stlplace

Happy New Year to all the readers, whether you are from the US, or China (would be very hard these days), or Europe, or somewhere else,…
I started this blog about a year ago. My original intension is to share things related to my work and life experience in mid-west US, from software to things in St. Louis. This has […]

I did not put money into 401K right after I started to work in Fall 2000. Looking back this is my biggest mistake in 401K. Although I have some credit card debt at that time, I think I should at least put the money to get the company’s maximum match (free money, hehe). Not to […]

It seems Heelys had a very good Christmas season. From my store visit to Journeys and Sports Authority, each account for 11.6% and 11% domestic sales in the fist 9 months in year 2006, the sales are doing well. I did notice one week before Xmas, SA offered some discount, and Journeys started discount after […]

I don’t have to work these days. Besides reading the Peter Lynch’s book, checking out Crocs and Heelys in the stores, I also had a little time to review how I did with my 401K and taxable stock account. The good news is my 401K is getting a 18% gain, and for the first time in […]

I noticed the Chicken price went up a little yesterday. I have not bought the whole roasted chicken from Schnuck for a while because usually when I got there at 6:30 or 7 PM, they are sold out. But I got it yesterday evening and I realized they are charging $5.99; it was $4.99 last […]

Here is what I saw from eBay:
***Asia Internet Connectivity Hit by Taiwan Earthquake – Trading Advice*** 
  
December 28, 2006 | 12:28PM PST/PT
“On December 26, an earthquake off the coast of Taiwan damaged several undersea cables shared by international telecommunications companies. This has disrupted Internet connectivity in many countries in Asia, including Australia.
While repairs are being made, […]

HMIN     
# of ADRs 32,283,906/2
Price (27Dec06) $35    
Market Cap (USD) $1,129,936,710/2    Note Google Finance has incorrect number
     
Rev (RMB)       Q1          Q2               Q3             Q4 
2005       109,405,488 (1st half)  77,733,825   98,722,199 
2006 110,671,567 138,386,977 160,352,229 170,000,000 
YoY                                                106%          72% 
Est 2006 Rev: $73,343,136 (assume 1 USD = 7.9 CNY )
Market Cap/Sales: 7.5 (it’s not totally out of whack
Note: # of ADRs is outstanding shares expressed in ADR , note one ADR = two ordinary shares   

I am not good at predicting the top or bottom of stocks, so take it for what it worth…
First is the LFC, China Life Insurance, which went from 100 to 140 in a few days mainly due to the “back to China” IPO in Shanghai Stock Exchange. Note GSH and other China blue chip ADRs […]

I heard about Peter Lynch and his book more than two years ago; I ordered his book from Amazon last week because I wanted to learn more about stocks and investing. I just got to Chapter 5 now, but I found his book to be educational and interesting: his humor can be felt in many […]

It seems to me the Internet connection from China to the outside world was down, because I could not get to some of the sites from baidu news. I attached the official email from iTalkBB, my IP phone provider at the end of this post. For me it’s just some inconvenience, but how much effect it would have on […]