Where Did I Put That Stock?

So, as part of turning my attention back on this (mis)adventure I ran an audit on all the stocks listed in the portfolio and to my dismay discovered that I had misplaced a stock!!

I was almost certain that I had bought Magna International, Inc (MGA) but I could not find in any of my accounts. I also did not remember selling it. A frantic dig through my transactions over the last two years finally cleared up the mystery. 

Some time early this year this stock had started to make me nervous and I had set a trailing stop Sell order on it. Apparently, it sold sometime in February!! And, if I had not sold it then, I would still be looking to sell it at a slightly lower same price now, because it has dropped to a Timeliness rating of 3 in the Valueline rankings. 

The happy ending to the story is that it sold at a profit of almost 16%. Ka-Ching. 

Buying Spree ... wheeeee!

Another down day, another set of purchases. Now I'm starting to worry myself. Today I took the leap and converted the two stocks in yesterday's post They've Got Potential into Buys.

And I have a new stock to add into the Potentials pool. This one is in the Telecom Services industry and currently out of reach of the tariff war between USA and the rest of the world. It's highly rated and pays a handsome dividend (one of my favorite attributes of a stock), and with a recent merger it owns about 45% market share of the mobile phone service in India a market that is still growing.

Here are the details:

Name:                                Vodafone Group ADR

Industry:                            Telecom Sevices

Symbol:                              VOD
Timeliness:                        1
Safety:                               3
Technical:                          4
Approximate Price:            $22.00
Dividend Yield:                  7.96%
Industry Rank:                   47
Low Gain Estimate:            65%
High Gain Estimate:           160%

I am bullish about the potential of this stock, obviously, but I think it's with good reason.

They've Got Potential

A few stocks have emerged in my latest research screening that I am putting into my Potentials list. I managed to snag one of them yesterday when it was a down day; I wrote about it in my post Buy, Buy, Buy. The stock is up today in spite of a down market overall. Ka-Ching.

Now for some future prospects.

First a high dividend yielding Financial Services company that makes me a bit nervous. It's a small-cap company so all the details are not available to me in my subscription of the Valueline Survey. My concern about this stock is that it deals with real estate and mortgage backed securities (disturbing flashbacks to the financial crisis from a decade ago). But, at the same time it's ranked high in Timeliness and has a significant dividend rate. Fear still permeates the thought of owning this stock. It's probably one to watch like a hawk.

Here's what I know:

Name:                                Ellington Finance LLC

Industry:                            Financial Services, Specialty

Symbol:                              EFC
Timeliness:                        1
Safety:                               2
Technical:                          UNKNOWN
Approximate Price:            $16.00
Dividend Yield:                  10.15%
Industry Rank:                   UNKNOWN
Low Gain Estimate:            UNKNOWN
High Gain Estimate:           UNKNOWN

Another is a high flying company in the Financial Services industry that is very unique. This is a company that rents and leases small commuter jets to corporations and the rich. The company seems well managed and has recently upgraded a large part of its fleet of aircraft. So fly high while still staying on the ground with this stock. Hey, maybe there is a way for the 98% to take advantage of the massive tax cuts that got passed this year. 

Also can someone explain why this is a Financial Services company? Maybe because it helps the rich exploit tax loopholes?? WhatSayYou?

Name:                                Aircastle Limited

Industry:                            Financial Services, Diversified

Symbol:                              AYR
Timeliness:                        1
Safety:                               3
Technical:                          5
Approximate Price:            $21.00
Dividend Yield:                  5.35%
Industry Rank:                   30
Low Gain Estimate:            65%
High Gain Estimate:           140%

Still more to write about, but I'll leave that for tomorrow.

Thanks for reading. Comments are welcome.

Buy, Buy, Buy

I've been running "my research screen" on-and-off for a while now, but not managed to get down to the business of buying anything. Looks like writing about doing something actually motivates you to go ahead and do it too. Who knew!!

Anyway, jumped back into the market today, considering it was a down day, and managed to Buy one of five stocks that I have picked. Here's the latest acquisition:

Name:                                Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc

Industry:                            Steel

Symbol:                              SCHN
Timeliness:                        1
Safety:                               3
Technical:                          3
Approximate Price:            $27.00
Dividend Yield:                  2.80%
Industry Rank:                   4
Low Gain Estimate:            85%
High Gain Estimate:           200%

I picked it up near its low for the day and it had climbed back to almost even including broker fees by the end of the day. Here's hoping it continues to climb...

I have a four more Potentials lined up in the Steel and Financial Services industries. I'll list them in a separate post, optimistically tomorrow.

The Perils of Inattention

Investing in the stock market is a bit like being a gladiator in a multi-person free-for-all fight. You have to constantly be on the guard and keep your eyes on all the other fighters in the arena. A little bit of inattention and you will find yourself clobbered from all sides.

This is what happened to my portfolio in the time that I stopped to smell the roses that the audience has been throwing at me... In the last eight months I've had some losses from stocks that had looked good when I bought them.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NVO) is down 8.40%, Hanesbrand Inc (HBI) is down 15.01%, and the bottom fell out from Tahoe Resources, Inc (TAHO) down 66.02% because they lost the rights to a silver mine that was critical. Ka-Flunk.

It's not all bad news though, the rest of the portfolio is doing quite well and overall the portfolio is in better shape than when I last posted. I won't bore you with the details of the good news, so you can breathe easy. Ka-Ching.

Renolds American [RAI -- no link] was removed from the portfolio because it got acquired in an all-cash deal and does not exist as a company anymore. But it left me with a 33.02% gain. Ka-Ching.

One change you might notice in the blog going forward is that all the stock links will now take you to Yahoo Finance instead of Google Finance (no link). This is in protest for the "upgrade" that the folks at Alphabet have given Google Finance, effectively eviscerating that site of any usefulness it had before.

In the next week I will have some Potentials and some Buys that I plan to write about. Hope you will find me again and continue to follow my (mis)adventures.

Cheers!