Hello, this page shows a recent history of the trades that I have made, starting on January 1, 2010. There are several reasons why I have put this page here.
- Accountability - I may be just another blabber mouth on the web, but let's try to make that less so. As you may have found out, I like to share my views on many stocks that I own/have owned/intend to own. If I show my track record, it may make my opinions more/less trustworthy.
- Lets You in on the Action - Just in case you actually value what I say, you may want to know what I'm buying or selling. I'm going to credit Jim Cramer for this as he regularly discloses his trades before he executes.
- Actions Speak Louder than Words - I may say one thing and do another. So, if you can see what I'm doing, you may catch me doing what I advise against. Hopefully, that makes me more conscious of how I manage my portfolio.
To protect what is left of my privacy, I have decided not to disclose the number of shares of each trade. I hope that's not too big of a bummer. Anyway, here goes the list.
FSLR - First Solar
January 26, 2010 - Bought @ $113.62
May 20, 2010 - Bought @ $107.75
March 1, 2011 - Bought @ 149.59
April 14, 2011 - Bought @ $140.79
April 21, 2011 - Bought @ $136.57
May 17, 2011 - Bought @ $125.39
June 3, 2011 - Bought @ $120.00
Average Cost - $131.28
Options
May 6, 2011 - Sold Uncovered Put @ $120, December 2011 - $12.76
- There's continued strength around the $100 mark as a resistance. I would not be worried unless this resistance is broken.
- Update July 9, 2010 - FSLR at $131...very nice! Obama recently committed $2 billion in loans to 2 US solar companies, a great sign of commitment to renewable energy!
- Update December 14, 2020 - First Solar just gave guidance on 2011. Estimated EPS will be $8.75 to $9.50, compared to analysts' estimates of $8.61. The megatrend is underway and First Solar executes again!
- Update March 19, 2011 - After rising to $170+, the stock quickly got hammered at Q4 results, which were pretty good. Fundamentals still look excellent for the stock. I decided to buy more.
- Update April 27, 2011 - This stock has a high beta, and so, you can expect it to be very volatile. It's now back at the $130s. Should have "scaled out" (sell a bit) of the stock when it hit $170. No worries though; fundamentals remain strong.
- Update May 17, 2011 - Did 2 things since last update. 1) Sold uncovered put at $120 set to expire in December 2011. It's a nice 10% premiums that I make now. My position would be profitable as long as stock remains above $108 by December. I have confidence in that. 2) Bought some more shares today at $125.39. Putting my money where my mouth is!
- Update June 5, 2011 - FSLR getting hammered excessively. Seriously, this is a really good time to get into the stock. I've bought at $125 and again at $120. Management has said this year will be back-end loaded and investors are punishing it for following its own plan. Remember, the market can be irrational. This is a perfect example.
TRLG - True Religion
Stock
April 12, 2010 - Bought @ $29.31
May 20, 2010 - Bought @ $26.68June 24, 2010 - Bought @ $24.15
June 30, 2010 - Bought @ $22.51
August 9, 2010 - Bought @ $22.35
August 18, 2010 - Bought @ $20.85
November 5, 2010 - Bought @ $19.96
December 29, 2010 - Bought @ $22.77
January 7, 2011 - Bought @ $19.80
January 21, 2011 - Bought @ $20.00 (put option exercised)
April 14, 2011 - Sold @ $26.73
May 20, 2011 - Sold @ $28.00 (call option exercised)
June 8, 2011 - Bought @ $25.83
Average Cost - $23.46
Options
October 29, 2010 - Sold Uncovered Put @ $19, Jan 2011 - $1.45
January 13, 2011 - Bought Put @ $19, Jan 2011 - $0.05 (closing Oct 29 position)
December 14, 2010 - Sold Uncovered Put @ $20, Jan 2011 - $0.50 (5 contracts)
January 21, 2011 - Uncovered Put @ $20, Jan 2011 Expired Worthless (4 contracts)
January 21, 2011 - Uncovered Put @ $20, Jan 2011 Exercised (1 contract)
January 24, 2011 - Sold Uncovered Put @ $20, Apr 2011 - $1.50
March 30, 2011 - Bought Put @ $20, Apr 2011 - $0.05 (closing Jan 24 position)
April 1, 2011 - Sold Uncovered Put @ $22, Jul 2011 - $1.45
May 27, 2011 - Bought Put @ $22, Jul 2011 - $0.10 (closing April 1 position)
April 18, 2011 - Sold Covered Call @ $28, May 2011 - $0.80
May 25, 2011 - Covered Call @ $28, May 2011 Exercised
- If you read my past posts of True Religion, you will see that I'm trying to start a position on this stock. I have learned both through my readings and actual painful experience that one should not enter into a position all in one shot. In April, I decided to start off my position at $29.31. If the stock rose, I would hold it, but if it dipped, which it has, I would add to my position. Thus, I have averaged down and lowered my overall cost.
