Money For Nothing...

Talking about all this selling reminded me of the second way I have been trying to make money with stocks; namely DIVIDENDS. If you pick stocks in companies that pay regular (and hopefully increasing) dividends, then you keep making money while you are waiting for your stocks to get to a place where you are ready to sell.

In that quest I have been trying to buy stocks that provide this passive income in addition to the price growth potential. I can fill this page with tables, charts, and graphs with details, but I'll spare you the details. If you do want all the nitty-gritty let me know in the comments WhatSayYou?

In the four years since I have been on this adventure, my brokerage firm got acquired and some of the data from the prior brokerage got lost in the shuffle. So I only have dividend info for the years 2017 - 2019, and here they are:


2017: $5054.55
2018: $4699.63
2019: $5322.59

For a Grand Total of $15076.77 
Ka-Ching!

In terms of where this came from - here are the top 5 dividend producers. 

Apple Inc. (AAPL), Annaly Capital Management Inc.(NLY), Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO), Alliance Bernstein Holding L.P. (AB), Alliance Resource Partners L.P. (ARLP). 
Home Depot Inc. (HD) is a close 6th.

Of course what also matters in terms of dividends is what is the rate of return over the money I have invested in all the stocks that are producing the dividends. I have not yet had the time to generate that information and will leave it for another post.

One change you might notice in the blog going forward is that all the stock links will now take you to MarketWatch instead of Yahoo Finance (no link). This is in protest for Yahoo Finance continuously restarting ad videos every time you do anything on the site.

Feels good to be back and writing, hopefully I have not lost the three people that were reading this blog and they will reconnect and continue to read... 

Give me a shout out in the comment, will you?
Thanks!

... Goodbye Again

In my last post I started talking about what I consider the most difficult part of the stock market investing game; SELLING. In that post, It's Hard To Say Goodbye, I presented my Thoughts about the first of three aspects of selling stocks -- What To Sell. In this post I will continue that thought process and talk about When To Sell, and How To Sell.

A quick recap; I break down what to sell into three broad categories:

• Sell something that is showing a profit
• Sell something that is not showing a significant profit or loss
• Sell something that is showing a loss

Let's talk about selling something that is showing a profit. I can see a few reasons to sell.

The stock price has reversed and is going down. An important bit of information to consider in this case is if the stock is going down with the entire market. If that is the case then you need to decide how much of the downtrend you are going to ride out and if the stock is strong enough to recover quickly when the broader market makes a recovery. If the stock is going down against the general trend of the market, it may be time to take your profits and move on,

The stock price has stalled. Important considerations in this situation are the fundamentals of the company, it's medium to long term outlook, and if the company pays a good dividend. A strong stable company, a company that has good things expected in the near future, or a company that pays a dividend that is above average, especially when compared to other companies in the same industry group would be worth holding. Lacking two or three of these factors would be reason to sell out. I would pick a day that the entire market is in a good mood and get out with the profits.

The company has been rated poorly for reasons related to its fundamentals, the market, the economy, or geo-political factors. A stock in this situation can be very confusing. The market being irrational as it is, a stock that should not be doing well anymore could still be on the way up! If this is the situation you find yourself in, I would recommend a sell order with a trailing stop to protect your profits. of course if the broader market has gotten wise to the companies troubles and the stock is starting to reflect that by heading down, I would sell it quickly to secure your profit.

With a little consideration it's obvious that selling something that is not showing significant gains or losses has the same parameters as selling something that is showing a profit.

What are your signals for selling stocks that are profitable or flat? WhatSayYou?

This brings us to the most difficult subset of selling stocks. Selling something that is showing a loss. Here are some Thoughts on why you should sell:

A stock that has dropped significantly can take just as long or even longer to recover. This means if you sell the stock and put the proceeds into a stock that is doing well at the moment you are more likely to recover your loss faster than staying with the loser.

Your losses from a stock sale can be used to reduce your taxes. In some cases, stock losses can be written of in your taxes for the year. There are fairly restrictive rules for this, so be sure to check with a tax consultant. But you may be able to use the tax write-off to offset your loss.

