CodyWillard

Kirk Spano of Blue Mound Asset Management joins the Cody Underground Podcast with Cody Willard for an in depth discussion of the energy markets, biotech and other markets, including stock picks for each sector. Find Cody Willard and Kirk Spano on the Scutify.com site and the Scutify apps and on Marketwatch.com.

The Muddy Souls "Giving it up (I don't think Hank done it this way)"

Cody Willard and John Authers with explanations and analysis of the Global Currency Wars, Central Banks, imbalances and how it all affects you at home.

Grand manipulation - Is manipulation of markets itself a growing trend? how long can it last?

Communist vs Socialist vs Capitalist vs Anarchist -- what are we in the US today?

Wildcat times

Currency wars, a race to de value the currencies of the developed world?

Invest in stocks for the long run?

I sit down for an extended one-on-one interview with investor, guru, pundit, trader, money manager, blogger, etc extraordinaire, Barry Ritholtz from Bloomberg, Ritholtz.com, the Washington Post and Ritholtz Wealth Management. We talk about topics ranging from where we met 15 years ago (hint: Lenny Dykstra?!) to how to build a long-term career path on Wall Street if you didn't go to Harvard/Goldman to the state of the economy and why you shouldn't pigeonhole your analysis. Here's the article Barry references: My Unusual Career Path in Finance http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2014/05/my-unusual-career-path-in-finance/

Follow Cody on Scutify at http://www.scutify.com/profiles/leader.aspx?q=codywillard

Cody: Howdy folks, let's rock n roll.

Q. As you know, I'm in technology sales, Cody. The mood out here is Silicon Valley is getting a little more somber. Don't know if you've heard that or not. The VC's are starting to be stingier with next rounds of funding, company spending, profitability...there are starting to be some reductions in force (layoffs) as well. I see you are moving a little more to the safe side. Any thought on this phenomenon and might this be the canary in the coalmine for high beta, low revenue growth stocks?

A. "Mood" is a tough thing to gauge, but as bubbled up as we've been in the tech world, a little bit of somber and worry in Silicon Valley would probably be a good thing. I do think the bubble in tech is far from over and that there might be much more upside in social networking and Twitter and Facebook, but I do think you want to be more selective now and less aggressive now than we were back in 2010-2013 or so.

Cody: This just came through on Scutify from a very successful VC dude about Silicon Valley's mood: '@CodyWillard We definitely felt it a month ago.... Just a general "check yo self before u wreck yo self" consensus moment.... *Not however about valuation but about burn rates...anecdotes of competitive spending reminding some of 2000. Overall though the startup/app market is robust. We just raised a bunch for an app coming next month, and our first Angel almost has too much money.... Early innings still and the "somberness" is healthy. No one, founders and angels alike wants to be an idiot.'

Comment: That's what I'm seeing too, Cody. Wanted to flag that for you. Burn rates are under scrutiny, manpower buildouts are being pulled back, travel policies being revised...

Q. Are you putting money into non-tech investments or are you keeping cash to invest at the bottom? If there is a serious downturn in the future does it make sense to stay in cash waiting for a good entry point or to try high quality bonds?

A. I've no idea if and when the "serious downturn in the future" will happen, and I'm not going to try to time it perfectly. Just ebb and flow. Scale in with tranches. Raise cash levels slowly when markets are at all-time highs. Same as usual stuff. I might get outright bearish again like I was in 2008, but for now, just being a bit more defensive. Remember that you're not in the same risk profile as I am and you don't have a http://Scutify.com Social Network company that is accounting for a growing part of your assets as it grows. As the largest shareholder of Scutify's parent company, I'm much more exposed to tech right now than I've ever been in my life no matter what I do with my stock portfolio and more levered to tech than probably anybody here reading this.

Comment: Thank you very much for your help. I do have my non-home assets in tech however. I need for it to grow steadily but not explosively over the next 20 years as I need to leave money behind for a child who won't be able to care for herself.

Q. What new direction out of Technology, Cody?

A. Cash for now, just ebbing as the markets flow. Added some Whole Foods recently too. No rush into anything new.

Some highlights from this week's Live Q&A Chat on TradingWithCody.com.

Q. Cody: an investing 101 question. What are your thoughts on WEEKLY options -- when would one use those instead of the standard monthlies? When a near-term move/event is expected? (Then why is that better than doing the monthly and just bailing when the event happens?) Do they carry higher premiums? (This question from a guy who just admitted that sometimes "risk tolerance" goes into the crapper!)