- Update November 2, 2010 - I got my margin account approved and can now sell uncovered calls/puts. I sold some uncovered put options of TRLG. The recent price has moved downwards to a point where I think there's not too much room to go further down unless TRLG really blows Q3. Thus, I've sold some puts with strike price of $19 for $1.45/share. If the option is exercised, my effective cost is $17.55/share ($19 - $1.45), which is way lower than my average price in my portfolio. I'd be happy to pick up shares at that price! If the option is not exercised and expires worthless, I get to keep $1.45/share. It's like free money!
- Update November 9, 2010 - I continue to accumulate this stock. Q3 earnings was a little bit of a disappointment, but brand is as good as ever. The company's main hit was the decline in wholesale division, where department stores are buying less. At the same time, it's consumer-direct division is doing extremely well. Cash flow brings cash on hand to $4.82/share. At around $19 now, the stock is a steal. I'm feeling really good about this company! It's only a matter of time until Mr. Market realizes his mistake.
- Update December 14, 2010 - TRLG has risen considerably since I sold my first put options. It does not look likely that the original options will go in-the-money before expiry. As a result, I sold some more uncovered puts at $20 this time. I actually do want to have these options exercised as I expect TRLG to rise significantly in the next year or two.
- Update December 29, 2010 - Continuing to accumulate. My entire position is now 7% higher than the current stock price. This does not take into account the premiums that I have collected for selling the put options. When TRLG pops, I'm going to be a happy man!
- Update February 5, 2011 - The put options I sold earlier either expired worthless or were closed out by buying at a low price. Essentially, I pocketed all of the premiums. Only 1 contact got exercised at $0.01 below the strike price. In my opinion, that was kind of silly of the owner of the option, but I'm ok with owning 100 more shares of TRLG. I have also sold another batch of put options with $20 strike due for expiry in April. This strategy has been working for me so far. The stock is currently at around $21, and the option premium was $1.50. The premium is at about 7% of the stock price, which is excellent, especially since the duration of the option is only 3 months. Repeat that 4 times a year and I make about 28% of the stock price from premiums!
- Update March 31, 2011 - Successfully closed out another position that I started in January 24. Will continue to use this strategy to keep a steady stream of cash coming in.
- Update April 27, 2011 - Sold a small portion of the stock to scale out as the price rose dramatically in the past couple of weeks. I'm thinking it could fall back to the $25 level. Sold a few naked puts again, continuing on the same strategy as before. I've also sold some covered calls at $28 strike price with May expiry. Position should be profitable if stock remains under $28.80. I've found that technical analysis (supports and resistances in particular) are useful with these option strategies. Quarterly report comes out this week...there may be some volatility ahead.
GRMN - Garmin
April 14, 2011 - Sold @ $33.53Dividends Received - $3.00
Average Cost - Around $37 (don't remember...)
Options
August 18, 2010 - Bought Call @ $26, Jan 2011 - $3.75
October 26, 2010 - Sold Call @ $26, Jan 2011 - $8.00
- This is a value play and it pays a decent dividend. Many people are betting against the company because they are afraid of smartphones decimating GPS sales. What they don't know is almost half of the company's profit comes from aviation, marine, and outdoor products. In these areas, Garmin is king and no one even comes close. In addition, market penetration of personal navigation devices (PNDs) in Asia is very, very low, and it is likely that the Asian market will expand quite quickly in the coming years. So, PNDs aren't dead yet!
