Sorry for rambling on about all of that. I just felt that I needed something to help explain why my fund currently has certain holdings. As we progress for the next 5 or 6 months I will try to discuss one stock that I have purchased and why on a fairly regular basis.(I hope) I will also talk about stocks that I have recently sold and why. And of course I will probably ramble on about things that are going on in the world and the markets with each post. I certainly love to hear comments from people about whether I should just stop blabbing nonsense or if anything was helpful or insightful.

So, without further rambling, my stock of the month is General Moly Inc (GMO). This stock has been in my portfolio since January 16. This company is a U.S.-based moly mineral development exploration and mining company. Molybdenum, or moly, is a metal that is used in numerous applications from aircraft parts and missiles to plasma TVs and fuel cells. Moly was once used to make samurai swords stronger and sharper without making them brittle. Moly also has the fifth highest melting point of any element. Molybdenum has been on fire with over 600% gain in price since its lows in 2000. There is also growing demand for moly for just about anyting being built nowadays. The uses of moly are almost limitless. It has been used for all kinds of industrial building including pipe coatings, oil super tankers, and nuclear reactors. As demand grows so does the price of moly and GMO is in a prime position to rake in massive profits over the next decade as long as the price of moly continues to rise. I got in to GMO under my $10 buy price and I am currently sitting on nearly a 25% gain in less than 2 months. I see commodities and alternative energy being the "hot" stocks for the rest of 2008. Another place to watch is in foreign markets such as the B-R-I-C countries, Brazil, Russia, India, and China. These countries will continue to grow at a rapid pace even with a slowdown in the United States. I hope that this has been informative and helpful to anyone that reads this post. Good luck in the competition and happy investing.

The other problem that we seem to be facing right now is a great amount of greed by a select few. I was reading an article last week by Jon Markman on MSN http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/SuperModels/CreditPainIsGainForASelectFew.aspx?GT1=10621. In the article he gives us a great perspective on what was going on with all of the CDOs and why the stock market has become a roller coaster ride. It seems to me that this "conspiracy", if you will, has rattled the confidence of investors all over the world. I realize that everyone is terrified of the U.S. catching a cold and sneezing on the rest of the world but that fear has been heightened due to these elite few that are making money off of that fear. By creating false news reports about companies they have thrown an aerosol can into the fire that is the housing debacle and now that it's exploded it's anyones guess as to when we can expect the panic to stop. So, I will probably begin to take some profits from some of my positions and redistribute my funds into "safer" vehicles. I will of course continue to stay in some positions for the long haul since that is more my style, but I'd be crazy to let my winners come crashing down while I'm still on-board. I am also going to tinker with a new strategy that involves earnings calls that I will discuss in greater detail in a week or two.

As for my current portfolio positions, I am really excited about the prospects for one of my newest acquisitions. I recently bought shares of Sinoenergy Corp. (SNEN). This company deals with compressed natural gas (CNG) and has plans to build 20 CNG filling stations in China. On October 9 they announced that the first two were up and running. Both stations are located in Wuhan City, Hubei province. Sinoenergy is building 20 CNG filling stations within the city of Wuhan with one central station and a large-scale compressed natural gas plant. These stations are expected to open over the next 6 months with a target of 30 CNG filling stations being operational by the end of 2008. Currently there are 4,900 vehicles that burn CNG in Wuhan City with another 2,500 expected to be in use by the end of the year. It is estimated that at least 20 to 30 CNG filling stations will be required to fill those 7,400 vehicles. Currently there are only 10 stations. I expect to see massive growth for Sinoenergy over the next 2 years. Sinoenergy started out as a pressurized container producer and still manufactures a large number of containers for several industries. They also make conversion kits, which began to produce revenue last quarter. Sinoenergy is also building two refineries and a pipeline that should be up and running in 2008 and 2009 respectively.

To put this in perspective, in India, CNG only costs 50 cents per kilogram compared with $1.50 USD per liter of regular gasoline. There have been reports of CNG costing around $7.17 USD per 100 km (62 miles). If regular gas costs around $1.59 USD per liter the cost per 100 km is $15.95 USD. That's a savings of $8.78 per 100 km or 55%. That's a huge cost advantage. Not only that but CNG can be used in modified diesel engines and since CNG produces very little soot, oil changes are only necessary every 10,000 miles. In Germany, CNG burning vehicles are expected to increase to 2 million units by 2020. Argentina and Brazil are the two countries with the largest fleets of CNG vehicles. So, as you can see there is a great deal of upside for this company over the next two years and possibly beyond. I expect great things from this company and good gains.

