Automatic Investment Plan kicked in. Just like before, my picks went up a bit and my purchased shares were smaller by a few fractions. Again, no big deal.
Here's what my $300 did today:
Fees: $8 ($4 per stock transaction)
GLD = 1.1232 shares @ $174.49
WM = 3.0625 shares @ $31.35
Here's my current portfolio allocation:
AAPL = 38.3%
LULU = 18.3%
GLD = 16.6%
XLNX = 9.0%
ETP = 7.9%
WM = 7.1%
cash = 2.8%
As mentioned in previous posts, I outperformed the market mainly because of AAPL. In the near future, I would like to rely less on AAPL and spread out my portfolio gains across the board either by having more LULU and GLD or adding new positions. I think AAPL should be around 15-20% of my portfolio and be big enough to make a dent in my gains but not too big that I crash and burn when they are down a quarter or two. I came up with this thesis in light of the death of Steve Jobs. Even though his death was already priced in with the stock price, you can never doubt that his vision was a huge part of what made Apple great. However, I am still bullish on Apple. My bullishness was reinforced after reading Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs Biography. It highlight how the top management of Apple fought with Steve Jobs on some directions of the business which was beneficial for Apple. It detailed how Tim Cook controlled the supply chains, Phil Schiller suggested to Steve Jobs to port iTunes to Windows and how Jony Ive worked closely with Steve and produced beautiful and amazing products that even Steve Jobs loved. I think as long as the current management team is intact, AAPL still has a bright future ahead of them.
I would also like to add more dividend paying stocks. I think this will help my portfolio grow just by waiting and doubling down on great dividend paying stocks.
Speaking of dividends, WM just announced their cash dividend. It will pay $0.34 per share payable on December 16, 2011. I still have until November 30, 2011 (Ex-Dividend Date) to buy more if I want to get in more dividends. This dividend pay out would bring WM's yield to 4.30%. Not bad right? This is my way of making another man's into money in my pocket.
ETP will be paying out dividends on November 13, 2011. They will pay $0.89375 per share. This will bring ETP's yield to 7.78%. Again, not bad. XLNX will be paying $0.19 on November 30, 2011. XLNX's yield will be 2.31%. Not bad... not great. I will have to review my thesis for XLNX. Perhaps there may be other stocks that pays a dividend and appreciates in price that would yield more for my money.
The other star performer in my portfolio, LULU will be huge within the next few months. They just announced a new online store for iviwa (Iviwa Athletica is a new sports apparel line target to young girls ages 6-12). Iviwa initially launched in 3 Canadian cities and now it will launch in the US via the online store. The timing is perfect because they just made it right before the holiday spending season and I believe the US market would be huge for Iviwa (I mean, just look at how many soccer moms are out there). Speaking of the US market, LULU has achieved a cult status in the US and it's even more popular in Canada. LULU enjoys brand loyalty in Canada as shown by their sales reports (Canada makes up almost 50% of their sales). Meanwhile, in the US, LULU is poised to reach critical mass if we take San Francisco, LA and New York as a barometer. Brand recognition and loyalty is high. I can verify this because every time I'm at the gym, all I see are LULU tank tops, yoga pants and sweats. I believe LULU will be the next Nike within the next few years. LULU not only is a great product to work out in but it is also a fashion statement for most consumers.
Anyway, I look forward into adding more LULU in my portfolio. Perhaps, it would help balance out the AAPL juggernaut.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Friday, November 4, 2011
New Stock Purchases... And It's NOT Groupon (GRPN)
I got some spare change around $300. So I decided to put it in our Investment fund. I'm almost done with my ROTH $5,000 limit so now, it's time to double down on our stocks.
Here are my picks for next Tuesday's trading day (via Automatic Investment Plan - lower fees): prices as of 11/042011 at 9:48 am
GLD = $200 - $4 (fee) = $196.00/$170.53 = 1.1494 shares
WM = $100 - $4 (fee) = $96.00/$31.31 = 3.0661 shares.
The Market in general has been a roller coaster these past few weeks. Europe still has the Greek debt issues while the US Unemployment rate went down a bit. So you can imagine how some days the market is down and some day it's up. Here's my view, whatever short term news/events that affect the markets in the near future should not affect how I view my investments (unless, these events are specifically about my portfolio positions). In fact, the more the Markets put fear into the masses, the more I should invest (after due diligence of course).
So why GLD and WM? Well GLD is easy. It is a Gold ETF that would serve as my hedge against inflation and government catastrophes that can weaken the dollar or the US's credit rating. I want more share of GLD to help shore up my portfolio. WM on the other hand is a waste disposal play that I believe would be busy in the upcoming holiday season. It would haul millions of pounds of trash and perhaps even clean up after snow storms and other weather-related events. Plus, they just paid their dividend in Sept 2011 so I expect the next dividend date to be in December. So I'm putting in more shares to get that juicy dividend.
