Facebooked

It's been a couple months since its IPO and Facebook is looking like a shiny turd. Ok, maybe not too shiny. Did I see this coming?  Well, I won't say I saw it coming because there's no accounting for the crazy of the stock market, but I never could figure out a few things, like.

• How does a company making about $1-2 billion a year, warrant a valuation of $100 billion?
• Running a startup is one thing, running a real company is another. Everyone assumed Zuckerberg was up to it.Why?

I listened to a Planet Money podcast a few weeks back and it was pretty interesting. Talked about 2 guys who bought ads on Facebook and it's questionable whether it was worth it. They also talked about Facebook "Like" farms where, for a price, people will "Like" you. Kinda destroys the whole model.  Anyway, I didn't get in on the IPO or after, and I predicted in 4 years Google would buy Facebook for $4.

Leapfrog

Three months ago I bought some Leapfrog enterprises, they make the children's LeapPad toys.As for the why I bought it, here's their one year chart:

Yeah, talk about missing a train. It's tripled in a year and no one was paying attention.  It came to my notice because it's been in my watch portfolio for years and they reported earning that the analysts didn't like so they got punished. Not bad, but as I've said before, the fact that the stock price changes ANY day due to what an analyst says is about the stupidest thing I've ever heard.  No, I don't respect analyst's opinions very much. It's like looking in a kitchen through a window and describing what the food should taste like.  Yes, I know they do all kinds of interviews with "the supply chains" yet they still miss stocks that take off. Then they blame it on unknowns in the market. Newflash: It's all unknown!  And don't get me started on target prices. Kinda like telling someone the day, hour and minute they're going to die, then ignoring that statement when your wrong. As for how LP has done the past few months since I bought it....

Bam!  I'm up about 18%. 'nuff said....