This week I have an update to make about my portfolio. I have added a position with a company I use to trade in the past. Instead of trading this security I will be adding it to my standard list of stocks that I hold for the dividend.
The symbol for this security is ETP. I only have a small position it it at this time, but as I add funds to my account I will be extending my position with this security as well as others that I have on my watch list and have open orders for. Other than the new position, I also received a dividend payout for my position in TLT.
That is my opinion, you can take it or leave it.
Disclaimer: See bottom of page. http://investorsopinion.blogspot.com
ETP - Energy Transfer Partners, LP
TLT - IShares Trust Barclays 20+Year Treasury Bond Fund
Friday, February 17, 2012
Friday, February 3, 2012
Portfolio Update
As mentioned in my last post, I will be buying high dividend paying stocks. I will specifically be targeting stocks that have PEG ratios that are under 2.0. One of them I just BTO today is MCD. With a yields of 2%
I wanted to open a MCD position with a cost basis of no more than $500 as I spread my equity exposure across several stocks, so I only purchased 2 shares today with another order to buy 2 more at $90. I am not anticipating it to drop that much but I am attempting to not over pay for my position. I am aiming low with the assumption that some totally irrelevant news will temporarily drag the stock down like the news in Europe did last year.
That is my opinion, you can take it or leave it. Disclaimer: See bottom of page. http://investorsopinion.blogspot.com
BTO - buy-to-open/bought-to-open
MCD - Mc Donalds Inc.
I wanted to open a MCD position with a cost basis of no more than $500 as I spread my equity exposure across several stocks, so I only purchased 2 shares today with another order to buy 2 more at $90. I am not anticipating it to drop that much but I am attempting to not over pay for my position. I am aiming low with the assumption that some totally irrelevant news will temporarily drag the stock down like the news in Europe did last year.
That is my opinion, you can take it or leave it. Disclaimer: See bottom of page. http://investorsopinion.blogspot.com
BTO - buy-to-open/bought-to-open
MCD - Mc Donalds Inc.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Portfolio Update
It has been about a month since my last post. Since them I made a few portfolio changes. This post covers them and a few thoughts.
On January 12th, I STC my IWM position to get my cash back in my trading account. I did this because I want the equity percentage of my trading account to be heavier with high dividend paying stocks and not just the general market. I opened BTO orders for these high dividend paying stocks on steep pull backs since they are running to strong for me to chase them. I am adjusting this BTO prices every night as they make new highs.
Since I STC 99% of my ZNGA position, it has rebounded, dived and bounced back with a vengeance to and above the price I originally bought my position. This is despite them being outed for their copycat strategy of taking the idea of an already existing game, re-skinning the interface with only slight changes, and calling it their own. (http://tinyurl.com/7rpxgq7) Now, I don't know if they copied the code also, but the game-play is reported to be the same as well. I speculate that this could become a cause for a class-action suite against them for theft of intellectual property. This make's me hesitant to get back into it since I don't have the time to watch the stock all day. I decided to sell a Cash-Secured Put to buy back in if it falls below $9 by Feb 18th. I certainly don't want to buy back in at this time after losing out on all the upside it has already had.
Over the past month I also received dividends for CIM, IWM, and TLT. With the sale of IWM I am no longer qualified for any more IWM dividends after this point. CIM still continues to pay out the mass majority of it's earnings, unfortunately the earnings are still quite small at this time and it's price is below where I BTO. I will not be buying any more CIM until I see it promise better earnings. My TLT position is slightly dropping in cash value, reducing my portfolios position in treasury bonds. However, I will not be BTO more TLT until it drops even more.
That is my opinion, you can take it or leave it. Disclaimer: See bottom of page. http://investorsopinion.blogspot.com
BTO - buy-to-open/bought-to-open
CIM - Chimera Investment Corp.
IWM - iShares Russel 2000 Index Fund
STC - sell-to-close/sold-to-close
TLT - iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond Fund
ZNGA - Zynga, Inc.
