Quote from Vishnu:
a. I haven't read Cooper's stuff on Real Money but apparently he has had a very hot hand and his move will be a loss. Then again, there are a lot of TA guys on Real Money: Smith, Fitzpatrick, etc and almost none currently on RM Pro.
The other tech guys on RM are basically a joke. I wouldn't spend $1 a month for them.
b. Greenberg moving from RM to RM Pro is big. Greenberg is a superstar. Then again, its important to remember that Greenberg is a journalist and not a trader. In terms of daytrades, or even short-term swing trades, i'm not sure what you can really get out of Greenberg. From a short-term perspective, following his stuff is very problematic because he makes shorts too "popular". I bet if you could somehow measure when a squeeze occurs, it happens more often on Greenberg stocks. But it still seems unpredictable. That said, if you believe in shorting as an asset allocation strategy (I don't) and you need a place to park long-term money, Greenberg's shorts seem pretty good (in 2002, not in 1999). BTW, I say this about Greenberg knowing that he completely trashed the company that bought mine and helped bring about its decline. But he was right and he's the best.
Interesting perspective. I find Herb to be a bit of a jerk. Still, I wouldn't bet against him. To me though, he's a slightly more respectable Dan Dorfman, parroting what his sources tell him. His column today was a classic. All no name, no attribution. He made some good points, but this is hardly journalism. It's gossip.
c. RM has some high quality guys who aren't as well-known. Don't forget that part of Greenberg and Cooper's attraction is that they've been in and out of the spotlight a little more. Greenberg because of the many great calls he's made and Cooper because of his books. But check out Simons, Kedrosky, Galli, Crescenzi, Harriman (who used to be on RM Pro), Edmonds, and the others. All of those seem at least as high quality as the two that are moving.
I agree. Howard Simons is a real unappreciated gem. Crescenzi is first rate.
d. I tend to read RM more than I read RM Pro. Just more material there. But I'm starting to appreciate RM pro a lot. Kass had a great call on going long EWG two trading days ago and was up 6%+ since then. Matthews had a class act trade of long TYC puts, long TYC stock the day before the TYC announcement. Shartsis has been spot-on with market timing and his replacements when he's out are great with telling us who is making the large institutional option buys. Reynolds is great on economics and there are many good value/long-only guys there. I'm pretty intimidated actually. I was going to say its hard to justify the price difference between the products but I think RM Pro does provide the specific trading advice that RM doesn't.