Monday, January 2, 2012

2011 Stock Recap: The Ongoing Concerns

I didn't do a very good job pruning my portfolio like I wanted to.

And it returned (took away?) -4.3% vs. 2.1% for the S&P 500.

2012 has to be better...right?

And now, let's look at all the stocks I've held going into this year, from worst to best - based solely on 2011's performance, while mostly ignoring any intra-year volatility:

Netflix (NFLX)
Bought: Jun @ $262.52, Sep @ $136.15
Year-closing price: $69.29 (-74%)
Classic "great product, lousy company". Needs to be bought out (hello, Amazon?).

Jones Soda (JSDA)
Year-opening price: $1.17
Year-closing price: $0.37 (-69%)
Last year's big winner fizzled out.

Southern Copper (SCCO)
Year-opening price: $48.74
Year-closing price: $30.18 (-38%)
In it for the dividend, and copper is a solid underlying asset.

Chimera Investment (CIM)
Bought: Jun @ $3.91
Year-closing price: $2.51 (-36%)
Risky real estate play.

MetroPCS (PCS)
Year-opening price: $12.63
Year-closing price: $8.68 (-31%)
Buyout coming soon?

Apache (APA)
Year-opening price: $119.23
Year-closing price: $90.58 (-24%)
Still the best-run oil and gas company out there, now for a discount price.

F5 Networks (FFIV)
Year-opening price: $130.16
Year-closing price: $106.12 (-19%)
Mini-Cisco is a long-term growth story.

Prospect Capital (PSEC)
Year-opening price: $10.80
Year-closing price: $9.29 (-14%)
One of these years, the capital losses won't exceed the dividend.

ITT Educational Services (ESI)
Bought: Feb @ $66.01
Year-closing price: $56.89 (-14%)
Still distressed, but has the fundamentals to turn around.

Under Armour (UA)
Bought: Jul @ $80.96
Year-closing price: $71.79 (-11%)
My history with clothes/shoes stocks not so good.

Wells Fargo (WFC)
Year-opening price: $30.99
Year-closing price: $27.56 (-11%)
Unfortunately, this is the best bank money can buy.

Annaly Capital Management (NLY)
Year-opening price: $17.92
Bought more: Apr @ $17.37
Year-closing price: $15.96 (-11%)
A tough year for real estate's safest play.

BP Prudhoe Bay Royalty Trust (BPT)
Year-opening price: $126.54
Year-closing price: $113.96 (-10%)
Dividend yield makes year 2011 a wash.

DuPont (DD)
Year-opening price: $49.88
Year-closing price: $45.78 (-8%)
Taking a breather after a fantastic 2010.

Hugoton Royalty Trust (HGT)
Year-opening price: $20.52
Year-closing price: $18.84 (-8%)
Again, dividend yield makes year 2011 a wash.

American Capital Agency (AGNC)
Bought: Jun @ $30.36, Oct @ $27.34
Year-closing price: $28.08 (-8%)
The "best" of the real estate stocks.

BreitBurn Energy Partners (BBEP)
Year-opening price: $20.14
Year-closing price: $19.07 (-5%)
Sleepy dividend stock.

Blackstone (BX)
Year-opening price: $14.15
Year-closing price: $14.01 (-1%)
Volatile year ends up back where it started.

Tesla Motors (TLSA)
Bought: Aug @ $28.69
Year-closing price: $28.56 (-0%)
My pick for 2012's best stock.

Vodafone (VOD)
Year-opening price: $26.44
Year-closing price: $28.03 (6%)
Verizon Wireless' better half.

Google (GOOG)
Year-opening price: $593.97
Bought more: Jul @ $597.50
Year-closing price: $645.90 (9%)
Android rolling full-speed ahead.

Ace Financial (ACE)
Year-opening price: $62.25
Year-closing price: $70.12 (13%)
Another pleasantly boring year in reinsurance.

Electronic Arts (EA)
Bought: Feb @ $18.27
Year-closing price: $20.60 (13%)
Beginning to find its footing after a few tough years.

Intel (INTC)
Year-opening price: $21.03
Year-closing price: $24.25 (15%)
Warren Buffett likes it, and so should you.

White River Capital (RVR)
Bought: Feb @ $17.00
Year-closing price: $20.25 (19%)
Thinly traded, small market cap, mystery stock.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (KMP)
Bought: Aug @ $70.46
Year-closing price: $84.95 (21%)
Safe dividend.

Baidu (BIDU)
Year-opening price: $96.53
Bought more: Mar @ $117.99, Jun @ $127.88, Jul @ $145.00
Year-closing price: $116.47 (21%)
Wild year, but the fundamentals for growth are still there.

Motorola Solutions (MSI)
Year-opening price: $37.30
Year-closing price: $46.29 (24%)
Sleepy tech stock. Should offer a dividend soon.

Apple (AAPL)
Year-opening price: $322.56
Year-closing price: $405.00 (26%)
R.I.P. Steve Jobs.