On January 12th, I STC my IWM position to get my cash back in my trading account. I did this because I want the equity percentage of my trading account to be heavier with high dividend paying stocks and not just the general market. I opened BTO orders for these high dividend paying stocks on steep pull backs since they are running to strong for me to chase them. I am adjusting this BTO prices every night as they make new highs.
Since I STC 99% of my ZNGA position, it has rebounded, dived and bounced back with a vengeance to and above the price I originally bought my position. This is despite them being outed for their copycat strategy of taking the idea of an already existing game, re-skinning the interface with only slight changes, and calling it their own. (http://tinyurl.com/7rpxgq7) Now, I don't know if they copied the code also, but the game-play is reported to be the same as well. I speculate that this could become a cause for a class-action suite against them for theft of intellectual property. This make's me hesitant to get back into it since I don't have the time to watch the stock all day. I decided to sell a Cash-Secured Put to buy back in if it falls below $9 by Feb 18th. I certainly don't want to buy back in at this time after losing out on all the upside it has already had.
Over the past month I also received dividends for CIM, IWM, and TLT. With the sale of IWM I am no longer qualified for any more IWM dividends after this point. CIM still continues to pay out the mass majority of it's earnings, unfortunately the earnings are still quite small at this time and it's price is below where I BTO. I will not be buying any more CIM until I see it promise better earnings. My TLT position is slightly dropping in cash value, reducing my portfolios position in treasury bonds. However, I will not be BTO more TLT until it drops even more.
That is my opinion, you can take it or leave it. Disclaimer: See bottom of page. http://investorsopinion.blogspot.com
BTO - buy-to-open/bought-to-open
CIM - Chimera Investment Corp.
IWM - iShares Russel 2000 Index Fund
STC - sell-to-close/sold-to-close
TLT - iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond Fund
ZNGA - Zynga, Inc.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Portfolio Update
Again, it has been too long since my last post. It is now 2012. So here is the good and the bad for the end of November 2011 and all of December 2011.
In November, while looking over my losers of the past year, I came to accept that with the macro-economical news causing such aggravating swings, I can not play the trader game while still holding down a J.O.B. for 8 hours a day. So with that I decided that I will start applying a variation of the Asset Allocation Strategy of 4 cycle diversification. So with that I increased the gold position of my portfolio with the cash I liquidated from my losers. I BTO additional shares of GLD on November 21, 2011 and again on December 13, 2011 to dollar cost average my position down. As of the close of the market on January 3, 2012, GLD is at $155.92.
While making the transition to an Asset Allocation Strategy based portfolio, I took a short term gamble on the IWM ETF continuing to tank on December 9th after already tanking on the 8th. So I BTO a Jan 21 2012 72.00 Put. However, it reversed and I closed it out for a loss. To make things worse, the follow days saw IWM go back down again before bouncing back up.
Furthering along the transition into an Asset Allocation Strategy based portfolio, I BTO my position into the TLT ETF on December 9th. I then purchased again on December 14th and 20th. Since then, TLT has declined.
As one last gamble for 2011 I BTO a position into the ZNGA IPO. Unfortunately I BTO too high and closed out 99% of my position for a loss. Since then, ZNGA has bee trading above my close out price.
For the coming year, I will only be buying shares of GLD, TLT, and dividend paying stocks. All other positions I currently hold will be held until I am able to collect a profit or collect premiums through options.
That is my opinion, you can take it or leave it. Disclaimer: See bottom of page. http://investorsopinion.blogspot.com
BTO - buy-to-open / bought-to-open
GLD - SPDR Gold Shares
ETF - Exchange Traded Funds
IPO - initial public offering
IWM - iShares Russell 2000 Index Fund
TLT - iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond Fund
ZNGA - Zynga Inc.
In November, while looking over my losers of the past year, I came to accept that with the macro-economical news causing such aggravating swings, I can not play the trader game while still holding down a J.O.B. for 8 hours a day. So with that I decided that I will start applying a variation of the Asset Allocation Strategy of 4 cycle diversification. So with that I increased the gold position of my portfolio with the cash I liquidated from my losers. I BTO additional shares of GLD on November 21, 2011 and again on December 13, 2011 to dollar cost average my position down. As of the close of the market on January 3, 2012, GLD is at $155.92.
