Give Thanks [2015/5/6]

Thank You God for another wonderful day. We want to just praise You and glorify You.
Father, thank You for helping me curb my earthly desires. Jesus, I pray that You control heart so I can be more loving :D

1. Father, thank You Father for another productive day. Yes, lot of things got done. Woohooo. God please bless us with more wisdom ^^

2. Jesus, thank You for the wonderful coffee. Every morning, I enjoy the lovely coffeee...Yummm.

3. Thank You Father for the great dinner. I was craving some good house Korean food and I got what I want at church. Yes, it was a superb dinner considering that I ate a lot of carrots to stave off hunger.

4. Father, thank You for teaching us about Israel. We thank our pastor for teaching us why we have to pray for Israel. Jesus let us pray more for the restoration of Israel so we hasten Your return.

5. Thank You Father for Lending Club, I found some good investments today. Thank You for blessing me with solid yields. Let me be more thankful and more loving.

6. Thank You Lord for Stata. Yes, thank You Stata and other statistic programs for making me more useful and productive.

7. Thank You Father for Quora. I like read the Q&A. So many nice answers.

Jesus, we just want to thank You for everything. Let us be more humble and loving. Father, let us not be deceived by this world but rather drive out the darkness with light. Jesus, let us be the light and the salt of this world. Thank You Jesus and we love You.



*From Snapshot Serengeti

What I have learned today [2015/5/6]

1. Iran is one of the largest pistachio producers.

2. You can avoid high credit card utilization rate by paying off the balance before the statement is due and always increasing credit.

3. When in doubt about administrative issues or situations, ask the senior people. They will tell you what needs to be done.

4. Commercial wines are usually clear. And usually with time, the wine will become darker.

5. Russia is large but almost considered landlocked given that most rivers do not lead to the sea.

6. In investing, be ruthless in self-assessment. See whether your original thesis worked and be brutally honest.

7. Griffith Park has an abandoned zoo.




*From Floating Forests

Give Thanks [2015/5/5]

Father,  thank You for a wonderful day. I did a lot of work and enjoyed a burger :D Lord, I confess that I am sinner. Jesus please help me become more holy and loving. Please guide me so I am always with You. Be always with us so we can do great things in Your name ^^


1. Thank You God for Fast Food burger. Ahhh...so cheap and full of calories...Yes, it is bad for you if you eat too much. But when you are hungry and tired wow....Best buck for the calories :D

2. Thank You Jesus for the cloudy weather. I like occasional cloudy weather just to change things around. Also, I feel more mature when it's cloudy :p

3. Thank You Father for the Your word. Yes, I often do not follow Your teachings but Father please give me the discipline and the heart to live by Your word. Because I know that living by Your word not only pleases You but blesses everyone.

4. Thank You Lord for Kindle. I love reading while lying down :p

5. Thank You Jesus for giving me so many ideas yesterday. I wrote a blog post, organized some ideas for businesses. Very nice. Father, please give us more wisdom so we can further Your kingdom.

6. Thank You God for the lovely Zooniverse pictures. I saved a lot yesterday too. Wooohooo.

7. Thank You Jesus for water. I drink a lot of water these days and I can't even imagine a day without water :( Father, I pray You pour down rain in CA. Please have mercy on us.

Thank You Jesus for everything. We know that we are still learning Your laws. Father, I pray that You give us strength and the courage to spread Your word and gospel. Let us be more caring everyday so we can love our neighbors with all hearts ^^




*From Penguin Watch

Quick IPO Analysis: PGA Holdings Inc [2015/5/5]

Let's see what we can learn from PGA Holdings, Inc.'s prospectus~


1. Press Ganey provides measurement and performance analysis for healthcare organizations. This is a good field: health care+ big data.

2. It has 30 years of experience. This is good. Oohhh it serves 62% of acutre care hospitals and most large hospitals.  Annual retention rate is 94%!

3.  National Health Expenditures data reported by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, the United States spent $2.9 trillion on healthcare in 2013, accounting for nearly 18% of GDP

4. Most comprehensive patient data base! Yup, the reason why Google is so great. 

5. Emerging growth company..PE backed. Net income margin is low.

6.Ugh Adjusted EBITDA says capital structure is irrelevant to operations. Really? If you are highly in debt, you will surely cut costs and raise prices...

