I'm personally bearish on this one and have a put position. I think the MLM model is highly flawed and makes a company quite vulnerable. But Icahn, Soros, and other whales are or have been long this one in the past 12-15 months or so, and it has largely shot up in that time. http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/HLF?link=MW_story_quote Ackman announced a billion dollar short position in it over a year ago, and it briefly sold off, then rocketed up once it was known that Icahn and others took long positions. Chanos and Einhorn have also had short positions in this one previously. I think that the longs will win if it's taken private or bought out pretty soon, but I believe that it will fall if it stays public for a while longer. The govts of the US and other countries are poking around in the company, and I imagine they will find something unfavorable sooner or later. If the govt doesn't shut them down for one reason or another, I think the long whales will either force them to go private or get bought out by another public company, or else they will sell out sooner or later. It's pretty much a no-brainer that Icahn took great joy in squeezing Ackman. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/herbalife-is-now-ackmans-biggest-loser-ever-2014-02-21 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCZRk1lL90Q I've also had puts on JCP and a small short hedge position on the broad market for a while now. The JCP short position has been very profitable. The S&P short, not so much. http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/Stock/JCP Soros and Ichan have had bearish hedge positions on the broad market as well: http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetel...bet-on-the-sp-500-to-the-tune-of-1-3-billion/
JCP is getting hammered again today. Markets WAY up. I've been long gold and crude for a long time. I've also been buying nat gas for a while, and I've made a small fortune on its 50% or so runup in the last several months. Energy plays DQ, FANG, PXD, BLDP, CLR all up big today. GTAT up big time again! http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/gtat I've made great gains on FRX and several other biotechs in the last year or so. FRX and Onyx were both bought out for big premiums above share price recently.