But enough about the goings-on in the world, it's time to talk about another one of my stock choices. My largest gainer so far has been Sangamo Biosciences (SGMO). This stock has gained more than 70% in just under 3 months. For the year this stock has gained over 100%. (Full disclosure----I personally own shares of SGMO) I have been watching this stock for several years now and I have seen it go from the lofty heights back in 2000 and 2001 during the Internet Bubble all the way down to it's lowest point in 2003 when it hit as low as $1.23. Sangamo is another of my big pharma buyout hopefuls. But even without any news or rumors of a buyout Sangamo has been performing far better than I ever expected. Sangamo Biosciences develops gene therapy treatments that use zinc finger DNA-binding proteins(ZPFs). They are currently developing treatments for several conditions and working with the big three pharma companies. The main reason that I have so many biotech stocks is due to the fact that the Baby Boomers are starting to retire and are going to need medical treatments and have the money to spend on their own healthcare. Sangamo is currently working on treatments for diabetic neuropathy, cardiovascular disease, brain cancer, and HIV. The HIV treatment is currently getting all of the attention because it could make the cells of the immune system permanently resistant to infection by the HIV virus. This is also why I believe that Sangamo is a good buyout canidate for one of the big pharma companies. Even if Sangamo doesn't get bought out it still has the potential to become the first big-paying gene therapy company.

Well, enough of my ramblings about the Fed and the rate cut heard round the world. It's time for me to discuss another of my stock picks and why I chose it. This week I am going to talk about Isis Pharmaceuticals (ISIS). There are several reasons that I picked this stock. Isis develops "antisense" drugs for cancer, diabetes and heart disease, along with drugs for allergies and HIV symptoms. Isis is another buyout canidate that I chose based on Pfizer's need for a quick fix to make up for the loss of their new cholesterol drug Torcetrapid.

Isis has strong intellectual property patents on its technology, which uses small, artificially created DNA strands to bind with and eliminate the RNA encoding that cause disease. Isis was
the first company to bring an antisense, the microbiology term used for the RNA-binding
strands, drug to the market (in a partnership with Novartis). The company's Vitravene is FDA approved and treats blindness in AIDS patients.

Isis has a large number of drugs in its pipeline, with a diabetes drug, one for ulcers, a second for
multiple sclerosis and a cancer drug all in Phase II testing right now. And of course, there's the
company's cholesterol drug, which is also in human trials. Pfizer could be looking to Isis'
cholesterol candidate to replace the time and cost it spent on its failed Torcetrapid. It would be
the fastest solution for the pharmaceutical giant.

I don't really have a target sell price but if a buyout of the stock happens I would expect an excellent return on my investment in the next 6 to 18 months. Right now the stock has gained close to 50% in 7 weeks. As always I keep a 20% to 30% stop loss on all of my stocks depending on the amount of actual losses and the risk I'm willing to take that the stock will rebound. I try to keep stocks for the long haul unless they look to have too many problems keeping the stock from performing well. That is why I recently sold my shares of Qualcomm (QCOM). Qualcomm is a solid company that makes chips for cell phones and other electronic devices but due to their legal woes I felt it was best to cut ties with the company until they can get beyond the numerous patent infringement lawsuits they are currently involved in.

This stock (ONXX) has been a pleasant suprise gaining over 50% in just one month. Onyx is a small-molecule drug company based in California. They have a deal worked out with the big pharma company Bayer to manufacture and market Onyx's new cancer drug, Nexavar, for an even split of sales in the U.S. Nexavar is FDA-approved for use on kidney cancer and Onyx is currently completing trials of Nexavar on liver cancer and awaiting approval from the FDA. A recent article on fdanews.com stated, "Based on positive clinical trial results, Bayer Healthcare and Onyx Pharmaceuticals halted a Phase III study testing kidney cancer treatment Nexavar in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), or primary liver cancer, to allow all subjects in the study to receive treatment with the product, the companies announced Aug. 27." This news has help push the stock to a new 52-week high. Nexavar brought in more than $300 million just from the U.S. last year and that number is expected to double this year. It is also estimated that once Nexavar reaches market saturation it will bring in at least $1 billion dollars. That means that because of the deal that Bayer has with Onyx, Bayer will only see half of that amount. I believe that Bayer will eventually buyout Onyx to end the profit-sharing agreement to gain all profits from the sale of Nexavar.

I will continue to hold this stock for the next several months to see if a buyout occurs. I believe in long term investments, even in a short term contest such as this one. I am continually looking for quality stocks at bargain prices. My main goal is to not lose money and grow the money that I have invested by beating market returns.

Welcome to my blog. My name is Jeremy, I am 31 years old, I fix computers for a living, and I have been investing off and on over the last 15 years. Over that 15 years I have made several bad moves and a few good moves in the stock market. It has all been a great learning experience. My strategy for this competition is very aggressive. Nearly 50% of my holdings are biotech companies. The companies that I selected are possible canidates to be bought out by one of the big pharma companies. The other reason that I picked so many biotech stocks is because they tend to go up very rapidly on good news. And since this competition is only six months in length I figured that I would need some more volitile stocks in my portfolio to make it to the top. Over the next several weeks I will describe my decision to pick each stock in detail. Good luck to everyone else and I look forward to strong gains that beat the markets.

Jeremy