Portfolio Up around 16% Due to Apple, Lululemon, Xilinx and a Really Awesome Market Rally

I've been negligent. 

As you may have read from my previous post, I have been pre-occupied by classes as I returned to school to complete my college degree.  To that effect, my contributions to our portfolio decreased in order to pay for my tuition fees... at least the fees not covered by my employer's benefits package.  

Luckily for our portfolio, I picked dividend paying stocks and 2013 has been good to investors and the economy in general.  In spite of the self-inflicted wounds the US Government gave the economy, the markets has been fairly robust and stocks maintained their status as the investment vehicle to be in given the current market conditions.  

So far, here are the dividend payouts paid to our portfolio since 08/01/2013:

08/14/2013 - ETP     Distribution - $10.50 ($0.89375/share) - Reinvested to buy 0.2022 shares @ $51.93

08/15/2013 - AAPL  Dividend    - $6.69   ($3.05/share)      - Reinvested to buy 0.0134 shares @ $499.25

08/28/2013 - XLNX Dividend    - $2.31   ($0.25/share)     - Reinvested to buy 0.0536 shares @ $43.10

09/20/2013 - WM     Dividend   - $4.48    ($0.365/share)   - Reinvested to buy 0.1060 shares @ $42.26

10/10/2013 - MO      Dividend   - $9.28    ($0.48/share)     - Reinvested to buy 0.2694 shares @ $34.45

10/14/2013 - MDLZ  Dividend   - $3.71    ($0.14/share)     - Reinvested to buy 0.1209 shares @ $30.69

10/25/2013 - KRFT   Dividend   - $2.12    ($0.53/share)     - Reinvested to buy 0.0388 shares @ $54.64

11/14/2013 - AAPL   Dividend   - $6.73   ($3.05/share)      - Reinvested to buy 0.0129 shares @ $521.71

11/14/2013 - ETP      Dividend   - $10.81 ($0.91/share)      - Reinvested to buy 0.2058 shares @ $52.53

11/27/2013 - XLNX  Dividend   - $2.32   ($0.25/share)      - Reinvested to buy 0.0521 shares @ $44.53

12/20/2013 - WM     Dividend   - $4.52   ($0.36/share)      - Reinvested to buy 0.1030 shares @ $43.88

Upcoming:

KRFT - Ex-Dividend 12/23/2013 Dividend date 01/17/2014 @ $0.525/share 

MDLZ - Ex-Dividend 12/27/2013 Dividend date 01/14/2014 @ $0.14/share

MO - Ex-Dividend 12/23/2013 Dividend date 01/10/2014 @ $0.48/share

I've never been more thankful that I picked these dividend paying stocks which supplemented my decreasing contributions for 2103.  I also like the price appreciation of our stock positions and it seems like we'll see more growth at least through the first half of 2014.  I'll have to squeeze in some time to reassess each stock position especially the tech and retail sectors.  

We currently carry a slightly huge cash position which was supposed to buy more shares of LULU but the news of CEO Christine Day's resignation, recall of products and the co-founder's unfortunate remarks made me hold off buying.  LULU just recently hired their new CEO so I would need a few quarters' worth of reports to decide whether to stay or go. 

Apple on the other hand recovered from their steep decline from their all-time high.  It looks like AAPL stabilized at $560/share.  Their 2013 product line release late in 2013 were enough to post in great numbers but AAPL would need to show more "new" products in 2014 in order to be the tech darlings once again.  For now, the China Mobile deal and the new iPhones would be enough to keep shareholders happy.  

All in all, I'm still bullish with the US economy.  The real estate market is back to "normal" and the IPO market brings in new money and new millionaires that would hopefully infuse the economy with new jobs, businesses and market activity (new homes, cars and etc).  So far, the US Government seem to be less crazy this time and seem to be more "cooperative" compared to around this time last year.  It does help that 2014 is a mid-term election year so these "employees" are motivated to keep their jobs.  Hopefully, the Obamacare issues and NSA leaks would be fixed soon so that the Government could focus on creating/stimulating job and economy growth in 2014.  One could hope.

