Tassal trade volume today seemed to be higher than usual. We...

Tassal trade volume today seemed to be higher than usual. We spend much of the trading day lately with double the number of selling volume vs. buying volume. It is little wonder we are down 18% in the past three and a half months. I am really looking forward to the full year results and shareholders' briefing to hear about our current situation and get a prawn update. I am also curious about the land we've bought and sold in Queensland for the prawn expansion.

To see the price in the low $3.20s is quite sobering after almost touching $4.00 not all that long ago. Now, we are a bad day away from 12 month lows. Things can turn around pretty quickly though. I bought Resmed almost twelve months ago on a dip and watched the price do very little for 11 months, but in the past four weeks it's gone crazy for very little reason at all. Mr. Market seems to get unnecessarily pessemistic or optimistic on stocks, and then trade in and out of sectors with little regard to what the company itself is doing below the surface.

I enjoyed Candle89's post early this morning, even if I am not literate enough in accounting to understand the finer points of what was being discussed. Having read everything on this forum for twelve months and every broker report available for the past couple of years, I am surprised none of the issues s/he raised have been raised before. It was a very well-written post and I equally enjoyed Dabozza's response.

We could speculate all we wanted about international fish prices, short-sellers, capex, etc. I think a comparison of the Bega (BGA) share price with Tassal over the past three or four months is insightful. I know Hopeful9 on this forum follows Bega. The ups, and mostly downs, of both companies seem to mirror each other over this timeframe. At the same time, the XAO index has hit record highs, but my portfolio is looking unwell compared to a month or two ago. Most of the stocks on my watchlist are steady or have fallen slightly. My theory is it's mostly the miners which have pulled the broader market higher. I suspect stable earners like Tassal and Bega are being sold with the money pumped into mining companies -- trying to catch the tail end of an over-heated commodities boom as BHP, FMG, etc. creep higher and quick profits are sought. Nothing more than sector rotation. It will be interesting to see if/when the short selling percentage drops in response to TGR prices closer to $3.00 than $4.00.

As Warren Buffet says, buy companies you'd be prepared to hold for five years if the market were to shut down. Also, when you buy a farm you aren't down at the farm every few days telling the farmer, "Gee, the crop hasn't grown much. Perhaps you need to use more fertiliser or water it more!". You let him get on and do what he's good at. In many ways, see Tassal as being like a hypothetical farm Buffet references. We don't hear much from TGR management and I don't mind that at all. They are required to continuously disclose anything affecting the share price. They are clearly going about their business farming fish. When disclosure is required in February and August, the required information is thorough and transparent. I trust what they are doing is prudent and correct. Maybe I am a little naiive and covering for my lack of accounting background!

I had a re-read of the February half yearly report and Q&A with Mark Ryan and analysts this afternoon. I have no reason to believe anything has markedly changed since then. Prawn production should be on-track. Salmon are being harvested and sold. Dabozza provided a table of TGR's 'per-share statistics' earlier today. I like these numbers. It shows a stable, growing, modestly-successful company. Predictable, profitable, and a little boring. It's just the way I like it.

Bug1, you mentioned you're heavily into TGR. I'm glad to hear it, if only because I appreciate the number of posts you add to this forum; various articles and information you've come across online. I was particularly grateful for the maps you provided of the properties Tassal has purchased for prawn production. It adds greatly to my knowledge of this sector.