Below discussion of HDO (High Dividend Opportunities) can posted. By posting on this page we keep the other areas free for specific discussions.
I have ‘paused’ comments on here indefinitely–seems we need a little cooling off period.
118 thoughts on “HDO Rants”
Comments are closed.
I think it’s time to shut down this embarrassing HDO Rants page. Bad idea from the start and only getting worse. And those who just can’t take their minds off HDO every day, go start your own blog somewhere else to complain.
Karma–you might be right.
Karma, Tim, et al who feel the same as Karma and me,
That was pretty much the entire point of smashing this nonsense head-on. Enough is enough. Forgive me if the intent was honest yet the method was flawed.
You do recall it was specifically created to keep HDO related comments in a separate area where those not interested in them did not have to read them.
Now you are going to let a couple HDO sycophants get rid of the section? All that will do is bring the comments back in the sandbox and other areas where they were before. And ask yourself, why are a couple people so anxious to get these comments removed other than they go against their own self interests
It is real easy – if some sensitive snowflake gets upset about reading a HDO rant, just don’t read the HDO rant section
Why should there be a section of this website dedicated to your complaints about SeekingAlpha? If you don’t like SA, don’t use them. But if you haven’t noticed, the HDO comments have NOT stayed on the rants page and this page only encourages more discussion of it.
Why stop with HDO? Why not have dozens of rant pages for different things? I would like to rant about expensive variable annuities – where’s my page?
You and a few others have an envious and unhealthy obsession with HDO. Yeah, they suck, but SA is going to protect their business by blocking you. I figured this out years ago and I said, “Oh, well” and moved on. Why can’t you? You claim you are trying to help here, but you are weighing in at 95% attacks and 5% help (if I’m generous).
For what it’s worth, I agree. I don’t believe HDO Rants adds anything to the value of this site. In fact, I would suggest that it is only a distraction. I would think removing it completely or, at the very least, change the name to something generalized for those that feel the need to offer their opinion of other services, not only SA.
Disclosure: I’m not an SA subscriber and certainly would never be an HDO subscriber. However, I do enjoy the insight that III provides – without the clutter of SA here.
Do we need to worry about legal ramifications against this site if the target of the comments and criticism decides to sue.
LOL no.
First, and most importantly, site like this is not responsible for comments users make
Second, liable claims are quite hard to pursue, es people are allowed to have and express their own opinions especially when they have facts and truth backing them up
Third, do you really think pump and dump artists like HDO are going to file suit – which then exposes them to discovery where one could expose their whole scheme?
Yeah, this site provides information, so this site is not liable. The burden of proof would lie with the suer to show that the statements from individuals were provided as facts and NOT opinions, and that the facts were wrong, and the statements caused damage to them. HDO for instance keeps growing and growing, so right now the world thinks they are #1 investing site in the world. Too many people want to be told what to do and be rich over night. If HDO brought any type of suite, it would expose everything to the world, which would bring an end to the scheme they are running. I would think Shrinking Alpha would also have a vested interest in keeping things quiet as they are bringing in a tremendous amount of income from the service.
“HDO for instance keeps growing and growing, so right now the world thinks they are #1″… Despite the slanderous vitriol you and the usual crew copy and paste repeatedly, believing it matters to anyone other than yourselves? We thought you were big-time over on SA and had made the masses aware of the real deal. Actually, speaking of “burden of proof”, when will you or Bobby or any of the others post the forensically analyzed brokerage statements from the HDO crew so we can see what you all claim to be the “pump and dump” scheme? Seriously. I’m mean, we’re all about the facts here right – so let’s slow roll the meritless “pump and dump” slander and see the actual trading statements Bobby and anyone else is submitting with their SEC complaints. Scribbled notes on your legal pad don’t really count.
It’s awfully rich to hear some of you lambasting others for the “pump and dump” activities you / your crew – partakes in themselves. Posting buys here, then on SI, then on SA (or in whatever order matters). You know, it was all documented and known by far more than just Kaptain Lou. Like I said, rich…
BTW, how does one go about filing a “suite”? That’s one legal proceeding I’m not familiar with.
Look forward to those statements. This isn’t an attack on anyone – so let’s be clear. I just think there are more than a few folks here who would like to see you do your business or get off the pot. Let’s see the brokerage statements and then we can all get on board the crusade if they show what you and the crew claim.
Thanks in advance and have a blessed day.
This was about Newman’s question, which was only addressed by Mav and me. Your rant of shielding HDO should have been a new thread to the rant site. On another topic (should be posted to the sandbox page), I tried a new potato chip, and boy were they salty!
As we already knew, you have no proof of anything to share with the rest of us to give merit to your vitriol… Just a runny keyboard…
You say this is not an attack on anyone but that is precisely what it is. Why would you say otherwise? You take a poke at MrC and you take a poke at me, and at any others with similar sentiments towards HDO.
I’m short of time now but to make a few points:
Slander” is spoken defamation. You rake MrC over the coals for getting “suite” and “suit” wrong but his mistake is one of spelling. Yours is one of mistaken terminology. Your mistake is the bigger mistake.
As far as the “evidence” of pump and dump, of course it is circumstantial. But then most all cases, including securities cases, are circumstantial. Until they aren’t. It was no different that it was with Madoff. I am doing my part to turn circumstantial into concrete but the SEC has to use its powers to make that happen. Just as it did with Madoff and as it has with thousands of other securities law violation cases.
The evidence of the pump and dump is strong. I know what a pump-and-dump pattern looks like and I see it repeatedly in the HDO recommendations. To say I need to have “proof” to some legal standard to make the accusation is just plain silly. Cite the legal requirement if you wish.
Bobby,
Word salad games again? I reviewed that with you, recently. As you like to say, “what we have here is a failure to read”. Go back and read what I wrote – not what your narrative twister wants to make others believe I said. I want to deal with the facts and when put to the task, none of you have anything other than whiny deleted SA posts, screenshots with yellow highlighter all over them, and dull pencils from scratching on your legal pads.
We want the facts. We want the statements you seemingly must be using to substantiate your rantings. You’re not posting about your ‘sentiments’. You’re making assertive substantive claims of malicious wrongdoing and claiming you have the proof to back it up. Actually, IMO, you’re slandering the hell out of these HDO people and you’ve posted no substantive proof other than the usual copy-and-pasted list of crappy stock picks they’ve made over the last x amount of years and some allegedly suspect trading patterns.