All in all, I'm just balancing my portfolio and building up my positions so that I can eventually sell shares to recoup my initial investment and play with the house's money (pure profit play).
Here are my picks for next Tuesday's trading day (via Automatic Investment Plan - lower fees): prices as of 11/042011 at 9:48 am
GLD = $200 - $4 (fee) = $196.00/$170.53 = 1.1494 shares
WM = $100 - $4 (fee) = $96.00/$31.31 = 3.0661 shares.
The Market in general has been a roller coaster these past few weeks. Europe still has the Greek debt issues while the US Unemployment rate went down a bit. So you can imagine how some days the market is down and some day it's up. Here's my view, whatever short term news/events that affect the markets in the near future should not affect how I view my investments (unless, these events are specifically about my portfolio positions). In fact, the more the Markets put fear into the masses, the more I should invest (after due diligence of course).
So why GLD and WM? Well GLD is easy. It is a Gold ETF that would serve as my hedge against inflation and government catastrophes that can weaken the dollar or the US's credit rating. I want more share of GLD to help shore up my portfolio. WM on the other hand is a waste disposal play that I believe would be busy in the upcoming holiday season. It would haul millions of pounds of trash and perhaps even clean up after snow storms and other weather-related events. Plus, they just paid their dividend in Sept 2011 so I expect the next dividend date to be in December. So I'm putting in more shares to get that juicy dividend.
All in all, I'm just balancing my portfolio and building up my positions so that I can eventually sell shares to recoup my initial investment and play with the house's money (pure profit play).
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
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.
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.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
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.
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.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
LULU Stock Split
My LULU stock just had their 2:1 stock split.
Currently, it's at $61.71/share (as of 11:45 am PST) with a P/E ratio of 65.56.
I need to do my homework whether or not I should lock in some of profits from LULU.
Stay tuned.
Currently, it's at $61.71/share (as of 11:45 am PST) with a P/E ratio of 65.56.
I need to do my homework whether or not I should lock in some of profits from LULU.
Stay tuned.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Automatic Investment Plan Confirmed
Today, my new Automatic Investment Plan kicked in.
I got 2.1473 shares of Apple (AAPL) at $347.42 per share.
Analyst predict AAPL will go up to at least $400 in the next 18 months. Watching the charts, this statement is not too far fetched. Plus, with WWDC 2011 just around the corner, AAPL is poised to release their new Mac OSX version (Lion) and people still hope for a new iPhone 5. Even if the iPhone 5 does come out in the fall (per rumor mills), AAPL is all but guaranteed to have record sales for 2011 because of the iPad 2, new iMacs, Mac OSX Lion and the iPhone 5 (with some push for the iPods in September). Also, this weekend marked the first time AAPL beat Google (GOOG) as the world's most valuable brand. AAPL is kinda down today... most likely from profit takers or mutual funds re-balancing their positions (Like the NASDAQ index).
I got 1.3806 shares of Lululemon (LULU) at $98.51 per share.
Currently, LULU is a bit higher than when I placed my order.Roughly 2-3 points down from the Day's high. I still believe LULU has some room to run leading to the impending 2-1 stock split in June. It is also not too far fetched that LULU will be the next Chipotle or Netflix. High quality brands and room to grow in the US, Europe and Asia.
I got 2.9717 share of Xilinx Inc (XLNX) at $35.67 per share.
I bought some more XLNX ahead of it's X-Dividend date of May 16. If I had more cash, I'll buy some more.. I'm practically getting paid to buy the stock. I'll probably lock in some earning or re balance after I get the dividend reinvestment.
With this action, I'm a bit overweight in the Tech Sector. This is a no no.. but in this case, I think I can ride out the imbalance because of two impending events with my 2 Tech positions. Apple's WWDC and iPhone 5 and XLNX's X-dividend date.
I'll reconsider my positions as soon as these events pass.
I got 2.1473 shares of Apple (AAPL) at $347.42 per share.
Analyst predict AAPL will go up to at least $400 in the next 18 months. Watching the charts, this statement is not too far fetched. Plus, with WWDC 2011 just around the corner, AAPL is poised to release their new Mac OSX version (Lion) and people still hope for a new iPhone 5. Even if the iPhone 5 does come out in the fall (per rumor mills), AAPL is all but guaranteed to have record sales for 2011 because of the iPad 2, new iMacs, Mac OSX Lion and the iPhone 5 (with some push for the iPods in September). Also, this weekend marked the first time AAPL beat Google (GOOG) as the world's most valuable brand. AAPL is kinda down today... most likely from profit takers or mutual funds re-balancing their positions (Like the NASDAQ index).
I got 1.3806 shares of Lululemon (LULU) at $98.51 per share.