A. I find the weeklies do sometimes carry higher premiums, if only because Street veterans like me have never gotten entirely comfortable with them -- 3rd Friday of each month for expiration dates of my options is sorta ingrained in my head.

Q. I think we all know that the eco system at $AAPL is very valuable. Buying an iPhone for the first time may lead an individual to buy a Mac or an iPad, etc. Do you see ApplePay bringing value to the $AAPL eco system or do you view it as a stand alone product.

A. ApplePay is another key ingredient and differentiator for Apple's ecosystem. It's going to be huge. And it's going to be very profitable. ApplePay in your watch next? GooglePay in your GoogleGlasses next? This is all coming.

Q. Any tea leaves to be read with the report that Alibaba is in talks with SONY Pictures to jointly fund films?

A. Sony knows they've got a tiger by the tail in their huge library of Hollywood-level movies and shows. Distributers like Amazon, NetFlix, Apple, Google et al are desperate for that content and Jack Ma of Alibaba is apparently trying to figure out how to get in that game too. Good stuff in theory, but nothing fundamental from it yet.

Q. Whats your opinion on selling $ko and buying $sne?

A. Coke, $KO, sort of reminds me of a beverage version of McDonald's. How long can Coke continue to expect to make huge profits and margins on chemically-colored, chemically-sweetened drinks that basically kill people who consume them too often. Juices, water and other drinks seem like a better place to invest than dirty sugar water. Coke's trying to morph to meet that trend change, but I wouldn't count on them succeeding in reinventing a 150 year-old company. Sony I own, but it's got plenty of risks ahead of it too. Good luck!

Cody talks about the best ways to invest in the Wearables Revolution and other ways to make money in the stock market. http://www.scutify.com/profiles/leader.aspx?q=codywillard

Howdy folks, let's ride.

Q. Cody, what's your take on the market at this point?

A. Feet-to-fire, I'd say the path of least resistance for the markets will be a wide range between 15,900 and 17,000 on the DJIA for the next few weeks. I'm not trying to game that action though.

Q. Hi Cody, how do you see the real estate market reacting if/when this bubble blowing bull market does end? Thanks.

A. Good question, but I don't think there's much reason to believe that real estate will be all that directly correlated to stock market prices in coming years, as it hasn't really been very correlated over the long-term. I was a huge real estate bull in the depths of the collapse back in 2010-2011. But I am less so as prices are now stabilized at much higher levels nationally and wildly up in some areas where I was suggesting a bottom was being put in like in Las Vegas and Miami back when I was a real estate buyer and bull.

Q. What is the market expectation for $FB into earnings next Tuesday?

A. Market expects big things from $FB earnings report next week. So do I. Will it be enough to pop the stock or will the stock take a hit after the report? Sheesh, let's see how it trades before now and next Tuesday night when the report hits. Longer-term, all systems go on $FB as a must-own.

Q. When a company announces their earnings for the quarter and they announce a dividend with it. Like when Apple announced, "The dividend is payable on November 13, 2014, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on November 10, 2014." If I were to buy shares of the company on November 9, would I get these dividends? And then be able to turn around and sell it on the 14th?

A. The short answer to your question about getting the dividends is that you'd probably want to make sure you were a shareholder of record even a couple days before November 9 to make sure the trades have settled and what not. Technically, You need to see what the shareholders of record date is. As long as you own before that date you will receive the dividend.

Q. Do you have any thoughts / interest on $AMD? Long term hold?

A. Let's look at $AMD for a second together and see what we come up with. The company's balance sheet is wrecked with billions in debt and little cash. http://www.scutify.com/company-balance-sheet.html?ticker=AMD Balance sheet concerns alone will stop me before I go any further, but let's continue. $AMD's burning cash fast too, not creating cash flow. http://www.scutify.com/company-cash-flow.html?ticker=AMD. And revenues are growing less than 5% per year and are expected to be down next year. I'd call that a sell, I suppose. Good luck. I much prefer and own Intel.

Q. Cody, The mining stocks continue to be very out of favor, almost loathed.

A. Market is saying that the gold miners aren't profitable enough below $1300/oz to be a good trade/investment. I have been patiently waiting to get back into a miner or two, but it doesn't look like it's going to be anytime soon frankly.

Cody keeps it real in an radio ad for Scutify.