022013

Sold ZAGG at the open (7.69, purchased 1/11 for 7.73).

Bought TLSNY, a Swedish telecom with a 6% dividend.

Looking at MDCI and AHS among many others.

021913

I rarely sell this fast but I unloaded KED today (021213) and bought LCI (generic Rx).  

My watch list/wish list is longer than I can remember it being but my discipline is to never buy more than one stock in a day.  Several of the stocks on my list really popped today so it could be an interesting week.

021313

I like BDC’s in general and floating rate interest is a good idea in today’s low interest environment.  Today I’m buying PFLT.

021213

Bought KED today, a CEF investing in MLP’s and other energy related investments.  Big dividend, lots of potential.  Better than investing directly in an MLP, imho.

Other high-scoring possibilities for your consideration:  AXAHY, SKYW, ANCX

021113

Still biding my time.  I’m not holding a ton of cash, but more than normal.  If we get a correction, I believe it will be temporary which means I will see my stocks go down but they’ll come back.  It’s only a loss if you sell low.  And if I’ve got some cash, as I do, I can buy low and make some real money down the line.  Assuming I’m right about all of this.   Which I have been in the past, slightly more often than I’ve been wrong.  One thing I apparently was wrong about was SIMO, which I bought 01/26/13 and sold today @ 14.44, about a 9% loss.  I’ve got a long watch list and will probably add one new pick tomorrow.

020713

Once again, I’m abstaining.  I want some cash in hand down the road when I expect prices to be generally lower.  If I was buying I’d go with something big and relatively safe, in this case, PHG.

If I was in a bullish mood, LCI or SBGI.

020513

I didn’t buy anything today but I am selling NTWK for a nice gain.

For the record, I currently am holding more cash than I have in a long time, expecting a pull back soon followed by a fresh buying opportunity.

If I WAS going to buy something, it would be yet another regional bank, FDEF this time.  For now, I’m putting it on my watch list.

020113- January Report

First caveat:  Although stocks were up 5.44% for the month, they were only up 3.68% since the Jan 2nd open.  There was a big jump between the Dec 31 close and the new year’s opening price.  All of the stocks in this portfolio were bought AFTER the Jan 2 open.

Second: I bought one stock each day, so the average holding time was just over ten days.

My return was 3.78% (all of the stocks purchased are mentioned in this month’s prior blog posts).   By comparison, if you had bought equal shares of the index each day this month at the opening price, you would be up 1.30%.  So you could say I trounced it.

I seem to have done a lousy job of timing my purchases since a lot of them went down the day I bought them.  I’ve been studying that and think I can improve on it with significant effects on my results.

Third caveat: One month doesn’t prove much and my method may well tend to underperform in a down market.

While I’m not explaining how I choose stocks (obviously not by their CAPS rating!), part of my method is to instill a discipline for buying and selling.  Since I was starting from zip, I bought one stock a day in January.  In February I plan to buy (and sell) a minimum of one stock and a maximum of three stocks per week.  When I sell it will be whichever current holding scores lowest in my system.  Whether it has been going up or down is largely irrelevant. The portfolio will eventually hold between 24 and 30 equities.  I’m estimating an average holding period of 8-12 weeks which would result in monthly trading costs of around $150.

This portfolio is not my entire portfolio.  I have some long-term holdings and a number of etf’s, etc.

I have done well in the past (in real life as well as in CAPS) and believe I found a way late last year to significantly improve my results.  That’s what this method is based on.

My biggest loss was ZAGG (-10.5% since 1/11).  Four others were down between 1.7% and 4.5%.

My biggest gainers were: PRCP (20.1%, 1/3), NTWK (15.42%, 1/16), APFC (12.65%, 1/7),  FFCH (11.48%, 1/4) and WHR (11.22%, 1/2).