My Pandora Spiel (or why I love this game)

I’m going to tell you why I love this game.  When I woke this morning, I had no idea that I was going to be defending Pandora ($P) or even trading the stock, I’ve never touched it before.  But news came out that Apple was prepping to come into the space, Pandora got creamed and the whole course of my day changed.

Some background – I’ve been using Pandora for close to ten years, before it was even a company it was an experiment called the Music Genome Project.  The creators had no idea whether or not what they were doing was even a business – they simply went about scientifically matching up similar artists and songs with common characteristics, allowing you to create your own web radio station.  I caught on early and have had this thing in a browser window on my desktop ever since.

When it went public, I sniffed at it because I hated all the hype surrounding “social media” stocks, which of course has nothing to do with this company but they got lumped in.  But when they reported earnings a couple of weeks ago, I was blown away by how far they’d come fundamentally.  This silly little nerdy whim of a idea is now a business doing over $200 million in sales (mostly audio ads, some subscription revenue for the service).

Anyway, they clocked the stock at the open, it was down 22% at its worst point.  But when I saw buyers come in at ten, I saw a great risk-reward set up and did some buying at 10.29.  The I got to jump on Fast Money Halftime Report to explain the trade via phone, I then followed up on Street Signs just before 3 on the stock and Apple’s intentions.  As far as position, it is a small one.  The stock has more work to do (holding likely support at 10) and so do I if it is to turn into something more than a trade.

Both videos below, have a great weekend!

and:

Source:

CNBC