Just Riding Goldman Down

You, my loyal readers may be asking yourself, what is Big Jay doing in the market.

Well, I'll tell you exactly what I'm doing. I'm mostly in cash. I've got a small position in AIG (1000 shares) that I bought when it was trading around 2.25/share. And I've got a fairly sizeable (for me) 20 contract position in LEAP Put options for Goldman Sachs. They don't expire until June 2009, so the time decay isn't killing me off. And really, if you look at the GS chart for the last 3 months. It's just ugly. There is still plenty of downside left for Goldman, and I don't see the headwinds letting up anytime soon.

I got out of my JP Morgan puts about 3 weeks ago at a healthy profit.

For my real money speculative trades, I'm looking for companies like Accys Technologies which is currently trading on the Amsterdam exchange, or OTC, for $2.50/share. I like ESLR - Evergreen Solar which is around $4/share. I like these companies because it's extremely cheap to rack up lots of shares. Accsys takes soft woods like poplar, and through a chemical process modifies the wood so it looks and behaves like precious hardwood. Evergreen solar makes solar panels, and is currently undergoing some rough times because their financier was Lehman.

Both companies are positioned well for what I think is going to be the next 'bubble' - namely green technology. The sustainability freaks (like me) are going to want companies like AXS, and ESLR in their 'sustainability minded ETF's'.

I'm thinking that my new approach to speculative investing is going to go like this: Buy certain sectors of penny stocks at random in like, $500 - $2000 chunks. Hold on to them, and don't worry about performance for years. If I had bought Investools stock back when it was first listed on the AMEX in 2002, there were months and months where you could buy shares at .10 cents a pop. I know a handful of people who bought and chilled, then sold covered calls on the shares they owned. That's just beautiful.