The Stock Masters Comments

eLong (LONG) is taking a huge beating today, hitting a new 52-week low down almost 20%. The Chinese travel website released disappointing revenue totals and the bears are tearing apart the stock worse than Mel Gibson’s rantings at a highway patrol officer. Hotel booking commissions came in at $7.2M down 2% from the third quarter and up 23% when compared to the year-ago period. eLong had $1.2M in revenue from air ticket sales, a decrease of 13% from the third quarter of 2006 and up 27% percent year-on-year. They finished the quarter with a net loss of $234,000, compared to a net income of $337,000 in the third quarter and a net loss of $1.1M in the same period in 2005. Bottom line Masters, the online travel revolution has yet to set sail in China, but China’s internet use is on the move. China’s internet market grew steadily in 2006 as the number of users increased to 135 million, according to a report by CCID Consulting. This is a long-term growth stock people, think 5 years, not 5 days or 5 months. Besides, everyone is turning a sour face to Chinese stocks so the result to the earnings call is no surprise. There are plenty of people that believe that China’s stock market correction was long overdue but won’t hurt growth. Not convinced? Can’t say I blame you, hold tight and watch this stock, with Expedia’s (EXPE) influence eLong is destined to make a comeback. Expedia did it, and everyone hated that stock last summer. eLong is expecting Q1 2007 total revenue to come in between $8.0M and $8.5M, stay tuned.

Strong demand for corn from ethanol plants is driving up the cost of livestock and will raise prices for beef, pork and chicken, the Agriculture Department said Friday. The average price of corn, unchanged from last month, is $3.20 a bushel, up from $2 last year. The StockMasters recommend stockpiling these items because it’s the end of world as we know it.

http://www.thestockmasters.com/index.asp