Week in review 10/27/07 to 11/03/07
1) I found the coffee at On the Run (Mobile gas station) is as good as Panera. I used to get a cup of coffee at Panera every morning, it costs me about $1.70, now I’m paying $1 for similar thing.
Even at this price, I believe “On the Run” is still making money. Now I seriously think Starbucks is in trouble, at least in the US, because I think many Starbucks customers will do as I do: save the money. Note McDonald and Dukin Donuts also offer gourmet coffee at competitive prices.
2) My portfolio update: as you may know my portfolio got a big hit this Thursday (Nov. 1) as one of my core holdings, CROX, did not report a strong quarter as the street wanted. I certainlly was not happy with it, but strangely, I did not feel upset as I did on Feb 27, in which my portfolio also got a big hit due to “Chinese crash”. At that time my portfolio heavily weighted on HMIN and MR.
Since then I have rebalanced my portfolio, recently I trid to be more focused, because I don’t want to run my little portfolio like a mutual fund. I was hoping for a better return that way. Of course I am aware I’m taking more risk from individual stocks.
Talking about risk, recently I am hearing my dad, who is very conservative and never buys stocks, started pay attention to the stock market. As Warren Buffett says, when the stock news is on the front page of the newspaper everyday, you know there is bubble.
3) How Crocs made Mammoth: I was going to buy a pair so we went to mall and check it out yesterday. I found they just put the warm stuff inside a pair of regular Crocs cayman or beach, and that’s it. So the shoes will be smaller than the original one. I could hardly fit into a size 8 pair while normally I could easily fit into size 7. The mammoth costs $39.95, vs. $29.95 the Crocs original, i.e. cayman or beach. I heard it’s already No. 1 seller in Amazon. Interesting…