Even though its hindsight at this point, there are a few companies that you can casually observe and know that no way can the stock go any place but down in the long run. I'm talking companies that you don't even need to look at the balance sheet or income statement to know that they are fads and will eventually become next to worthless. 3 that come to mind BBW - Build a Bear workshop Mall store that charges like 50 bucks for a stuffed animal. THATS ALL YOU GOT? Lame. HOTT - Hot Topic Another Mall store. How many goth kids are there to support that crap they sell? I'm thinking not enough. CROX - Crocs Ugliest shoes ever made. And where the hell are people supposed to wear these things? This was a tough one because you would have got pounded into submission trying to short or buy puts during that crazy run up. Add your own.
this is an old theme to fade fads. sometimes they are called bubbles. "the market can stay irrational alot longer than u can stay solvent"
I'd agree with Crox and Hott, but the little kids LOVE Build a Bear, and as long as American culture continues to not remember how to say NO to the little one's I think BBW has a future. In the case of BBW your not paying for the bear, your paying for the "experience" your child gets by building the bear, or by being the cool kid who gets to hose a BBW party. The social pressure on parents is huge, and while we may skimp on the things we get for ourselves as economic hard times sit in, America has simply forgotten how to tell it's children no (with terrible end results IMO)
actually, some guys are turned on by BBWs. Elizabeth Holmes, on RTN network's 'Unreliable SOurces' show comes to mind
BBW workshop gives me visions of really fat chicks sitting around talking about how to snag a husband who loves a "curvier woman" Seriously though, some of these stocks make me chuckle. Did CROX really once have a $5 billion market cap? There are "bears" that sell for $50? There's a corporation just for goths that was once worth 1 bill? Only in America lol. Then again, this is the country that brought the Cabbage Patch Doll craze to the world. I knew a woman who was crazy about them, she had spent literally thousands of dollars collecting them. All those asylums and she gets to stay free roaming the streets - what gives? I disagree with Brandon about BBW. In a recession when daddy is about to lose his job, I can just picture the scene: "Sorry junior, but I just got fired. The bear has to go." *WHACK* (Junior starts crying miserably) And yeah, methinks that a goth retail store is gonna fold during a recession. How can this place survive when Sears is going belly up despite a billionaire backer? I got another idea - find out which companies & fund managers owned BBW at $35, and FIRE THEIR SORRY ASSES
SIRI. I hear that weasel Stern is using shares for toilet tissue, much cheaper than Charmin. I never thought much of pay radio.
Ruby Tuesday (RT) Garbage company. Their balance sheet is a mess, but you don't need to be a CPA to realize their business is going down the shitter. They serve overpriced, garbage quality food in lower middle class strip mall areas, i.e. a very price sensitive segment. All the people that are stupid enough to eat at RT's are the kind of morons that took out huge mortgages to buy crap houses in the exurbs and buy everything on credit.
How about LULU - I mean fuckin ABC and D.. Yoga clothes?? Look at this toolshed: http://www.lululemon.com/products/mens