And there it is… You finally admit it in your own words – “of course it is circumstantial”. You know what (tongue in cheek) rhymes with circumstantial? Hearsay… Speculation.
I’d like to review the audited brokerage statements, however, you don’t have any and you won’t have any. So on and on you and the crew will go, crusading to save the masses of the proletariat.
I appreciate Newman posting his inquiry about the legal ramifications and as expected, almost all the members of the crew have chimed in one after the other, exposed like the Emperer now that I sent the tide out.
When you’re composed and ready to share, I hope this thread remains open so we can revisit this issue after we get a look at those brokerage statements. I’m down for the revolution to rid the world of these purported scoundrels if what you say can ever be proven to be true. However, the tide is out and we see what we see…
And so now begins the drama of trying to again, shout me down and cancel me off the site because you and the others have been called out to produce the goods.
Either we better ourselves and stand united in facts or we fall defeated in deception and misery.
GLTA.
A4I–not taken as an attack–nothing wrong with a challenge properly presented.
So, Tim, you find no issue with the use of the term “slanderous vitriol you and the usual crew copy and paste repeatedly”?
And the issue made of “suite” vs “suit”. Ridiculing another person for getting either the word or the spelling incorrect?
You are OK with that?
I’m wanting to understand the thought process here.
bob–I think that jousting back and forth is pretty normal. Yes I think poking fun at misspelling etc is pretty petty-I would probably be hung if that was a sin. I guess folks should lay out their best case for their positions and then leave it at that–we don’t want pendy type back and forths for pages and pages. As far as me scrutinizing each and every comment it can’t happen–there aren’t that me hours in a day.
By some well published guidelines on moderation, his comments would have hit 5 rules for deletion. I was looking for a public AI system where you post a paragraph or sentence to assist a moderator to delete, and that would be cool. Facebook and Google have these to help moderators. I doubt that it would be allowed and seen as a challenge as presented in a debate. Debates deal with facts and not belittling others to win an argument. It would be like having a debate, and having one say: “Well my daddy is bigger than your daddy.” Or “well I belong to a wealthy family, so I am right.” It doesn’t work in a debate or being seen as properly presenting a rebuttal argument.
His style for rebuttal is very similar to Trump. Name call and other tactics to win arguments. Very academic 🙂
A4I – Who is your ludicrous comment and accusations directed at ?
No need to hide or be coy. if you want to call someone out – say their name. It is unbecoming not to.
And since I was one of those who simply responded to Newman – I want to know if you are addressing me or someone else.
Are you the same “Maverick61” who posted the following, below? If so, then to answer your query, you have been addressed: 100%. Do you have the brokerage statements? No, you don’t, but I surely do wish you did so that we could review them and help Bobby bolster the SEC ‘action’.
1. “We have already seen how they have gotten ideas first posted here, that they then steal and write articles about (of course only after they themselves have loaded up so they can run another of their pump and dump scams)”
2. “So no surprise they also monitor when negative comments about them on SA are mentioned here – so they can go get their SA partners in crime to delete them. ”
3. “Third, do you really think pump and dump artists like HDO are going to file suit – which then exposes them to discovery where one could expose their whole scheme?”
…
I usually try to drink 2 glasses of water with each saltine cracker i intake. I can read the blood pressure meter in the A4I’s writing. Walking a mile in the morning helps as in the afternoon writing to this thread every 15 min keeps the body sitting in the chair. I can imagine the list of friends a mile long as every word that anyone says is scrutinized, challenged, etc. A barrel of fun i bet.
Yep A4I – one and the same. But unlike you and your cowardice, when I confront someone I call out their name.
I know you and your cohorts like Karma enjoy being HDO sycophants but anyone with a functioning brain realizes the only people who can get HDO brokerage statements is the SEC via subpoena. Criminals just don’t hand them over to anyone who asks them. But you like to continue to obfuscate the issue by gaslighting this fact.
Also, anyone with a functioning brain would realize that one can see classic pump and dump trading patterns if one knows what to look for. I happen to know what these patterns look like as many years ago I helped take down a group of pump and dumpers operating on SI. The trading patterns and then the public comments are always the initial evidence which gets the SEC to investigate further
If you were smart, you would understand that. But you just want to ignore these pump and dump schemes and criticize anyone who makes a negative comment about HDO. Why is that? Is it hurting your own self interests? That is the only logical explanation. Otherwise, you could just ignore reading the HDO rants section where at a minimum, unsuspecting people can learn and not be sucked in by the HDO scam machine
No one has to read or comment on anything that doesn’t interest them. That is why this section was created – so you could avoid it if it offends you or doesn’t interest you. So it is apparent you have other interests at play here.
So here this dope is calling me an HDO sycophant because I am critical of the childish rants that go on here. You will not find that I have ever said anything positive of HDO. The few times I mentioned HDO, I was critical. I AM JUST NOT OBSESSED WITH IT LIKE YOU! Grow up and move on.
Mav,
The numerous personal attacks in your rant pretty much speak for themselves. I’ll take the high road and remind you that this issue was recently addressed:
https://innovativeincomeinvestor.com/getting-a-little-testy-in-comments/
I have no affiliation or business interests with any of these HDO folks. Your explanations are illogical and without merit.
When you’re composed and ready to share, I hope this thread remains open so we can revisit this issue after we get a look at those brokerage statements. I’m down for the revolution to rid the world of these purported scoundrels if what you say can ever be proven to be true. However, the tide is out and we see what we see…
The ticker symbol for the SPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond ETF is appropriately named JNK. I think HDO should create their own ETF, which would have approximately double the current yield of JNK, and the ticker symbol would be SCUR.
They definitely are trading for sometime before the recommendation goes out or they are very terrible traders. A good majority of the recommendations go out when technical indicators indicate moving into overvalued, overbought, or sentiment to the upside is exhausted depending on what type of analysis suits you.
Since HDO expanded to the ElliotWaveTrader platform that is run by Avi, Rida has access to some very talented technical analysts. He is making a lot of recommendations even when Avi’s folks are showing many of these are at the tipping point of micro or macro corrections.
