As we have seen with many aspects of Government policy over recent years, there is not necessarily an alignment between what it wants, and what the electorate want. On a lesser scale we have seen the Bank of England lobbying against the interests of both the Government and the people. Both the latter would like interest rates to come down as far as possible, the former to win votes, and the second pay little on their mortgages as possible. This is especially in the wake of unwinding of the ultra cheap mortgages off their fixed rates during 2024. The BoE know turning the screw on these mortgage holders will cause pain for both Conservative voters and Sunak’s ailing electoral prospects. The inflation rate seems to be a side issue, and this week rates remained on hold. The BoE will leave it as late as possible to bring the cost of money down.
Zakstraderscafe.com
One of the things I pride myself on is that as an all round service, there is everything an investor needs in one place on the Zakstraderscafe.com offering, and the associated X handle, @Zakstraderscafe. You have the interviews, from a NUJ journalist who has written for the IC, Shares Magazine and Yahoo! Finance, not an amateur. There is the RNS commentary – as the market opens, not the end of the day. And of course, the charting with short term targets and stop losses. No one else delivers the whole package, whether it is the mainstream press, or the fly by night operators, who pretend to have an audience, influence, or investor money.
Of course, CEOs in the know, as do professional investors are aware of the benefits of ZTC. However, it is surprisingly easy for the aforementioned fly by night operators in used car salesman mode, to pose and prey on the inexperienced, as being the centre of the universe. This is a shame as it tends to be the case that one sees many decent small caps fall by the wayside because of the poor box ticking / amateur services they use. In the end it is their shareholders that lose out.
Superdry
Superdry was not previously the type of company that I would give coverage to, largely on the basis that its market cap previously well over £100m was well over the usual market cap this generally small cap focused website looks at. However, on Friday around 10am the shares in the 37p zone looked interesting enough to include in the Bulletin Board Heroes charting video. I suggested that above the recent trendline break level at 34p they could hit 50p – an October triangle top over the near term. In fact, the Bulletin Board Heroes was published at 10.53am, and the company issued a RNS regarding the share price movement and a possible cash offer at 10.55am. The shares peaked at 50p on Friday. So perhaps the charting, and the sixth sense, worked. This is something I have 35 years experience of.
Global Petroleum
While the charting target was hit on the nose at Superdry, in the case of Global (GBP), the sizzle was not only hitting and exceeding a 0.15p target, given several times of late, it was the fact a traditionally difficult stock to call went up at all. The shares were last called up on Monday, and were one of Tuesday’s top risers. The company was boosted by Cynergy East Med LLC partnership news last week.
Helium One
Helium One (HE1) while off its 2.4p peak (after the rise from below 0.2p) was an interesting technical play as the shares were clearly attempting to find a foothold after the pullback. The hopeful scenario for the bulls will be that the stock find support near the 50% retracement zone of 1.2p and the 50 day moving average at 1.13p currently. Initial target / resistance is towards 1.7p. Whatever happens we would like to remain on the right side of 1p.
Microsalt
One can tell that we “might” be ending the two year plus bear market when an IPO goes well. This has so far happened with Microsalt (SALT), the offspring of Tekcapital (TEK). It was pleasing to see SALT end the week at the high of the day. While 20th century people such as myself are not really bothered by health matters such as sugar, salt et al, the younger generation is apparently keen on staying alive as long as possible, so presumably a means of achieving a lower salt intake will be a winner.
Hemogenyx
I was duly corrected regarding my somewhat snide throwaway comment regarding the share price rise at Hemogenyx (HEMO) ahead of Friday’s patent application progress news. This was actually a rise anticipating consent from the FDA to start phase 1 clinical trials regarding HEMO-CAR-T. That said, historically shares of HEMO have been rather good at anticipating positive news. Long may this continue.
Power Metal
One of the few golden rules regarding small caps is to embrace those whose shares rise after a fundraise. In this category this week came Power Metal (POW) with a £1.3m fundraise, boosted by strategic financing, over and above the existing presence of U.S. stock guru Rick Rule. The raise was at 1p – the high zone of the recent, and we saw the shares hit a peak of 1.30p after the news. Previously, the Bulletin Board Heroes target here was up to 1.3p on a break of 0.9p. So, the call was close.
Chill Brands
One the downside there was an obvious decline for Chill Brands (CHLL) in the wake of Government proposals to regulate vapes. There were a couple of issues associated with this news. Luckily for Chill Brands it had just raised £2.4m on January 26, the Friday before Monday January 29’s news. One would naturally put this down to skill rather than anything sinister. In terms of what the Government will actually do, one suspects it may actually do nothing, given that this vape policy is most likely just a mild virtue signalling distraction. Given the general maelstrom we are in as far as the economy, immigration, social justice / Post Office, one might suggest that we all need to vape. The other point is of course Chill Brands has many other markets than Blighty to sell into.
Symphony Environmental
The negative EU court judgement for Symphony Environmental Technologies (SYM) was interesting for a couple of reasons. The first was the way that the shares doubled ahead of the news, presumably on the basis that anyone short might have decided that discretion was the better part of valour. There is a second point here: perhaps one should have anticipated regarding whether the EU would find in favour of a company which comes from a country which recent stuck two fingers up at it, so far without too much success? The EU has always been a vested interest body, and one to my mind an organisation where he who pays the piper calls the tune. To be fair, it is not that different here in rip-off Britain.
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