Stock Picks Bob's Advice

Friday, 23 November 2007

Graham (GHM) "Trading Transparency"

CLICK HERE FOR MY PODCAST ON GRAHAM

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.

I just spent I don't know how much ink writing about trading discipline and there I go again. Buying a stock without a "permission slip". But I would like to start thinking about a 'hybrid' trading system. That is, utilizing a basic portfolio management system and also investing occasionally in single issues with larger positions taken without regards to the 'rules'. I am probably going to regret this diversion, but I am still learning, and I hope you are learning as well with me.

Last month I wrote about Graham Corporation (10/27/07), a stock that Doug S. brought to my attention, thinking correctly that it was 'my kind of stock'. I will refer you back to last month's entry for details about the company.

In a nutshell,

The stock made the top % gainers list today, trading at $61.60, up $2.85 or 4.85% on the day as I write.

Latest quarterly report was very strong.

The company announced a 5:4 stock split and raised its dividend.

The Morningstar.com "5-Yr Restated" financials looks solid.

And the 'point & figure' chart from StockCharts.com appears to show continued positive momentum.

With all of that in mind, I broke my trading rules (once again) and purchased 400 shares at $62.4399. Wish me luck.

I am concerned about the general direction of the market. The sub-prime mess, the near-$100/barrel oil price, the weak dollar, and the imploding housing market.

So once again, throwing caution to the wind, I jumped in on Graham (GHM). It's a great stock. But can it hold up in a correction? Time will tell.

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, feel free to visit my podcast site where I discuss many of the same stocks I write about on the blog, my Covestor Page where Covestor tracks my actual trading account, and my SocialPicks page, where for the last year, SocialPicks has been tracking all of my stock picks.

Bob

Posted by bobsadviceforstocks at 11:23 AM CST | Post Comment | View Comments (2) | Permalink
Updated: Sunday, 25 November 2007 10:43 PM CST

Comments Page

Sunday, 25 November 2007 - 3:16 PM CST

Name: "Andrew"
Home Page: http://www.geissonator.blogspot.com/

Bob,

I like what I'm seeing! I think going with the gut at times is a great move. One thing I've been thinking of in regards to your selling strategy(selling on the up side at your 30%, 60%, ... appreciation points). Have you ever considered simply putting a stop loss in once a stock hits an appreciation point instead of doing the instant sell? If the stock continues to rise then you simply go on to your next appreciation point (putting a new stop loss in once your next appreciation point is hit), but if it drops below your stop loss, you make the sale. This would allow a good stock to continue to rise but still ensure you take gains when needed.

Andrew

Reply to this Comment

Sunday, 25 November 2007 - 4:59 PM CST

Name: "Robert Freedland"
Home Page: https://bobsadviceforstocks.tripod.com/bobsadviceforstoc

Andrew,

That would be an excellent approach. Just keep moving the stops higher. I do move my stops higher. But since I am willing to actually sell stocks as they decline, I felt like it would make more sense to sell stocks slowly on gains. I don't want to sell enough that reduces the bulk of the original investment and if you follow my past entries I have reduced that sale from 1/4 of my position to 1/6th, and now most recently I have been selling 1/7th at the appreciation intervals.

I view my portfolio as a ongoing 'money machine' and want to keep generating gains to cover losses and eventually also build up large cash reserves in the face of a big bull market....but that is another story.

Your approach isn't wrong. In fact, with a gaining stock, you would definitely make more profits. My approach is simply a little more conservative, locking in gains by small sales as the stock price climbs.

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