Well, I can say, with some relief, that every one of the 25 stocks on my list was down on Friday. I say “with some relief” because that means that none of it implied there was anything wrong with one or more of the companies. This is just a correction.
At the same time, everything is doing remarkably well in the economy. All the manufacturing indexes, etcetera, are in positive territory, the GDP is growing at respectable levels, the economy is adding a bunch of jobs, not losing them. It’s just that Mr. Market is in a (hopefully brief) depressive mood swing.
In a very bad week, a few of my stocks were even considerably up on the week:
AFOP from 13.80 to 16.25
AMBA from 26.40 to 27.00
CALL up a few cents from 20.29 to 20.36
PSIX from 71.6 to 74.7
SYNA from 58.20 to 61.15
Z from 87.1 to 91.0
On Thursday and Friday I continued my policy of selling some high priced stocks which hadn’t gone down much (NGVC this time), and some I had less confidence in (LOCK), and finished selling out of YHOO (for reasons I explained earlier in the week). All of this to raise cash to buy more of my volatile stocks, but very good companies, where the stock price had dropped unreasonably, and seemed unreasonably low.
Thus I bought more AFOP, BOFI, UBNT, CALL, APPY, INVN, SZYM. I had mentioned earlier selling a very little ELLI earlier in the week for cash. Well I bought it back on Friday at $25.68. I also took a new position in Pandora (an RB, and also a Supernova rec). It’s revenues have been up over 50% each of the last three or four quarters.
Best to you all.
Saul
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I just realized, the talking heads are saying this is a move out of aggressive stocks into conservative low-risk stocks. My moves can be seen as a counter move, out of relatively conservative stocks, into the beaten down aggressive stocks.
Saul
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I forgot, I also bought a little Z.
And I also bought a little HZNP. Sorry this is in bits and pieces but I did a lot of trades on Thurs and Fri.
Saul
Thanks for the update, Saul. My portfolio was down about 2% overall this week, and I added to ELLI (now my largest position), UBNT, AMTD, and AMZN. I sold some MTZ to raise some cash in one account since it hadn’t fallen much relative to its high – not sure if that will prove to be smart or dumb. I was very tempted to add to other positions as well, but want to see what next week brings. My hope is that the selloff continues and opportunities will become even more appealing.
Neil
Saul,
You need not apologize to anyone on this board.
Your sharing in detail honestly and exactly is precisely why Fools love following you. You also verbalize the same emotional highs and lows as we all feel at times. You are a wise contrarian…actually buying low and selling high, something that is much easier said than done.
So thank you from all of us for your transparency in your trades.
Jim
PS I have also never forgot the pearl you shared from Peter Lynch…ignore insider selling and consider carefully insider buying.
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I sold some MTZ to raise some cash in one account
Hi Neil, I haven’t sold any MTZ because it hasn’t shown any weakness at all, any response at all to all this massive selling. It’s been just hitting new highs every week, and was only down 15 cents this week (a $43 stock, so that isn’t much). I think someone, or some group of people, know they are going to report an enormous beat, or some important development, and are buying constantly, ignoring all the noise of the market. I’m not buying more because it’s my third biggest position already.
I do sell stocks that haven’t gone down much to raise cash, but it’s generally ones which have gone down 5% to 10% in order to buy alternates which have gone down 25%. Making new highs with no slightest sign of responding to the market correction just seems too suspicious to me. I might be totally wrong though.
Saul
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I haven’t sold any MTZ because it hasn’t shown any weakness at all
Thanks Saul, I didn’t even think about it like that, and it makes a lot of sense.
Neil