2005 Investments
January 3rd, 2006 by MarkStocks I’ve bought this year:
| Symbol | Shares | Current Price | Current Value | Purchase Date | Cost | $ Gain | % Gain |
| BWLD | 40 | 33.21 | 1,328.40 | 02/28/2005 | 1,500.00 | -171.60 | -11.44 |
| BWLD | 40 | 33.21 | 1,328.40 | 05/05/2005 | 1,160.00 | 168.40 | 14.52 |
| COLM | 40 | 47.73 | 1,909.20 | 06/30/2005 | 1,950.80 | -41.60 | -2.13 |
| FHR | 50 | 42.41 | 2,120.50 | 08/02/2005 | 1,611.50 | 509.00 | 31.59 |
| FLML | 80 | 18.88 | 1,510.40 | 08/05/2005 | 1,500.00 | 10.40 | 0.69 |
| MIDD | 40 | 86.50 | 3,460.00 | 02/28/2005 | 2,189.20 | 1,270.80 | 58.05 |
| MIDD | 20 | 86.50 | 1,750.00 | 03/17/2005 | 1,061.79 | 688.21 | 64.82 |
| NTES | 20 | 56.16 | 1,123.20 | 08/08/2005 | 1,504.00 | -380.80 | -25.32 |
| SCSS | 60 | 27.35 | 1,641.00 | 10/06/2005 | 1,103.40 | 537.60 | 48.72 |
| SNDA | 120 | 15.24 | 1,828.80 | 12/19/2005 | 2,040.00 | -211.20 | -10.35 |
| UFCS | 50 | 40.43 | 2,021.50 | 03/28/2005 | 1,713.00 | 308.50 | 18.01 |
| Total | $20,001 | $17,333 | $2668 | +15.39 |
Making double digit gains in the same year as the purchase is great. Since my stock purchases lean towards the small-caps, I’ll not only compare my portfolio against the SP500, but also against the Russel 2000 small-cap index, and the Wilshire 5000 total market index.
My Annualized Gain: +29.1%
SP 500: +2.8%
Wilshire 5000: +4.4%
Russel 2000: +3.1%
Sales
The only stock I sold this year was Apple (AAPL). I bought it way back in the day after the iMacs were starting to gain traction. It was $40/share. A few weeks later it (along with quite a few other tech stocks) was slashed in half. Fortunately I made my investment based on business fundamentals and wasn’t scared off by the falling price. This March, I sold it for $44.81/share (89.32/share split-adjusted), or a 123% profit during a span of years in which the Nasdaq lost ground and the SP500 didn’t budge an inch. All in all not too bad, except for the fact that if I’d held on to it, it would now be worth $71.89/share (143.78 split-adjusted). In other words, I could have had a 259% gain, if I’d known it would keep going. I don’t really think it’s rational or possible to try to time the market though, and worrying about could-have-beens based on short term market fluctuations is the road to madness. I think AAPL was and still is priced for perfection. It’s a great company that might justify the valuation, but the stock will be punished severley as soon as it doesn’t.
Other holdings
Up until this year, I’ve been too poor to put away much money. I have a sizable (for me) stake in Amgen (AMGN), which I bought for about $50/share, and is now worth $78.9/share. I’ve held it for several years, but considering how badly the market has done over those years I’m happy with a 58% profit. I also have a little bit of money in an SP500 index fund, which has basically been stagnant. Oh yes, I own about a hundred shares of stock in my old company High Speed Access Corp. That is the same company I blogged about here. Last time I checked, they were worth a total of $0.00003. Other than that there may be a few things sitting around in my Roth IRA I had with Merril Lynch before I switched to Ameritrade, but nothing of value.
Chinese Companies
As my friend pointed out the other day, my two Chinese holdings are losers up to this point. 網易(Nasdaq: NTES) is down 25% in about four months and 盛大(Nasdaq: SNDA) is down about 10% in less than a month. I’m not really concerned by either of these drops. I was interested in buying 盛大 at three times its current price. As far as I’m concerned these are good companies on sale. If 網易 drops much more I may increase my position. However, there’s another Chinese company I have my eye on for the next time I have some spending money. Overall, I remain extremely bullish on Chinese companies.
Looking Forward
I’ve learned a lot about financial analysis and company valuation in the past year. I studied both to some extent before, but its much different now that I’m betting a significant portion of my hard earned cash on my research. It certainly adds a dilligence that I didn’t have when I was just putting a little aside here and there, when it was convenient. While I’m in it for the long haul, and one year doesn’t really mean much, it was a good year. I likely won’t have returns even remotely like this next year, but I’m still going to pat myself on the back and go forward with a bit more confidence than I had before.
Legal Disclaimer: All of the information in this article is accurate to the best of my knowledge. However, I make no guarantee about the accuracy of anything written above. I’m not responsible for any mis-typings, or any other errors in the information. If you purchase any stock solely because I did, you do so at your own risk.
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January 3rd, 2006 at 12:45 pm
My Favorite part of this post is:
Legal Disclaimer: All of the information in this article is accurate to the best of my knowledge. However, I make no guaruntee about the accuracy of anything written above. I’m not responsible for any mis-typings, or any other errors in the information. If you purchase any stock solely because I did, you do so at your own risk.
January 4th, 2006 at 9:36 pm
Very good Mark, but keep in mind, these are not real gains until realized, which means as you hold on to them into the future, your gain is likely to be diluted. I’m more impressed with your Apple staying power, but I totally disagree on the future of the company. Apple’s weakness is currently the same as it has always been–Steve Jobs. There is just no one else who can run the company (and more importantly the reality distortion field) like Jobs can, if anything were to happen to him, things would be in doubt. While everyone is happy with the cash flow generated by the iPod/iTunes boom, a big question remains as to what the company actually is. It seems the iPod sales have not rubbed off on to Mac sales and the Mac is now one of the smallest players still left on the OS field. Only Jobs can hold together an empire that ranges from computer hardware to online video purchase, and don’t forget his movie company. Apple is a very risky stock over the long term.
Wish you continued good picks in 2006!
January 6th, 2006 at 2:16 pm
My delusions of grandeur aren’t nearly so extensive as to think I can keep cranking out 29% growth every year like Peter Lynch did or something like that. Actually, even if I did try to realize my gains now, taxes and trading costs would cut into them quite a bit. I’m planning to keep my companies for the long haul, barring something drastic that changes my valuations of them.
I may not have been very clear about Apple in my post. With net sales increasing by 68% over the last year and 124% over the last two, zero long term debt, and a stash of three and a half billion dollars in cash, I think Apple the company is fine. If I were an employee, I wouldn’t have many worries about the company at all. Other than profits, one huge improvement since Jobs’s return is that Apple is now considered cool by young people who aren’t geeks. It’s almost become a fasion statement to have an iPod.
It’s Apple the stock, that’s very much over valued. I completely agree that it’s risky over the long term to be invested in the company and that’s why I got out of it last year. Apple has never had much of a market share since the old Apple II days. It’s always had to innovate just to survive. For the price I paid several years ago, that was fine. For the current hyped-up prices, it’s not.
July 28th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
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