Posted on 04/29/2006 7:08:37 AM PDT by Grampa Dave
Stupid Investment of the Week If you treasure your money, steer clear of this stock,(Brolin haha!)
By Chuck Jaffe, MarketWatch Last Update: 9:06 AM ET Apr 28, 2006
BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- Uncovering new, tiny companies with the potential for success is a bit like hunting for treasure. You need to read the map of financials, understand the landscape of the business and do the right calculations or you are just going to wind up throwing a lot of money away with nothing to show for it.
So when a company promises to be a treasure, literally and figuratively, investors should recognize that those businesses are exceedingly rare. And when the treasure company is being touted by celebrities and penny-stock promoters, investors would be wise to think that they're more likely to strike stupidity than to find great riches.
That's why Deep Blue Marine, a new company that is in the treasure-hunting business and that is being touted by actor James Brolin, earns its place as Stupid Investment of the Week.
Stupid Investment of the Week showcases the flaws and conditions that make a security less than ideal for the average investor, in the hope that spotlighting danger in one situation makes it easier for investors to recognize and avoid elsewhere. While obviously not a purchase recommendation, neither is the column intended as an automatic sell signal, as there may be times when dumping a worrisome investment simply compounds the problem.
In the case of Deep Blue Marine Inc., it's hard to imagine that scenario, however, because the stock only came into being in January and, after spiking, gave back almost all of those gains. So its unlikely that most current investors have capital gains to worry about.
Like many new penny stocks, Deep Blue went public through a reverse merger, taking over Uniprime Capital Acceptance Corp. in January, changing stripes and setting out as a "worldwide underwater recovery specialist."
The danger is that your portfolio will be under water and in need of salvage by the time this company is done.
Deep Blue trades on Pink Sheets, which is a centralized quotation service that collects and distributes market-maker prices for securities traded in the over-the-counter market. While there are many fine companies that trade on pinks -- and plenty of investors who profit from trading in penny stocks -- they are not the domain for average investors.
While some firms that trade on Pink Sheets file regulatory paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission, many do not. Deep Blue is so new that investors won't find any meaningful numbers.
Instead, they will have to rely mostly on what the company says about itself, or has Brolin say for it at the firm's Web site, www.alldeepblue.com. Depending on your age, Brolin is best known either for playing Dr. Kiley on the television series "Marcus Welby, M.D." or as the current Mr. Barbra Streisand.
The veteran actor bought some stock in the company, according to Deep Blue president Wilf Blum, and the two men met shortly thereafter, at which point Brolin offered to serve as a pitchman in a commercial the company was developing. (Imagine Brolin saying, "DPBM, the stock symbol that marks the spot." And, no, I'm not fooling.)
While Deep Blue has crafted the commercial -- which focuses on the idea that the company has assembled a treasure-hunting "dream team" to use new technology to explore the ocean floor -- Blum said the firm has not hired the investment marketing firms that have hyped the stock thus far in its short life.
When investors read press releases talking about how an independent research firm has taken an interest in a penny stock, they should investigate to see if the firm actually does paid investment marketing. Sometimes, it is interested investors looking to move the stock who hire the marketing and research firms to issue "reports."
Ultimately, Blum himself acknowledges that investing in Deep Blue requires an iron constitution.
"You should only invest with this company with money that you can afford to put on the table, walk away from and never look back," says Blum. "I don't want anybody investing their mortgage payment."
That doesn't mean Blum is not confident, rather that he's been a treasure hunter for years and has seen that it often takes that long to hit pay dirt.
Blum believes that Deep Blue's technology allows it to have a better picture of what's on the ocean bottom, and he expects the company to find treasure at all three sites where it currently has sought permits. It's hard not to get excited by Blum and his visions of finding lost Spanish gold.
But the artifacts that the company promises to sell on its Web site haven't been found yet. And the commercial's promise of live pictures of discoveries being brought to the surface remains just a promise. Investors have to face facts; an "underwater recovery specialist" only makes money when it actually recovers something. While Blum notes that the firm does have some salvage work to pay the bills during the off-season, the dream -- and the thing luring the investors -- is gold on the ocean floor.
