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In The News

Thought I'd run through some of my stocks in the news. I have been continuing to sell my MFI portfolio. I have now sold DELL, SNDK, KLIC, AGX, AAPL, PWER, VECO and CMTL. To be frank, it hasn't worked out well. Most of the stocks have rallied since I sold them, all except AAPL (I sold at $420) and VECO. I should have held CMTL as it was a dividend stock, I was just nervous overall about the market.

Here are some recent headlines along with some self-deprecation.

• SNDK - Has gone up a ton since I sold them. Here is a typical article, though I don't really think of them as a semi play (SanDisk Will Lead Semiconductors Into 2012).
• CMTL went up as soon as rumors started to swirl about some sort of buyout (Dealtalk: Buyers circle Comtech amid activist pressure).
• AGX - Gad, I sold them last week at $10.30 and was congratulating myself. Then last night they announce a special dividend (they have a boatload of cash) which I think could become permanent. I would have held if I had only known they were becoming a dividend stock (Argan, Inc. Announces Special Cash Dividend).
• AAPL - we'll see if this was a smart sell. I did make 30%. But they are down about 5% this evening on "disappointing" earnings (Apple Disappoints Analysts Despite 54% Rise in Profit).
• INTC - At leats I held on to this stock! They had very solid earnings (Intel Profit Up 17%; Delivers Upbeat Forecast). I hope to see a similar report from CSCO.
• SLF - This is one stock that really hurt my dividend portfolio this week. They pre-announced a poor quarter due to equity losses (Sun Life shares drop after loss warning). Hopefully they are making some of this up with the rally since Sept 30th (up about 10%).
• KMF - recall this is a CEF that specializes in pipeline companies. And we had the Kinder Morgan purchase announces of El Paso on Merger Monday (Kinder Morgan to Acquire El Paso for $38B) that caused both stocks to go up (very unusual).

Of course I am bummed to see stocks I sell almost immediately go up. But I am satisfied with my holdings. I am ok with the SLF sell-off, that is short term... not a broken company. It does illustrate the uphill challenges of all insurance companies trying to stretch for yield. But I like their commercials, they are pretty funny (Sun Life Guys & Sun Valley Ski Resort).