Back to the Future With Bubble Behavior

There's no question that in recent months we've been back to the future with things you only expected to see in a stock market bubble... This has been a theme of mine lately because it keeps me amused but intellectually makes my head hurt... because so much of it makes no sense. Then again, it […] Not rendering correctly? View this e-mail as a web page [here](. [Empire Financial Daily] Back to the Future With Bubble Behavior By Herb Greenberg --------------------------------------------------------------- [Billionaire investors are racing to own this surprise asset]( According to this 20-year market veteran, billionaires are quietly pouring cash into one "shocking" sector of the stock market. It's not tech or AI. It's not EV or batteries. It's not gold, either. And yet, those who join the 1% who are getting in on this now could see gains as high as 1,000%. [Find out why at this link](. --------------------------------------------------------------- There's no question that in recent months we've been back to the future with things you only expected to see in a stock market bubble... This has been a theme of mine lately because it keeps me amused but intellectually makes my head hurt... because so much of it makes no sense. Then again, it never has... but it's fun to write about. As long as I've been doing what I do for a living, I have never ceased to be amazed to the point of being amused by the downright stupidity of people who buy into some of this garbage. The latest example: This week's initial public offering ("IPO") of five-year-old Sacks Parente Golf (SPGC), which makes $400 putters that it claims can "naturally improve your stroke." On its first day of trading, the stock rose by more than 600%. What's clear is that Sacks Parente investors bought the stock before reading its filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ('SEC')... Because if they had, they would have seen something you rarely if ever see in the filings of a company going public. Sacks Parente warned not just once, or twice, but 23 times that there is doubt it can remain "as a going concern." (Thanks to Margaret Ruschmann, head of content and social media at ClearingBid, for pointing this out to me. ClearingBid bills itself as an IPO network that is trying to democratize the IPO process.) As the below disclosure from Sacks Parente's IPO prospectus shows, to remain in business it needs people to "raise additional funds" and then "implement its business plan" (emphasis added)... The accompanying financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis, which contemplates the realization of assets and the settlement of liabilities and commitments in the normal course of business. As reflected in the accompanying financial statements, during the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company recorded a net loss of $3,505,000, used cash in operations of $785,000, and has a stockholders' deficiency of $1,882,000 as of that date. These factors raise substantial doubt about the Company's ability to continue as a going concern within one year after the date of the financial statements being issued. The ability of the Company to continue as a going concern is dependent upon the Company's ability to raise additional funds and implement its business plan. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might be necessary if the Company is unable to continue as a going concern. Put another way, Sacks Parente is like a startup on the ropes, which it appears couldn't get venture or private equity interest... or even its original investors to ante up more. That leaves the public, which is the beauty and primary purpose of the public capital markets. --------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Link: [Shocking device leaves Bill Gates and Barack Obama SPEECHLESS]( It all went down at a private conference in San Diego. Gates and Obama had just seated themselves when a man appeared on stage and unveiled a device that instantly floored the entire audience. [Get the full story here](. --------------------------------------------------------------- The good news for Sacks Parente is that it raised $13 million on its first day of trading before its astronomical liftoff to be labeled as the best IPO of the year... The bad news is that on its second day of trading it not only crashed back to earth but through its IPO price, and as of today fell considerably more – going from the best IPO of the year to possibly one of if not the worst. The bigger question is this: Instead of doing an IPO, why didn't Sacks Parente merge with a special purpose acquisition company ("SPAC")? Think about it... Sacks Parente has almost zero revenues, but given its business (golf) and its pedigree (its co-founders have a history in the world of golf, including the first president of Callaway Golf) and the way its spinning its story (as a "technology-forward golf company") it was a marriage made in SPAC heaven. And as I pointed out in the [August 15 Empire Financial Daily]( there's no shortage of SPACs looking for partners. So – me, speculating here – either Sacks Parente was too dicey even for a SPAC to touch... or management thought it would gamble that it could raise money the old-fashioned way, via an IPO. (After all, one of the downsides of SPACs is that thanks to a loophole in how they're created, companies have found themselves shortchanged once the marriage is official.) It doesn't really matter, because either way its stock ultimately would have likely landed in a sand trap. Speaking of SPACs, as I pointed out earlier this week, more of them are being liquidated before finding a merger partner than created... Then along came Vietnamese electric vehicle ("EV") manufacturer VinFast Auto (VFS) on Monday, ringing the Nasdaq's opening bell in a downpour of confetti... VinFast went on to jump 68% the first day, giving it a market value of greater than Ford Motor (F) or General Motors (GM)... even though it's making zero money and barely selling any cars. And that's in a market in which competition is heating up and unsold EVs are piling up... and for VinFast, its flagship SUV is racking up one horrific review after another. Earlier this year, Jalopnik published an entertaining collection of those reviews, which it summarized by saying... The real commonality between all of these accounts is that overnight, the VF8 has obliterated the notion that there are no terrible cars for sale anymore. The bottom line, as the Wall Street Journal recently pointed out... In its focus on speed to market and low-cost manufacturing, VinFast might seem more akin to Chinese companies such as NIO and Li Auto, which trade at around 2 times 2023 revenue forecasts, but VinFast isn't targeting the Chinese market. It has taken the likes of Hyundai decades to gain the trust of U.S. consumers. Even with the shift to EVs, VinFast is hardly likely to crack the code overnight in the way its frothy valuation implies. This stock has a very rough road ahead. I had a few choice comments myself on CNBC's Last Call earlier this week with host Brian Sullivan, when I said I wouldn't touch this one "with a 10,000-foot pole." (You can see a clip of it [right here]( Since then, VinFast's stock has crashed below its first-day price. Maybe Brian had the right idea: He and I should start a SPAC, or as he explained... Source: Twitter/SullyCNBC In this market, that makes as much sense – maybe even more – than some of the trash that somehow is treated like gold. The sad reality is that some people can't tell the difference. Or maybe, caught up in the celebration and the confetti, they simply don't care. On a final note, check out [my brand-new presentation](... In it, I share all the details of a massive coverup – from a clandestine banker's meeting... and a plot designed to transfer wealth from the America's middle class to the ultra-wealthy 1%... to a September 21 event that could have huge consequences for your money, no matter what you've got in the bank. I don't care if you're rich or poor... Republican or Democrat... or working, retired, or somewhere in between – if you've got any money whatsoever set aside, you'll want to pay attention. [You can watch it right here](. Regards, Herb Greenberg August 18, 2023 --------------------------------------------------------------- If someone forwarded you this e-mail and you would like to be added to the Empire Financial Daily e-mail list to receive e-mails like this every weekday, simply [sign up here](. © 2023 Empire Financial Research. All rights reserved. Any reproduction, copying, or redistribution, in whole or in part, is prohibited without written permission from Empire Financial Research, 1125 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21201 [www.empirefinancialresearch.com.]( You received this e-mail because you are subscribed to Empire Financial Daily. [Unsubscribe from all future e-mails](