Hello Share Blasters. On the road in the grim north, I don't have access to the usual research channels. So allow me to review a trio of shares I've scanned in more detail recently, but which I believe have not so far taken full advantage of the current Santa Rally.

I hold no candle for either Roger Lawson of ShareSoc or ADVFN (AFN) but Lawson has made the most serious of allegations about ADVFN's AGM of last week which surely the company needs to answer and thus I bring Lawson's words to a wider audience. While he is at it Lawson has a go at ADVFN's business model and its blockchain spoofery. 

In this bearcast I look at the issue of share buybacks at this stage of the stockmarket cycle in general but with reference to Domino's Pizza (DOM) in particular. Then I look at the bitcoin bubble explaining why it is NOT a currency and why it will in due course pop as Goodhart's Law kicks in. But you'd be crackers to have a position either way right now

I am not so sure. But here is the raging bull case put by Peter Spina. In this podcast he discusses the cryptocurrency space and how it is similar to the dot-com boom of the late 90’s. No one knows how all of this will play out, but it is all but certain that crypto will play an essential role in world finance. Spina feels that both gold and cryptocurrencies are complimentary. You should be careful and protect your wealth in precious metals and only speculate in the crypto market. It is a new technology with much potential that creates a much more free and open marketplace. But...

An intra-day announcement on the like of “Update - Trading & Financing” is usually not good, but a 1:41PM Friday such announcement from Minoan Group (MIN) is of its travel and leisure division having “continued its growth trajectory” and a loan facility extension.

I last covered AIM-listed Draganfly (DRG) HERE and concluded that it was one for the asbestos suit and a very, very long bargepole. Now, almost 15 months on, its (afterhours, natch) interims caught my eye. Apparently the Board are [sic] pleased to announce them, and so is the Chairman. So they are good, right?

React (REAT) has updated on results for the year to 30th September in a way that shows that its management are not fit to run a public lavatory let alone a public company.

I read with interest that fully listed Interserve (IRV) some good news in its RNS on Wednesday of this week. It has secured £180 million of short term funding to the end of March, and an agreement to defer covenant tests on its borrowing also until the end of March. Great news! Well, sort of. The problem – as revealed by Sky News (see HERE) later the same day - is that there were conditions which were not mentioned by the company.

One of the many arguments that I have lost with Tom is over the number of readers who reader ShareProphets on bank holidays and weekends. I always argued that the market is closed, so we should be too. Tom has argued that you guys are so obsessed that you'll sneak away from the Sunday dinner to listen to a Bearcast.

I gave another bearish assessment of IDOX (IDOX) in Thursday's bearcast and the shares duly fell again sharply on Friday. They are now 30p valuing the company at £124 million. I am afraid that is still too high. Roger Lawson of Sharesoc is a bearish stale bull

First things first, I recommend that you should all have a go at the proper Woodford Christmas Quiz because, regardless of his investment performance this year, he can pen a good quiz (and there’s prizes too). Once you’ve done that have a crack at my alternative version celebrating his investment year.

I discuss Lucian's short on Versarien (VRS) which he discusses again today HERE. I really have no view but raise a couple of points which the bulls might take comfort from though I accept there is a valid bear case too. I look at On-Line (ONL), Lucian's new short,  and try to put Blockchain madness into a historic context. I cover BCA Marketplace (BCA) and then look at the Mark Slater & Neil Woodford thesis on "cheap British stocks." I get it but suggest that there is an elephant in that room called Jeremy.

From the FCA's spreadsheet of short positions required to be disclosed to it, the following shows the shorted AIM shares with positions from 2016 and thus far in 2017 (by net short position %) - and if this position has increased (red), reduced (green) or remained unchanged (black) since last week...

I was a little surprised by the abuse I copped from recommending Versarien (VRS) as a short at 80p last week. I had failed to spot that it now regularly occupies second place in the ADVFN bulletin board rankings behind charlatan oil promotion UK Oil & Gas (UKOG). (Thankfully I have heard that rumours of a name change to UK Oil and Blockchain are wide of the mark).

A 23rd October Trading Update from industrial LED lighting technology company Dialight (DIA) was an outsourced manufacturing issues profit warning, though included Chief Executive Michael Sutsko stating they “are being addressed over the coming months”. There’s now been a Trading Statement… at 1:36pm (and a broker update)…

Gold guru E.B. Tucker considers mining stocks to be bad investments as they are capital intensive and they often have operational problems. However when the price of gold moves these companies are some of the most exciting markets to be in. These are cyclical stocks and you want to own them when they begin to move higher. Most investors have no exposure to this sector.

Hello, Share Charmers. As so often happens, the Santa Rally is picking up speed. Let’s look at how it works and why it might not be a good idea to sell shares in the last few days to Christmas Day - and perhaps for the first few trading days afterwards.

I have pointed out earlier that Peterhouse Corporate Finance has real issues in trying to get away a placing at 0.25p or perhaps 0.1p in AIM dog BOS Global (BOS). With the shares at 0.7p bid some may be tempted but before they send cash over to broker Peterhouse they do know the broker cannot do a placing don't they? Er.. something else Peterhouse is not telling its clients maybe?

I am a bit puzzled by this announcement. ShareProphets AIM-China Filthy Forty play Univision (UVEL) is obviously “pleased” with the results, and with profits reported 133% higher on the same period last year and a major long-term contract win in the bag, who would not be pleased. Until, that is, you turn to the cashflow statement…

“SDL plc (SDL), a leader in global content management and language translation software and services, is providing an update on the trading performance for year ending 31 December 2017. SDL's sales pipeline for the period is in line with expectations. However,”… Uh oh.