Solid August

Solid August. Last day was very good. My new mfi portfolio was up about 1.3%, helped by a strong move in nsu. I do not have my dividend number (I am heading on a three day holiday). The " surprise" purchase on intel worked well ( for the first day at least) as intel went up about three percent as they announced that new chips will be able to recharge devices wirelessly. It was funny, I had seen this news the day befor, so I am surprised it was "news" today.

SAI did not go up as much as I had hoped (about four percent), but still a gain is a gain... Just means my reinvested divvies will be getting new shaw cheaper. Finally, Fcx made a strong move as any basic resource stock worth it's salt was up over three percent as we begin to expect another jelly donut from chairman Ben.

SAI to Split

Sometimes you just need a catalyst. I added SAI to my dividend portfolio back in March (clearly too early). It has languished and I am down 8% from my initial investment. But today they announced earnings and with the announcement they stated they will split into two companies, not really clear on how that will happen... But the stock is up 9% during happy hour. SAI is my eighth largest holding in my divided portfolio. Shame I did not add them to my new mfi portfolio.  I have had a buy order in on them since may 24th should the price drop to 9.43. Looks like I should have set the bar a bit higher as 10.50 was as low as they got and they are now pushing $13.

Funny,  I had placed three buy orders way back then in may, and while the SAI has not gotten filled, I just saw that Intel got filled today!  I often do that, place a buy order at ten percent below the current price in the event of a flash crash or something.  I got the INTC at 24.21... I guess that was about a five percent savings.

Weekend Update - August 26 2012

Beautiful Sunday here in the Nutmeg State.  Can't say I am crazy about the nickname of my state being "Nutmeg".  Not that the "Hoosier" State was necessarily better.

Things are good as we roll towards Labor Day.  As people may have noted, I have moved a bit more into cash through the summer rally that gets no respect.  Let me give you a few statistics, first on my dividend portfolio:

Dividend Portfolio

Current Portfolio
Stock	Shares	Avg Cost	Current Price	Dividends Received	Pct Change	R3K Change	Diff
BHK	2,199	12.70	15.01	1,961	25.2%	4.2%	21.0%
CPL	1,575	22.61	22.31	1,882	4.0%	15.8%	-11.9%
CSCO	4,230	17.19	19.20	825	12.8%	5.5%	7.3%
CSQ	5,330	8.23	9.94	3,739	29.3%	20.8%	8.5%
ENH	2,000	34.80	37.28	-	7.1%	3.3%	3.8%
FCX	1,021	37.55	36.13	749	-1.8%	9.6%	-11.4%
FSC	2,702	9.78	10.43	1,011	10.4%	3.5%	6.9%
HFC	1,069	33.80	38.99	1,117	18.4%	2.1%	16.3%
INTC	1,302	19.74	24.91	1,559	32.3%	22.7%	9.6%
JPM	1,661	35.18	37.17	494	6.5%	5.4%	1.1%
JQC	4,080	9.09	9.44	3,559	13.4%	5.0%	8.4%
KMF	1,817	21.86	28.35	2,847	36.8%	17.1%	19.7%
KSS	629	48.15	52.50	199	9.7%	3.8%	5.9%
KSW	10,673	3.74	3.94	5,073	17.8%	19.6%	-1.8%
MPC	579	43.88	48.75	343	12.4%	3.1%	9.4%
MSFT	965	26.83	30.56	1,267	18.8%	14.5%	4.3%
O	548	19.01	42.35	7,048	190.4%	67.6%	122.8%
OIBAX	3,837	4.90	6.46	6,273	65.3%	67.5%	-2.2%
PGR	2,000	20.48	19.76	-	-3.5%	3.9%	-7.4%
PRE	1,032	61.96	74.01	2,186	22.9%	9.6%	13.2%
PVD	417	64.11	89.87	2,737	50.4%	17.3%	33.1%
SAI	3,926	13.05	11.76	821	-8.3%	-0.1%	-8.2%
STO	1,040	23.82	25.16	1,121	10.2%	19.0%	-8.9%
TROX	2,023	24.12	26.74	500	11.9%	3.6%	8.3%
VIVHY	2,296	16.70	19.50	3,749	26.5%	2.5%	24.1%
WBK	508	105.89	128.84	6,166	33.1%	15.0%	18.1%
Total Open				57,228	18.3%	10.5%	7.8%
Closed					10.6%	8.7%	1.8%
Combined					13.4%	9.4%	4.0%
IRR Since 12/31/10					14.6%
2012 Gain					18.0%
Estimated Dividends for Next 12 Months
Stock	Shares	Ann Dividend / Share	Yield	Projected Dividend	Sector	Worth
BHK	2,199	$    0.88	5.8%	1,926	Bond	33,004
CPL	1,575	$    1.54	6.9%	2,425	Utility	35,135
CSCO	4,230	$    0.56	2.9%	2,369	Tech	81,208
CSQ	5,330	$    0.84	8.5%	4,477	Hybrid	52,975
ENH	2,000	$    1.24	3.3%	2,480	Insurance	74,560
FCX	1,021	$    1.24	3.4%	1,266	Resources	36,877
FSC	2,702	$    1.15	11.0%	3,107	Hybrid	28,185
HFC	1,069	$    0.90	2.3%	962	Resources	41,691
INTC	1,302	$    0.92	3.7%	1,198	Tech	32,432
JPM	1,661	$    1.20	3.2%	1,993	Finance	61,735
JQC	4,080	$    0.80	8.5%	3,264	Hybrid	38,511
KMF	1,817	$    1.72	6.1%	3,125	Pipelines	51,501
KSS	629	$    1.28	2.4%	805	Consumer	33,002
KSW	10,673	$    0.20	5.1%	2,135	Construction	42,004
MPC	579	$    1.40	2.9%	811	Resources	28,227
MSFT	965	$    0.80	2.6%	772	Tech	29,504
O	548	$    1.72	4.1%	943	Services	23,208
OIBAX	3,837	$    0.34	5.2%	1,301	Bond	24,787
PGR	2,000	$    0.41	2.1%	820	Insurance	39,520
PRE	1,032	$    2.56	3.5%	2,641	Insurance	76,362
PVD	417	$    5.13	5.7%	2,140	Finance	37,494
SAI	3,926	$    0.48	4.1%	1,884	Services	46,168
STO	1,040	$    0.98	3.9%	1,019	Resources	26,162
TROX	2,023	$    1.25	4.7%	2,528	Resources	54,082
VIVHY	2,296	$    1.30	6.7%	2,985	Consumer	44,772
WBK	508	$    8.13	6.3%	4,126	Finance	65,394
Total			4.7%	53,500		1,138,500

All-in-all, doing well, though I have watered down the annual dividend a bit with some of my recent sales (PM, LNC and SBS). Still, solid performance, up 18% on the year (I show the Russell 3k up about 13%). My open stocks are winning by over 7 points and all stocks are winning by 4%. Four points doesn't sound like a lot per year, but compounded it can start to add up to real money.

MFI Portfolio

August 15 Tranche
Stock	Start	Current	Dividend	Pct Gain	R3K Gain
DLB	$34.43	$33.97	$0.00	-1.3%	0.5%
KFY	$13.98	$14.49	$0.00	3.6%	0.5%
MSFT	$30.19	$30.56	$0.00	1.2%	0.5%
NSU	$3.62	$3.98	$0.00	10.1%	0.5%
UIS	$19.96	$21.16	$0.00	6.0%	0.5%
Totals				3.9%	0.5%

Funny, I am emotionally happy to be back in MFI.  I just think for me it is very important to not meddle, but rather let the formula work and try to make solid picks at the outset.  I do think my intent of picking stocks above $500m in market cap will lift me out of some of the volatility that ate me away before. Then I do have 2 of my 5 stocks (MSFT and NSU) that qualify for the dividend side of MFI.  So we will see how it goes and in a month I will start thinking about my mid November Tranche.

Happy Sunday everyone!