7. Weak internal controls~Yes, heavily indebted.

8. Nice revenue recognition policy, billed 50% upon execution. Combined with 94% retention rate, which 100% billed upon renewal. Love the fact cash comes in first.

9. 50% of asset is goodwill and they have 6 million in cash, if they don't get paid, the interest cannot be paid. Whoa! This is really tight.

10. Lot of acquisitions. This would be a big risk given funky things happen during acquisitions  and synergies are overrated but in case of buying data, it is actually quite a synergy. Once you build a large proprietary data base, the return to scale, increases, just look at Google.

Assessment:

Pros: With such consumer capture and valuable data. it can easily be an acquisition target. The firm can pay make the interest payments and regulatory risk seems low given how slow the US reforms healthcare.

 Cons: Huge goodwill and debt, and low cash....if there is a liquidity shock, this firm will clearly be in distress.

I think it would be a relatively safe play to invest in the firm given its strong revenue generation. There is a high likelihood that a larger analytic firm may buy the firm given its data and technologies.




*From Floating Forests

What I have learned today [2015/5/5]

1. Microsoft may acquire Salesforce.com. Hmm...First Salesforce is known for not really making money and paying employees by options and Microsoft is known for bad acquisitions including Skype. Thus, the deal is not likely to be great...

2. TOMS shoes combines charity and business. I admire their mission but I wonder if they are distributing the shoes efficiently. If they give the shoes to the same region every time then people would appreciate less. Also, do they modify the shoes so they last longer in developing nations?

3. McDonald stores in Australia are selling gourmet burgers. Wow...McDonald never ceases to amaze me. I still remember how McDonald turned itself around with healthier menus and coffee!! Wow, if this is the future, I am all for it :D


4.  Only 17% of California homeowners have earthquake insurance. Hmmm...given the recent tremors, may be we should get the earthquake insurance.

5. Cigarettes are the most commonly found trash in oceans. We can solve this by further raising cigarette prices by including the clean up cost. We should also have a challenge in making degradable cigarettes.  Yes, heavily fining litterers work as well.




*From Penguin Watch

Give Thanks [2015/5/4]

Thank You Jesus for another day. It is a blessing to be able to worship You. Yes, I fell again to temptation but You restored through prayer. Father, let us pray more and read the word more when we are tempted. Father, we confess that we are so flawed and weak but in You, nothing is impossible. We pray that You strengthen us and that You use us to further Your Kingdom.

1. Father, thank You for another productive day. I did get done a lot. A bit painful but I stood up time to time and did some weights so it was better than just sitting six hours straight.

2. Jesus, thank You for the sunshine. I used to get depressed when there was no sun in Seattle but in LA, the sun is always around :D

3. Thank You God for Paris Baguette, quality bread at an ok price. Ahhh...love the pastry but should not eat too much.

4. Thank You Jesus for helping me lose weight.Wow, after so many years, I am losing weight again hee hee. Father, let this be a training for fasting and not just a diet. Eating less dinner really helps.

5. Thank You Father for kindle. I love to read Kindle before I go to bed except I became tired and dropped it on my head...


6. Thank You Jesus for Zooniverse. I love the pictures. They are excellent source of pictures and we help science make progress.

7. Thank You Father for Lending Club. Making finance more efficient and gives good returns ^^ Need to update my investing...

8. Thank You Lord for the bible because all wisdom comes from it. I will read more and follow Your Law Father.

Thank You Father for everything because all good things come from You. Father, please bless us and use us to spread Your gospel and love. Let us pray more and let us serve more willingly. Let us spread the love.




*From Floating Forests

What I have learned today [2015/5/4]

1. For profit college, Corinthian college is going bankrupt. I thought of investing at one point, thinking that market solution could be more effective in reforming education. However, with distorted incentives caused by student loans, nope....But....I am sure some for profit colleges do bring value to the world. Need to do some due diligence.

2. Helvetica is preferred font for resumes.

3. Gold miners may be hitting bottom. Well, I hope so. I have been waiting for a while. But I will not move until I see more upward movement.

4. Stocks may be still cheap due to low interest rate....mmm...

5. Apparently, Korean meat is not processed in the most sanitary conditions...shame on the butchers...come on...we can't treat food like that. More reason to have more imported beef so there is more competition to raise quality.




*From Penguin Watch