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.

A few moments ago Bolt (BTJ) hit one of my appreciation targets.  I had 150 shares in my trading account, and with the stock passing the 180% appreciation level, I sold 1/7th or 21 shares of Bolt at $50.52.  These shares had been purchased  1/12/07 (!) at a cost basis of $17.44 (!).  Thus, I had an appreciation of $33.08 or 189.7% on these shares.  As you probably know, I target my stocks for partial sales at 30, 60, 90, 120, then 180, 240, 300, 360, 450%, etc., appreciation levels.  Currently, I am selling 1/7th of my holding when shares reach these points.  

With this in mind, my next targeted sale on the upside would be at a 240% appreciation level or 3.40 x $17.44 = $59.30.  On the downside, I have been trying to sell stocks either on some fundamental bad news or if they should decline to 50% of the highest appreciation level at which there was a sale.  This way, I am continually pushing up the stops as the stock appreciates.  With Bolt having now been sold at the 180% appreciation level, on the downside, I plan on selling all remaining shares if the stock should decline to a 90% appreciation above my purchase price or 1.9 x $17.44 = $33.14.  Thus, I give the highly performing stocks in my portfolio more 'room to play' so to speak :).

Anyhow, it is nice to report good news once again!  The market is kind to me and I have been starting to pay down my darn margin which is far higher than I would prefer.

Currently I am at 20 positions in my account which is my new 'maximum' size for the portfolio.  If I were below 20, this sale would be giving me a "permission slip" to add a new holding.  At the maximum, I use sales like this to either accumulate cash or in my case pay down margin!

Thanks again for visiting!  If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to leave them on the blog or email me at bobsadviceforstocks@lycos.com.  If you get a chance be sure and visit my Stock Picks Podcast Site.  Also, take a look at my Social Picks account, where Social Picks evaluates my stock selections from the time I started with them which was a bit more than six months ago.   Also, check out my Covestor account which tracks my actual trading portfolio and compares it to other investors and the indices!

For those of you in the States, I wish you a very Happy 4th of July.  As we celebrate our freedom, let's wish everyone all over the world the blessings of peace and freedom that we enjoy for ourselves here in America!

Bob