Actual Shares Bought, ETP updates and Portfolio Recap

So my Automatic Investment Plan from a few days ago kicked in.  Unfortunately, LULU and ETP went up a little bit so my "fraction" shares purchase was a wee bit smaller.  No big deal.

Here's what my $280 was able to buy:
Fees: $8 ($4 per stock transaction)
LULU = 2.5689 shares @ $52.94
ETP    = 3.0418 shares @ $44.71

Portfolio Recap (as of 10/26/11 @10:17 am PST):
AAPL = 2.1473 shares = $848.12 (+$98.12/0.13%)
ETP    = 4.0809 shares = $187.72 (-$16.17/-0.18%)
GLD   = 1.0349 shares = $173.85 (+$23.85/0.16%)
LULU = 7.3301 shares = $377.87 (-$1.08/-0.00%)
WM    = 2.0556 shares = $70.12   (-$11.25/-0.14%)
XLNX = 6.2161 shares = $196.12 (-$32.17/-0.14%)

Total = $1,853.79 (+$61.29/3.42%)

Not bad...  my fund is up 3.42% (from March 22, 2011 thru October 25, 2011) when the DOW Jones average is down 2.60% (from March 22, 2011 thru October 25, 2011) and the S&P 500 Index is down 5.00% (from March 22, 2011 thru October 25, 2011).  I actually outperformed these two indexes.  Does that mean I'm a genius?  No.  Perhaps I'm just lucky or perhaps I'm just not exposed to more volatile positions like the financial, industrial, etc sectors.   Besides, AAPL shored up my fund and is my largest position dollars wise.  Also, I picked 3 positions that paid dividends and that helped with my yield.  Also, my loses aren't so bad and it was mainly because of the fees I incurred during my early stock purchases... lesson learned.

ETP Update -  I was watching my daily Mad Money with Jim Cramer podcast and he had the CEO of ETP as a guest.  Cramer liked ETP except for the LPG business side of the company.  We found out from the CEO that ETP is planning to sell off the LPG side of the business and they already have a buyer.  He also said that they would focus more on the transport and storage of natural gas which can be lucrative for the company especially if and when the US decides to use more natural gas instead of oil.  He also does not believe that the US would be exporting the excess natural gas but the company is also hedged for the possibility.  Cramer reiterated his opinion for ETP and actually gave his blessing especially because his only negative is going away (LPG business).  Personally, I bought more shares of ETP prior to this on the thesis of the future use of natural gas during the winter months and that big juicy dividend and yield.

Next moves - I still have to put in $100 each month in my Sharebuilder Account to get that bonus (I forgot if it's $50 or $1000) and I think I found an extra $280 from my monthly take home pay so I can probably allocate some of that into my portfolio.

As you can see above, I'm a little light on my GLD and WM positions.  WM pays a dividend and GLD is a great hedge for inflation and worse-case scenario situations.  I would also like to have more AAPL so I might try to sneak in a huge influx of cash so I can get 2-3 more shares of my beloved Apple.  But for next month, definitely  I'll get some more GLD, WM and ETP.  Perhaps, I can buy shares of AAPL is fractions of a share at a time.. but we'll see.

Going Against The Grain - Investing in Stocks When Others Pull Out

I got some extra dough this week.

I decided to activate my auto invest plan for Tuesday.  And here are my picks:

LULU = $140.00 (2.71 shares @$50.18 + $4 fee)
ETP    = $140.00 (3.06 shares @$44.38 + $4 fee)

I'm still bullish on LULU because of the customer (brand loyalty) loyalty and the fact the LULU does not compete in the cheap apparel market.  LULU's customers are willing to pay up for the products because of the style, technology and what the company stands for.  LULU does not pay millions of dollars to have pro athlete endorse their products.  Instead, LULU does it in a local, word-of-mouth marketing strategy.  Free yoga classes given by local personal trainers build a community of loyal customers (and endorsers).

ETP is my energy play for the coming winter.  Natural gas and LPG will be used by millions to heat their homes and cook their food this coming winter.  Plus, I get paid a dividend just to wait for the stock to go up.  Plus I think the moves Kinder Morgan Partners (KMP) would have some pin action in the Nat-Gas sector.

I would have bought some more AAPL but I'm a bit short on liquid cash.  I'm still bullish on AAPL even after Steve Jobs' death.  I am confident that the genius CEO had 2-5 years of product line in the pipes and I shall review my position in the next 6 months and see if the new leadership has captured the Steve Jobs magic.

The recent decline of the Stock Market (Thanks a lot Europe) caused a lot of people to fear the market.  This is good news for me.  The time to buy into the market is when everyone is afraid and baby, everyone IS afraid.  Due to my age, I can afford to take some near term declines from my positions because I have a lot of time to recover.. unfortunately, the boomers do not have a lot of time.