Posts

Showing posts from 2012

Much more upside to come for Nokia

Image
The new Nokia Lumia There’s been a burgeoning of demand for Nokia stock – there was more than double the average volume yesterday (17 Dec 2012). I’m not surprised: I tipped then back on 5 September 2012, when they were $2.55 - and they're now $4.18. And I believe there is still considerable upside to come – measured in multiples of the current price and not just a percentage increase – and for the following reasons: 1.    Nokia hold a veritable treasure trove of patents – many of which predate even the existence of their rivals 2.    The new Nokia phone integrates some phenomenal technologies  - ‘Here’ mapping and award-winning PureView picture technology – into something that deserves more than just the name “camera” or “satnav”. The Economist said, ‘ Nokia’s 41-megapixelsmartphone camera uses its embarrassment of pixels to take good pictures in dimlight and simulate a reasonable zoom lens ’. This beast rocks.  3.    The Microsoft Windows Phone 8 OS will sh

Thrombogenics

…another stock I have in my portfolio – this one already performing well – is Thrombogenics, a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercialising innovative ophthalmic medicines (that’s the spiel), and based in Belgium. Earlier this year Thrombogenics announced that theirMicroplasmin Meets Primary Endpoint in Phase III Trial for the Non-SurgicalTreatment of Symptomatic Vitreomacular Adhesion (VMA) . In other words market their Microplasmin product has received the green light - and that’s why I am backing them. The shares are listed on the Eurolist by Euronext Brussels under the symbol THR and are currently trading (21 Sept 2012) at €30.11, which is 35% up on when I bought them almost a year ago. They’re worth backing in my view. Please note: The views and opinions in this post are my own and should not constitute advice to purchase the stocks quoted.

Nokia Shares

Image
On the 17 January this year (2012) I tipped the shares of Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CWW), when they were around 16 pence.  A few days later they jumped nearly 50%. I have to say that I didn’t believe they would go up quite that fast but they kept going up and up until …the company was bought by Vodafone at 38p per share! It gave me the kind of profit I like – a three digit percentage point gain. Another share I have in my portfolio is Nokia. ‘But nobody buys a Nokia anymore’, I hear you say  - and their stock dropped faster, further, than even that of CWW over the last few years.  But let me outline why I think Nokia shares are a good bet for capital growth: Their new ex-Microsoft Chairman and CEO, Stephen Elop, told it like it is (or was!) with his “Burning Platform” company internal memo – an announcement, much cited  and  referenced as a guide for other business and political leaders such as Cisco’s John Chambers. A solid basis for a good

Apple Apps: build your own - it's not difficult!

Image
Building an Apple App used to cost a fortune – usually via an Elance contractor in India, the Ukraine or China. I did one this way, called iSmashit, and I haven’t got my investment back yet!    Apple ? Then I had a crack at doing it myself: I already had an AppStore account (courtesy of iSmashit ) and so I got an Apple Developer Licence and downloaded Xcode onto to my Apple (you need Lion OS for it by the way). I made pretty good progress, largely due to the excellent courses at Lynda.com. But I still ain’t no Angry Birds builder! Bloggers with vastly more experience than me, such as JohnChow (in my view, simply the best), have recently recommended app building programmes such as bloapp , which create customised apps for bloggers. But now we can go the whole nine yards and build fully-fledged Apple Apps for ourselves, thereby adding to Apple’s existing half million live apps! You could use Conduit - basic but effective. You can do the same thing with M

Amusing Aspergers - being an Aspie parent

Image
The delights of being a parent of someone with Aspergers Syndrome – an “Aspie” - are poorly documented. Difficult to believe I know – but let me try and outline some of them for you. I have argued with my son, Richard, who has Asperger’s Syndrome, since he first learned to speak and my debating skills are now honed to the level of a divorce barrister. Nobody betters me, I don’t give up - and it can all be attributed to Richard’s verbal persistence.  Me and Richard He can – and does! – argue till the cows come home, in fact, until they’re well inside the cowshed. He is unencumbered by distractions like, well, logic for instance and, as I am sure many readers could verify, is totally immune to emotional blackmail. A tearful response merely elicits the quiet question, ‘Why are you upset?’ So, I can now argue well! I am also the most patient person you can imagine – at least those of you without experience in these matters can imagine. The prophet Job could l