Going, Going, Gone...

Here are my picks for the month, in the 1st edition of my Going, Going, Gone segment. I pick 2 stocks that I like, and one (or sector) that is now off my radar.

Going (Long Buy): 3D Systems Corporation (DDD)
I bought some stock in February as a long term play and little did I know the stock would shoot up the charts in just 4 months. I am already up over 30%, which is including a 2 month drop off in the market. I'm not telling you to look into the stock because of how well it has done for me, because short term gains are a dime a dozen, but rather because 3D printing technology could play a huge role in the next industrial revolution (more likely just a mini revolution).

Short video demonstrating the power of 3D printing

 While 3D printing is still really the "technology of the future", it is already becoming profitable without even having reached its potential. 3D Systems is already pulling in $0.68 per share. While the P/E is high at 45, that is not bad for a VERY high potential growth pick. 3D printing has the potential to help move manufacturing jobs back to America, getting trained staff to run the machinery and programming for the machines, since the machine does all the labor. There was a great article about 3D printing in  the Economist, which spoke to the potential of large 3D printing devices that could build specialized pieces for aircraft, vehicles and literally anything you could want to manufacture. While its not there yet, I will happily own the stock of the company with some of the most affordable and efficient technology yet.

Going (1 Year Short Buy): Take-Two Interactive (TTWO)
Some will call me crazy for this one, but I got a gut feeling. Revenue was down last quarter...yet again, but anyone who knows gaming knows this company has some top tier gaming titles, two that are on the horizon. Including...

Take-Two needs some help and I believe GTA 5 (release Fall 2012) and the new Bio Shock (release March 2013) will be just what they need. Both of these games will sell like hot cakes and push some serious revenue. When Bioshock 1 came out in August 2007, this stock surged up. When GTA 4 came out in February 2008, this stock went up over 50% in just a month. These could be the last 2 big titles from TTWO before the release of the next generation systems and I want to buy in low. It sounds like they are not renewing their biggest bust (the 2k baseball series, which has been operating at over a 50% loss) and have started to develop mobile games (like bringing old PS2 games to the apple app store). I buy this stock at under 10 and watch it shoot through the roof with the release of GTA 5, then sell when it begins to taper off for a nice gain.

Gone (Stay away, Sell): European Banks
I went the easy way with this one. Its not that these institutions are all bad or mismanaged, its that they all are connected to the Euro and I don't see Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Italy fixing their woes any time soon. The banks will be the support during these hard times and that means growth could be non existent...or worse. I also believe that other areas in Europe will grow before the banks do, such as manufacturing and technology.

Now, once the other sectors start to show life again (real growth), then maybe European banks become a nice buy low target. That being said, I think this last Spanish bailout will surely not be the last, so I would recommend selling or holding back on trying to buy low on European banks. Plenty of good banks in other continents where economies are actually showing signs of recovery.