I'll be in college classes in 2014 but I promise to keep this blog alive and keep tabs on our portfolio.  Who knows? Perhaps when I finish my studies, this portfolio would be profitable enough to help fund my new adventure.  I'll be crossing my fingers.

Fresh New Dividends from Apple and Energy Transfer Partners

We got paid dividends this week:

Apple (AAPL) paid $6.65 on 05/15/2013 which I reinvested to buy 0.0155 shares @ $429.03.

Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) paid $10.31 which I reinvested to buy 0.2057 @ $50.12.

Slight update:

I'm slowly building our cash positions to get ready for a market pull back.  As you can see, the DOW has been up for a few weeks and I'm anticipating a pull back probably around summer time.  That is when I'll start buying more stocks.

I'm looking into getting more LULU (our position is up 50%), MDLZ and WM. 

I'll keep you posted.

Buying Altria (MO) For Dividends and Growth

I just executed a limit order for 8 shares of Altria (MO) at $34.15.

 

MO closed up at $34.24 yesterday.  The same day the DOW Jones closed at 14,253.77. This is the DOW Jones' new all-time high.

 

Therefore, I anticipated some profit taking so I predicted that MO would at least go down to $34.15 maybe even lower.  My gambit paid off and my limit order was completed earlier today.  I could have gone lower since MO went as low as $34.01 but I think my conservative bet was good enough.  I just want to almost guarantee that I would get those 8 shares of MO.  The main reason why is because we're approaching MO's Ex-Dividend date of March 13, 2013.  The next valid Automatic Investment Plan date is on Tuesday, March 12, 2013.  That is cutting it close since I have to buy the shares a day before the Ex-Dividend date in order to qualify for the dividend pay out.  I decided to execute it early just to make sure plus the trading fees are now $6.95 (down from $9.95) so the $3 difference would be paid for by the dividends.

 

So why Altria (MO)?  First, the dividend pay day is coming.  Second, MO's dividend pay outs increased from $0.41/share in July 2012 to $0.44/share from October 2012.  I love stocks of companies who increase their dividend payments because it tells me their earnings are doing well (after reviewing their financials of course) and they want to reward their investors with more cash. Finally, I am counting on Altria's growth prospects as the global economy improves.  As the global economy improves, MO's customers would be more willing to spend money to buy MO's E-Cigarettes, high-end cigars and wine products.  Even if MO's regular customers do not feel the improvement, they'll still continue buying Marlboro cigarettes (and other MO brands).  If there's one thing I've learned from my siblings (and Mad Men), cigarette smokers have brand loyalty. 

 

So that's pretty much my Altria thesis.  I'll buy more shares in the future and as long as smokers smoke, I'm bullish on Altria's growth prospects.

Automatic Investment Plan for May 1, 2012 Results

The Markets closed up today.  

The DOW Jones Average at 13,279.32 up 65.69 (+0.50%).

The NASDAQ is at 3,050.44 up 4.08 (+0.13%)

The S&P 500 is at 1,405.81 up 7.91 (+0.57%)

It is safe to say that my automatic savings plan purchase would be up a bit.  Here are the results of today's trading:

ETP   = 3.9240 shares @ $49.95

XLNX  = 2.6490 shares @ $36.24

WM    = 6.4473 shares @ $34.28

As you can see ETP was around $2 up from when I set-up the purchase.  Luckily, WM and XLNX were a few cents down which made up for the "pricier" ETP.

In other news, AAPL was down a lot today.  

I bet the stock is still reeling from the New York Times article that exposed how companies like Apple manage to avoid Billions of dollars in taxes by leveraging tax loopholes that primarily benefit huge corporations.  As you can imagine, public opinion on such practices have driven the stock price down.  However, I am not concerned for Apple.  If at all, I wish I had $1,000-$2,000 extra to buy more shares of Apple.  

To support my bullishness on Apple, here are some Apple news:

Apple just released and sold out tickets for their WWDC event in June and speculations are building up that the new iOS 6 software would be released at the event.  Let us also not forget that the Apple earnings call proved that sales of the new iPad, iPhones and Macs are strong.  So I expect Apple to take in more record breaking earnings numbers in the near future.

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.