The climb back up is longer than the distance of the slide down! Consider this, if you bought a stock at $100 and it has slid down 33% to $66; for it to recover the $33 to get back to $100 the stock has to climb up 50% of its current value of $66. The same $100 stock at a 50% loss to $50 has to double itself (100% gain) to get back to where it was before. This is a fact that can easily be missed and can cause you to hold on to false hope of a recovery.

The company has hit hard times due to bad management, the market, the economy, or geo-political factors. The stock market is a hidden information game; you will never know all the facts until they have hit a company's stock in adverse ways. In these cases you might be better off realizing that everyone makes mistakes sometimes, or gets hit by badly timed purchase once in a while. Take your lumps and your remaining capital and put it in something that will help you recover from the misfortune.

In the case of a loss making stock, once I have decided to sell I would sell out quickly if the stock is actively losing altitude, or pick an up day to sell if it has plateaued out at a lower price than purchase price.

I'm sure there are other reasons to sell stocks that are down. Have you sold stocks at a loss? What were your reasons? WhatSayYou?

OK, enough with the long thought filled posts. I promise I'll get back to business of buying and selling in my next post, because there are a few to report!

Keep on reading.

It's Hard To Say Goodbye...

Investing for most people is a resources game. Unless you have an unending supply of money, at some point you are going to have to sell some of your stocks to buy some others. And this my friends is the hardest part of the investing game.

In my (mis)adventures to date, and even earlier, when I was investing without really paying attention, I've had the hardest time when it was time to sell. I've been reasonably good at picking stocks, most of the time I have made money. I've been good with risk, not getting spooked into selling. I've been good with my homework, not buying stocks just because the talking heads are talking about them. I've been good with patience, willing to let good stocks take time to give returns. The one thing I find most difficult is selling.

There are three aspects to selling; what to sell, when to sell, and how to sell.
I'll share my Thoughts on them one post at a time.

What to Sell:

This can be broken down to three possibilities.

• Sell something that is showing a profit
• Sell something that is not showing a significant profit or loss
• Sell something that is showing a loss

Selling something that is showing profits is the easiest of these three possibilities. You make money, you feel good, you feel smart, all good things -- right? But what if this is the stock that is on the way up and could have made twice as much profit? Not feeling so good and smart now, are you? Consider this; the stock was doing very well and you have a good profit ready to cash out but the stock has been going down for some time. Would you get out, or would you wait for it to go up again? What about a stock that is on a tear, heading up like a rocket; do you worry that this upward momentum is a signal that this stock is heading for a crash. How long would you wait and stay on the ride? These are the kind of thoughts that have always have held me back from selling stocks that are doing well for me. Under what conditions would you sell a stock that is doing well? WhatSayYou?

Selling something that is not showing a significant profit or loss can be a conflicting decision. This kind of stock can be treated as a stock in one of the other two categories based on its current price in relation to the purchase price. This part of the discussion is only relevant if the price is close to your purchase price. A stalled stock can be a dead investment, holding on to your money, but not giving you anything in return; a bit like a fox in the manger. But what if it is a good stock that does not increase or decrease in price, but pays a good dividend. What if it is highly rated and expected to increase in price.Would you sell it? What are your parameters for selling off a stock that is in the doldrums? WhatSayYou?

The most difficult category of stocks to sell, are the ones that are showing a loss. In addition to the obvious reason of losing money, it's also an acknowledgement of the mistake you made when picking, and then holding on to this stock as it went down. I've talked myself out of selling stocks that are losing me money by believing that they will come back, the company is good, etc. etc. But in general holding on to your losses is the worst thing you can do; selling and getting over your mistake quickly is the smartest. It's not easy, but a carefully considered loss is good for many reasons; I'll list a few.

• You can write off the losses on your taxes (consult a professional for details)
• You can free up your money to buy something that will help offset the loss
• Stocks that are losing money have the potential for losing more money
• Even good stocks that can recover take a long time to do so locking you in

Even knowing all this, I have had a difficult time accepting my mistakes and moving on. What prompts you to sell your loss making stocks? WhatSayYou?

