Lack Of Patience?

Impatient?

Not sure what the most difficult thing about investing is, but I would suggest patience is one of them.  I have been really, really guilty of that this year. I was impatient on INTC and CSCO earlier in the year and missed out on some very sizable gains.

Walter Schloss

Now the most recent example is TLM.  I bought this stock on June 17th as they had very unusual options activity that day. I then sold on July 10th as I was in the midst of that 7% July swoon and wanted to be more in cash.

My entry price was $10.66 and I sold at $10.14 (a five % loss).  Well today they are trading up 15% on rumors that they may be about to sell a division (Repsol Said to Explore Bid for Canada’s Talisman Energy).

MFI Straggling?

I showed a graphic yesterday that illustrated how my MFI portfolio, while still doing well, has given up some ground in July.  That is also true for the broader MFI universe. Of my 12 open tracking portfolios, 11 are losing to the benchmark (by an average of 2.6%). If you look at the tracking portfolio commenced on June 28th, MFI is down 0.8% and R3K is up a smidgen (technical term).

Here is my MFI Index, up 5.8% on the year and trailing R3K by about 1.6 points:

Index	Stock	Start	Last Month	Current	YTD Change	Monthly Change	Shares
1	ATVI	17.83	22.50	23.14	29.8%	2.8%	13.07
2	MO	38.39	42.42	42.89	11.7%	1.1%	6.07
3	APOL	27.32	31.25	29.15	6.7%	-6.7%	8.53
4	AAPL	561.02	656.85	669.38	19.3%	1.9%	0.42
5	AGX	27.56	37.29	36.11	31.0%	-3.2%	8.46
6	BAH	19.15	21.45	21.11	10.2%	-1.6%	12.17
7	BKE	52.56	44.80	43.44	-17.4%	-3.0%	4.44
8	CA	33.65	29.24	28.90	-14.1%	-1.2%	6.93
9	CACI	73.22	70.21	69.05	-5.7%	-1.7%	3.18
10	CHE	76.62	94.12	97.19	26.8%	3.3%	3.04
11	CRUS	20.43	22.74	24.65	20.7%	8.4%	11.41
12	CSCO	22.43	25.21	26.31	17.3%	4.4%	10.39
13	COH	56.13	34.87	35.28	-37.2%	1.2%	4.15
14	CRTX	9.49	9.50	9.50	0.1%	0.0%	24.56
15	DLX	52.19	59.13	57.77	10.7%	-2.3%	4.47
16	DHX	7.25	7.61	7.88	8.7%	3.5%	32.15
17	EBIX	14.71	14.46	12.96	-11.9%	-10.4%	15.85
18	EGL	33.40	38.26	36.18	8.3%	-5.4%	6.98
19	GME	49.26	41.13	44.75	-9.2%	8.8%	4.73
20	GTIV	12.41	15.06	18.23	46.9%	21.0%	18.78
21	GNI	68.10	22.09	22.61	-66.8%	2.4%	3.42
22	HLF	78.70	64.84	68.07	-13.5%	5.0%	2.96
23	IQNT	11.41	14.02	14.26	25.0%	1.7%	20.43
24	ESI	33.58	16.69	15.30	-54.4%	-8.3%	6.94
25	LPS	37.38	37.30	37.30	-0.2%	0.0%	6.24
26	LQDT	22.66	15.76	13.65	-39.8%	-13.4%	10.29
27	LO	50.68	62.20	62.28	22.9%	0.1%	4.60
28	MSFT	37.41	42.26	45.39	21.3%	7.4%	6.23
29	MYGN	20.98	38.92	37.17	77.2%	-4.5%	11.11
30	NATR	17.32	17.17	16.25	-6.2%	-5.4%	13.46
31	NOC	114.61	120.94	127.84	11.5%	5.7%	2.03
32	PDLI	8.44	9.98	9.90	17.3%	0.0%	27.62
33	PFMT	10.30	10.10	10.25	-0.5%	1.5%	22.63
34	PETS	16.63	13.82	14.53	-12.6%	5.1%	14.02
35	PRSC	25.72	36.59	38.87	51.1%	6.2%	9.06
36	QCOR	54.45	92.79	95.60	75.6%	3.0%	4.28
37	RTN	90.70	92.86	98.07	8.1%	5.6%	2.57
38	RAI	49.99	61.69	59.50	19.0%	-3.6%	4.66
39	RPXC	16.90	17.75	16.45	-2.7%	-7.3%	13.79
40	SAIC	33.07	45.28	44.10	33.4%	-2.6%	7.05
41	SWHC	13.49	14.54	13.72	1.7%	-5.6%	17.28
42	STRA	34.47	52.51	50.41	46.2%	-4.0%	6.76
43	RGR	73.09	60.04	59.27	-18.9%	-1.3%	3.19
44	UIS	33.57	24.74	25.36	-24.5%	2.5%	6.94
45	UNTD	13.76	10.40	10.00	-27.3%	-3.8%	16.94
46	SPOK	14.28	15.65	15.08	5.6%	-3.6%	16.32
47	USNA	75.58	78.14	72.66	-3.9%	-7.0%	3.08
48	VCI	34.25	34.02	34.02	-0.7%	0.0%	6.81
49	VGR	16.37	21.08	21.67	32.4%	2.8%	14.24
50	WTW	32.93	20.17	20.59	-37.5%	2.1%	7.08
	Total	17,682	18,688	18,714	5.8%	0.1%