Either a complete lack of competency and responsibility or something more serious unethical. I know a lot of folks here are fundamental traders and may say technical analysis voodoo, but what I still see going on is very wrong. Sometimes HDO is propping stocks that are just starting a major long term decline that could take years to complete, and that is even if its fundamentally sound. If more serious, it could go to bk.
All of the folks at HDO have blown me off or never taken any constructive feedback seriously. If you can’t take constructive feedback and act on it, why be surprised when some folks turn negative? I’m glad I can rub it off minus discussing it briefly here.
All I saw was the headline today – I didn’t even read the article – The mention of Buffet by association as if taking a recommendation from HDO is equivalent to taking one from him just rubbed me the wrong way –
“Buffett Says Make Income While You Sleep: 3 Dividends For A Retirement Dream”
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4450691-buffett-says-make-income-while-you-sleep-3-dividends-for-a-retirement-dream?mail_subject=rida-morwa-buffett-says-make-income-while-you-sleep-3-dividends-for-a-retirement-dream&utm_campaign=rta-author-article&utm_content=link-1&utm_medium=email&utm_source=seeking_alpha
Any article referring an investment guru. Immediate red flag.
Objectives of a billionaires portfolio excludes a lot of investments primary due to liquidity. Includes investments used as tax offsets or hedges against assets or businesses you have no idea about.
Short answer your investment objectives are unique to you.
2WR:
Good thing you didn’t read the article. Rida recommended a leveraged closed end fund invested in the riskiest of CLO tranches that yields 9.7% and trades at a large NAV premium:
“Within the CLO segment, XFLT primarily invests in the equity tranches and junior debt tranches, which are the last to be paid. If loans default, these tranches are the first to absorb the loss.”
What a wonderful idea for retirees! I would lay 5-to-1 odds that 99% of his subscribers have zero idea how a CLO works or even what it is.
What could possibly go wrong? Somehow this has something to do with Warren Buffett? Just disgraceful.
Well Rob, you have to understand Moron has intimate experience in leveraged funds. He recomended a 2X leveraged fund that totally blew up spectacularly last year. So that may be the reason he went back to the well there, ha.
If the mission of III’ers posting about HDO aka Rida aka Pendy is to inform others to be cautious about their recommendations, we are losing the battle. Rida currently has 79 THOUSAND followers on Seeking Alpha. I do not know how many page views III gets, but I am guessing the “HDO Rants” section is orders of magnitude less. Let’s pull a number out of the air and say 790 people regularly view HDO Rants. That would be 1% of Rida’s HDO following. IIRC, the maximum number of “recs” that I have seen on III is less than 10, so maybe the readership is even less than 790.
Also, the tone of posts here seem to have become strongly bimodal. Either you are for HDO or you are against HDO. The question is how many people learn something here that moves them from one mode to the other? Maybe if you are someone that HAS changed your thoughts based on something posted here, you should speak up. Otherwise it is probably not a productive use of our time to post about HDO, be it pro or con. Obviously III’ers are still welcome to post on HDO Rants, it just will not move the HDO love/hate needle very much.
Tex–yes the desire to have someone ‘tell you’ what to buy is extremely strong–and draws more and more readers–regardless of the outcome.
I have noted over the years that folks want you to ‘tell them’ what to do–have not done that because I think that folks need to ‘own’ their own decisions and in the olden days we had something called ‘suitability’–know your client so to speak.
Certainly we will never have the numbers here–too nichy only dealing with a limited number of securities.
Tim – why did you delete my comments?
The group here is like the Red team of Income whereas HDO is like the Blue team. Many members here runs for the hills if they have to buy something more risky than a A rated security and brag about their 4% fixed income securities like they take them to sleep at night. HDO takes on a lot more risk. As with most things, a balanced risk reward view is needed to sway people to the Innovator income team.
LTVS, You are dancing close to my view. Yes, collectively most here (for what ever each person has) tend to gravitate towards safer credit issuers.
I have no problem with high risk recos. The problem is they either dress up the pig with lipstick and push things as “safe” when they are actually higher risk. And maybe they just arent very smart and dont know.
They make no bones about catering to retirees looking for income, but then have many that just arent explained correctly at all concerning risks. I think that is the biggest beef. And of course one could say “do your own diligence”.
But that really doesnt mean anything to half of the people over there as they dont understand what they should be doing diligence on. So they trust their expertise and buy WPG, CBL, AMID, PEI, etc. etc. because they throw out numbers that makes them appear as “experts”.
They had an article stating the “6 experts on the team”. I asked if they could kindly tell me what Pendys expertise was in. It never made it through. And probably a good thing as the question is unanswerable since he has no expertise.
Pendy has expertise and a certificate in BBS. Baffling with …
I agree with Grid – while people here have more of an outlook for safety, there are quite a number who also purchase higher yield issues. The difference is knowledge and disclosure. I myself own a number of high rate issues – but I research them well and know what level of risk I am taking on in return for the higher yield .
The problem is HDO presents them as totally safe for widows and orphans when they are actually higher risk. . The HDO team is either not very smart and don’t understand that or criminal and don’t care as long as they get paid and as long as they can continue to run their pump and dump schemes unabated
Nice, Mav. Best quote of the day. “… safe for widows and orphans …” That brought a Friday smile and chuckle.
Tex, of course your correct, but that isnt the point. Remember this is a “rant” thread. Rants arent meant to accomplish anything.
This came from Webster Dictionary as an example of the word rant.
You can rant and rave all you want,” she said, “but it’s not going to change things.”
Is this where I post to find out if HDO put out a buy on HTIA? Over 3% move on unusual volume out of the blue for this orphaned preferred with basically zero news flow.
I don’t hate HDO and I don’t hate people who hate HDO either .
And HDO doesn’t issue a buy alert to that stock ……
Didn’t issue one yesterday or today, or just not a public one so far?
Leo, In all seriousness, and this is only my opinion, but I do personally have a lot of respect for Preferred Stock Trader. He has been a good source for me to bounce ideas off over the years. He might be a bit too aggressive for me in some areas including price appreciation potential, but I may be too much of a wimp for him in some too, lol.
I am sure there are a lot of decent people who pay their good money looking for income. They deserve at least one guy who has experience and knows what he is talking about. If he writes something, Im going to read and decide if I wanna play. I take it serious. The others I read for humor.
