Ask HN: What special offers do you see on the stock market right now?

Many cruise lines are trading below the book value of equity. Carnival is one example.

Oil probably won’t stay at $30ish/barrel for long. High quality oil companies aren’t likely to go bankrupt (eg. Exxon, Valero, Chevron).

Senior assisted living REITs are in the gutter. VTR comes to mind.

However, if you’re thinking of investing I strongly recommend a broad-market ETF. VOO for the S&P 500 or VTI to go even more broad are good bets.

neural_thing · 6 years ago

Ahem. The same Carnival that has a quick ratio of about 0.2 and whose revenues are going to decline by 90%? Hard pass. It's equity value is all in cruise ships. Can you imagine those selling at anything close to par right now?

Dead Comment

PhantomGremlin · 6 years ago

Why buy VOO if SPY has very liquid options available? Gives you much more flexibility.

USO long dated calls. It's $1.76 a share for $5 strike price on Jan 2022. That's a 36% increase from the current share price of $4.99. The 52 week high is $13.86. I can't imagine the current oil war will continue for another 2 years.

nicholas73 · 6 years ago

You know that USO does not hold physical oil, but futures contracts, right? Futures contracts are now in heavy contango (front month is cheaper than following month). That means every month USO has to roll over these contracts by selling front and buying next month, so USO will lose value over time as long as these conditions persist.

You might already know this but that is why USO can lose value over time (the opposite was true when oil was higher). So careful with the timing.

rwmurrayVT · 6 years ago

Up 11% since yesterday. I know that it is risky, but I just figure at some point in the next 2 years it will work out.

anonu · 6 years ago

You may be missing the forest for the trees. The oil market has fundamentally shifted in the last decade. The US is energy independent with its massive oil projects and unfettered access to fracking and tar sands and what not. Don't catch a falling knife.

Case in point: Look at natural gas. We've been in a gas glut for a decade plus+ (https://pages.etflogic.io/?ticker=UNG for example, https://finviz.com/futures_charts.ashx?t=NG&p=m1 ). Big infrastructure builds and special cryo tanks are everywhere. Gas has never recovered from its 2008 peak... The same has played out and is playing out in crude.

rwmurrayVT · 6 years ago

You're right. The market has shifted in the last decade. That's why USO dropped from 60-100 before 2008, stayed around 40 until 2015, and then maintained 10-13 ever since. There's no way it won't rebound slightly when this ends.

If you're risk adverse the $2 calls Jan 21st, 2022 are $3.35. Required move to break even is 9.91%. It dropped 50% MTD. I don't need a full recovery, just a minimum of 10% over the next 2 years.

throw51319 · 6 years ago

But if oil war ends in next 18 months, and demand goes back to where it was (which it will in 18 months)... why would things not go back to how they were 2 months ago?

nknealk · 6 years ago

BTC is going to go up as an anti-inflationary store of value after the US announces massive cash being injected at all angles into the system. Once this virus passes in 18 months, there will be a ton more money and not a lot more assets. Yet BTC will stay steady. So BTC/$ will go up.

kls · 6 years ago

I shorted Royal Caribbean on the way down and am now buying shares. I figure most of the impact is priced in, I am a long hold on them now and we will see where it shakes out when it is all over. They have an extremely loyal customer base.

There's no free lunch.

Anyone with valuable stock tips will not share them here.

I will share one piece of investing advice though. Good fund managers - on average - make their money on good sector selection and not so much on good stock selection.

Other special offers: Free trading on every major brokerage platform. That's a fundamental shift from just a year ago...

jumbopapa · 6 years ago

just buy VTI. No use in speculating when VTI alone will go buy 50% to reach the previous highs.

hak8or · 6 years ago

You might as well go for vt at that point. It's the total global market. The USA is a massive portion of this anways, so it's just extra diversification.

Havoc · 6 years ago

Give it another two three weeks at least

lm28469 · 6 years ago

They wouldn't be "special" if they were discussed on public forums.

Max-20 · 6 years ago

TBH thats bollocks as well as the frequent platitude that 'Its already priced in..' or that the professional investors are so sophisticated that normal people don‘t have a chance so why bother

throwaway3563 · 6 years ago

Don’t know why downvoted, it’s clear what’s meant here. Nobody’s expecting to find inside info and if GP is going to only offer platitudes then why bother even clicking in the thread?

A working strategy stops working the day everyone applies it. It's not that you don't have a chance, simply don't expect people to tell you what to do.