Dinosaur Calls it a Day
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that veteran Goldman Sachs software analyst Rick Sherlund will be transitioning coverage to fellow Goldman analyst Sarah Friar ...and moving to a hedge fund if we had to venture a guess...after all everybody is doing it:
In an interview, Mr. Sherlund said he hopes to try his hand as an investor, though he plans to continue to work at Goldman as he considers jobs on what Wall Street calls the buy side.
”I’m really focused on managing money,” he said. “As an analyst it’s terrifically rewarding but you’re very narrowly focused. I’d like to focus more broadly and have the ability to make some real stock calls.”
Mr. Sherlund, 52 years old, is considering starting his own fund but said “most likely I’ll go work with someone else to gain some experience in the money-management side.”
Mr. Sherlund’s name will always be most closely associated with Microsoft, a company he started covering when it when public in 1986. Year after year, Mr. Sherlund doggedly studied the latest technologies and re-organizations as Microsoft moved from start-up to Grand Dame of software. Over the years, he also covered the many up-and-comers—from Netscape Communications to Google Inc.—that have pressured Microsoft and he has outlasted many of the managers that guided Microsoft, including a string of chief financial officers. (WSJ)
Sherlund, 52 years old, has been covering software for...get this..100 quarters…
With half of Wall Street turrets staffed by people who were still in diapers when Microsoft went public, Sherlund’s career as an analyst is notable.
Welcome to the buyside Rick...but fair warning...we will soon be trying to pick your pockets.
It Takes Two to Make a Market
Or maybe even three.
It seems the street is split on the prospects for Riverbed Technology, a stock that has been flying-high since its recent IPO.
yesterday the Dow Jones tape read as follows…
*DJ 12:02:20 EST Riverbed Tech Started at Hold by Citigroup
*DJ 12:30:45 EST Riverbed Tech Started at Buy at Deutsche Bank
*DJ 13:19:20 EST Riverbed Tech Started at Neutral at Goldman Sachs
We are not sure how to play these recommendations...lemme see...hold means sell...neutral means hold....buy means nibble but not too aggressively...aw never mind....
Top 10 reasons we hate CFA’s
We are not haters here at underthecounter.
We will admit to bouts of schadenfreude, usually directed at idiots who passed us over for a job or promotion in years past. And not a day goes by that we don’t yell “DIE DIE DIE” at our multiple monitors as our shorts begin their inevitable descent into hell. But honestly, we love all of god’s creatures.
Except for CFA’s.
Thus, we are thinking of banning CFA’s from reading underthecounter. They are not hard to pick out from a crowd as we can smell their arrogance from a mile away. For what its worth, they smell like a green eyeshade crossed with a cheap suit.
Without further ado, and with apologies to David Letterman...our top ten list.
WHY WE HATE CFA’s
10) They are so damn smug because they passed a stupid test. OK three tests
9) The CFA Institute reminds us of a cult. Its scientology for bean counters
8) CFA’s make lousy wingmen. They repel women
7) Charlottesville, VA was part of the Confederacy. The rebs lost the civil war. We hate losers
6) CFA’s hide behind their credential after bottom-quartile performance
5) CFA charterholders mock their Code of Ethics when they are drunk. Thats just wrong
4) 52% of the people who passed the exam before 1993 had their roommate take it for them
3) CFA shingles are uglier than most of Stevie Cohen’s art collection
2) We have never seen a CFA reading Trader Monthly or Maxim
1) Because they are Cocky Freaking Assholes
Glad I got that off my chest.
Moe Mentum Investing with ThinkEquity Partners
I have long enjoyed a zero-sum relationship with ThinkEquity Partners. I lose money in their favorite names, and they garner commissions as I puke em down 40% from my basis. Shame on me. Well at least one of us is making a little scratch. I recently stumbled on their ThinkBlog which left me ashen-faced. More on that in a minute…
Michael Moe has a high profile in the emerging growth camp on Wall Street, and has surrounded himself with like-minded partners and clients who embrace the higher risks that are inherent in the flakiest style boxes extant.
Growth stock investing. Imagine the smell of napalm in the morning. The stomping ground of sadomasochist money managers. The kind of people who actually get a rush when a position at the top of their sheets (ie. a big position) declines a couple of hundred million dollars in market cap in the blink of an eye and their quarter turns to shit against their peers. The thing is...I think these adrenaline junkies actually get off on it.
