StockTwits Holds StockCamp at the NASDAQ Market Site

Meant to blog about this over the weekend, but got distracted.

I attended the first StockCamp hosted by StockTwits at the NASDAQ Market Site in New York City on Friday.

The event was broken into two sessions -- morning and afternoon -- of about 4 hours each. I was at the afternoon session, which was packed with lively dialog on a range of trading subjects, including tools of the trade with StockTwits regulars Brian Shannon (@alphatrends) and Joe Donohue (@upsidetrader), tape reading and price behavior with Steven Place (@stevenplace), Mike Bellafiore (@smbcaptial) and Quint Tatro (@tickerville).

Many of the StockTwits stable can be found on the stream and hosting web-tv shows about their specific trading concepts and ideas. Think of it as the anti-CNBC.

There was also a mind-opening or mind-bending conversation with MacroTwits host Gregor Macdonald (@gregormacdonald), along with Jim Goebetz (@aiki14), Jason Wood (@Wood83), and David Aferiat (@tradeideas). Their subject? The Changing Economic Landscape, which ranged from gold to Australian and New Zealand currency to the complacency of the American public. Heady stuff.

Keeping it all light and frothy was host Howard Lindzon (@howardlindzon), one of the founders of StockTwits, which has been built over the past year to include a desktop application, a web-tv network, subscription blogs, and now its own branded conferences.

With so much intellectual capital and social leverage, can an acquisition of StockTwits be that far off? Rumor has it Howard was meeting with Google Finance last Thursday, so who knows?

My three take-aways from StockCamp:

1.) Have a plan;
2.) Be disciplined;
3.) Next time Howard has an idea, and you're around at the beginning of it, make sure you have a piece of it.

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Why I like CREE to meet or exceed earnings: bright future for LEDs

I had a funny little exchange with a StockTwits friend about Cree (NASDAQ: CREE) a week or so ago. He and I both like the stock, but for different reasons:

I like that Cree is the market-leading innovator in energy-efficient, environmentally friendly LED lighting and innovations. They also develop semiconductor solutions for wireless and power applications.

I like the fact that they recently announced the first water-proof, 3-color LED for large displays. This will revolutionize outdoor ads, JumboTrons, and maybe even Times Square.

I also like their area and street lighting applications for which I see all sorts of uses with municipalities, campuses, and the like.

My friend "likes the price strength."

We don't disagree. I like the price strength too, and the moving averages have been trending higher for some time. But its the longer-term product strength, innovation, and product adoption that will make Cree a leader for some time to come.

Others seem to like Cree too: Merriman Curhan Ford recently upgraded Cree from Neutral to Buy, saying "the LED outlook is getting brighter."

Merriman Curhan commented that the company "recently raised its June quarter outlook and we believe the company could meet or exceed the high end of its recently revised guidance. LEDs are rapidly replacing CCFLs in TV backlighting and quickly gaining acceptance in the general lighting market that is benefiting Cree in both the near and long term."

They also think "Cree could exceed $1 billion revenue withing 2-3 years and thinks CREE should trade at 35-38x our FY11 EPS estimate of $1.12 for a $39-$43 price."

According to a report in Reuters, "the change was not enough to move the Zacks Consensus Estimate from its current level of 11 cents per share, it did result in a more bullish most accurate estimate of 14 cents per share."

There are others who think the stock may be overbought and that is something to keep an eye on. And the recent volatility in the stock may give some heartburn.

But, as Zacks pointed out, "projections for fiscal 2010 have gradually been rising, suggesting that guidance could be good. CREE has topped expectations twice and matched forecasts twice during the last 4 quarters."

Cree is reports today (Tuesday, Aug 11), after the close of trading. The stock was up in early trading this morning ahead of the earnings call.


(Disclosure: I hold a long position in CREE. This post is for informational purposes only and is neither intended to be investment advice nor an offer, or the solicitation of any offer, to buy or sell any securities.)

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