
Bed Bath & Beyond warns of bankruptcy; Update on the AMTD Digital fraud; Electric vehicles at the Consumer Electronics Show; Meeting an Empire Lifetime Partner
1) When shares of dying retailer Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) inexplicably spiked from around $6 to more than $23 (briefly) last August, I warned my readers to "avoid it like the plague" because it "will have to file for bankruptcy within months and the stock will become worthless."
Sure enough, the company warned yesterday that it may soon need to "obtain relief under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code," trigging a collapse in its shares.
Why they trade for more than a few pennies is beyond me, as it is now certain that they are worthless...
2) Speaking of worthless stocks that are being manipulated on the Reddit message boards that I've warned my readers about, shares of China fraud AMTD Digital (HKD) surged, on no news, nearly 200% yesterday from $10 to close at $29.95.
On August 10, I wrote:
It was only a week ago when I warned my readers about AMTD Digital (HKD), which hit $2,118 intraday last Wednesday, writing that it was "one of the most stupidly overvalued, obviously fraudulent stocks (and I) have ever seen. Why do U.S. exchanges and regulators permit Chinese scammers to fleece American investors?!"
Since then, the stock has imploded, crashing another 48% yesterday to close at $212 per share – down a staggering 90% in one week.
Don't even be tempted to bottom fish this one, as it still has a $39 billion market cap versus a mere $25 million in trailing 12-month sales, meaning it's trading at 1,560 times revenue.
Off the top of my head, let's be generous and say it's worth 10 times revenue, which would be a high multiple for almost any stock. That would mean it's 156 times overvalued and that a reasonable price target for this stock would be $1.36 per share.
This is what fraudulent market manipulation looks like.
My view hasn't changed a bit – though maybe $1.36 is too generous...
3) My flight was delayed a bit so I didn't get to the Consumer Electronics Show ("CES") until 1 p.m., but I still managed to walk what felt like miles (my watch said 14,000 steps) through the main exhibition halls at the Las Vegas Convention Center until it closed for the day at 6 p.m. – checking out the booths of hundreds of companies (with hundreds more to come today, which I'll report on in Monday's e-mail).
Ever since I had one of the first portable computers, the Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100, in high school in 1984, I've been a gadget fiend, so today, as with every time I come to the CES, I was like a kid in a candy store!
Among the highlights of the day (starting with comments on public companies):
Every year, there are more and more fabulous-looking electric vehicles ("EVs") at CES – this year, they pretty much filled an entire convention hall the size of many football fields...
Ford Motor (F) didn't have a booth, but another company that makes components for its sweet-looking Mustang Mach-E had one on display:
Volkswagen – an open recommendation in our Empire Stock Investor newsletter – showed off EV models under its Porsche, Audi, and Volkswagen brands:
(Subscribers can read our full Volkswagen write-up – including our recommended way to buy the stock – right here. If you aren't a subscriber, you can find out how to gain instant access to it – along with the entire portfolio of open recommendations – by clicking here.)
I especially loved the classic VW bus:
Compare the new VW bus with the one below that my parents bought new in 1977 – it's hard to believe how far cars have come in 45 years...
(This is a camper – the top pops up at an angle, making room for a twin bed where my sister and I slept, while my parents slept in the pull-out bed below. They were teachers, so every summer from when I was in sixth grade into high school, we would drive across the country for a month or so, visiting friends, seeing national parks, and experiencing the incredible beauty of this country.)
Here were two Mercedes-Benz EV models:
And a BMW:
The biggest auto display was by an outfit I had never heard of, VinFast, the only automaker in Vietnam, which was founded in 2017. It showed off four impressive-looking EVs, one of which, the VF 8, is starting to sell in the U.S...
The company has big plans, including filing a registration statement to go public here this year and open a $2 billion factory in North Carolina.
It's worth keeping an eye on this company, but I likely won't be tempted by the stock when (if?) the company becomes public based on these early reviews:
- The VinFast VF8 Is Simply Not Ready for America
- First VinFast VF 8 EVs reach U.S. shores; shame about the range
4) One of Empire's first Lifetime Partners, Chris from Arizona, recognized me and introduced himself, and we had a good chat:
In Monday's e-mail, I'll have more photos and comments about all the cool things I'm seeing here at CES... Stay tuned!
Best regards,
Whitney
P.S. I welcome your feedback at WTDfeedback@empirefinancialresearch.com.