WMT LEAPS
George Berger: “I noticed today that my WMT leaps are up over 300%. Time to sell yet? Or hang on for 400%?”
A bird in the hand. I would sell half, anyway.
BOREF
WheelTug posted a short clip. I love the Franz Schubert score and the way the 737 backs out of its hangar without a tug. And do you notice the covers on its engines? The engines are not running. The plane seems to be backing out under the power of the motors in its nose wheel.
At one point yesterday the stock was quoted “6 bid, 35 asked,” before someone stepped up to offer shares at $6.75. It closed at “$4.85 bid, $6.75 asked.” There remains the real possibility of losing every dime. Then again, if this does prove real, the potential is very different from WMT leaps. I would not sell half if you find yourself with a triple. Yes; you could see yourself kissing that triple good-bye — who knows what dreadful problems could arise on the way to actual revenue, profits and, ultimately, dividends? But you took this tremendous risk (with money you can truly afford to lose) in the hope not that the company would ultimately have a $60 million market cap ($12 a share) — there are condos in New York City that have sold for more than that — but that it might one day have a $600 million market cap, or (dare I imagine it) even . . . well, it’s enough for now to dream of $600 million.
(Hard as it is to imagine, nearly 7 years ago in this space — which is to say, the last time “the plane moved” — I made the case for its being a $100 stock. That might be worth re-reading, both as a cautionary tale — the stock went to $3 rather than $100 — and because this time the motor is actually inside a wheel, and this time the company has letters of intent from four airlines, including El Al and Alitalia.)
The point is: it looks as though the thing may actually work.
WEALTH DISTRIBUTION
So maybe we’ll all get rich. If so, thank Tamara at Wayne State for this telling chart. It shows the wealth distribution most people imagine exists in the country today . . . the distribution they imagine would be fair . . . and the actual distribution (which Mitt Romney has pledged to skew yet further toward the ultra-rich).
