Google Inc, (GOOG) recently announced that it was buying Nest Labs for $3.2 billion.
On the day after the announcement hit, investors accidently triggered a historic stock move.
It’s a phenomenon called a “flash rally,” which is the exact opposite of a “flash crash.”
Why haven’t you heard about flash rallies?
It’s simple, really.
The press favors negative storylines, especially ones where people lose gobs of money.
Such gut-wrenching stories tug at readers’ heartstrings, and garner lots of attention.
During flash rallies, though, investors make gobs of money, which means these stories go virtually unreported.
Nonetheless, flash rallies are happening with increased regularity.
Any stock that doubles in price (or greater) in a single day is said to have experienced a flash rally.
Flash rallies happen, on average, 41 times every day.
The “accident” heard round the world…
It doesn’t take much to trigger a flash rally of biblical proportions.
Flash rallies are hypersensitive to news.
Take Google’s plans to buy Nest Labs, for example.
The day after the news hit, a certain company’s stock “accidently” blasted 4,900% higher.
It wasn’t Google’s stock that rocketed higher.
It wasn’t Nest Labs’ stock, either. (Nest Labs isn’t even a publicly traded company.)
However, if you were a shareholder of the stock that did accidently blast 4,900% higher, a modest $1,000 investment could’ve suddenly turned into $50,000, overnight.
Flash rallies (of all magnitudes) are happening to the tune of 41 every day.
To appreciate how hypersensitive flash rallies are to news, let’s examine the fallout from Google’s offer to buy Nest Labs, which sent a totally unrelated company’s stock shooting to the moon.
A $3.2-billion case of mistaken identity…
Nest Labs was founded in 2010 by the former Senior Vice President of Apple’s iPod Division, Tony Fadell.
Fadell worked alongside Steve Jobs on the first-generation iPod.
He left Apple Inc, (AAPL) to financially leverage the massive cloud computing revolution, which paid off in spades the moment Google’s offer hit.
Nest Labs manufactures beautifully designed thermostats and smoke detectors that can be controlled with a smartphone from anywhere.
The Federal Trade Commission has since rubberstamped the deal, and now Nest Labs’ shareholders are set to receive $3.2 billion in cash from Google.
In a case of mistaken identity, though, many investors rushed to buy shares of the wrong company.
The unsuspecting beneficiary, Nestor Inc., enjoyed a 4,900% increase after investors confused it with Nest Labs.
Nestor isn’t even a cloud computing company. Rather, it sells automated traffic enforcement systems to governments, yet happens to have the ticker symbol NEST, hence the accidental stampede to buy shares.
Virtually anything can trigger a flash rally…
Last year, a company called Tweeter Home Entertainment enjoyed a 685% price spike on news of Twitter’s IPO plans.
The frenzied buying made no sense considering that Twitter hadn’t even offered shares yet.
Still, investors “accidently” rushed to buy shares of TWTRQ, thinking they were buying Twitter.
Although confusion over ticker symbols can cause massive flash rallies, it’s actually one of the least likely triggers.
Among the 41 stocks, on average, that double in price every day, more traditional news usually serves as the spark.
Insider buying can spark a flash rally.
A licensing deal can spark a flash rally.
Patent approval can spark a flash rally.
Successful product testing can spark a flash rally.
Flash rallies happen to the tune of 41 opportunities every day.
Yet not a single media outlet is likely to report news concerning any of them.