To be fair, I’ll share a positive HDO moment involving Preferred Stock Trader too… MY favorite repartee with Pendy dates back to Jan 8, ’19 and it had to do with LMRKN in an article, “11.5% Yield And 50% Upside With Catalysts At Landmark Infrastructure, Insiders Loading Up.” In his discussion of the preferreds, he completely overlooked the value of and/or misunderstood the special aspects that LMRKN has, such as the put and how it essentially gives LMRKN a “maturity,” the very high floor in the F/F provision, the value of the failure to redeem clause, etc…. Naturally, throughout the back and forth, he never got it, never admitted he missed anything, never even considered he could be wrong and used his best tools such as obfuscation and denial to say LMRKN was the worst of LMRK’s preferreds.
Shortly thereafter, Preferred Stock Trader joined HDO and on Jan 28, one of the very first articles he wrote or co-wrote was titled, “High-Yield Preferred Stock, Strong Buy, Win-Win Situation, A Most Interesting Preferred From Landmark Infrastructure” which spelled out practically all the positive aspects behind LMRKN. He left some out, but he did so admittedly for the sake of simplification.. To his credit, his article moved the market on LMRKN (after the publication I might add) vs the other LMRK issues and I’m quite certain he came to his own conclusions in writing the article, not borrowing anything from what I had written previously… And what did Pendy do? Why of course, he began posting replies on the thread as a cheerleader touting LMRKN and never once admitting he got it totally wrong only 3 weeks earlier..
So, yes, Grid, I agree with you… PST is someone @ HDO worthy of respect.
BTW, I saved the transcript for the same reason Mr. Conservative did what he did – expectation of being expunged…
2WR, Speaking of deny deny. Remember when you and I and few others stayed on him for months before he admitted he didnt know the bond buyer had to pay accrued interest to seller? Then he tried to throw Moron under the bus saying he told him that. Which made the situation worse because that was admitting neither one new what was going on. Ah.. the good old days, ha.
I know that one’s your favorite, Grid… maybe the good old days are not really that good old days, though… Maybe things are better today as I’ve learned not to waste as much time on HDO posts or discussions with Pendy the Magnificent… To me it’s all about attitude, and of course censorship which skews the dialogue for anyone following along….. I do have discussions with other SA authors which prove to be fruitful and I would hope that means in both directions as well… Nick Ackerman and Juan de la Hoz from Stanford Chemist come to mind immediately as well as Paul Drake on a few. Both welcome being challenged, both admit when you add something to the pot that they may have overlooked and both can bring up fair points worth considering that I may have overlooked as well.
BTW, I happened to get a “you’re a bad boy” email from SA today because I made a single sentence reference to a certain author who spends way too much time in responses self promoting himself rather than answering the comment. First time ever on receiving something like that.. Coincidence? I wonder. The comment was made 13 days ago….
Nothing wrong with Preferred Stock Trader – I agree with you and Grid
I will take the other side of “Preferred Stock Trader.” He might be better than the rest of the HDO team, but he is mortal:
1) He wrote the recommendation of MDLX/MDLQ, both trading at ~ 45 cents, down from ~ $25 when they were recommended. ~ 98% loss on both. No sell recommendation was publicly published on SA.
Quote from the original recommendation: “No BDC bond has ever defaulted on its bond obligations including during 2008.”
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4208613-mispriced-baby-bond-bargain-7_6-percent-yield-to-maturity
2) He wrote the recommendation on HMLP-A, which closed today @ 16.12, down 39% since July 27th. No sell recommendation was publicly published on SA.
Original rec posted to the public on 2/24/21, less than 6 months ago.
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4408456-stable-hoegh-lng-partners-8_4-qualified-dividend-on-preferred-stock
3) If we stipulate that the overall perception/performance of HDO is negative, PST has wrapped himself in the same clothing. PST, aka Tom, does not need whatever compensation he receives from HDO, so it reflects poorly on him. If he wants to maintain his credibility, he should go back to being independent, even if it hurts his pocketbook, otherwise we have a non-kind term we use for people like that.
Tex–yes no doubt those were poor calls–but is he honorable (honest)? As Grid mentioned definitely more aggressive than I would be for sure.
I did a post on a WPG thread to ask how many people had their comments removed. I counted 94 people before being banned. I had to take screenshots of the posts as they were being deleted very fast. I had to repost as my post was also being deleted to ask if anyone had their comments deleted. 94 is probably not with complete accuracy as they were being deleted while i was trying to refresh and take screenshots. I was reading their comments to ensure they were replying to my post and ensuring they said their comments were deleted. That is a slow method. 94 might have been a blip, I will never know.
Posting replies and garnering some sympathy and calling people haters for HDO is probably not going to work on some folks here. Many have tried to post comments to question some things in a post, and that is not allowed, and hence misleading, and at the very least not providing enough content.
How can an investor be informed if they are only shown 1 side of a coin? All the comments support the article as all other comments are deleted. There are many investors that skim articles and jump to comments to see support for both sides of an article (buy/sell/hold), as they have referenced that comments tend to be more valuable than the article. The comments are worthless if you dont hear both sides.
I’m beginning to see that rants here are against a particular target.
I thought HDO, regardless of someone using that title for their ‘business’, would be ideas for further research into high divs regardless of the source?
Me thinks that is what Tim had intended?
Bob, so I see you figured out my trick. Penniless is protected under HDO umbrella with posts blocked. But when he decides to provide his dimwitted thoughts in other peoples articles, moderators are caught off guard and allowed to go through. The process HDO uses is called “enhanced screening” I have been told. Since enhanced moderation isnt applicable in other writers articles body blows can be delivered to that fool.
“got us [sic] on some sort of special moderation with SA,” Bob? Really? A search of “Bob-With-ED” on SA doesn’t bring up any names of people under that moniker so what’s this “us” reference, kemosabi? lol By way of explanation (or rationalization) for using the term, “kemosabi.” this whole thread has me thinking about an old novelty tune from 1960 that would be considered highly politically incorrect today, “Please Mr. Custer” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fe0q8Lq3L2Q&ab_channel=PeterGarcia
“I wonder what the injun word for friend is, let’s see…, friend, ‘Kemosabi!’ That’s it.. Hey, Kemosabi! Hey out there, Kemosabi! Pffffffffffffffft! No that ain’t it…” keeping it friendly……
Yes–not a problem to me.