I would love to hear your thoughts on the issue of selling stocks.

Join the conversation by leaving a comment.

Thanks for reading.

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.

2017 Was A No Good, Horrible, Terrible Year!

2017 was a Terrible Year! 

Not for the reasons you are thinking I am referring to, not even for my stock portfolio. 2017 was a terrible year for this blog. I managed to write exactly one post in about the middle of the year, and nothing else.

Well, it's a new year and 2018 feels a lot more promising. For one, it's just January and I am already writing my first post. Also, the market seems to be in a mood to continue it's crazy run this year.

Overall, I am a bit nervous due to the meteoric rise of the market last year. I'm worried we are at the cusp of another bubble and everyone is too busy enjoying the ride up to notice if we are heading for a cliff. I am trying to be optimistic and paranoid at the same time; this might drive me crazy, but it also might make for some interesting blog posts.

My next post will be taking stock of my portfolio, it will be a good way to start off the year. I hope you will climb back on the ride with me WhatSayYou? and I promise to write on a more regular basis this year.

On to a wonderful 2018!

Gold Rush: A Missed Opportunity

It was like it was 1848 and I had a ticket for the train to California, but I was afraid and didn't get on ... and now it's 1856. The Gold Rush has passed me by.

As you may (or may not) have read in my last post, I had put Royal Gold Inc. (RGLD) into my list of Potentials, and decided to convert it to a Buy soon. Right after this call, the stock went into a free fall as expected, refer to "The Curse", The stock dropped from ~$83 all the way down below $75 and I thought, here's my chance, but alas, I panicked. I decided to wait just a bit to see if it would continue to drop further. Nope. It roared back and in a matter of a couple of days has made it back to over $84, creating a missed opportunity that I will remember for ever. Or at least until the next big thing on this adventure. Chalk one up to Fear.

Meanwhile, everything else in my portfolio is also doing well, or better than before for stocks that were doing badly. Here's a quick rundown on the highlights.

Paychex Inc. (PAYX) is doing even better at $61.84 with a 15%+ gain. Same for MGE Energy (MGEE) currently showing a gain of 12.6%. Ka-Ching.

On the other side, Novo Nordisk (NVO) is still struggling at a loss of 11.6%, Ka-Flunk, but CenterPoint Energy (CNP) has recovered enough to be back to a flat status with a loss of just $38 (0.81%).

No new Potentials this time, but Boston Scientific (BSX) is still a good possibility, and maybe I can get into the Klondike Gold Rush with Royal Gold (RGLD).

See how I worked a history lesson into that post? You like? WhatSayYou?

As always, thanks for reading.

Surprise, Surprise!!

"Surprise, Surprise", not as in the classic cliche, but a period of two surprises! Read on for details...

The first surprise was Novo Nordisk (NVO) which after reporting earning took a dive on August 5th, dropping $6 on open and then another $2 the next day. I am still trying to figure out what caused this crash, because the earnings were actually better than expected. OK, after a bit of digging I've discovered that their diabetes drug (Victoza) did not do as well as expected; it was 13% better than current drugs, but the expectation was for 15% better. :-( All told, the 2% shortfall in the expectations for the drug has cost me an almost 10% deficit in my stock's value. Ka-Flunk. Reading more details I've discovered that another cause of the downturn is the company revising it's forecast down by about 2%. The Timeliness of this stock has also dropped to an average 3, but the company is still solid. This will be one stock I will be monitoring a lot more closely.

On the happy side of the surprises, MGE Energy (MGEE) has done well since I decided to replace it with CenterPoint Energy (CNP). They announced a hike in the dividend rate, their 41st consecutive year doing so. The dividend is payable on September 15th for stock holders of record on September 1st, so if you are thinking about this one, now is the time. the stock has also appreciated in price recently currently sitting at $56.55 showing a solid 12.81% gain for me. Ka-Ching!

