Friday January 18th, 2008 After Market Close

We didn't get any catastrophic moves one way or the other. Of the names I picked up at this morning's lows
1. BIDU 255.77 closed at 272.6 - paper gain of +$16.83 - holding this through tuesday
2. SPWR 73.77 closed at 74.75 +$.98 - holding for a dead cat bounce - we'll see how the other solars fare
3. EJ 18.88 closed at 20 +$1.18 - I like this company, though still not sure if it's a long term hold.
4. MELI $45.74 - closed at $47.05 +$1.31 - probably a broken stock, but looking for a bounce
5. JRJC $12.8 - closed at $12.68 -$.12 - broken and oversold
6. VDSI $17.28 closed at $17.51 +$.23 - broken and oversold

we have a ton of earnings reports next week, but with the market now at extremely oversold levels I expect a lot of traders to look over many names over the long weekend and say "this looks damn cheap". We've had some incredible volume this week, and I know there may be a lot of sellers who will buy back in if the market stabilizes.

EJ stock profile: (E-house China)
This is a great company in my opinion and here are the pros and cons.
Pros: They claim to be the largest real estate development company in China. They may currently be creating what will become China's MLS, and paid subscribers are already onboard. Their strongest quarter is the 4th quarter of the year so the numbers will be pretty impressive IMO for their upcoming earnings report. China is not affected by any subprime lending woes domestically - they have always required a 30% downpayment for all buyers,there is no such thing as an ARM there, so in fact, the lending practices there are extremely conservative. They are diversified geographically - not only focused on extremely high priced areas such as Shanghai or Beijing.
Cons: Although the chinese mortgage industry is still fairly conservative, I hear that prices for housing, especially in the major urban cities, have gotten out of hand as well. This is still good for the company since they make commissions on the selling price, but we may start hearing about china's real estate becoming overheated, which is bad publicity for this company. They also have a secondary offering which was just announced yesterday.

Have a great weekend. I might post some other thoughts throughout the weekend as well.

By the way, one blog I make routine visits to is alphatrends.net (linked on the right). Brian's analysis is simply outstanding and I would recommend everyone who reads this blog to take the time and view his technical take on a nightly basis.