3 Trades Today: 1 Stock Sale, 1 Stock Buy, & 1 ETF Buy

Today is going to be an overly active day for me.

Sold: 3D Systems
I sold half my position in 3D Systems (DDD) at $84.10.  The sale reduced me down to 67 RShares total.   The price point was selected because it marked a 100% return in my 5 months of ownership.  My original investment is off the table and I'm playing with the house's money.  I continue to hold shares of ExOne (XONE) and Stratasys (SSYS).  3D printing has been a bright point in my portfolio lately, especially since my other "amazing technology that will change the world" stock... Nuance (NUAN), has been an anchor holding me back.

Bought: Siemens
I love the automation play offered by Siemens (SI).   They are fresh off an earnings disappointment and have lagged the S&P since the 2011 lows, but have been coming on strong lately and offer a very steady return.  I don't know what industry will boom next, but I'm relatively sure that industry will be buying Siemens products to provide it's automation, power transmission, & distribution.  I picked up 40 RShares of Siemens at $131.03.

Bought: MOO
I remain very worried about the market; but I am relatively certain if there is a pull back, I'll still eat, you'll still eat, virtually everyone will continue eating.   Agribusiness is an investment opportunity I've been interested in since returning from my time in the Peace Corps.  World population is going up, usable farmland is going down, and that trend can't be quickly reversed.  I've got an exposure to agribusiness through DBA, and DAG in my portfolio right now, but those are both aimed for me to offload on a spike, MOO is a long term play that I feel can weather a correction and then catch the boom that follows.  Today I bought 107 RShares of the aptly named 'MOO' at $54.16.

Adding Value: BP

Today I added 107.2 RShares of BP to my portfolio @ $47.09 per share.  I'm struggling to find stocks I believe are undervalued right now, but the stigma of this company has kept it artificially low.  Yes there are risks, but I'll accept those risks gladly if it comes with a PE ratio of 6.3 and 4.65% yield.

This purchase contributes to shoring up my core stocks.  As you will see when I publish my current portfolio this week, I am over hedged currently, when the market goes up, I'm mostly flat, when the market goes down, I'm mostly flat. 

Well... that didn't go as planned.

In the winter of 2010, I was working on refining my portfolio, and had picked out a couple stocks I was interested in buying.  I had the idea of starting a blog to track my portfolio.   As a somewhat bored Peace Corps Volunteer, I thought it would be a fun and distracting hobby.  I made the first stock trade post on January 5, 2011.   I got very distracted by life that week and then went about 2.75 years without posting.

My portfolio has changed a good bit, my maturity as an investor has changed a good bit, and my life has changed a lot.  Catching Milo is now back, and since the hiatus has been so long, I feel it is necessary to start from the beginning with introductions.

I love investing, and I do it as a hobby.  I'm not a pro, and don't understand all the ins and outs pros do.  Maybe I'd be better served by picking a few index funds and not trying to beat the market, but that would be boring.  You probably shouldn't follow my lead.  If you are going to follow someone's investment advice, follow someone who can devote more than an hour or two a day to research.  Consider yourself warned... with that said:

I believe markets are irrational, and diversified rational thinking can beat the markets.  I am also wary of the words of John Maynard Keynes...

"The market can remain irrational longer than you can stay solvent"

My attempts to beat the market will have a long term focus.  Beating or meeting the market performance in the short term means exposing yourself to whatever irrationality the market is being driven by.   I'll seek value and be patient in it being realized.  I'll report and grade myself as I go.  I'm not going to make any promises on how often I'll post or report, as my previous pledge to do so obviously didn't come to fulfillment.

I'll apply a multiplier to my portfolio shares and cash balance, since my net worth isn't any of your business.  I'll report units as R$'s and RShares.  I intend to post my current portfolio positions in this upcoming week.  I might even be announcing my first trade in today's session.

Prior to market open on Friday November 15, 2013 my portfolio value is R$ 262,455 with the S&P 500 at 1790.62. The scoring starts now.

First Trade of the Year

It isn't a particularly interesting one but it adds some nice international flare to the core funds section of my portfolio.  I do hate moving money into an international fund when the dollar is so weak but wanted to add some diversity to my international holdings.  This fund is 5* everything and should round out my core funds well.

I bought Manning & Napier's World Opportunities Fund at 8.68 a share.  The trade was a straight up exchange taking from Perkins Mid Cap Value Fund which sold at 22.76 a share.   It was executed at COB January 3.

As of the writing of this post the weighting of the funds are as follows:

Manning & Napier's World Opportunities Fund (EXWAX) - 4.06%
Perkins Mid Cap Value Fund (JMCVX) - 4.81% (down from 8.96% at last portfolio publishing)

End of Year 2010 Portfolio

At the end of the year 2010 the portfolio looks like this:

Stocks: 23.96%

General Electric (GE:NYSE) – 9.82% - The cornerstone of my portfolio.  No plans in the near future to touch this one.  I expect it to be a leader of the post recovery boom.  It may be a while off but in the meantime I will collect a decent dividend and wait as they continue to position themselves to save the world for a small fee on top of expenses.