You sure have a lot of time on your hands. Why not provide a table showing HDO recommendations entry/exit/current prices and a reasonable total return that a regular subscriber would have achieved following these recommendations ? Seems like normal due diligence that a retiree investor would expect of a service.
No data as I figured. Just more boasts.
HDO is not a closed box and buys are usually known. USA and ACRE are recent examples.
Right- known days to a week after they do their pump.
Actually, Bob-With-ED, the credit for the HDO Rants section request goes to me (unless I’m mistaken) after many of us had our fill with the lunacy – prompting my posting of the following – to which Tim thankfully obliged and made it happen for us. In retrospect, I wish I’d suggested an ‘HDO auto-delete function’ be setup as the amount of vitriol is absurdly distracting.
Totally agree with your tin hat comment. You just have to understand that now you’re next in line for being labeled a HDO operative (as I and others have been) – simply because you don’t buy into the pseudo-slander (my take on the situation) from the mean girls.
———-PREVIOUS POST ———-
A4I says: 07/29/2021 at 2:45 pm
So this needs to be addressed, here, in Reader Initiated Alerts? A separate discussion area was created to segment all of the ‘Canadian issues’ chatter that many didn’t desire to see clogging up the posts feed. Seems like there may need to be a new area considered, to segment the SA / HDO activists ranting that seems to go on and on and on.
Want a backdoor IN to gettign negative comments on HDO posted at SA right now? Read comments @ https://seekingalpha.com/article/4450065-cen-lessons-from-the-collapse-of-this-mlp-cef?mail_subject=stanford-chemist-cen-lessons-from-the-collapse-of-this-mlp-cef&utm_campaign=rta-author-article&utm_content=link-1&utm_medium=email&utm_source=seeking_alpha
Gee, what a surprise – every negative HDO comment previously posted in the above SA article has now magically disappeared….
Yeah, it is 2WR. I guess that is what happend when Rida Moron, and Pendynuts start monitoring and posting on this board talking about their ED issues.
We have already seen how they have gotten ideas first posted here, that they then steal and write articles about (of course only after they themselves have loaded up so they can run another of their pump and dump scams)
So no surprise they also monitor when negative comments about them on SA are mentioned here – so they can go get their SA partners in crime to delete them.
Their day of reckoning is coming eventually
Maverick, Your being a bit tough here. Think about it, if Penniless was one of YOUR lead analysts, wouldnt you want them to steal ideas instead of using their own? 😂
True Grid, true. The only way Pendynuts could come up with a good pick is to steal it from people who are much more informed, like many of those here
Mav, you mean that same person who wrote an article recommending a bond (a true bond not ETD) and told readers the buyer doesnt pay the accrued interest is not an expert? Or the same guy who recommended a B rated bond and labeled it as “high quality” when by actual definition any bond rated below BBB- is labeled a “junk bond”?
Gee 2WR
You had me confused at first as when I pulled the article up I didn’t see any HDO rants. Did see a couple innuendos to them. But if they have been scrubbed makes sense.
Want to thank you just the same, the references to different ETF’s and CEF’s in oil caught my attention. I just moved out of what little holdings I had in mid-stream as my personal feelings are they were over bought and stock prices are coming down along with the price of oil. If oil holds above 60 might be worth a revisit, if it breaks below 60 be hard to tell where it and connected stocks will settle. My concerns are with fall and winter coming and Covid surging demand will go down.
I like the dividends and growth when you buy at the low but the sweetness of the dividend doesn’t make up for the bitterness of lost capitol when prices fall.
HDO makes a lot of money . Amazing !
For themselves, yes. For you, not so much. They sell you the sizzle and keep the steak for themselves.
Probably more now that we have a dedicated section to them. #FreeAdvertising
The purpose is to get the word out that HDO is a wealth destroying machine. I may even do a dedicated website to that effect. I may also launch an ETF ticker “BROKE” made up of the HDO all time best recommendations. Thanks for stopping by, pendy.
PS – how are the “+20%” WPG bonds working for you? Not to mention the WPG common that you recommended. Used to be 16.50 and now it’s 1.40. Plus 90% capital loss and no dividend. One can always recognize a long time HDO subscriber because he works as a greeter at Walmart
For reference:
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4395964-2024-bond-yield-plus-20-percent-washington-prime
“I’m not pendy. Name-calling is below you. ”
This from the guy with the handle Bob-With-Ed
Please, people who live in glass houses should not throw stones
Easy folks.
Since you have been a great commenter, educator, and helping many people on this site… I can imagine the weight that your respect commands and the value of it to many people here, especially Tim’s.
Interesting comment. An analogy is me telling a head of state, governor, etc, that I don’t respect him that much anymore and I bet he is sleepless over it.
Bob–what am I missing here?
Yeah HDO does make lots of money – criminals usually do. HDO with their pump and dump schemes prey on the unsuspecting to enrich themselves.
One day the SEC will catch up with them
Why I don’t trust Seeking Alpha and Why You Shouldn’t Either …….
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4445467-3-big-dividends-paying-monthly-for-your-retirement-base
Here is the comment I submitted to SA in response to the piece, verbatim and in its entirety. It was not published. Readers get to hear HDO extolling the virtues of their recommendations but they don’t get the balance that third-party comments could provide:
“Timing matters in investing, very much so where CEFs are concerned. Is it a good time to be putting new money into these funds? One measure, which I rely upon frequently, is the so-called Discount Relative Range, or “Discount Rel Range” used at cefdata.
In essence, the number, expressed as a percentage, indicates where the CEF discount/premium is relative to history. 0% indicates it’s as cheap as it gets, and 100% indicates it’s as expensive as it gets.
These three CEFs are at 98.83%, 84.67% and 83.00% at this time. In other words they are expensive to very expensive.
If an investor wants to make good money in CEFs attention needs to be paid to timing. These may be good funds but I question whether this a good time to be putting new money into these funds.”
Would appreciate additional significant criteria you rely on in choosing CEFs.