CenterPoint Energy (CNP) meanwhile is struggling to take off from my purchase price and sitting slightly under water, showing a 3.28% loss. The fundamentals of the stock are still strong though and it's approaching Ka-Flunk territory, but not yet in the GetOutNow range.

Looking ahead to a couple of Potentials; currently a lot of the industries at the top of the Valueline surveys rankings stocks are in the energy or utilities sector. And because I am already invested in these industries, I've had a difficult time finding good Potentials. The two that I have found bend the rules a bit, but still have good potential.

The first is Royal Gold Inc. (RGLD):
Name:                                Royal Gold Inc.
Industry:                            Precious Metals
Symbol:                              RGLD
Timeliness:                        1
Safety:                               3
Technical:                          3
Approximate Price:            $75.93
Dividend Yield:                  1.1%
Industry Rank:                   1
Low Gain Estimate:            0%
High Gain Estimate:           45%

This stock is worthy of consideration for a few reasons. First, it's a Timeliness (1)  stock in the highest ranking industry. Next, it's a high growth stock showing an at least 10% growth in multiple fundamentals like sales growth, cash flow, earnings, dividends etc, and the forward looking estimates are just as strong. Finally, and this is the weakest reason, the current chart shows that the stock is likely to drop a bit after achieving a double peak chart pattern, so it might be a good time to get some. The only thing I don't like about it is the P/E Ratio which is at a staggering 56.7!! Is that too much? WhatSayYou? I might consider converting this to a Buy soon.

The other is Boston Scientific (BSX):
Name:                                Boston Scientific Inc.
Industry:                            Medical Supplies Invasive
Symbol:                              BSX
Timeliness:                        1
Safety:                               3
Technical:                          3
Approximate Price:            $23.77
Dividend Yield:                  0%
Industry Rank:                   3
Low Gain Estimate:            25%
High Gain Estimate:           90%

Again, a good stock with solid fundamentals, that also shows up in the list of stocks with enough cash flow to operate and pay dividends and still have money left over for over 5 years. It is priced reasonably, which will allow me to grab a good parcel. The only thing I don't like about this one? No dividends... in spite of having the money to pay it. Boo!  Still, the other numbers are good and this is another stock that I might pick up soon.

That's all for this post folks, thanks for reading.
I hope you leave me some comments if you are a regular reader or even if you are a first timer.

New Features in the Side Panel

I've added a few new features to the side panel to make assessing the success(failure) of my (mis)adventures easy to see at a single glance.

First, I've added a Current Performance block that lists the currently best and worst performing stocks in the portfolio along with the cumulative rate of return of the entire (mis)adventure.

Next, I've added a list of stocks that are currently in the portfolio in the most recent buy first format. Each stock is listed with its purchase price, so you can see where it started in the portfolio.

And finally, I've added a list of stocks that used to be in the portfolio and I have sold. Each entry is tagged with the gain(loss) that I took from from the sale . These are also listed in the most recently sold order.

Hope these additions make it easier for you to admire(mock) my wisdom or lack thereof in this (mis)adventure. WhatSayYou?

Is There Anybody Out There?

I know, I know, it's been a while. 

But I do have a couple of excuses:

1. I got lazy; what can I say, happens to the best of us.
2. LIFE; like travel, a studio shutdown, layoff, job search, new job, etc., you know, simple stuff.

In any case, thanks for coming back to read my (mis)adventures. 

Let's dive right into it.

A lot has changed since I last wrote a post, so here are the updates.

Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) has been up and down, but currently stands at $769.89 putting me in the black on my average price with a gain of 4.65%, Ka-Ching! 

Fresh Del Monte (FDP) dropped in Timeliness and I decided to get out and Sell before things turned sour. I closed out my position at $41.833 locking in a gain of 5,44%, Ka-Ching! Unfortuntely, I fled too soon and the stock has climbed out of the funk and currently sits at $59.60 with it's Timeliness restored to 1, Ka-Flunk? WhatSayYou?

