E*Trade

Just a quick update since I haven't commented on this. I bought E*trade @ $3.84 and I intend on selling it for between $5.75 & $6.50 per share. This is, in my opinion, an easy buy. With a $630M write down (using the same write down as Citigroup, which isn't dead accurate given different CDO portfolios but works for a quick rough figure) they are worth $8/share in book value. At $3.84, it was a steal. I don't view this as a long position though, I'll get out of it in a day or two from this point (I bought last Tuesday). I'm not very bullish on the company from the standpoint of long term investment.

I generally don't go after short term price movements but every once in a while opportunities appear that are simply too good to pass up in terms of risk & reward. This was one of those rare opportunities. I'd like to thank the negative speculators who were willing to part with their shares for less than half book value. Since the stock market can often be zero-sum, its handy to have people around that will freak out and panic easily - so I appreciate your lack of intestinal fortitude.

Update: And I'm out of this with a 60% profit :).