Currently, LULU is a bit higher than when I placed my order.Roughly 2-3 points down from the Day's high. I still believe LULU has some room to run leading to the impending 2-1 stock split in June. It is also not too far fetched that LULU will be the next Chipotle or Netflix. High quality brands and room to grow in the US, Europe and Asia.
I got 2.9717 share of Xilinx Inc (XLNX) at $35.67 per share.
I bought some more XLNX ahead of it's X-Dividend date of May 16. If I had more cash, I'll buy some more.. I'm practically getting paid to buy the stock. I'll probably lock in some earning or re balance after I get the dividend reinvestment.
With this action, I'm a bit overweight in the Tech Sector. This is a no no.. but in this case, I think I can ride out the imbalance because of two impending events with my 2 Tech positions. Apple's WWDC and iPhone 5 and XLNX's X-dividend date.
I'll reconsider my positions as soon as these events pass.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Getting In on APPLE (AAPL)
The market has been down lately... especially on Tech Stocks.
Today, AAPL closed 15.33 down off it's 52-week high. Over 4% drop from the high and from today's range, almost broke the 5% pullback.
I think it's time to get in on AAPL.
Here's why:
1. Close to 5% pullback.
2. WWDC 2011 is coming up in June where Apple is expected to release it's new OS (Mac OSX Lion). Also, the iPhone 5 might make an appearance (although highly doubtful per analysts and sources close to the matter).
3. A version of the iMac just came out with 2 Thunderbolt ports.
4. The white iPhone 4 finally came out and on WWDC, Apple would probably announce how much white iPhone 4's they sold.
5. RIMM is bringing Black Berry Messenger (BBM) to Android and iOS. This might convince BB users to finally switch to iOS or Android. Either way, AAPL will have a greater profit margin since they control hardware and software distribution of the iOS devices.
6. Analysts and project AAPL to reach $400 in the next few months.
Therefore, I took $1000.00 from my reserves (which I will not do often) and put in my new Automatic Investment Plan (to be executed on Tuesday, May 10). I put in $750 for AAPL which would buy me 2.13 shares (@$350/share + $4 fee). The $140 will be used to buy LULU that would fetch me 1.44 shares (@$94/share + $4 fee). LULU is down 9.33% off it's 52-week high of $102.83. A great way to buy some more LULU ahead of it's expected 2 for 1 stock split and Annual Stockholder's Meeting. Finally, I allocated $110 to buy 2.94 shares of XLNX (@$36/share + $4 fee). XLNX has bee rebounding lately and the X-Dividend date is coming up (May 16). Might as well get those juicy dividends.
I know with my AAPL purchase, I may have 2 tech stocks and would unbalance my diversification. However, with XLNX rebounding and the dividend distribution coming up, it makes good sense to keep XLNX and AAPL is also a great long term investment.
I will review my opinion of XLNX after the dividend distribution and earnings call.
Today, AAPL closed 15.33 down off it's 52-week high. Over 4% drop from the high and from today's range, almost broke the 5% pullback.
I think it's time to get in on AAPL.
Here's why:
1. Close to 5% pullback.
2. WWDC 2011 is coming up in June where Apple is expected to release it's new OS (Mac OSX Lion). Also, the iPhone 5 might make an appearance (although highly doubtful per analysts and sources close to the matter).
3. A version of the iMac just came out with 2 Thunderbolt ports.
4. The white iPhone 4 finally came out and on WWDC, Apple would probably announce how much white iPhone 4's they sold.
5. RIMM is bringing Black Berry Messenger (BBM) to Android and iOS. This might convince BB users to finally switch to iOS or Android. Either way, AAPL will have a greater profit margin since they control hardware and software distribution of the iOS devices.
6. Analysts and project AAPL to reach $400 in the next few months.
Therefore, I took $1000.00 from my reserves (which I will not do often) and put in my new Automatic Investment Plan (to be executed on Tuesday, May 10). I put in $750 for AAPL which would buy me 2.13 shares (@$350/share + $4 fee). The $140 will be used to buy LULU that would fetch me 1.44 shares (@$94/share + $4 fee). LULU is down 9.33% off it's 52-week high of $102.83. A great way to buy some more LULU ahead of it's expected 2 for 1 stock split and Annual Stockholder's Meeting. Finally, I allocated $110 to buy 2.94 shares of XLNX (@$36/share + $4 fee). XLNX has bee rebounding lately and the X-Dividend date is coming up (May 16). Might as well get those juicy dividends.
I know with my AAPL purchase, I may have 2 tech stocks and would unbalance my diversification. However, with XLNX rebounding and the dividend distribution coming up, it makes good sense to keep XLNX and AAPL is also a great long term investment.
I will review my opinion of XLNX after the dividend distribution and earnings call.
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