| A Speculator's Smorgasbord |
Dateline: 2/1/99
Last week I attended the 1999 Vancouver Investment Conference put on by Cambridge International and you might call it a speculator's dream come true. A smorgasbord of speakers specializing in small and micro cap analysis, and a host of displays by mining and high tech companies.
Speculative stocks hold a certain allure for investors - the allure of making a killing in the market. Invest a modest amount, hit the motherlode, and darned if you don't get rich in the process. Never mind that most speculators lose their shirts. The allure is still there. It's like gambling - though it can be done with some skill and insight and perhaps, pay off.
Judging from the large turnout the Sunday I attended, there are a lot of people looking for insights into the market, people trying to find the big winner. My own particular bent is towards value investing, but I have to admit - the dream of striking it rich in a short space of time can be mighty tempting. Especially since the only penny stock I've invested in recently, probably the stupidest investment I ever made in my life, paid off in spades just last week. (It will be the subject of next week's article - Dumb Luck!)
Meanwhile, there was a lot of useful information to be had at the Vancouver conference. Let me take you on a quick tour.
For penny stock fans, this conference was pure heaven. It featured two distinct themes - technology and resources. I was more interested in the technology side of things, but the big names and the larger area was devoted to the resource side. Vancouver, after all, is the penny stock capital of North America and most of those are mining stocks. There were myriad displays by assorted gold mines, diamond prospectors, newsletter writers, and website hosts.
The two day conference, which took up the C Level convention floor at the Hotel Vancouver, was very well organized. All day, each day, speakers and panels enlightened and entertained in the Technology Speaker Hall and the Resource Speaker Hall. Special courses were available for a modest $40 fee in separate areas - three each day - and included Internet Trading Made Easy, Option Trading, Technical Analysis and Bottom Fishing Strategies. CEO Hot Seats featured executives of selected companies fielding questions from panelists and audience members.
And then there were exhibit halls for high tech and resource companies. All had free literature available, and newsletter writers often had free newsletters or special trial subscriptions for the asking. I put my name down for several and may mention some in my Pundits Report from time to time.
I arrived just in time to hear John Buckmeyer, publisher of The Millennium Advantage, speak on the Y2K problem. His thoughts were covered in last week's feature, A Year 2 Kill. Unfortunately I just missed Ryan Irvine and Brent Larsen of the Future Stock Review. But I wandered over to the Technology Exhibit Hall after Buckmeyer's talk and picked up a copy at their booth.
The technology businesses with tables included:
Most of these companies are trading under a dollar a share. All have interesting products on the cutting edge of technology. Whether any of them will parlay into stocks worth several dollars or more a share remains to be seen, but they are worth checking out in more detail.
After browsing through the Technology Exhibits, I took in a talk by Chris Bunka of the Outsider's Overture Newsletter. An excellent speaker, Bunka inspired me enough to buy a copy of his book The Outsider's Guide to Speculative Stocks. (I'll review it here after I've read it.) All except the most recent back issues are available in their entirety at the website linked above.
Bunka was followed by John Kaiser, publisher of the Kaiser Bottom-Fishing Report. Kaiser drew a larger audience but didn't particularly interest me, so I didn't stick around. I did pick up a free copy of his Report at his booth though. Back issues of his newsletter, like Bunka's, are available in their entirety (except the most recent issues) at the link above. The December issue he gave out is fat and detailed. Its 32 pages explain his methodology and lists his annual guide to 100 Bottom-Fish for 1999. Bottom-Fish are juniors that indicate a "high probability that a speculation cycle offering 500% returns or better gains will happen sooner or later." Kaiser distinguishes these from other cheap juniors "better described as trash-fish" and from juniors in the midst of a speculation cycle, who he calls sports-fish. All except three or four of his bottom-fish are mining companies.
After lunch I sat in on Louis Paquette's talk. Paquette is the publisher of Emerging Growth Stocks and achieved some prominence when he recommended his readers get out of Indonesian gold stocks before the Bre-X scandal hit. Paquette explained how stock cycles develop and how timing can play a big part in an investor's stratgey. He was speaking, of course, of small caps, not of the broader market. I picked up a copy of his newsletter at his booth and it is a good read. Some back articles are available at the site linked to above.
Paquette noted that he was off gold stocks after the downturn of 1997 and last year's flat performance. Until gold hits $340 an ounce again, he isn't particularly interested. So most of his focus these days is on technology and diamonds..
I did browse around the Resource Exhibits, but it is not something I'm overly keen on, so I didn't pick up much literature. The exceptions were two mentioned by the speakers I heard.
I was tempted to stick around to hear Doug Casey, but my dogs were starting to woof (read "my feet were starting to ache") so I headed on home after four hours. I'd heard a few good speeches, learned about some interesting up and coming companies, bought a good book, picked up a lot of free literature including lots of newsletters and generally had a good time.
The good news is that Cambridge House has now put many of the speeches, panels and even CEO Hot Seats on the Internet using Real Video™. It includes such popular figures as Brian Fagan, Bob Bishop, Frank Veneroso and Doug Casey. So if you missed it, attend now on your computer! (Don't you love technology!)
Cambridge House is bringing this conference to Toronto for June 6-7 and to Calgary for October 3-4. And did I tell you? They're free if you pre-register!
There were a variety of other newsletters I picked up and these will be listed, along with other resources in my new Library category of Small & Micro Cap Stock Investing Links.
Other Links of Interest
The Beginner's Guide to Microcap Investing - the basics of microcap investing from the SmallCap Investor site.
Vancouver Stock Exchange - the number one venture capital stock exchange in North America.
Alberta Stock Exchange - another Canadian stock exchange known for carrying venture capital issues.
NASDAQ - the major American exchange for growth oriented companies. Many of its listings started out as small caps but are small caps no longer - stocks such as Microsoft and Dell.
Small Cap Investor - an extensive website covering small and microcap investing. Covers American stocks.
Microcap1000.com - another website focusing on American microcap stocks.
Disclaimer: As with all my columns here, I should re-iterate a precaution. I am not a professional financial advisor. I am a financial journalist and editorialist. The views in these columns are my personal opinions. The author may hold interests in a number of the investments mentioned in this article.
Investing (Canada) Notes:
Library Net Links:
I've added a new category this week - Small & Micro Cap Investing - and last week I added Y2K Canada. Check them out!
The Daily:
I've added Y2K news to The Daily from GLOBETechnology and TechWeb.
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