TIA
cefconnect.com – filter rules
Leverage: Y/N (N)
Inception Date (years) – (1927-2016) or 5yrs of operation
Distribution Rate – 5% to 30%
3 Year Annualized Rtn on NAV – 0% to 25%
5 Year Annualized Rtn on NAV – 0% to 17%
Z-Score 1 Year – Negative 1
Strategy:
Morningstar US CEF Covered Call
Morningstar US CEF High Yield
Morningstar US CEF Convertibles
Morningstar US CEF Multi-Sector
Morningstar US CEF Preferreds
Morningstar US CEF Senior Loans
Morningstar US CEF Muni
Below what % level of Discount Rel Range do you like to buy at?
To generalize, between 25-75% I hold existing positions. Above 75% I start to look at selling. Above 90% I am almost always a seller. Below 25% I am looking to add.
The above ignores taxes. I hold most CEFs in qualified account. In taxable accounts I look to get in under 25% and never sell. Taxes can crush you in a taxable account.
Thank you.
Do you use Z -score with the Discount Rel Range , if so, what number or range?
Thanks,
prefer using 1 year z-score over discount as many high quality funds by pimco typically do not trade at very large discounts.
Many highly discounted funds typically stay that way for a very long time due to non-interest in the investment manager or strategy. I would rather exclude these funds.
BOB-
I saw that comment- my thought too.
Since folks like to comment on HDO picks, I thought it might be interesting to get some predictions on winners and losers from their most recent lineup. Last week HDO provided 10 picks which are listed below.
8/2/21 -two closed end funds from Cohen & Steers. RQI and RNP
8/3/21- two more closed end funds ECC & DFP
8/4/21 -one more closed end fund OXCL, and a preferred ETF, PFFA
8/5/21 – real estate mortgage REIT NLY, and asset management co. CSWC
8/6/21 – retail REIT EPR, and closed end fund PDO
The pick I’d buy right now is Flaherty & Crumrine Dynamic Preferred and Income Fund (DFP) Current yield is 6.46% and it pays monthly. My prediction is a 5% gain over the next three months + dividends.
-ftr PenDragonY first recommended DFP on Sept 28th 2020, and its up ~18% to date.
CW – most especially so when looking at CEFs you have to chose a good entry point, not just a good fund. For those unfamiliar with CEFs you have two forces at work: the prices of the assets owned by the fund and the premium/discount of the fund relative to its NAV. The two forces tend to move in tandem with the result that you get very exaggerated price movements in CEFs. It’s a roller coaster.
To comment on just a few of these, RQI, RNP and PDO are all wonderful funds. Congrats Pendy! Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
The problem, however, is entry price. The first two are sky high and the third is rich but not silly (yet). One can sit with cash earning 0% for a long time when the benefits of buying into CEFs at a good price can be gains of 20-30-40%. That’s equivalent to 3-4-5 years worth of distributions. Good funds; bad time to to buy, in my opinion.
PDO is a big favorite of mine. It’s PIMCO at it’s best. It’s an unconstrained “fixed income” fund. It can invest in pretty much anything. It’s a newish fund and the distribution history is limited. That hurts its share price. In time I expect this to be one of the PIMCO funds that sells at a silly premium to NAV. If we had a good market crash PDO would be one of my biggest buys coming out of it.
Right. I just took 4 darts and threw them 20 rounds… so 80 darts if you are following me. This might mean 80 HDO picks in a portfolio. I did hit the bullseye one time. What I am saying is that I am poor at darts, or… any poor schmuck can be a winner if you keep trying. Then while i was throwing, the person recording my hits and misses i went behind and erased many misses, and my accuracy was quite high. I think i was 70 out of 80 by the time my game results was published. Of course the results were published on the web, and then I had to hire a few people to delete all the naysayers.
Holding RQI, RNP, and PFFA. As long as real estate and preferred s do well, these will do well.
Preferreds will suffer when interest rates rise, so PFFA must take the hit. Are rates going to rise? You tell me! I’m expecting a rough ride for PFFA until the inflation story clarifies. If inflation is persistent, PFFA will suffer. Will inflation dig in and refuse to let go? You tell me!
RQI and RNP are a mixed bag. They are growing NAV which is something we look for in CEFs. As income funds, they should take a hit when rates rise, but as real estate funds, they should hold up to inflation pretty well. I’m looking for inflation proxies. Maybe these are it. CEFs trade on sentiment as well as fundamentals. If Mr Market agrees these are inflation proxies, they should hold up. If inflation is persistent (as opposed to ‘transitory’), I think I would rather hold rnp/rqi than PFFA.
Since right before covid started, I have been buying new issue REITs. Until very recently, the easy money was made buying them on the grey market at a discount to par. A preferred index such as PFF isn’t going to add a new issue to its index until the issues leave the grey market and the discount has disappeared. For this reason, I expect PFFA and any preferred CEF to generate alpha relative to preferred index funds such as PFF. In that light, it’s not unreasonable for HDO to suggest an actively managed ETF or fund if one must have preferred stocks.
I admit I learned about PFFA from one of Rida’s free articles.
Incidentally, if you go to tipranks.com and enter ‘rida morwa’, you can see his actual track record!
“Since right before covid started, I have been buying new issue REITs”
—>
“Since right before covid started, I have been buying new issue preferreds”
Sorry about that!
CW:
Why would you pay an 8% premium to NAV for DFP when it basically contains a portfolio of preferred stocks all trading well above $25/share and bonds trading well above $100?
Seems you are paying a premium on top of a premium? A double-shot of over-valuation.
And why would HDO recommend it? The Need to Promote trumps all. Their need to make money comes before your need to do the same or even to preserve your capital.
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4443234-2-great-dividends-to-reach-2-million-in-retirement
If inclined, post a reply to the above article. See how HDO replies.
At least DFP is relatively cheaper than RNP (which HDO is also currently promoting).
Rob…there are a bunch of reasons I like DFP… it provides needed exposure to the banking and insurance industries, there is an international component to the fund, roughly 80% of their investments are investment grade, its a monthly payer, and it pays a pretty good dividend. I even like the fact they run their operation from California.
As I see it, the risk associated with DFP is the leverage it uses to juice its returns, not the current premium to NAV it trades around. Everything in this market is trading at a premium so that doesn’t factor much in to my decision making. Not a fan of CEFs in general, but this one has some appeal.