Novo Nordisk (NVO) has been through a trough, but has climbed out of it now. It's always been in the black for me though, and is currently at $55.42, a gain of 6.53%, Ka-Ching. As I've said before, they also paid out a $0.96 dividend, equivalent of a 1.78% return, double Ka-Ching.

I also converted another stock in the Potentials list into a Buy. Picked up a batch of Paychex, Inc. (PAYX) at $53.00. It is currently priced at $58.35 giving me a 10.02% gain, Ka-Ching. When I bought it it had a Timeliness of 1, it has since dropped to 2. Here are rest of the details.

Name:                                Paychex, Inc

Industry:                            IT Services

Symbol:                              PAYX
Timeliness:                        2
Safety:                               1
Technical:                          3
Approximate Price:            $53.00
Dividend Yield:                  3.11%
Industry Rank:                   14
Low Gain Estimate:            25%
High Gain Estimate:           45%

As you can see, it still looks like a healthy stock to hold on to.

I converted MGE Energy (MGEE) to a Buy in late March and bought a small parcel at $50.06. The stock has done well since then and is currently selling at $55.98 (after a bad couple of days) and still showing a gain of 11.67%. They also paid out a $0.295 dividend in May, making this another double Ka-Ching stock. But the market is fickle and so are investors (like me), MGE Energy (MGEE) has dropped to a Timeliness of 2 in the Valueline survey and I believe I've found a better alternative in this industry segment.

Name:                                CenterPoint Energy Inc

Industry:                            Electric Utility (Central)

Symbol:                              CNP
Timeliness:                        1
Safety:                               3
Technical:                          2
Approximate Price:            $23.47
Dividend Yield:                  4.35%
Industry Rank:                   3
Low Gain Estimate:            0%
High Gain Estimate:           25%

CenterPoint Energy (CNP) is a better stock in the same industry in many respects. It has a higher Timeliness, better potential for price increase, almost double dividend yeild, and half the price. I have added this stock into the portfolio with a Buy at $23.4805, and it is currently flat. I plan to Sell my batch of MGE Energy (MGEE) right after it passes its ex-dividend date, so I can get another dividend payout, Ka-Ching.

Finally, I moved quickly from Potentials to Buy on another good dividend paying stock that seems to have a solid track record for paying (increasing) dividends over a long time. 

Name:                                Reynolds American, Inc

Industry:                            Tobacco

Symbol:                              RAI
Timeliness:                        1
Safety:                               2
Technical:                          3
Approximate Price:            $49.02
Dividend Yield:                  3.69%
Industry Rank:                   17
Low Gain Estimate:            0%
High Gain Estimate:           30%

Solid fundamentals, and a Buy price of $49.6521; current price $48.99, well within the normal fluctuations to call flat. But folks, I have sinned, by buying a so-called "sin stock", a tobacco stock. WhatSayYou?.

Anyway, this has been a long update because of the inexcusable hiatus between posts, and I have given you a lot to contemplate. If you've taken the time to read to the end, I'd love it if you leave a comment and let me know what you think of the couple of WhatSayYou? questions in the post, or anything else.

Thanks for coming back.

Over and Out!

The Curse Has Been Broken!!

And there goes my amazing business idea...

This week Wendy's (WEN) bucked the trend and broke the "curse" and did not drop in price. My perfect record is broken and I can no longer offer my services for bringing down a stock price with my toxic touch. One bit of shadow on this stock is that the industry rank for Restaurants has dropped from 16 to 20 and the Timeliness of the stock has dropped from 2 to 3. So maybe, just maybe, my poisonous recommendation power is still in force? WhatSayYou? I guess based on this bad news I have no choice but to declare the stock Dropped from the Potentials list.

MGE Energy (MGEE) also managed to hold off the curse and have a good week holding steady at the price at which I listed it as a Potentials pick. Additionally, the industry group that this company represents jumped from a Valueline rank of 7 to a rank of 3, and the company's Technical rank was upgraded to 1 (best). This stock is looking even better now. I guess this high energy stock has the power to resist my toxic touch. This stock is very likely going to convert into a Buy in the coming week.