While making the transition to an Asset Allocation Strategy based portfolio, I took a short term gamble on the IWM ETF continuing to tank on December 9th after already tanking on the 8th. So I BTO a Jan 21 2012 72.00 Put. However, it reversed and I closed it out for a loss. To make things worse, the follow days saw IWM go back down again before bouncing back up.
Furthering along the transition into an Asset Allocation Strategy based portfolio, I BTO my position into the TLT ETF on December 9th. I then purchased again on December 14th and 20th. Since then, TLT has declined.
As one last gamble for 2011 I BTO a position into the ZNGA IPO. Unfortunately I BTO too high and closed out 99% of my position for a loss. Since then, ZNGA has bee trading above my close out price.
For the coming year, I will only be buying shares of GLD, TLT, and dividend paying stocks. All other positions I currently hold will be held until I am able to collect a profit or collect premiums through options.
That is my opinion, you can take it or leave it. Disclaimer: See bottom of page. http://investorsopinion.blogspot.com
BTO - buy-to-open / bought-to-open
GLD - SPDR Gold Shares
ETF - Exchange Traded Funds
IPO - initial public offering
IWM - iShares Russell 2000 Index Fund
TLT - iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond Fund
ZNGA - Zynga Inc.
Monday, November 21, 2011
28 Members of Congress Are Worthless!
Did I get your attention? Good! Because what I am posting is quite important. I briefly heard last week a report on CNBC about the net worth of the members of congress. The headline for them was about the how many members were in the top 1%. Since I am not one to rely on my memory to give the accurate details, I found a USA Today article that reflects that story on CNBC. The title of the article is 57 members of Congress among wealthy 1%.
Now that statistic may be considered interesting, but I personally wasn't all that impressed. The one that really caught my attention blows a whole in the assumption that I made in my August 8, 2011 post entitled August 2011 Budget Bill: Where the US Government Went Wrong and reiterated again in my October 11, 2011 post entitled Again, Why Politicians Should Take a Pay Cut.
Apparently not all politicians are well off, but 5% of them are financially STUPID! Out of the 530 members of congress, 28 of them have a net worth of 0 or less. That's right! When you take the value of their assets and subtract their liabilities, the result is that they are not even treading water. Of these 28 members of congress, 4 are breaking even and the rest are drowning in debt. One is even over $4 million in the hole. That's right! $4 MILLION. And of all people, it is Democrat Alcee Hastings of Florida. But don't get too proud Republican readers. First runner up is Republican Stephen Fincher of Tennessee, with over $3 million.
To round out these statistics, let me mention that 12 of these fiscal idiots are Republicans and 16 are Democrats. I was actually surprised to see any Republicans this low in the list considering their mountain top cry for fiscal responsibility. Taking this into consideration, I don't see how anyone can side with one party or another about achieving fiscal responsibility. With only a marginal deviation, both sides of the aisle are equally inept about fiscal issues. And then today, the Super Committee "throws in the towel" in regards to coming up with a plan. Just sad.
My opinion, congresses first step should be to eliminate their own dead weight. Drop the bottom 28 members of congress and make it IMPOSSIBLE for a fiscally irresponsible person to even run for congress. They are a waist of tax payer money. Then they can take the pay cut I previously mentioned.
That is my opinion, you can take it or leave it. Disclaimer: See bottom of page. http://investorsopinion.blogspot.com
Now that statistic may be considered interesting, but I personally wasn't all that impressed. The one that really caught my attention blows a whole in the assumption that I made in my August 8, 2011 post entitled August 2011 Budget Bill: Where the US Government Went Wrong and reiterated again in my October 11, 2011 post entitled Again, Why Politicians Should Take a Pay Cut.
Apparently not all politicians are well off, but 5% of them are financially STUPID! Out of the 530 members of congress, 28 of them have a net worth of 0 or less. That's right! When you take the value of their assets and subtract their liabilities, the result is that they are not even treading water. Of these 28 members of congress, 4 are breaking even and the rest are drowning in debt. One is even over $4 million in the hole. That's right! $4 MILLION. And of all people, it is Democrat Alcee Hastings of Florida. But don't get too proud Republican readers. First runner up is Republican Stephen Fincher of Tennessee, with over $3 million.
