Thursday, March 04, 2010

Looking For a Few Good Stocks

While the mechanical approach has been working reasonably well in my RL portfolio. As the chart below shows (not updated yet for my 2 purchases Monday), I have outperformed the benchmark on average by almost 10% as shown below:



Values



Symbol Date Bought Price Pct Gain IWV Gain Pct Diff
AGX 10/22/09 $12.31 $15.59 26.6% 3.6% 23.0%
AMED 9/8/09 $35.86 $60.37 68.3% 10.2% 58.2%
BIOC 7/30/09 $3.70 $4.25 14.9% 15.5% -0.6%
BKE 8/17/09 $26.66 $32.33 29.5% 15.5% 14.1%
BR 7/30/09 $16.53 $21.36 30.9% 15.5% 15.4%
CBI 7/30/09 $13.62 $21.70 59.3% 15.5% 43.9%
CBPO 12/4/09 $9.15 $9.70 6.0% 2.5% 3.5%
CEU 8/26/09 $5.40 $6.19 14.6% 10.0% 4.7%
CMFO 10/30/09 $4.30 $6.34 47.4% 9.8% 37.7%
CYTK 12/21/09 $2.59 $3.31 27.8% 1.2% 26.6%
ESI 11/3/09 $93.61 $109.80 17.3% 8.7% 8.6%
FRX 6/9/09 $23.10 $29.54 27.9% 21.2% 6.7%
GIGM 7/27/09 $5.02 $3.10 -38.2% 15.9% -54.2%
GTLS 8/27/09 $19.50 $19.79 1.5% 9.9% -8.4%
GXDX 1/29/2010 $31.69 $32.07 1.2% 3.5% -2.3%
HCKT 5/7/09 $2.30 $2.86 24.4% 26.9% -2.4%
IDCC 11/17/09 $23.62 $25.85 9.4% 2.2% 7.2%
JCOM 9/30/09 $23.00 $22.26 -3.2% 6.9% -10.1%
JTX 6/29/09 $5.55 $2.38 -57.1% 23.4% -80.5%

6/30/09 $5.41 $2.38 -56.0% 24.1% -80.1%
PFE 6/9/09 $14.13 $17.33 26.2% 21.2% 5.0%
PRIM 9/30/09 $7.30 $8.44 16.0% 6.9% 9.1%
PVSW 8/18/09 $4.96 $5.25 5.8% 14.4% -8.5%
QKLS 11/20/09 $5.75 $6.25 8.7% 4.1% 4.6%
RAI 1/20/2010 $53.55 $54.15 1.1% -1.5% 2.6%
RGR 10/30/09 $10.59 $12.10 15.2% 9.8% 5.4%
RTN 7/27/09 $45.61 $56.73 25.7% 15.9% 9.8%
SHE 1/5/10 $5.31 $9.10 71.4% -0.4% 71.8%
TNDM 2/27/2010 $15.31 $17.03 11.3% 3.5% 7.8%
TRMS 1/14/2010 $2.46 $2.45 -0.4% -1.5% 1.1%
UIS 2/5/2010 $34.07 $37.88 11.2% 7.1% 4.1%
UTA 5/29/09 $7.90 $10.30 30.4% 24.3% 6.1%
WTW 9/21/09 $26.00 $24.39 -4.8% 5.6% -10.5%







Average Open


14.3% 10.6% 3.6%
Still Own 0













Values



Symbol Date Bought Sold Pct Gain IWV Gain Pct Diff
AHCI 1/5/09 $1.11 $1.73 55.9% 0.2% 55.7%
CKSW 1/5/09 $1.99 $5.52 177.4% 26.7% 150.7%
DBTK 3/16/09 $6.70 $7.05 5.2% 14.7% -9.5%
DELL 2/23/09 $8.55 $9.52 11.3% 6.5% 4.9%

2/27/09 $8.66 $9.52 10.0% 7.4% 2.5%
FRX 6/9/09 $23.10 $29.08 25.9% 11.1% 14.8%
GME 6/22/09 $22.64 $25.76 13.8% 24.5% -10.7%

6/23/09 $20.63 $22.65 9.8% 16.5% -6.7%
PFE 6/5/09 $14.46 $16.27 13.6% 11.2% 2.4%
RST 5/7/09 $29.72 $27.00 -9.2% 0.2% -9.3%

5/8/10 $28.78 $27.00 -6.2% 0.2% -6.4%
SEPR 8/17/09 $17.86 $23.09 29.3% 1.4% 27.9%
SOLR 2/23/09 $4.70 $8.09 72.1% 6.5% 65.7%
UTA 6/23/09 $8.37 $10.90 30.2% 2.7% 27.5%
VM 6/5/09 $4.38 $5.18 18.3% 4.5% 13.8%

6/23/09 $3.11 $4.33 39.2% 2.7% 36.5%

6/6/09 $4.23 $5.18 22.5% 4.5% 18.0%














Average Closed


30.5% 8.3% 22.2%
Open and Closed

19.8% 9.8% 9.9%

And of course, the mechanical approach has done very well in total, outperforming the benchmarks by a whopping 18 to 19%.

Of course the "problem" with with implementing the mechanical approach (as many of you have noted) is I will not necessarily have the same number of stocks coming off as I have new opportunities. So do I invest more or less per stock? Do I "borrow" or run in cash? I don't know, but you can see from my list above that starting in May it is going to be a real issue.

And on top of that, I am still about 20% in cash, so I really need five to ten good stocks between now and May. Part of the problem is I get too picky or else am too slow. SNTS came on today, but they had a big single milestone payment and that makes me nervous, then EVOL was on for a single day and then dropped off, going up 13% rapidly.

In the news section, BKE had solid February sales (The Buckle, Inc. Reports February 2010 Net Sales and Announces Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call). The stock jumped 6.4% on the news... sweet.

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