Says Blum: "If I can't pull something up over the deck by July of this year, then I don't know what I am talking about. If I can't have salvage on the deck before this treasure-hunting season is over, then my technology is not real. We've done the tests and we're pretty positive of what we have below the water."
There's the rub. Effectively, Deep Blue is a short-term, all-or-nothing bet, being made in the hope of getting rich quickly. Investors can't be sure what lies below the surface for Deep Blue Marine. With no balance sheet, no financial history, no means of properly and independently sizing up the technology or management, and no reason to take the word of a celebrity spokesman, the average consumer is likely to find that penny-stock treasure hunting seldom has a happy ending.
Chuck Jaffe is a senior MarketWatch columnist. His work appears in dozens of U.S. newspapers.
Jaffe nails this con job by labelling James Brolin, Mr. Barbra Streisand.
Makes one wonder if Jamey Boy made Mama BS mad and got his allowance cut. So now he has to push trash like this.
Of course when the Deep Blue Marine folds up and disappears, BS can blame President Bush for Deep Blue Marine's demise.
For your enjoyment this Saturday Morning.
This is about as enjoyable as reading about Jim Rob zotting Willie Green.
This is called PUMP AND DUMP, tout a stock and then dump all their stock and it goes into the toilet.
James married "Babs." How bright can he be? On the other hand, he certainly knows a cash-cow when he sees one . . .
Fyi and ping lists.
Besides the good laugh, people need to be aware of this loser company and its spokesit, Mr. Barbra Streisand.
Pump and Dump is one good definition.
I'm sure that we will hear more before this thread dies down.
Moo Moo Babs.
That sounds good. She has more silicon on her chest than most beaches.
I saw him discussing the investment and he described it as a pure speculation and akin to spending money in Las Vegas.
He put the money on the line for fun, not serious belief in probable returns.
I was suprised at his candid assesment.
Woz Raises $150 Million For, Well, Nobody Knows
Looking to capitalize on the Apple halo effect, three former company executives, including co-founder Steve Wozniak, took their new company, Acquicor Technology, public yesterday in an IPO raising $150 million. The money they raised is purely based on their reputation, as Acquicor Technology, is officially designated as a "blank-check" company (no, really, it's in their filings), meaning they don't do anything yet and can do whatever they want with investor money. Wozniak seems to have a knack for using his name to raise money before having an established operation (in the case of his last venture Wheels of Zeus, he developed a dog-tracking device based on GPS). So why launch what is basically a public venture capital fund, which will inevitably have the CMGI ick factor? Perhaps because the compensation can work out so much better. The company's S-1 SEC filing reveals that while public investors are paying $6/share, the executives bought in at $.004/share, meaning they've already netted themselves over $30 million based on the size of the offering. Had they launched a $150 million venture capital fund, netting this much in performance fees would have been far harder. What makes the offering more odd is that the executives are very busy with their own projects -- CEO Gilbert Amelio is a partner at a VC firm, while Wozniak remains president of the aforementioned Wheels of Zeus. As the company doesn't have any full-time employees, it's not clear who will be tending to the investors interests. Other than following what investments the inventive Wozniak makes, it will be interesting to see how long he can continue to use his name for fundraising.
Just when I thought Brolin couldn't do worse than the AAMCO commercials...
Did they register their name ?
http://www.deepbluemarine.com/
Below is how MS stock value compares to the MS hating fishwraps of America.
I'm in the market for a new Hand Held GPS that I can use on fishing trips in my boat or on the shore. That must have triggered an email ad I got on this company. When I saw Brolin's name, I marked it as spam.
good one
Woz is a Wiz when it comes to getting people to invest their money.
Darn - who would stand out as the Libs "Paper of Record" when this liberal, out-of-touch rag finally goes under? Better yet, how are the libs going to explain it? - possibly by using the strategy given when Bush was last elected. They will claim that the American public is "just too stupid" to know quality when they see it. Either way, we are rid of a paper that lost anything worthwhile to say years ago.
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