- Update August 28, 2010 - On August 18, I purchased a call option of Garmin. At time of writing, the ttm P/E ratio is 8.2. Since this is an option, the strategy is a little more speculative, because it depends on the rebound of the stock before January 2011. By buying an option, I have the upside, as if I owned 100 shares of stock per option. As for downside, the worst outcome is losing $3.75 per share.
- Update October 26, 2010 - Sold the call option for $8.00! Garmin had a nice jump from the announcement of its new smartphone strategy and I took the opportunity to sell. $34 was my target price as I had expected the stock to get up to that price point in January, when the option expires.
- Update April 27, 2011 - Sold off my entire position. Feel like my money can be put to better work elsewhere. Sustained a small loss over the 3 years where I held the stock, which is not so good...but at least my excuse was I was a newbie when I started the position! :)
GOOG - Google
September 28, 2010 - Sold @ $519.65 (originally bought @ $341.99 in 2008)
March 16, 2011 - Bought @ $557.70
April 25, 2011 - Bought @ $524.57
June 20, 2011 - Bought @ $485.05
Average Cost - $495.32
March 16, 2011 - Bought @ $557.70
April 25, 2011 - Bought @ $524.57
June 20, 2011 - Bought @ $485.05
Average Cost - $495.32
- Love the company's products...read my posts on it. Still a little wary about their political agendas though.
- I accumulated Google on its way down back in 2008. I just sold some shares that I bought @ $341.99 for $519.65 for a cool 52% gain in less than 24 months. These shares were in my cash account and I'm trying to transfer the cash into my TFSA (Tax Free Savings Account, which is a Canadian account where capital gains and dividends are not taxed). So, I'm using this recent run up of the stock to sell. I still have a large chunk of money in Google. There's still some room for it to move up. I may sell incrementally and wait for the stock to dip to re-enter. However, I would not mind spreading some more of my money into TRLG to balance the portfolio a bit more.
- Update March 19, 2011 - Google pulled back from its last peak of about $630 and touched its 250-day EMA. I thought this was likely going to be a support level for the stock. Fundamentals are awesome for Google. Absolutely no worries here.
- Update April 27, 2011 - Bought more as stock is beaten down after an impressive quarter. The market is wrong this time (again)! Gotta love it!
- Update June 5, 2011 - There's some noise with antitrust investigation and I think that's one of the reasons the stock is taking a retreat. It may go down farther, but likely only until Q2 results come out. Stock prices are still driven largely by profits. This is another good opportunity to get in.
SYNA - Synaptics
March 29, 2011 - Bought @ $27.22
April 14, 2011 - Bought @ $25.64
Average Cost - $26.27
Options
April 18, 2011 - Sold Uncovered Put @ $25, May 2011 - $1.25
May 5, 2011 - Bought Put @ $25, May 2011 - $0.05 (closing April 18 position)
April 14, 2011 - Bought @ $25.64
Average Cost - $26.27
Options
April 18, 2011 - Sold Uncovered Put @ $25, May 2011 - $1.25
May 5, 2011 - Bought Put @ $25, May 2011 - $0.05 (closing April 18 position)
- This stock came up in one of my stock screens (no pun intended; this company makes touchscreens!). After studying it a little more (e.g. reading its quarterly report, reading earnings call transcript, etc.), I decided it's time to get my feet wet. The smartphone wave is far from over. I intend to capitalize on this stock. It's trading quite cheaply at forward P/E of 11.
- Update April 27, 2011 - Bought some more as stock tested the $25 support. Also sold uncovered puts; same strategy as TRLG. Small cap stocks with high volatility is where it's at. The options are always priced very expensively and I can benefit by selling the options.
- Update May 17, 2011 - My uncovered put strategy worked nicely again. I was able to successfully close the position after the stock had risen.
Other Positions
ESLR - Evergreen Solar - I had entered into this position about 2-3 years back. It was my first exposure to solar companies and had not read Rule #1 at that time. This was a mistake! I'm in the red in this position, but I sold some call options to recoup the losses. Update: March 31, 2011 - I have totally rid myself of this horrible stock!Last Updated: June 25, 2011
Live Quotes
Add The Catholic Investor on Google+!