Redneck Tale # 31 – Will the Ford Motor Company Really Do It?
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Calling ALL Friends...
What is a Redneck doing near the stock market? There has been a cautionary rule in force for years and years – Rednecks and their money are soon parted. How soon? We are soon going to find out how soon! (I would venture a guess that you had already figured out the correct answer.) Stock markets are mean and sneaky places, places into which Rednecks should really not venture. Non-venturous Rednecks stay out of stock markets. The ordinary Redneck tends toward being venturesome, and venturesome has an alternate meaning – dumb as a rock.
In the mail came a 16-page, slick paper, full-color, magazine-size publication called "Eric Dany’s Stock Prospector" with the sub-title, "Main Street Research," whatever that might mean. This one shouted "Lithium is the fuel of the future!" in bright yellow, 72-point letters, followed by "And here’s the next Exxon":
That was supposed to describe a company called Amerilithium (AMEL) which they said had already positioned itself to dominate the $1.77 billion global lithium market. "Overnight you could see this under $2 stock (AMEL.OB) jump to $125 or higher!" Things continued – "This secret could make you very rich! Ford Motor Company may have its takeover sights zeroed in on Amerilithium..."
According to the booklet, Amerilithium owns a great big bunch of lithium-loaded mining lands, and those it does not own itself, it has lease rights on. That kind of information gets Redneck necks up to bright red, high temperature.
The back cover did not let up with beating us Rednecks on the head. "Warren Buffett, the world’s most successful investor, just bet $250 million on the future of the electric car!" (Check all of those exclamation points...) There were also some words to the effect that in less than 9 months; early investors have raked in gains of 696%... 888%... and even 1,745%! It’s not too late. But you must act now!
Inside the booklet were all sorts of descriptions and blandishments about how lithium does more than simply calm frayed nerves and stop muscle twitches. The stuff actually motivates cars on down the road, whenever automotive engineers do things right. Actually, lithium, even in little batteries, pushes electrified Mopeds all over the place and in places that can really benefit from their use, like China (20 million or so a year being purchased there) and maybe even in my own driveway as an alternate way to run over to the store for a 6-pack instead of using my gas-hog pickup truck for the one-mile jog.
Being a regular Redneck and all of that, I am particularly stupid (ignorant-only?) when stocks, bonds, debentures, derivatives, and the rest of that nonsense is put onto the chopping block for action. But it is the truth, that when someone pays good money to send you a fancy booklet that asks you to pay good money for whatever they may be peddling, there is a need for a Redneck to get some smarts before reaching into the back pocket. (Redneck wives have been known to kill truly dumb Redneck husbands...)
So, onto the trusty computer and its Internet I went. Yes indeed. I took a crash course in how to find out how much a stock is worth, how much it was worth, and, with those two things in hand, to try to figure out how much it might become worth in the future – like a day, a month, or a year. I found some stock value chart websites that gave out pretty charts that went up and down like some sort of rollercoasters. It was fun learning that stuff even though it is not clear how much was actually learned. The jargon used by those experts is enough to throw the average sort of Redneck into a panic, but learning the jargon to even a small degree enables impressing those around you. Check this stuff: MACD, Bollinger bands, RSI, and it went on and on. Even Rednecks without a clue as to what those things mean can put on serious faces and spoof anyone within earshot!
Well, what was learned was that this stock hit the market not all that long ago. It sold for a brief time for close to $3 a share. Then its price dropped, only to rise up again, this time to close to $2 a share. Yesterday the price was $1.06 a share. Today it went to just short of $1. Well, that may be ordinary, for today the whole stock market dropped like a lead balloon. "Maybe," I thought, "AMEL just went down like all the rest of them."
Now then, with all of the non-Redneck, smart-as-can-be folks who inhabit this Hubpages place of ours, there is a mass of intelligence and stock market smarts that I can tap into for good, bad, and indifferent advice. Should I throw 100 bucks at this nag, or should I quietly turn about and just walk away from such a zillion dollar opportunity?
Your comments are really going to be fun to read. In fact, I plan to treasure them, for they are likely to be worth far more than will "AMEL" in days to come.
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Thanks Big John - Well I am intrigued by the fact of lithium batteries which, I sense, are going to be really bigtime stuff. I got a charge out of the fancy booklet peddling this stock because I sense (now) that the company may be in the "right field" but may not be the "right outfit." Maybe I am given to oversimplifying stuff, but there are some things that I sense people are going to buy lots of... and one of those is lithium for the zillions of car batteries that will be used. Another are drug prescriptions if, indeed, Obama's drastic health thing dumps another 30 million people onto the docs who, in turn, are going to dump them onto the druggists.
Gus :-)))
Gus - if you can gamble your $100 with this stock and then refrain from checking it every other hour or so, go ahead. It has potential. But how soon? Dunno.
Like most stocks with incomplete and honest information, it's a crap shoot. But I sense you may be a craps player.
Howdy Good Doctor bj - Yeah! You done pegged me, all right. My own belief is that the stock market, as a whole, is one big manipulation, but it can be fun, too. As Big John (above comment) mentioned, that 100 bucks would be like a bet on the lottery. Not much better and not much worse. I still like the idea of a company into things like lithium for batteries and thorium for self-propagating nuclear reactors. There are truly some nifty things in our modern world, are there not?
