Friday, September 15, 2006

Quick Market Update

The big mover in the Long-Term portfolio this morning is First Marblehead (FMD). Yesterday, after the market closed, the company gave a preliminary estimate of the fees from a set of student loans they are securitizing. The money they stand to make was significantly higher than expected and included a way to monetize some non-cash residuals. Today, Friedman Billings upgraded the company to a Market Perform with a price target of $55, and ThinkEquity raised its price target to $75 from $65. FMD is currently trading up a whopping 14% to 59.80, a new 52-week high. Go FMD!

International Gaming Technology (IGT) is also making a new 52-week high today after William Blair initiated coverage on the issue with an Outperform rating. William Blair also gave a similar initial rating to Shufflemaster (SHFL). The firm believes that gaming operators will continue focus on deploying more digital machines and content-driven games, which will benefit companies like IGT and SHFL.

Most of my Apple (AAPL) shares will get called away this weekend at $70. Recall that I sold covered calls on 80% of the position with the intention of keeping the last 20% as a long-term holding. Since the calls were sold at $1.65, the effective sale price is $71.65.

In the Trading Portfolio, recent pick-up Multi-Fineline Electronix (MFLX) continues to trade lower. This trade is looking like a mistake. We'll see what happens next week, but I'm getting close to just taking the loss.

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