GOOG Ripping My Face Off...

I do hate this stock with a vengeance. Being short from $424 is no fun, especially since, by this time, it's no longer a valuation game, but a competition between fools and er... greater fools. $2,000 price target? Hello, doesn't anyone remember Henry Blodget and the tech excesses of the late 90s? Apparently not, it seems.

I am pretty sure GOOG (being one of the more arrogant, secretive, and investor-UNfriendly companies!) will come back to earth at some point this year, the question is whether this fool (me) would stick it out till then. The safest way to express a short view at this point is to buy some Jan07 put spreads -- the GOOG 420-390 put spread is going to cost you around $10 (the premium spent being less than 2.1% of the current stock price of $472). Even a mild correction in the short-term would double your money, without causing too much decay pain. And, in the longer run, there is plenty of time for the stock to go back to under $400 (down 15%) at which level it was only a month ago.