1-Star Stocks Poised to Plunge: Qihoo 360?
Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, Chinese Internet and mobile security products specialist Qihoo 360 Technology (NYS: QIHU) has received the dreaded one-star ranking.
With that in mind, let's take a closer look at Qihoo 360's business and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.
Qihoo 360facts
Headquarters (Founded) | Beijing (2005) |
Market Cap | $1.82 billion |
Industry | Internet software and services |
Trailing-12-Month Revenue | $125 million |
Management | Co-Founder/Chairman/CEO Hongwei Zhou |
Trailing-12-Month Operating Margin | 6.2% |
Cash/Debt | $319 million / $0 |
Sources: S&P Capital IQ and Motley Fool CAPS.
On CAPS, 58% of the 147 members who have rated Qihoo 360 in believe the stock will underperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bears include All-Stars tad40 and BuffettJunior1, both of whom are ranked in the top 5% of our community.
Earlier this month, tad40 followed the lead of stock whistleblower Citron Research and warned Fools about Qihoo:
Leaning toward this being another Chinese fraud. "Citron" research has developed a tremendous volume of forensic research on Qihoo 360, and has concluded that the company has either not been forthright about their revenue model to Wall St., or there is a financial fraud unfolding.
Qihoo 360 even sports a rather lofty price-to-book multiple of 5.5. That represents a premium to other Chinese dot-com plays like Sohu.com (NAS: SOHU) (2.0), Sina (NAS: SINA) (3.3), and Youku.com (NYS: YOKU) (2.9).
CAPS All-Star BuffettJunior1 elaborates on the Qihoo 360 bear case:
I cannot believe I didn't come across this stock before. Even if the company wasn't a fraud, this valuation is truly astounding.
Why does this company have a 2 billion dollar market cap?
The company had $58 million in revenues last year, why on Gods all mighty earth would investors be willing to pay $2 billion for it? ...
I must be living in some kind of alternate reality where paying more than 100 times what something is worth is smart investing.
I just know one thing for sure. ... [T]he intelligent investor knows that common sense, above all else, is the most important thing in investing.
What do you think about Qihoo 360, or any other stock for that matter? If you want to retire rich, you need to protect your portfolio from any undue risk. Staying away from dangerous stocks is crucial to securing your financial future, and on Motley Fool CAPS, thousands of investors are working every day to flag them. CAPS is 100% free, so get started!
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At the time thisarticle was published Fool contributor Brian Pacampara owns no position in any of the companies mentioned. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Sohu and Sina. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days.We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Fool's disclosure policy always gets a perfect score.
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