The report for the current portfolio is also good this week.

Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) had a great week rising to $737.60 putting me back in the black on one of my batches, Ka-Ching! 

Fresh Del-Monte (FDP) had a flat-to-slightly down week and ended at $41.87, still leaving me with a 5% gain, Ka-Ching. More good news, on March 7th, the stock paid out a $0.125 dividend, the equivalent of 0.29%. Sadly, the stock has dropped to a Timeliness rating of 3, meaning it's time to get out.  

Novo Nordisk (NVO) had a down week going from little over $57 to $54.61 by the end of the week, also leaving me with almost a 5% gain, Ka-Ching. In other news they paid out a $0.96 dividend, equivalent of a 1.78% return, offsetting the drop in price, double Ka-Ching.

With so much churn in my Potentials and Portfolio, I didn't get time to research new recommendations, so nothing on that front this time.

Thanks for reading.

The Curse of the Eternal Optimist?

I think the universe is trying to tell me something here; something about the eternal optimism that I exhibit.

No sooner than I pick a stock to add to my Potentials list than bad news seems to hit the company! 

Today my latest pick for the Potentials list, Novo Nordisk ADR (NVO) declared that they will find it difficult to raise prices of drugs in the US and also lowered the earning growth potential down from 15% to 10%. Needless to say, the stock too a beating today; down over $3 or more than 6% at the end of the day after being more than $4 down at one point of time.

Now I'm having second thoughts about it, and wondering if it should be Dropped from the list of Potentials completely. I will continue to watch it for a few days before moving on it for sure. Maybe the market will shrug off the bad news and turn around on this otherwise good stock.

Meanwhile, I am also considering offering up my services to companies who want to do harm to their competitors. For a "small" fee I am willing to put said competitors on my Potentials list and bring down the "Curse of the Eternal Optimist" on them. With the inevitable bad news and financial ruin this will bring upon the competitors, my clients will be free to dominate their industry. Do you think this will be a good business venture? WhatSayYou? Leave your thoughts in the comments below. Or if you are a potential client, feel free to get in touch!! :-)

Saturday, January 30th 2016

The "it's going to get worse before it gets worse." edition. 

As you already know one of my favorite money talk shows is Marketplace from American Public Media. Last week's wrap had a scary conversation about how things are going to get bad in the next few months. The conversation gave me pause about the timing of this (mis)adventure. Foolish as it seems, I am going to forge ahead with the best choices I can make with the knowledge I have, and take comfort in the knowledge that I have a reasonable amount of time before I retire so I still have time on my side.

On the sunny side, this is the first week that officially gets a Ka-Ching rating, a new tag that denotes that stocks in my Buy list actually made enough gains to put me into the "black" or took me higher up than last week. Both Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) and Fresh Del Monte (FDP) ended the week with gains. GOOG made great progress ending the week at $742.95, putting one of my batches well in the black and the other pretty close. On average though, I am 1% over. FDP ended the week at $40.81 giving me a current gain of 3.2%. This put a smile on my face in spite of the potential storm that is approaching.

This week I saw another manifestation of what I have referred to as the "Ownership Bias". At the grocery store while buying lunch time fruit in syrup things, I ended up buying the Del Monte brand over the Dole brand, just because I own FDP stock.

In the Potentials list I have a new stock this week:

Name:                                Novo Nordisk ADR

Industry:                            Drug
Symbol:                              NVO
Timeliness:                        1
Safety:                               2
Technical:                          3
Approximate Price:            $55
Dividend Yield:                  1.6%
Industry Rank:                    27
Low Gain Estimate:            20%
High Gain Estimate:           55%

Novo Nordisk (NVO) is a Dutch company that makes medications primarily for diabetes management, hemophilia, and other conditions. They have a had a strong 2015 and are poised to continue a good run this year too. Two new diabetes drugs have just received FDA approval and more drugs are well into the research and approval pipeline. They have a small (1.6%) dividend and a good price appreciation potential too. This is also the only stock given a Timeliness of 1 by Valueline in the Drug industry group. I foresee a good chance that I will convert this to a Buy in the next week.

