemption I think is a CA law only, so that may explain wider swings here as well."

@mell,

I believe you're mistaken. The $250k exemption for individual and $500k exemption for married couple were signed into law by Bill Clinton in the late 90's. It has nothing to do with the step-up basis as well as cash out refinance.

Anyways, hope to meet you at one of the coffee gathering one of these days.

E-man says

I guess your mom didn't raise you right. When you don't have good things to say, you keep your mouth shut. Anyways, I have no time to waste with you. Good luck to your family.

My mom did raise me well enough that I don't have to lie about my stock picks, and how wealthy I am, to impress people online.

I think you're right, it was something else (withholding) specific about CA as this layer tells us why homeownership in CA is encouraged, incl. the federal cap gains exemption:

http://mosquedalaw.com/RealEstate%2017.htm

"These favorable tax rules on sale of principal residence should encourage, not discourage, home ownership in California." ;)

Yes, I agree. People need to be honest about their gains, and successes.

When people come on here and say I bought "1000 shares or 2000 shares of XY company", they should actually be buying into that company. Because then other people read that and say, "Hey, seems like a good pick, this guy just bought 2k of shares!"

They shouldn't then come back and say "Oh wait, I actually didn't buy" when the stock plunges 10%. That's dishonest, and reeks of a snake oil salesman.

Trolls shouldn't be allowed to be dishonest like that, because it can cost people real money on Pat.net.