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 ont his website.
Last month on March 9, 2010, I diverged from my fairly rigid trading philosophy and arbitrarily sold my Walgreen (WAG) stock at $33.71 and purchased shares in Abbott Laboratories (ABT) at $55.37. My timing on this transaction probably couldn't have been much worse. Since that time, Walgreen (WAG) has actually rallied and closed today at $36.06, up $.19 on the day. Abbott (ABT) however, has moved into reverse and closed this afternoon at $51.12, down $.66 or (1.27)% on the day. In fact, the decline in Abbott stock was enough to trigger a sale at $51.07 and I liquidated my entire position of 45 shares at that level.
The sale at $51.12 represented a decline of $(4.48) or (8.06)% from my 'cost basis' of $55.55 (including the cost of the commission). As I have written before on this blog, after an initial purchase of stock, I sell my position should it decline 8% from the purchase price regardless of my own views on the worthwhileness of the investment. Certainly there are many positives to be appreciated about this company Abbott. But that doesn't really matter to me.
Since this is a sale at a loss, this represents what I refer to as a sale on 'bad news'. Thus, I do not purchase stock to replace this position but instead keep the money in cash. Fortunately, some of my other stocks are moving towards sales on 'good news' and if these stocks (like TJX) indeed reach their first 30% appreciation targets, then I shall be selling a small portion of those holdings and generating a 'good news' signal allowing me to add a new position.
I shall keep you posted.
Meanwhile, if you have any comments or questions, please feel free to leave them on the blog or email me at bobsadviceforstocks@lycos.com.
Yours in investing,
Bob