Is anybody out there feeling irrationally and unequivocally optimistic about 2009 right now? Hey, me too. But first, we have to give 2008 it's proper due.
In 2008, it wasn't whether you lost money or not, it was how much money you lost. So I'm here today to bury last year; through the painstaking detailing of said losses of money, accompanied with snarky remarks for each wretched ticker symbol. (I'm not bitter.)
Here's a look at all the stocks I've sold in the past year, from best to worst - based solely on 2008's performance, while mostly ignoring any intra-year volatility:
Fording Coal (FDG)
Year-opening price: $37.51
Sold: Jul @ $88.53 (136%)
Stock-closing price: $93.71 (150%)
In what seems like eons ago but was actually last summer, commodity stocks had a huge bull run. Teck Cominco (TCK) decided to take out Fording near the top, and I decided to get out. Thank you, Teck Cominco - you gave me my only big winner of the year.
Alliance Resource Partners (ARLP)
Year-opening price: $34.02
Sold: Apr @ $37.00 (9%)
Year-closing price: $26.88 (-21%)
Another, yet minor, coal stock victory. Why coal? I don't know.
Annaly Capital Management (NLY)
Year-opening price: $15.91
Sold: Mar @ $15.91 (0%)
Year-closing price: $15.87 (0%)
Hey, I didn't lose money here. Good job. For what it's worth, I still think Annaly is the best real estate stock out there (for those of you that really want to be in real estate).
Geron (GERN)
Year-opening price: $5.68
Sold: Jan @ $5.46 (-4%)
Year-closing price: $4.67 (-18%)
Lasted exactly 3 days into 2008. Can't say I regret selling it.
Nokia (NOK)
Year-opening price: $37.38
Sold: Apr @ $32.29 (-14%)
Year-closing price: $15.60 (-58%)
Should have been another one of my many January trades. Still not bad work done here.
Capstone Turbine (CPST)
Year-opening price: $1.63
Sold: Jan @ $1.20 (-26%)
Bought: Apr @ $2.65
Sold: Aug @ $2.35 (-11%)
Year-closing price: $0.84 (-48%)
It's kind of hard to follow the above, but I'll sum it up as: I bought when I should have been selling, and sold when I should have been buying. Except in August, when I did the right thing and gave up altogether.
Intuitive Surgical (ISRG)
Year-opening price: $323.00
Sold: Jan @ $237.41 (-27%)
Year-closing price: $126.99 (-61%)
Surgical robot stocks 1, me 0.
Foster Wheeler (FWLT)
Bought: Jan @ $69.76, Mar @ $59.15
Sold: Aug @ $50.71 (-27%)
Year-closing price: $23.38 (-66%)
Probably a year early on the infrastructure play - and probably the wrong company too.
Baidu (BIDU)
Year-opening price: $389.90
Sold: Jan @ $282.37 (-28%)
Year-closing price: $130.57 (-67%)
The Chinese Google had an even worse year than the American Google.
Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (SID)
Bought: Apr @ $38.42
Sold: Sep @ $23.78 (-38%)
Year-closing price: $12.81 (-67%)
Too late on the steel trade.
MEMC Electronic Materials (WFR)
Year-opening price: $88.49
Sold: Jul @ $55.07 (-38%)
Year-closing price: $14.28 (-84%)
No sunshine here.
Nintendo (NTDOY.PK)
Bought: Aug @ $59.32
Sold: Oct @ $35.01 (-41%)
Year-closing price: $47.74 (-20%)
Two really, really bad trades on my part. Wii + DS = profits.
Goldman Sachs (GS)
Year-opening price: $213.21
Bought more: Mar @ $144.61
Sold: Sep @ $118.89 (-44%)
Year-closing price: $84.39 (-60%)
Ladies and gentlemen: the world's finest investment bank, Goldman Sachs!
American Capital, Ltd. (ACAS)
Bought: Jan @ $32.99
Sold: Jul @ $17.00 (-48%)
Year-closing price: $3.24 (-90%)
Taught me the lesson of knowing the underlying assets that pay the dividend. (Hint: ACAS doesn't have good underlying assets.)
Hansen Medical (HNSN)
Bought: Aug @ $13.18
Sold: Oct @ $6.70 (-49%)
Year-closing price: $7.22 (-45%)
Surgical robot stocks 2, me 0.
Diana Shipping (DSX)
Bought: Jun @ $34.55, Aug @ $29.66, Nov @ $17.10
Sold: Nov @ $10.91 (-59%)
Year-closing price: $12.76 (-52%)
Don't really care about the capital losses as much as that they suspended their dividend on me. How dare they.
NVIDIA (NVDA)
Year-opening price: $34.02
Bought more: Feb @ $22.59
Sold: Jul @ $12.06 (-65%)
Year-closing price: $8.07 (-76%)
Does anybody really need whiz-bang graphics cards? No. No, they don't.
Vesta Wind Systems (VWSYF.PK)
Bought: Jul @ $129.00
Sold: Oct @ $36.45 (-72%)
Year-closing price: $59.00 (-54%)
Again, two really, really bad trades on my part. Wind power is probably a solid bet going forward.
MF Global (MF)
Year-opening price: $31.47
Bought more: Mar @ $19.94
Sold: Mar @ $8.25 (-74%)
Year-closing price: $2.04 (-94%)
Did well to lose only 74%. Yep, 2008 was a great year.