As you say, stocks are a "crapshoot." Maybe that is what makes the penny stocks so much fun.
Gus :-)))
Hello again, Doctor bj - I had meant to tell you that my buddy, Rod Gorman, and I had a great conversation today about the use of "thermo-electric generation" and the many uses we could think to put it to in our homes and businesses. I was reminded of my 1970 development of a thermally activated battery charger for our then electronic wristwatches. I made the "discovery" (funny!) for that one when my water heater thermostat gave up when the thermocouple fritzed out. The ammeter doggone nearly blew out, too, when I checked the thermocouple with it - pegged the needle at almost any meter setting. (Plenty of amps but scarcely any voltage with only that one bi-metallic junction) Worked great with a 5-degree temperature differential (wrist-to-air)and multiple junctions feeding some step-up gadgetry for keeping a watch battery charged. Those were the days of that first "electronic" wristwatch, the Hamilton "Pulsar" with its red LED watchface that had to remain "off" unless you pushed the button to see the time.
Just think about all of the heat energy we throw away, up the chimney with our space heaters, out into the yard with our AC compressors, and in the attic that accumulates 150-170 degrees of heat from the sun beaming down on the roof. Not enough time left in this world for me to have all of the fun I'd like to have just messing with all of this good stuff!
Gus :-)))
Gosh darn it, I wish I had your smarts about penny stocks. Are they really talking about the lithium in batteries? or the lithium in drugs? Or both? I'm confused.
At any rate, I think I'd put my 100 bucks into lottery tickets. Or in my savings account for my hot tub. I wonder if the hot tub will need lithium batteries?
Howdy Austinstar - I wish that I had those smarts you think I have about penny stocks. My ignorance about stocks in general is complete. In answer to your question about lithium, the main deal seems to be almost 100% about batteries for use in electric cars. That booklet did mention lithium for medical use, but it was said that such use was a minor affair. As to putting my little 100 bucks into lottery tickets, the odds against a return from that is in the millions to one against a win. With the penny stocks it is more like 50-50. Either the company stock value goes up or it goes down (and maybe out!). Just looked at AMEL's stock quote - it opened this AM at 1.06 (6 cents more than yesterday's close) and it sits at 0.97 right now (3 cents less than yesterday's close). Keeping my pennies in my piggy bank until AMEL gets a wiggle on.
Your hot tub will need warm water, but not likely will it be able to use lithium batteries...
Gus :-)))
Gosh, Gus - I have barely enough brain cells to write let alone think about stocks! (I leave the heavy brain work with numbers to my husband who is the accountant part of this dance) I kinda balk at anything with 'lithium' in its name just because it reminds me of mental illness! Good luck and hope you find someone who really knows their stuff! I would be checking it every nanosecond and I would never get a thing done!
Hi Audrey - Check your various batteries. A lot of them are "lithium" batteries these days, and I guess that virtually all of the batteries used to drive "electric cars" are lithium. I don't know much if anything about stocks and the like, but it is fun to look at them from time to time. This time, some outfit sent me a booklet, and it was interesting. That litium company is not going up or down but is holding on. Fun and games!
Gus :-)))
Man...you lost me...as soon as you started saying the word: "venturesome"! For one thing my brain shuts down after anything with more than four syllables...??? For another thing...I think the only thing rednecks are "venturesome" in...is the woods!
"Hey...Tommy Dean...Why don't you go over there and see what's rattlin' there at the base of that tree?"
"Uh, OK," says Tommy Dean...! "Yikes!" But, I do like it when a Redneck can whip-out the stock analysis...better than the best of 'em. Yeeeee-Haaaa...You go...Gus!
MSW/MPM - You are doggone near correct. It is widely believed that you can tell which guy owns the dog who pees on the "base of that tree." It is the guy who also pees on the base of that same tree.
When I first looked at the price of that lithium stock it was listed as $1.06. The last time I looked at the price of that lithium stock it was listed as 52 cents. It is a wonder that I had enough fear(forebearance, that is) and kept my hundred bucks in my pocket. By the way - I told "George," the manager at that H-E-B Pantry Store today about my note to you about my crashing their opening day party a few years back. He asked me how it was that they didn't gift me with that basketful of groceries. With a straight face, I told him that he could make up for their earlier lapse anytime...
Gus :-)))
MSW/MPM - Dear Friend - I noticed that the AMEL stock price was inching up a tad... today it got to 62 cents (almost). The stock chart showed several interesting things - the "Bollinger Bands" were beginning (just beginning) to squeeze on in, and the "RSI" (relative strength index) had a little upward motion. So I kicked on in there and bought 150 shares of AMEL for just over 90 bucks plus ten for the buy-in commission. (...last of the big spenders!) Now, to break even I need AMEL to go up to just a tad over 75 cents. If luck is with us, $1.46 a share will double my investment. (It costs $10 a trade in or out...)
Gus :-)))
Hmrjmr1 Level 3 Commenter 24 months ago
Gus - for 100 bucks it might be worth a try, but don't figure on getting rich with it. Stocks that are below $10 are there for a reason and none of them good. I checked the charts and it is at it's low since it was issued. There are no analysts following this stock so it's hard to see it getting a pop from an any analyst upgrade until someone initiates coverage. That having been said it's as good a bet as a lottery ticket so for 100 you might give it a try.