To round out these statistics, let me mention that 12 of these fiscal idiots are Republicans and 16 are Democrats. I was actually surprised to see any Republicans this low in the list considering their mountain top cry for fiscal responsibility. Taking this into consideration, I don't see how anyone can side with one party or another about achieving fiscal responsibility. With only a marginal deviation, both sides of the aisle are equally inept about fiscal issues. And then today, the Super Committee "throws in the towel" in regards to coming up with a plan. Just sad.
My opinion, congresses first step should be to eliminate their own dead weight. Drop the bottom 28 members of congress and make it IMPOSSIBLE for a fiscally irresponsible person to even run for congress. They are a waist of tax payer money. Then they can take the pay cut I previously mentioned.
That is my opinion, you can take it or leave it. Disclaimer: See bottom of page. http://investorsopinion.blogspot.com
Friday, November 18, 2011
Portfolio Update
It has been way too long since my last post, and there is a lot to cover. So without further ado, I will get right into it.
As a result of all the European debt issues, on November 4th I STC my position of CPLP call options I BTO on October 20th. The result was a loss of ~57%. Since then, CPLP has continued to decline, and I sold my entire position on November 15th. That sale resulted in a loss of ~39%, not taking into account any of the dividends I received in the past or the dividend I received on November 16th. After doing that I continued looking at the chart for CPLP and it is channeling slightly to the upside. I might consider buying a couple Call options slightly out of the money and way out in time and wait to see if there is one of those pops that CPLP has done in the past. But at the same time, I finally learned what it means to compare PEG ratios, and apparently CPLP is over priced. So with this new knowledge, I found a couple of really "cheap" stocks in comparison that also pay dividends, GLNG and TDW.
Back on October 14th, I rolled an AAPL Call option to a higher strike price that profited me enough that I would be playing with the houses money. On November 7th I rolled this option out for another month, but unfortunately AAPL has been on the decline. Right now the AAPL Call option I own is almost worthless. At this point only a little of the profit from the original AAPL Call option position remains. I don't think I will be doing anymore rolling of this option. If it does not start rebounding, I will accept the loss.
On November 16th, I BTO positions in IWM and GLD. The plan with these is to build up positions that reflect the four asset classes. IWM for the broad market of stocks, GLD for gold, and in time, with the execution of my open order that is still pending a lower price, TLT for long term treasury bonds. The forth asset class is cash which remains in my account for the purpose of selling put options against. This is an imitation of the American Asset Management investment portfolio owned by Julian Rubinstein. And if I can hold to my plan, I should be able to produce better than his 9% a year track record.
Finally, on November 18th, I sold my lossing position in DWA. The final result of this was a loss of ~43%. As was mentioned with CPLP, I found out that the PEG for DWA indicated that it was over priced. On top of that the expectation I had that people would spend more time in theaters than traveling was too ambitious in these turbulent times. However, my research did reveal that there are two stocks in the same industry that are doing well, CNK and RGC. These two are the theaters that DWA movies play in. Despite the disappointing attendance in comparison to previous years, they both have nicer earnings than DWA. On top of that, they both pay a dividend. I might take a position in either or both stocks at some time in the future.
That is my opinion, you can take it or leave it. Disclaimer: See bottom of page. http://investorsopinion.blogspot.com
AAPL - Apple Inc.
BTO - buy-to-open/bought-to-open
CNK - Cinemark Holdings Inc
CPLP - Capital Product Partners, LP
DWA - Dreamworks Animation SKG
GLD - SPDR Gold Trust
GLNG - Golar LNG Ltd.
IWM - Ishares Russell 2000
PEG - Price-to-Equity by Growth Rate ratio
RGC - Regal Entertainment Group
"rolled" - (rolling) - to sell-to-close one position and buy-to-open another position in the same group of options to take profit or extend risk.
