A few days ago, I had a crazy idea.
Instead of picking stocks I like and losing money, why not pick stocks I don't like - even hate - and lose money?
So for this month, I chose 10 of the worst stocks I could possibly think of, and bought 1/10th the amount of shares I usually would for each one. If one or two go belly-up, no big deal. Heck, one of them dropped over 10% today, and I can laugh it off. This is a good thing...I think.
Here they are - from now on, to be known collectively as "The Distressed" (percentages are from 52-week high):
American International Group (AIG, -98%). The company that made "derivatives" a curse word. If they are lucky, they will return to being a big, boring insurance company.
Blackstone (BX, -80%). The weasels that sold high on the hedge fund craze by going public.
Citigroup (C, -88%). An ill-conceived, poorly managed financial conglomerate. Fire the management and break up the company, and there's value.
Ford (F, -79%). Um...they're an American car company.
Fannie Mae (FNM, -98%). Could go bankrupt. Or could solve the mortgage crisis.
General Motors (GM, -90%) They're like Ford, only much crappier.
Jones Soda (JSDA, -94%). Makes delicious pure cane sugar pop. Kind of a luxury discretionary item these days.
Motorola (MOT, -64%). Poor management and execution, decent R&D.
Wells Fargo (WFC, -57%). Probably the healthiest bank in America. 7% dividend yield.
YRC Worldwide (YRCW, -87%). Transports lead the market, right?
Here's my current portfolio. As always, I believe in all of these stocks - until I sell them.
Terra Nitrogen (TNH) 14.41%
Dominion Resources Black Warrior Trust (DOM) 14.13%
Tesoro (TSO) 11.58%
Google (GOOG) 10.02%
Apple (AAPL) 8.46%
Southern Copper (PCU) 8.41%
Frontline (FRO) 8.36%
Ace Limited (ACE) 7.80%
Tidewater (TDW) 4.75%
Atlas Energy Resources (ATN) 4.16%
The Distressed (AIG, BX, C, F, FNM, GM, JSDA, MOT, WFC, YRCW) 4.07%
Apache (APA) 3.71%