CSX Corp (CSX:NYSE) – 5.98% - A great play over the course of the last year for me.  To avoid short term taxes, I’m holding this as is for a little while, but plan to take profits on this in the near future and bring allocation down to my original investment, about 4%.

Verizon Communications Inc (VZ: NYSE) – 4.88% - Verizon has enjoyed a nice rally lately.  The coming rush for the Verizon iPhone has been building into the price.  What may not be there is the impact of rolling out the 4^th generation network.  It pays a nice dividend and seems to be headed for nothing but good news in the first quarter.   Just as was the case with AT&T, peddling the iPhone may cost more than it brings in, but having the iPhone has to mean new subscribers and increased market share.  I’m cautious as to what the iPhone will do to the bottom line and as a result I’m on hold with my VZ right now. 

Lightbridge Corp (LTBR:NASDAQ) – 3.28% - Lightbridge is the only individual stock that I’m currently losing on.  Lightbridge provides consulting services to the nuclear power industry and is developing non proliferative nuclear fuels.  Obviously this is a long shot growth prospect, but I believe in what they are doing.  May end up being a mistake in the long run, but if you are going to lose on a bet, it’s always nicer to have lost on the good guys fighting the good fight.  I also take a fair amount of comfort in the short interest on this thing being pretty low.  By and large the hedge funds are not betting against it. 

Core Funds: 36.36%

These guys spread me around the Morningstar box pretty well and keep my imagination from sabotaging my entire portfolio.  That said, they are also a little boring.  I’ll be reducing their stake in the portfolio over the next few months but as of January 1, 2011 this is where they stand. (I’ll spare you the commentary)

Buffalo Mid Cap Fund (BUFMX) – 4.50%
The Delafield Fund (DEFIX) – 4.65%
Perkins Mid Cap Value Fund (JMCVX) – 8.96%
The Oakmark Fund (OAKMX) – 6.83%
Parnassus Small Cap Fund (PARSX) – 4.62%
Wells Fargo Small Cap Value Fund (SSMVX) – 6.80%

Sector Specific Funds: 23.42%

These are my guilty pleasure, and often the anchor holding my portfolio back.  However, overweighting my portfolio in Energy is my fundamental strategy.  I expect some shifting here in January but will give the fund managers a chance to change my mind in their annual reports. 

Schwab Financial Services Fund (SWFFX) – 5.09% - Bought this as a sure thing back when the banks were starting their recovery.  It’s done well for me but is a bigger chunk of my portfolio than I like right now.  I will probably take some profits off of it after the annual report is published.

Powershares DB Oil Fund (DBO) – 4.08% - These guys transition between buying short term and long term oil futures.  They don’t use a general rules based approach like other Oil ETFs and they have tended to outperform them as a result.   It has had a nice little run lately and I may be dropping it as a result.  I’m a bit disappointed to be letting it go because I still believe $150 a barrel oil is coming back, possibly for an extended stay, but I’m not convinced it is imminent.  If it disappears from the portfolio it will stay on the watch list. 

Market Vectors Nuclear Energy Fund (NLR) – 5.24% - This thing has been on a tear lately.  I love the long term prospects and am a firm believer in the nuclear energy industry; however, I’m not expecting the industry to boom all of a sudden.  I’m going to hold on to a nice chunk of this but take the recent profits off the table. 

Icon Energy Fund (ICENX) – 5.16% - Also on a tear lately, but this one I’m not planning to touch.  I waited patiently as it lagged the recovery, now I’m going to sit back and watch as the demand for energy drives this guy through the roof.  

Guinness Atkinson Alternative Energy Fund (GAAEX) – 3.85% - This is perhaps the most ill advised play in my portfolio.  Funds get 1* ratings for a reason.  I think Morningstar put it best when they said this thing was to hot to handle.  I like what this fund will be someday, but the alt energy industry is just so volatile right now.  Real interested to hear what they have to say in their annual report, but this one may be disappearing from my portfolio for a while.  I may replace with an ETF that focuses on energy efficiency. 

Country Specific Funds: 16.02%

Matthews China Fund (MCHFX) – 11.02% - If you can’t beat em, profit off of em.  This thing is a powerhouse in my portfolio and even though I will be reducing a bit, I’m still going to keep this as what I’ll call a double standard position. 

World Third Millennium Russia (TMRFX) – 5.01% - Russia has vast natural resources and will profit as scarcity comes into play.  Might take some play money off the top of this one but expect it to be a mainstay in my portfolio for some time. 

CASH: 0.24%

Goals For 2011

Welcome to the site.  Over the next month I hope to build it into a legit investing blog (though I have no expectation of anyone taking much interest in it).  I hope it to be a tool to force me to think.  If other people enjoy... or even profit (not likely) off of it, I'll be glad for them. 

The new year is coming, and so here are my goals for 2011.  These goals will be tracked in my quarterly reports.

1) Beat the S&P 500

2) Beat the NASDAQ (I think this might be my hardest goal)

3) Beat the DJIA... by 5%

4) Be less dependent on funds and have a greater concentration of stocks by year end.

5) Expand my stock picks to new industries.

6) Add two new small cap stocks to my portfolio.