Subtitle: Did my high conviction stocks outperform my low conviction stocks?
Today was a pretty awesome day, and my entire portfolio was up over 3.5%. I decided to look at what was up the most.
Currently I have 6 large positions (currently 7.8% or more each), which make up 51% of my portfolio. But these contributed 64% of my gains today.
I have 7 mid-sized positions (currently 3.3% - 5.3% of my port.), which make up 30% of my portfolio. These accounted for 25% of my gains today.
I have 10 small positions that make up 17% of my portfolio (2% is still in cash). These accounted for 11% of my gains today.
I’m pretty thrilled about that. It tells me my money is in the right place. It gives me hope that I really am able to say not only “This one is a Sell and that one is a Buy,” but even “This one is a better buy than that one.”
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Today all 19 of my current positions were green.
Up 2.43 % on the day
A happy day 
You guys did better than me with only 1.8% rise which was still above the index. Some oilees and a few odds and sods (definitely non Saul like stocks) held me back. I dodn’t get close to catching the bottom of the market but I’m generally up 10-30% up on what I invested into the market in Q1, (leaving Patriot aside). Good to see Abiomed, LGI and Patriot National extending their run as well as Infinera, BOFI and Skechers bouncing back.
A
Congratulations PWB, that’s a great day!
It tells me my money is in the right place. It gives me hope that I really am able to say not only “This one is a Sell and that one is a Buy,” but even “This one is a better buy than that one.”
I wouldn’t get too cocky, though, as tomorrow could easily throw the exact opposite at you. I think I’d say your money was in the right place “today”.
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Have to agree with Foodles. With my average holding shooting up 3% yesterday I have to believe that there will be some give back and with some of the stocks showing real strength I hope there is give back as that is the best time to increase holdings.
If I am going to celebrate a good day and use it as confirmation that I am in the right stocks then to avoid being disingenuous I have to bemoan a bad day and question whether in fact I am in the right stocks.
The truth be told many of us took a big hit earlier this year and even a day like yesterday does not put most of us that far ahead of the game.
Now if we have a bunch of these days in a row - well then we are talking !!!
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Now if we have a bunch of these days in a row - well then we are talking !!!
On an up day like yesterday, I also beat the general market increases, but like foodies, I tend not to get overly excited on one day’s uptick. Whether it is a “bad” day or a “good” day, I’ve seen many big daily fluctuations in the years that I’ve been investing. I admit that there is a satisfaction in seeing the value of one’s portfolio increase, but sometimes I think of Buffett’s remark that he likes to see market falls so he can buy on sale and think that’s when some of my best purchases were, too.
Of course, if I wanted to sell something, yesterday would have been a good time to do it.
Pete
Of course, if I wanted to sell something, yesterday would have been a good time to do it.
Pete
Yes! Yesterday I sold a mistake. 
Denny Schlesinger
I think a couple people missed the point. I wasn’t bragging because my portfolio was up. It should be up! The market as a whole was up – hopefully I would be up more…that’s the whole point of picking stocks.
The point was that my high conviction stocks were up the most. Granted, it’s just one day. Maybe I’ll look at it over a longer time frame.
But I do agree with Pete: Of course, if I wanted to sell something, yesterday would have been a good time to do it.
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Another data point here…I decided to look at this on a bad day, namely today. The S&P was down about 0.2%, but I was down about 0.8%.
However…
My 6 large positions were actually up slightly. These 6 add up to about 54.5% of my portfolio.
My middle 7 positions accounted for roughly 60% of the loss today. These 7 add up to about 28.3% of my portfolio.
My bottom 11 positions accounted for roughly 40% of the loss today. These 11 add up to about 17.2% of my portfolio.
Again, this is just a single day, a single data point. Still nice to see my high conviction picks outperform not only the rest of my portfolio, but also the market.