McDonald's (MCD)
Year-opening price: $76.76
Year-closing price: $100.33 (31%)
The world's cafeteria has another amazing year.

American Software (AMSWA)
Year-opening price: $6.77
Year-closing price: $9.45 (40%)
6% dividend yield is the cherry on top.

La-Z-Boy (LZB)
Bought: Feb @ $8.18
Year-closing price: $11.90 (45%)
A furniture turnaround story?

Intuitive Surgical (ISRG)
Year-opening price: $257.75
Bought more: Apr @ $371.50, Jul @ $357.24
Year-closing price: $463.01 (80%)
Sorta called this last year. A good year for the robots.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

2011 Stock Recap: The Departed

One way to sum up my previous year investment-wise would be this: I didn't sell any stocks for a higher price in 2011, than I could have had in 2010. Not one.

Another way would be this: Every year, I mentally project what this "Departed" post will look like...short and sweet. Every year, it turns out to be way too long, with too many tickers of too many stocks that I never should have owned in the first place.

Maybe 2012 will be the year. Then again, I'm already looking forward to selecting this year's new additions to The Distressed.

Here's a look at all the stocks I've sold in the past year, from best to worst - based solely on 2011's performance, while mostly ignoring any intra-year volatility:

E*Trade (ETFC)
Year-opening price: $16.00
Sold: Jan @ $15.60 (-3%)
Year-closing price: $7.96 (-50%)
Barely made it to 2011; continued its downward spiral.

GigaMedia (GIGM)
Year-opening price: $1.48
Sold: Jan @ $1.40 (-5%)
Year-closing price: $0.83 (-44%)
Chinese penny stock not a smart gamble.

Borders (BGP)
Year-opening price: $0.90
Sold: Jan @ $0.84 (-7%)
Stock-closing price: $0.23 (-74%)
Got out before bankruptcy.

Energy Conversion Devices (ENER)
Year-opening price: $4.60
Sold: Jan @ $4.24 (-8%)
Year-closing price: $0.20 (-96%)
Solar stock not-so-brilliant.

Citigroup (C)
Year-opening price: $47.30
Sold: May @ $42.30 (-11%)
Year-closing price: $26.76 (-43%)
The worst bank money can buy.

Ford (F)
Year-opening price: $16.79
Sold: Mar @ $14.00 (-17%)
Year-closing price: $10.76 (-36%)
Sold for a nice multi-year profit, but not at the top.

China Nepstar Chain Drugstore (NPD)
Bought: Feb @ $4.00
Sold: May @ $3.26 (-19%)
Year-closing price: $1.51 (-62%)
Soon-to-be Chinese penny stock.

Cherokee (CHKE)
Year-opening price: $18.81
Sold: Aug @ $15.00 (-20%)
Year-closing price: $11.67 (-38%)
Declining dividend and stock price a bad combination.

Sketchers (SKX)
Bought: Feb @ $23.43
Sold: May @ $18.35 (-22%)
Year-closing price: $12.12 (-48%)
Follows K-Swiss as another poor footwear stock pick.

China Real Estate Information (CRIC)
Year-opening price: $9.60
Sold: Feb @ $7.30 (-24%)
Year-closing price: $4.05 (-58%)
Another Chinese stock failure.

Motorola Mobility (MMI)
Year-opening price: $30.24
Sold: Aug @ $22.66 (-25%)
Year-closing price: $38.80 (28%)
Wait, is there no negative sign next to that year-closing percentage?? I sold too early (i.e. before Google swooped in).

Frontline (FRO)
Year-opening price: $25.37
Sold: Jun @ $18.60 (-27%)
Year-closing price: $4.29 (-83%)
Declining dividend and stock price an even worse combination.

Cree (CREE)
Year-opening price: $65.89
Sold: Mar @ $48.00 (-27%)
Year-closing price: $22.04 (-67%)
LED business is tough.

American International Group (AIG)
Year-opening price: $57.62
Sold: Feb @ $40.00 (-31%)
Year-closing price: $23.20 (-60%)
Still difficult to valuate this financial house of cards.

Great Northern Iron (GNI)
Year-opening price: $143.00
Sold: Apr @ $95.56 (-33%)
Year-closing price: $110.25 (-23%)
Sold at the bottom.

Dominion Resources Black Warrior Trust (DOM)
Year-opening price: $15.45
Sold: Jul @ $9.91 (-36%)
Year-closing price: $7.99 (-48%)
As long-time readers know, was one of my favorite dividend stocks...couldn't ignore the capital losses though.

Nokia (NOK)
Year-opening price: $10.32
Sold: Jun @ $6.52 (-37%)
Year-closing price: $4.82 (-53%)
Hitching their wagon to Microsoft's star not working out so well.

STEC (STEC)
Bought: Feb @ $23.50
Sold: Aug @ $10.58 (-55%)
Year-closing price: $8.59 (-63%)
Not the next SanDisk.