TDW - Tidewater Inc.
STC - sell-to-close/sold-to-close
As a result of all the European debt issues, on November 4th I STC my position of CPLP call options I BTO on October 20th. The result was a loss of ~57%. Since then, CPLP has continued to decline, and I sold my entire position on November 15th. That sale resulted in a loss of ~39%, not taking into account any of the dividends I received in the past or the dividend I received on November 16th. After doing that I continued looking at the chart for CPLP and it is channeling slightly to the upside. I might consider buying a couple Call options slightly out of the money and way out in time and wait to see if there is one of those pops that CPLP has done in the past. But at the same time, I finally learned what it means to compare PEG ratios, and apparently CPLP is over priced. So with this new knowledge, I found a couple of really "cheap" stocks in comparison that also pay dividends, GLNG and TDW.
Back on October 14th, I rolled an AAPL Call option to a higher strike price that profited me enough that I would be playing with the houses money. On November 7th I rolled this option out for another month, but unfortunately AAPL has been on the decline. Right now the AAPL Call option I own is almost worthless. At this point only a little of the profit from the original AAPL Call option position remains. I don't think I will be doing anymore rolling of this option. If it does not start rebounding, I will accept the loss.
On November 16th, I BTO positions in IWM and GLD. The plan with these is to build up positions that reflect the four asset classes. IWM for the broad market of stocks, GLD for gold, and in time, with the execution of my open order that is still pending a lower price, TLT for long term treasury bonds. The forth asset class is cash which remains in my account for the purpose of selling put options against. This is an imitation of the American Asset Management investment portfolio owned by Julian Rubinstein. And if I can hold to my plan, I should be able to produce better than his 9% a year track record.
Finally, on November 18th, I sold my lossing position in DWA. The final result of this was a loss of ~43%. As was mentioned with CPLP, I found out that the PEG for DWA indicated that it was over priced. On top of that the expectation I had that people would spend more time in theaters than traveling was too ambitious in these turbulent times. However, my research did reveal that there are two stocks in the same industry that are doing well, CNK and RGC. These two are the theaters that DWA movies play in. Despite the disappointing attendance in comparison to previous years, they both have nicer earnings than DWA. On top of that, they both pay a dividend. I might take a position in either or both stocks at some time in the future.
That is my opinion, you can take it or leave it. Disclaimer: See bottom of page. http://investorsopinion.blogspot.com
AAPL - Apple Inc.
BTO - buy-to-open/bought-to-open
CNK - Cinemark Holdings Inc
CPLP - Capital Product Partners, LP
DWA - Dreamworks Animation SKG
GLD - SPDR Gold Trust
GLNG - Golar LNG Ltd.
IWM - Ishares Russell 2000
PEG - Price-to-Equity by Growth Rate ratio
RGC - Regal Entertainment Group
"rolled" - (rolling) - to sell-to-close one position and buy-to-open another position in the same group of options to take profit or extend risk.
TDW - Tidewater Inc.
STC - sell-to-close/sold-to-close
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Portfolio Update
Since my last post I have made trades with AAPL, CPLP, DWA, and GLD. I have also continued to add cash to my account as said I would. This is how my portfolio stands at this time.
On October 11th, I had a BTO call option position for AAPL at the 450$ strike price. Three days later I rolled the position to the higher strike price of 485$. This profited me a net of ~95$ or 20%. The gross profit was ~375$ or 79%. This means that I am currently playing with "the houses" money as a gambler would say. This is good for me because the value of that option is now down ~98% with 22 days until expiration. I am still bullish on AAPL, but would not be surprised if I would have to roll this option at a loss just to get a little more time to see my target realized since "Black Friday" comes after this positions expiration.
On October 20th, I BTO 3 CPLP call options for the 7.50$ strike price. I did this because it broke through it's most recent resistance level of 7$. I was expecting a little more upside with the breakout, but since then it has only been trading within pennies of this resistance/support level. I am thinking that it will pull back some, but afterwards power through to at least the next resistance level of $8. I also BTO this position with 5 months until expiration, so I have time on my side.
