The chart below displays the price of long HLF and short JCP…the opposite of Mr. Ackman. Over the last few trading days, the price of the pair has nearly doubled, meaning pain for Mr. Ackman, but the billionaire is probably not very concerned with day-to-day fluctuation, for according to his analysis, there are structural and fundamental drivers behind the trade…high conviction.

Some folks, like Carl Icahn, smell the potential for a short squeeze in HLF. Mr. Icahn, who goes way back with Mr. Ackman, has taken the other side of the HLF trade. Additionally, JCP may be a way to watch HLF too, for the two have seemed to have an inverse relationship. Either way, this Wall Street drama is far from over.

HLF-JCP Displayed below.

salerno.mark.a@gmail.com

Paper bought 900 LOPE April 20 Puts for $.35 (3.7 times usual volume)
when stock was trading $23.70
Paper bought 223 MCK May 97.5 Puts for $1.05 (3.7 times usual volume)
when stock was trading $107.13
Paper bought 507 TFM March 40 Puts for $.55 (10.5 times usual volume)
when stock was trading $44.86
Paper bought 465 ADTN March 22 Puts for $1.30 (3.0 times usual volume)
when stock was trading $21.03
Paper bought 700 CQB Aug 3 Puts for $.15 (7.3 times usual volume) when
stock was trading $5.97

Paper bought 3000 CMCSK April 40 Calls for $.40 (2.9 times usual
volume) when stock was trading $38.39
Paper bought 1000 AMCX June 65 Calls for $1.20 (9.9 times usual
volume) when stock was trading $57.26
Paper bought 900 DOX July 37.5 Calls for $.80 (3.8 times usual volume)
when stock was trading $36.33
Paper bought 900 HOGS June 12.5 Calls for $.74 (2.4 times usual
volume) when stock was trading $12.76
Paper bought 2762 TROX April 22.5 Calls for $.50 (4.9 times usual
volume) when stock was trading $20.36

Paper bought 1080 MTG April 4.5 Calls for $.31 (3.8 times usual
volume) when stock was trading $4.18
Paper bought 7500 STX April 35-38 Bull Call Spread for $.47 when stock
was trading $31.97
Paper sold 13,000 MT Sep 15-16 Bear Call Spread for $.31 (4.7 times
usual volume) when stock was trading $14.04
Paper sold 1000 HL June 3.5 Put- June 5 Calls for $.27 (4.7 times
usual volume) when stock was trading $4.11
Paper bought 1400 STP March 1 Puts for $.20 (2.0 times usual volume)
when stock was trading $1.29

Now enter NYT and NWS. While traders can’t specifically trade the Omaha World-Herald, for example, News Corp and The New York Times will do. These two stocks are essentially two massive media conglomerates and content creators across the vast spectrum of entertainment and media outlets. “News, to put it simply, is what people don’t know that they want to know,” said Mr. Buffett in his letter. Mr. Buffett is referring to the ability to create content that gains traction in the public. This difficulty ever increasing in the click skeptical Internet generation and may be a part of his long-term bearish thesis.

It is difficult to find a pure play in the daily newspaper space like Mr. Buffett was referring to in his letter without getting parts of another business. These media giants are so diversified these days that shorting them may be a bad idea considering their big portfolios.

NYT displayed below.

salerno.mark.a@gmail.com

Google Glasses are a reality head mounted display that allows its users a hands free interaction, with the Internet, via voice commands. The glasses appearance is simply an aluminum strip, with two nose pads, and the heads-up display in the upper corner of the eye. It works by having the virtual retinal display project images onto the retina. This means you will be searching the web, getting directions, having Google + hangouts, recording videos, taking pictures and even sending messages from a blink of an eye. It also has the ability to take photos and record videos up to 720p.

Can you believe it… just years ago the smartphone was this revolutionary idea that had/has us going crazy over apps. Now we will be wearing glasses that look like were from Star-Trek everywhere we go…hard to believe.

It will change the way companies advertise, instead of all the ads on the web, it seems reasonable to say they will transition over to the glasses. To say at this time how they will be done, is quite unreasonable… but the sky is the limit.

This technology can also have tremendous effects on how you watch your favorite sporting events. Instead of siting on your couch with a 1080p TV, how does watching it streamed 720p from your friends glasses sound? Yes, that is exactly what these glasses have the ability to do. If your friend is sitting courtside at the NBA Finals, front row at the super bowl or even third row down the first base line at the world series, you could see exactly what they are seeing real time. Disputes from the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL etc. over the thought of that happening is a whole different story, but we can dream for now!

If you want to get your hands on a pair of these, Google announced that they are taking pre-orders requiring those interested to tell Google “what you would do if you had Glass”?

Author: Peter Nitso

pnitso@yahoo.com

Twitter: @PeterNitso

In short, time will tell. Yesterday’s gap down was a prompt rejection of the 200 DMA
(day moving average), and may be the catalyst for shares to move lower and retest
lows. The 50 DMA recently crossed over the 100 and 150 DMA, but yesterdays price
action was also rejected by those levels as the stock tried to rebound from beneath
them.

The ailing daily deals site suffered a loss of $0.12, but this may be a turnaround
point as the stock traded over 100 million shares. From a fundamental prospective,
the business model is being questioned as players like AMZN and GOOG join the
scene, for the barriers to entry are minimal. Additionally, the stock has been a
target of shorts as there was early controversy of GRPN’s accounting practices.

The graphic below is GRPN.