Live data from Hacker News

TWTR

google.com

71–80 of 349 posts

Re: TWTR

#71
Twitter still hasn't provided any guidance on profitability. My biggest fear is that over the next few quarters, Twitter will undo much of the goodwill for tech stocks generated by Facebook by not being able to match the bar set by Facebook for profitability, revenue and user growth.

Re: TWTR

#72
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Markets are highly irrational. That depends which recent Nobel Memorial Prize winner you believe.

Which one claims that all actors in a market have perfect information?

I'm guessing parent's talking about Eugene Fama, who shared the prize with Robert Shiller.

He doesn't actually claim the markets have perfect information, just that the price always reflects all available information. In essence, you can't "beat the market" consistently, assuming you have the same information.

Re: TWTR

#73
post #38

Can someone advise what's the best way to buy derivatives (etrade,scottstrade, etc): the fastest way to open an account, the best order execution times? I want to invest some money to short this.

E*trade allows shorting stocks and writing covered puts at Level 2. The default (Level-1) allows only covered calls. They have an online application process. Usually chances are higher if you are trading over $100k.

Re: TWTR

#74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I now little about the stock market, so I'm not sure why you're upset but it sounds important! :) Anyone care to elaborate?

The owners of Twitter prior to the flotation have basically sold a chunk of what they owned on the stock market. To do that they needed to put a value on those shares. Determining that price is pretty tricky but through one mechanism or another they settled on $26 a share. The fact that people are now willing to buy them for $46 a share suggests that they basically sold them at too low a price (arguably $20 a share t…

Surely the price is only half the equation, and you have to consider the volume too?

Could it not be the case that while they could find buyers for some of the shares at $46, they could only guarantee selling all of the shares at $26?

Re: TWTR

#75
post #55
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, there are. If you were able to do that, that means that VMWare and Visa both got screwed out of billions of dollars. And of course, little guys can't get in right at the IPO price. That's reserved for big players. By systematically underpricing IPOs, the finance folks make billions of dollars for their friends at the expense of the companies they're supposed to represent.

Please provide extraordinary proof for the extraordinary claim that tech IPOs are rigged to transfer shareholder value to the banks managing or participating in the OP.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/10/opinion/sunday/nocera-rigg...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthof/2011/11/04/groupon-soa...

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2011/11/15/this-is-why...

Re: TWTR

#76
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suppose it depends on who you are trying to please. If you are Twitter, it's a major loss. If you give a shit about bankers (most of us do not), then you win.

But the bankers come up with those magical "buy/hold/sell" recommendations that everyone else listens to and panic-sells when their advice says so. Or "oops, they missed our magically predicted revenue by one penny per share". It's all part of the game.

Sell side analyst recommendations are a complete joke. They are basically trailing indicators (i.e. price drops and then the sell recommendations come out). I don't think anyone takes them seriously.

Re: TWTR

#77
post #38

Can someone advise what's the best way to buy derivatives (etrade,scottstrade, etc): the fastest way to open an account, the best order execution times? I want to invest some money to short this.

Please don't take this as snark but I wouldn't recommend shorting anything if you are so inexperienced that you don't have a trading account or don't know which one to use. Shorting stocks is extremely risky and should only be done by traders with lots of experience. If you really want to bank on Twitter going south, you can try buying puts when they're available. If you're not sure what puts are, leave this whole id…

i run a bootstrapped company that i founded in 2006, and i have some extra money i am totally comfortable of losing entirely. i view this as an experiment. i am looking for a serious practical advice.

Re: TWTR

#78
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's because its pre-opening (IPO) price was $26. So for everyone who got shares before the public trading, their stocks are way up. (This is also why people are saying that the IPO price was set way too low; insiders make tons of money but Twitter itself raises much less money.)

Is there any way for the lay man to get in on an IPO like this, or is it purely for insiders? (I'm thinking about the next one...)

No. It's only for accredited investors, and those that have connections into the deal.

Re: TWTR

#79

I'm not an expert in the stock market, and the only stock I own is Facebook (which I bought a long time ago), but I am confused as to why Facebook is dropping today while there is so much enthusiasm for Twitter. Buying Twitter is basically betting on mobile advertising, which Facebook is the clear leader of. Is it possibly related to people with Facebook stock selling some to get in on Twitter? Are they entirely unre…

On a day-to-day basis, the stock market is a random walk. There is no way to know WHY Facebook is dropping and Twitter is rising. If somebody knew, he or she would have been billionaire many times over.

Re: TWTR

#80
post #38

Can someone advise what's the best way to buy derivatives (etrade,scottstrade, etc): the fastest way to open an account, the best order execution times? I want to invest some money to short this.

Please don't take this as snark but I wouldn't recommend shorting anything if you are so inexperienced that you don't have a trading account or don't know which one to use. Shorting stocks is extremely risky and should only be done by traders with lots of experience. If you really want to bank on Twitter going south, you can try buying puts when they're available. If you're not sure what puts are, leave this whole id…

To add to this, just remember one simple fact: When you are a long a stock, the most you can lose is the amount you paid. When you are short, you can lose unlimited money.
Post reply on HN