On October 27th, I BTO two more call options. The first was a for DWA at the 25$ strike price. I BTO this position because it broke a current downward trend line almost two weeks before, and then on the 27th broke above it's recent 20$ resistance level. This position also looks like it will be pulling back some before going up much higher. Fortunately for me, this position is also good until March of 2012, so I have time to wait and see.
The other call option position I BTO on the 27th was for GLD at the 180$ strike price. I BTO this position because it had already broke above the 165$ resistance level it gaped under back in late September and just finished filling the gap created back between September 22nd and 23rd. Gold has a pretty good run during the winter holidays so I believe GLD should be going up in the next few months. I only have up until the December expiration, so am looking for profit by "Black Friday".
In other news, my CIM stock position just recently paid me for holding on to it. Not a lot but, it does help to own dividend paying stocks. It has broken a recent downward trending line but still has one more and a resistance level it failed to break through back in August. That being said, my put option I STO looks like it will expire worthless. If that is the case, I still get to keep my 20$ premium I collected for selling the option and my 250$ that is securing it.
That is my opinion, you can take it or leave it. Disclaimer: See bottom of page. http://investorsopinion.blogspot.com
AAPL - Apple, Inc.
BTO - buy-to-open / bought-to-open
CIM - Chimera Investment Corp.
CPLP - Capital Product Partners, LP
DWA - Dreamworks Animation SKG, Inc.
GLD - SPDR Gold Shares (ETF)
"rolled" - (rolling) - to sell-to-close one position and buy-to-open another position in the same group of options to take profit or extend risk.
STO - sell-to-open / sold-to-open
On October 11th, I had a BTO call option position for AAPL at the 450$ strike price. Three days later I rolled the position to the higher strike price of 485$. This profited me a net of ~95$ or 20%. The gross profit was ~375$ or 79%. This means that I am currently playing with "the houses" money as a gambler would say. This is good for me because the value of that option is now down ~98% with 22 days until expiration. I am still bullish on AAPL, but would not be surprised if I would have to roll this option at a loss just to get a little more time to see my target realized since "Black Friday" comes after this positions expiration.
On October 20th, I BTO 3 CPLP call options for the 7.50$ strike price. I did this because it broke through it's most recent resistance level of 7$. I was expecting a little more upside with the breakout, but since then it has only been trading within pennies of this resistance/support level. I am thinking that it will pull back some, but afterwards power through to at least the next resistance level of $8. I also BTO this position with 5 months until expiration, so I have time on my side.
On October 27th, I BTO two more call options. The first was a for DWA at the 25$ strike price. I BTO this position because it broke a current downward trend line almost two weeks before, and then on the 27th broke above it's recent 20$ resistance level. This position also looks like it will be pulling back some before going up much higher. Fortunately for me, this position is also good until March of 2012, so I have time to wait and see.
The other call option position I BTO on the 27th was for GLD at the 180$ strike price. I BTO this position because it had already broke above the 165$ resistance level it gaped under back in late September and just finished filling the gap created back between September 22nd and 23rd. Gold has a pretty good run during the winter holidays so I believe GLD should be going up in the next few months. I only have up until the December expiration, so am looking for profit by "Black Friday".
In other news, my CIM stock position just recently paid me for holding on to it. Not a lot but, it does help to own dividend paying stocks. It has broken a recent downward trending line but still has one more and a resistance level it failed to break through back in August. That being said, my put option I STO looks like it will expire worthless. If that is the case, I still get to keep my 20$ premium I collected for selling the option and my 250$ that is securing it.
That is my opinion, you can take it or leave it. Disclaimer: See bottom of page. http://investorsopinion.blogspot.com
AAPL - Apple, Inc.
BTO - buy-to-open / bought-to-open
CIM - Chimera Investment Corp.
CPLP - Capital Product Partners, LP
DWA - Dreamworks Animation SKG, Inc.
GLD - SPDR Gold Shares (ETF)
"rolled" - (rolling) - to sell-to-close one position and buy-to-open another position in the same group of options to take profit or extend risk.
STO - sell-to-open / sold-to-open
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