My issue with HDO is not related to the number of mistakes they make. I have made many mistakes and ended up holding bankrupt securities with zero recovery. On the other hand, I have hit home runs — which far more than offset the losses. It’s all about analyzing risk/reward.
The reason HDO is egregiously unethical is that they do not adequately disclose the risk associated with their recommendations. Instead, HDO preys upon unsuspecting seniors in need of higher income in this lower interest rate environment. HDO claims to have a “defensive investment style” and to “provide income income investors a safe and recurrent source of income”. Personally I believe that the risk/reward profile of many of HDO’s recommendations is among the worst of all investment opportunities — and these recommendations cannot in any way be characterized as “safe”.
But what about the +20% WPG bonds? What about them divis? Why, they might show up in my account any day now.
HDO post? OK:
An LP that has essential supply to about 50% on many basic carbon commodities on the east coast…steady management and div, is K-1. I know, not another midstream, but do a bit of research. They span the entire midstream spectrum from the well to end users .Here, it is stupidly low priced and subject to outsiders advising the management on how to manage the company by reducing the divy at near 10% to expand infrastructure. and drive the equity price up. Why? The problems in this industry has ALWAYS been with reasonable debt management and phantom ego-opportunity.
I think there is a good reason for management of the superior oilys to just continue to pay down and turn into cash generating machines for owners. Selling puts on XOM too, if they hit I’ll take. Why have Macho-Cohone Syndrome (read: Kinder) and keep building out. Existing infrastructure will be maintained and NEW uses are being found for it too. It’s going to be a game longer than my actuarial number.
I’ve added here AND been able to sell calls close in.
Something will happen but all those jobs and essential consumers (everyone!) is literally dependent on SHLX.
OTR in Wfsh, Harsh burnt orange sun in the canyon this AM.
Thanks for this, will look into it.
NEWT is the latest example of a HDO recommendation falling into the abyss.
HDO was extolling the virtues of NEWT on 6-11. The stock closed at 37.62 that day. Right now it is at 24.90, a drop of 34% in 2 months. Didn’t have to wait 2 years on this one:
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4434107-newtek-buy-the-dip-8-5-percent-yield
Seems some of the faithful didn’t agree:
can_tho2015
Today, 1:33 PM
Comments (331)
|
Rida is the harbinger of a company going bankrupt!! Look at his record….he touted AMID….now bankrupt!! He is a POS!!
Dickwest99
Today, 1:31 PM
Premium
Marketplace
Comments (49)
|
Do not buy this dip. It is not a dip. It is a disaster.
ChuckMac
Today, 12:58 PM
Comments (191)
|
Buy the dip? The H*## you say!
Bob, your being a little tough on Penniless as he co-wrote the article. I mean its only down about 25%. That is a big winner compared to some of his picks.
The problem is they can regurgitate numbers they cut and paste. But rarely have any balance sheet understanding and in its proper context. This is where they get typically get crushed on as balance sheet matters when dumpster diving. But Penniless really doesnt know how to differentiate between a balance sheet and a balance beam.
One day, penniless is going to put on his big boy pants and admit he screwed up. But I am not holding my breath. I’m pretty sure Lyn Alden could whip him with one hand tied behind her back.
I believe this is the third HDO recommendation to crater big time in the last couple months. When you’re shooting for 8-10% returns you can’t afford many +30% losses. It’s just math.
That nut job still wont admit buying XOM at $80 was a bad buy. It takes a total bad luck Shleprock to have all the bombs they have dropped in a total bull market. Heck, our Phoenix bonds just hit $19 today. How can they pick things trashier than that? I went total dumpster diving on that dung heap issue and am making cash off it. They cant even do that.
A few of us researched Rida Moron’s credentials like the universities he graduated at. None of them have any record of him graduating at them. When we posted that to an article a few times, they got erased in seconds.
Maybe Penniless did the same thing and they have that in common and that is why they work together. Or… maybe they have in common the same snake oil that they rub into their scalp each day. There is no way they will ever admit mistakes. Every comment they write, they defend, deflect, and side step anyone calling them out, or simply delete their comments which they have done thousands of times. I stopped counting the dozens of my comments that have been deleted.
Grid:
The motley HDO Crew recommended NEWT (a BDC containing a portfolio full of loans) at 2.2X tangible book value in June. Thought they would “grow” into the valuation. Yesterday, NEWT decided to become a regulated bank instead.
I wouldn’t pay that kind of premium for a business development corporation if you put a gun to my head.
It was a recipe for disaster from the get-go. Zero margin of safety. Now it’s still trading at 1.5X tangible book value.
I’m certain Pen and the boys will express disbelief and claim “Who could have seen this coming?” LOL.
after the 25+% decline today I picture Rida over his cauldron tonight reciting:
“Eye of NEWT and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg and howlet’s wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.”
This forum should be called the smash and grab gangs. Organizations built to perform pump, short, or distort efficient markets.
Just wondering outloud as to when HDO truly becomes a pump and dump operation…. If they publish to subscribers first and then to the public, is that considered pump and dump? Or is it when/if they buy up the issues they are going to write about first before they publish at either level be it to subscribers or free readers on SA?
The first, no.
The second, yes, especially when the buying occurs before the initial release to subscribers. Look at the trading charts on issues they recommend. There is a clear trading pattern that shows a slow run up before the private release.
2WI – The pump and dump at HDO starts several weeks before they release their initial article privately to their subscribers. Just watch the trading patterns in some of the low volume issues they recommend. You can see accumulation in the couple weeks before they first publish anything
Shoot, Bob mentioned ” the HDO coverage of SPNT-B. The issue first got mentioned here on III on 6-28, almost a month before the HDO post, when the price was under 26. ”
I would bet anything they read about the idea here. This has happened on a number of issues. They took several weeks to slowly accumulate shares and ahem, conduct “research” and then release the article privately before taking another week or so to release it publicly. Just look at the trading pattern
As Bob noted, they were flogging it when it was 29.50 and pushing the idea of a 32 price target. At 32, the YTC on this certain to be called issue was 1.6% for a 5-year hold. But doing so allowed them to puch the price even hire so they could dump their shares into this last spike
Yes, I’ve noticed that also recently where ideas uncovered here first now seem to show up there later on more frequently… and agree, probably not coincidental… Personally, I seem to have been able to walk the line on censorship at SA more successfully than a few others here (ahem) so I did manage a few comments on their SPNT-B article, trying to be gentle on their overhyping at far too high price targets… And I’ve had my run-ins with them as well, most memorable one with Pendy over LMRKN where he completely misunderstood the special characteristics of that issue and hated it vs the other LMRK preferreds… and of course he never admitted he was wrong even when he eventually turned around 100% and became a cheerleader (at of course much higher prices) only after PST did another HDO write-up espousing everything I had argued in favor of LMRKN. That was over 2 years ago starting in https://seekingalpha.com/article/4231909-11_5-percent-yield-and-50-percent-upside-catalysts-landmark-infrastructure-insiders-loading and spread over 2 separate articles, one on the topic of MRCC. I kept the transcript in anticipation of it all getting deleted but it never was.
