Hello Friends! Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting my blog, Stock Picks Bob's Advice! As always, please remember that I am an amateur investor, so please remember to consult with your professional investment advisers prior to making any investment decisions based on information on this website.
Transparency. Such an important topic. As part of my blogging, I have worked very hard to keep all of my readers informed of my actual holdings, my actual trades, and how I have been doing. I don't know how to write about stocks without letting you know whether I own or don't own positions in the stocks I write about. I cannot discuss with you portfolio management philosophy without showing you what I am actually doing in my own 'trading portfolio'. This blog is not about hyping any stocks or pretending to be something it isn't. It is just about thinking about stocks, developing investment strategy, and dealing with the volatile market in equities that we face. I hope this has been helpful in this regard.
On about a monthly basis, I have been trying to write up a summary of my holdings and an update on recent trading activity. Fortunately, I am now participating in Covestor and you can view my Covestor Page where my holdings and their performance are also reviewed. But Covestor doesn't provide actual share #'s and doesn't have the long-term history of each stock purchase. So I don't think these reviews will be completely obsolete in the near future.
My last review of my holdings was on July 8, 2007. Since then we have seen an extremely volatile stock market. We have observed 200 point swings or more on many trading days. We have witnessed the near-collapse of the subprime mortgage market and the challenges facing even Countrywide Financial.
My portfolio is now down to 16 positions. I shall be waiting for a partial sale of an existing position to move to 17 positions (up to a maximum of 20), and shall be prepared to move to 15 if one of my holdings hits a sale point. (down to a minimum of 5 positions if needed).
Let's take a look at my 'trading portfolio' which I shall list in alphabetical order followed by: symbol, number of shares held, date of purchase, price of purchase, latest price (8/17/07), and percentage unrealized gain (or unrealized loss).
Bolt Technology (BTJ), 129 shares, 1/12/07, $17.44, $39.45, 126.25%
Cerner Corp. (CERN), 120 shares, 2/2/07, $49.76, $57.48, 15.51%
Coach (COH), 61 shares, 2/25/03, $8.33, $44.32, 431.97%
Covance (CVD), 119 shares, 4/9/07, $62.61, $71.08, 13.52%
Harris Corp. (HRS), 120 shares, 1/31/07, $50.05, $57.60, 15.08%
Kinetic Concepts (KCI), 140 shares, 7/13/07, $56.31, $58.44, 3.78%
Morningstar (MORN), 120 shares, 11/22/05, $32.57, $62.22, 91.01%
Precision Castparts (PCP), 74 shares, 10/24/06, $69.05, $131.50, 90.44%
Quality Systems (QSII), 88 shares, 7/28/03, $7.75, $39.68, 412.08%
ResMed Inc (RMD), 150 shares, 2/4/05, $29.87, $40.79, 36.57%
Satyam Computer Svcs (SAY), 210 shares, 4/20/07, $25.55, $24.55, (3.92)%
Starbucks (SBUX), 50 shares, 1/24/03, $11.40, $26.70, 134.11%
Universal Electronics (UEIC), 155 shares, 2/23/07, $25.24, $28.47, 12.79%
Meridian Bioscience (VIVO), 232 shares, 4/21/05, $7.42, $25.15, 238.99%
VCA Antech (WOOF), 210 shares, 7/27/07, $41.04, $38.94, (5.11)%
Wolverine World Wide (WWW), 200 shares, 4/19/06, $23.55, $27.44, 16.54%
Since my last review on July 8, 2007, I sold my 350 shares of MedTox Scientific (MTOX) at a loss on 7/12/07, sold 12 shares of Precision Castparts at a gain on 7/12/07, and purchased 140 shares of Kinetic Concepts on 7/13/07. On 7/24/07 I sold 17 shares of Kyphon (KYPH) at a gain and purchased 105 shares of National Oilwell Varco (NOV) on 7/25/07. On 7/27/07 I sold my position in Kyphon (KYPH) of 108 shares. I then purchased 210 shares of VCA Antech (WOOF) on 7/27/07. On 8/6/07, my recent purchase of National Oilwell Varco (NOV) hit a sale point on a loss and my 105 shares were sold. On 8/6/07, 20 shares of Morningstar (MORN) were sold at an apprreciation target and I purchased 280 shares of Cubic (CUB) on 8/6/07. Also on 8/6/07, my Baldor (BEZ) hit a sale point at a loss and 140 shares were sold.
On 8/8/07 my Cubic (CUB) stock declined to a sale point and my 280 shares were sold. On 8/9/07 I sold my 120 shares of Hologic (HOLX) as it declined to a sale point. on 8/13/07 38 shares of Meridian Bioscience (VIVO) were sold at an appreciation point. With that 'permission' I purchased 280 shares of Flotek (FTK) on 8/13/07. On 8/14/07 my shares of Mesa Laboratories (MLAB) hit a sale point and all 210 shares were sold. The next day, on 8/15/07, my 280 shares of Flotek (FTK) were sold as the stock hit a targeted sale at a loss.
Currently I am at 16 positions. My equity value is at $95,453.58 and I am still carrying a margin balance of $(37,624.36) giving my account a net value of $57,829.22. (This is down from the account value of $63,930.58 last month.) However, with the sales, the margin equity percentage has improved to 60.58%.
As of 8/17/07, I have $26,306.07 of unrealized gains in the account. I have now taken a net of $(1,757.12) in short-term losses, and $23,712.56 in realized long-term gains for a total realized gain of $21,955.44 in 2007. I have also paid $3,078.30 in margin interest this year. I have received a total of $320.28 in ordinary dividends and miscellaneous income in 2007.
Thus, it hasn't been an awful year for me, but I have taken a 'hit' with this correction as I am sure most of you have also experienced. I continue with my disciplined investment strategy and very much enjoy the opportunity of sharing with all of my readers my thoughts and strategy on investing and dealing with the good times as well as the bad that we all must experience as we respond to the vagaries of the stock market!
Have a good week everyone and stay healthy!
Bob