In the final of my series of historical stock trades, it's time to look back at my best sells ever. I can't say I'm particularly proud of these sells; if anything, it's more of a feeling of relief.
As in "man, I'm glad I ditched that stock."
Disclaimer - these are determined from sell point to current. Some of these stocks have recovered in between those two points, in which case I missed an opportunity to dollar-cost-average (DCA) a way into a positive return.
Here they are, my best stock sells ever:
Stock: AES Corp. (AES)
Sale Date/Price: May 2001 @ $43.75
Current Price: $22
% Loss (Annualized % Loss): -51% (-11%)
Divesting Idea: I actually liked the stock, but I needed some cash.
What Happened: Proving once again that it's better to be lucky than good, AES fell below $2 in a little more than a year. It has since bounced back strongly (though nowhere near the level I sold), making for an excellent DCA opportunity missed.
Stock: Pfizer (PFE)
Sale Date/Price: May 2001 @ $43.87
Current Price: $26
% Loss (Annualized % Loss): -42% (-8%)
Divesting Idea: Finally reached the conclusion that Pfizer was a dinosaur/old-news/played-out big pharma company. Also, I needed some cash.
What Happened: Pfizer's pipeline has dried up, and along with the rest of big pharma, has become nearly irrelevant as compared to biotech.
Stock: Standard Pacific (SPF)
Sale Date/Price: March 2006 @ $32.84
Current Price: $19
% Loss (Annualized % Loss): -43% (-35%)
Divesting Idea: Was spooked by talk of the "housing bubble", and after a decline of 34% from it's high, I decided to take profits.
What Happened: The housing bubble definitely burst, and homebuilder stocks fell further.
Stock: Headwaters (HW)
Sale Date/Price: November 2006 @ $24.30
Current Price: $17
% Loss (Annualized % Loss): -28% (-41%)
Divesting Idea: After initially buying at $35 and DCA-ing down to $30, the stock just continued to slide...and slide....and slide some more. Sometimes, you just have to admit you don't know what's going on with a stock, other than "the market hates it". I sold.
What Happened: The market continued to hate this building material/coal/alternative energy company. Hmm, maybe that mish-mash of businesses is a clue why.
Stock: Interstate Bakeries (IBCIQ.PK)
Sale Date/Price: November 2005 @ $8.55
Current Price: $2.50
% Loss (Annualized % Loss): -71% (-53%)
Divesting Idea: After buying, it quickly fell nearly 20% in two months. I like Twinkies and Ding-Dongs just as much as the next guy, but that doesn't mean I was going to own the stock.
What Happened: The turnaround that didn't happen before, hasn't happened since.
And, finally, my best stock sell ever - a little bit of redemption from a really bad buy:
Stock: ATA Holdings (ATAH)
Sale Date/Price: May 2005 @ $0.91
Current Price: n/a
% Loss: -100%
Divesting Idea: This airline's prospects were as ill-destined as Oceanic Flight 815.
What Happened: The company went bankrupt, and the common became worthless. Yea!!
I'll write about some philosophies/lessons learned from all my trades, next week.
