Friday, November 11, 2005

First Marblehead Roller Coaster

The saga continues. After First Marblehead (FMD) announced that one of their large customers, Bank of America (BAC), did not auto-renew their contract, the shares plunged from over 32 to under 24. This gut wrenching turn took place after the company had already gone from 30 down to 21 because of some gift-giving office romance scandal between the CEO and a director at one of its client firms. Today, FMD shares are up a whopping 20% back to 32 after the company announced that their largest customer, JP Morgan Chase (JPM), has extended their contract to 2010, which effectively removes many clouds of uncertainty. This stock has been scarier than Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

Quick update...

I am short a bit of Synaptics (SYNA) in the 25.40s. I covered part of it for a minor loss at 26.05. Still holding the rest of the position short. Reasoning is that a lot of current run-up in share prices is due to Apple speculation. If the shares continue to run higher, I will cover for a loss.

EBAY has been smoking lately. The covered shares will likely get called next Friday.

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