Still on the bubble is Cal-Maine (CALM) which I should have bought when I first saw it. If I had I would have put away a gain of 5%-7% and also claimed the dividend that just passed the ex-dividend date. Maybe this will be the week I jump into this omlette too.

That's all I have this week. If you have been a regular reader, please leave a comment and tell me WhatSayYou?

Saturday, January 23rd 2016

The rollercoaster ride continues...

The market had yet another day of free fall, with 500+ point drop during the day. But by the end of the week the panic had subsided and the markets had levelled off to the levels at the beginning of the week. Read the weekly wrap from my favorite money program on the radio Marketplace.

In terms of current holdings this was a good week. Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) jumped up close 36 points to approximately $725 and almost caught up to one of the batches that I are in my Buy list at $726.70. If this trend continues next week I will break out of the red on this Buy.

Fresh Del Monte (FDP) managed to stay about flat to just under the surface and ended the week at $39.36. This is below my purchase price of $35.54, but not too far to worry just yet.

Cal-Maine (CALM) which is still on my list of Potentials has been a tease. Jumping up and dropping back down but not really picking a direction in this volatile market. I am starting to wonder if I should commit to this stock and ride the waves or hold back a bit longer. My worry is no matter what I choose, it might end up being the wrong decision. Aargh! Maybe my 3 ( is it up to 4 this week ) loyal readers want to chime in and leave a comment to push me this way or that. WhatSayYou?

Last week I did not find any stocks that were good Potentials, so nothing new to report this time. 

Saturday, January 16th 2016

The market freefall continued in the previous week fueled by China, low crude oil prices, and the worry about the long terms effects of the Federal Reserve raising rates. 

All this meant that my previous week's Buy, GOOG continued its downswing and ended the week at $694.45, a significant further loss of investment, earning this week another Ka-Flunk rating. Still I am confident that the investment will pay off in the long term. A contrarian (read crazy) side of me is wondering if I should dig in deeper and buy some more. What would you do? Feel free to leave a comment and let me know WhatSayYou?.

Fortunately it was not all gloom and doom this week. Last week I found another stock for the Potentials list and immediately purchased it too, putting it into the Buy set. First the stats on the new find:

Name:                                Fresh Del Monte Products

Industry:                            Food Processing
Symbol:                              FDP
Timeliness:                        1
Safety:                               3
Technical:                         2
Approximate Price:            $39
Dividend Yield:                  1.3%
Industry Rank:                  28
Low Gain Estimate:            0%
High Gain Estimate:           25%

Fresh Del Monte (FDP), is a familiar name if you shop for groceries anywhere in the United States. You probably know them from the Del Monte brand of canned fruit that you have most likely purchased. Although the dividend yeild is not stunning at only 1.3% and the potential gain is a bit on the lower side, this seems to be a solid stock to weather the current storms. Also, it just got a bump in its Timeliness, from 2 to 1 and the Technical (short term price variance) rating has been bouncing between 1 & 2. The Food Processing industry has also been bumped up from 35 last week to 28 this week making this stock a worthy Buy.

I managed to pick up a few at $39.54, and in spite of the rough week the stock ended the week $39.36. A fraction lower than my purchase price, but not to the tune of the drop in my GOOG holdings. I will be watching this one like a hawk and probably taking my gains as soon as they get above 10%.

And now for the Greek Tragedy of the week. For ( the 3 of you ) that have been following my (mis)adventures from the beginning of this year, you know that I have had Cal-Maine Foods (CALM) on my list of Potentials. Well, I have still not purchased it and put it into the Buy set. Then last week as the entire stock market was in free fall, CALM managed to reverse gravity and advanced almost $4 on the day the market dipped 500+ points!! It ended the week at $49.39 over $3 higher than the start of the week, a gain of about 6.5%. Sadly, I missed out on this goose which laid a golden egg this week.

That's all folks!