HDO is SA’s biggest newsletter: but SA has to know what is going on??
Glad to see other people are noticing the strange trading patterns.
Also it seems like they have gone hyper recently, publishing articles every single day, pushing the same tickers over and over.
It is more likely than not they know. I, for one have told them so. I know of others who have done the same. Any comment one tries to post about front running, pump and dump, lack of disclosure, opaqueness (anything negative really) having to do with HDO gets scrubbed. SA’s fingerprints are all over everything that HDO does. SA protects HDO.
Readers who may end up subscribing to or following the recommendations of HDO – and losing their shirts in the process – never hear the downside of HDO recommendations.
It is one thing to have losers when you are swinging for the fences with potential 10 baggers, it is another thing to have so many large losses when you are a conservative income investor.
Like much of what is said here about HDO, this is inaccurate. SPNT-B started trading OTC around 6/29 (per my information from Schwab). It was mentioned in the HDO chat room by preferred stock trader on 7/1:
“There is a new preferred stock IPO from insurance company SPNT. It currently trades OTC under the temporary symbol SRSPF but will become SPNT-B in a couple of weeks or so. This situation reminds me a lot of WCC-A which has been a big winner – being sold at around $27 by foolish sellers and now trading near $31.00. SRSPF preferred stock was also created as a result of a merger like WCC-A, and the sellers are those who received this preferred stock in the merger and likely don’t understand its value and just want to cash out. The IPO price is something like $27.47 but that looks quite undervalued to me. An investment grade company preferred with an 8% QDI coupon is extremely good and it is a reset rate preferred with an outstanding reset rate at 7.3% plus the 5 year treasury note. Great protection against higher interest rates. I am buying bigly in this one. ”
At that time, any HDO member who frequents the chat rooms could have purchased SPNT-B under $27.50, and many did. On 7/13 (which is 15 days after 6/28, not “nearly a month”), the general notice was sent out to HDO subscribers. It came out under Rida’s byline, but it was written by PST, as he handles the preferred issues. At that time the stock price was $28.11, 2.3% higher than on 7/1. The gist of the article was that SPNT-B was undervalued and thought to have a Fair Value of $32.00 per share. The time between the mention in the chat room to the issuance of the general article (12 days) is not atypical when an author is researching a new stock and sending a general broadcast to the HDO membership.
Just like any new “tip” listed on this website, any HDO member had ample time to buy into this new offering when it was first issued, and they also have access to an extensively detailed article describing the stock so that they could decide for themselves whether it is still a worthwhile investment and if the target price of $32.00 is realistic.
Any HDO member who bought at $28.11 on 7/13 could have sold on 7/30 for an almost 6% profit. SPNT-B is selling right at it’s peak. Other than the article on 7/13, there has been no “flogging” of SPNT-B. It has only been mentioned in the chat rooms when someone has asked PST specific questions about it. It has not been mentioned in any of Rida’s “Weekly Pick” articles.
This is a misleading and intellectually dishonest comment and should be retracted.
Azdak, please provide some insight on the HDO track record with buy dates & prices, and sell dates and prices of:
MDLQ
MDLX
HMLP-A
ALIN-A,B,E
The buy/sell dates ideally would include both when the recommendation was released to HDO subscribers and to the public SA readers. This will help all of us understand HDO’s track record on this small set of issues. Thanks
T2 – help me with some math for a moment. If half of my FI portfolio looses 50% of its value in 1 year and the other half makes a 10% return, what does $10,000 turn into after one year?
This is the basic problem with HDO. Too many of their recommendations crash and burn. AHT, CBL, WPG, and on and on.
Azdak – another new name replying on an HDO topic. Hmmmmm. How many nics are you using, Pendy?
I have no idea what was mentioned in the HDO private chat room as I don’t pay for the “privilege”. If you want to post it here I’m happy to look at it. Until then, I’m going by what was published on the public side.
Everything here at III is “free”. Unlike SA no one here is taking money for posting. No $499 per subscriber. No $2 million per year. The Sirius preferred was first mentioned here on III on 6-28, which is before your claimed HDO private post of 7-1. We scooped HDO and we didn’t charge people for it. Anyone could have come here, for free, and gotten the low down on SPNT-B before it saw the light of day at SA.
I was one of those posting on SPNT-B. I think I was the biggest poster here. Retract? I can only speak for myself but my reply would be “Beans” (look it up, it’s a rather famous quote). Rather than retracting I would like to repost at SA but as we both know SA wouldn’t publish it. Yet you come here and your comment gets posted. See any difference?
Bob, the public free article rate of return has to be an embarrassing disaster. Its supposed to motivate me to subscribe instead it convinces me not to. BTW, how could you guys forget the 2x leveraged note reco blow up, Geo, AMID total disaster, and SKT 2018 reit pick of the year that is still lower now than it was on his reco. And I didnt even put any thought into these other morsels of disasters so there has to be many more.
It’s a long list. GEO was interesting. They were pumping that thing up like a beach volleyball for the longest time, then it crashed.
They were sort of on the right track, however. But they picked the wrong prison REIT (CXW better), got the timing very wrong (had to wait for the election) , and got the security wrong (bonds much better than common). Otherwise, the advice was great.
Neither because neither of them have the critical dump element. If you buy before publicly releasing your article and disclosing ownership, there is nothing wrong with that from a legal perspective.
Neither you nor I have access to the dump info but it is eminently reasonable to think that’s what’s done. They buy, they pump, they pump again, and then they hold? Very improbable.
I have invited HDO many times to disclose their actual trades. They never have.