Today, I'm probably going to buy nothing except Sour Patch Kids Extreme. Did you know you could buy these in bulk on Amazon? They are fan-fucking-tastic. I could eat these forever.
But, perhaps you were thinking more along the lines of investing since that's what this blog is about? 🙂 I understand. Well, it's looking like I will buy nothing. Yesterday's 400+ run up means the market needs to pull back again in a meaningful way for me to continue to accumulate shares. That is, shares no longer feel cheap to me. They feel frothy. I don't like froth. I'm basically happy with my purchases to date and will ride these out unless there's another downturn to buy more. Note, I have not been buying or selling any options in this mess. That goes beyond my risk tolerance. BLARG! Then the market went and cratered at the close so I bought some more ETF positions. Just 1 and 2 share nibbles since there are no commissions on my ETF's. I'm just dollar cost averaging down on these long-term investments.
To recap what I have been doing, here's a list of roughly $15k in new positions in the last week:
HIGHLY SPECULATIVE BUYS
- Affymax (AFFY) – 900 shares at $5.78 – has been hammered in this market. I've been buying shares and selling the calls for months. I could easily get burned badly this time. By far my most speculative position. With good FDA news, I look like a genius.
- Agenus (AGEN) – 1200 shares at .50 – Agenus is a biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of technologies to treat cancers and infectious diseases, based on immunological approaches. In other words, a lottery ticket.
MODERATELY SPECULATIVE BUYS
- Ariad Pharmaceuticals (ARIA) – 100 shares at $8.25 – a market darling that I expect to return to favor quickly. I'll sell a covered call on this when it gets back to 10. No interest in a long-term hold.
- Cree Inc. (CREE) – 25 shares at $28.50 – If you don't follow me on Twitter you already missed your chance on Cree.
- Gastar Exploraion Ltd. (GST) – 100 shares at $4.00 – Shares were trading at a ~15% discount to this recommendation which I found compelling.
LONG TERM STOCKS
- Altria Group (MO) – 45 shares at $25.03 – Altria is my largest holding (360 total shares). The share price grows slowly, but when the market is selling indiscriminately, this is a great stock to buy. I just wish I could've gotten some below $24 yesterday morning. These shares are yielding me 6.07% at this price.
- Chevron (CVX) – 10 shares at $93.25 – one of the best of breed in energy stocks with a dividend yield of 3.35% for me at this price.
- Republic Services Group (RSG) – 50 shares at $25.65 – Another great stock to buy when everyone is selling everything. Look at a 1 year chart on this stock, and you'll see it's largely range-bound between 28 and 32. Anything outside that range is anomalous. This is just capitalizing on indiscriminate selling. 3.43% dividend yield at this price.
- Triangle Capital Corporation (TCAP) – 21 shares at $16.30 – Triangle Capital Corporation is a specialty finance company that provides customized financing solutions to lower middle market companies located throughout the United States that pays a substantial dividend. Here's a nice Forbes article if you'd like to know more. In this instance, I'll be getting a 10.79% dividend yield on my investment. I own over 100 shares of TCAP now.
- W.R. Berkley Corporation W.R. Berkley Capital Trust II (WRB-A) – 25 shares at $23.25 – This thinly traded trust invests in preferred shares. It's done well for me over the past couple of years so I took advantage of a chance to add more at a discount.
ETF'S ADDED – Note all of these trade commission free at Ameritrade!
- Vanguard Total Market Index (VTI) – 10 shares at $62.95
- Vanguard REIT Index (VNQ) – 12 shares at $56.06
- Vanguard Small Cap Growth (VBK) – 10 shares at $76.50
- Vanguard Small Cap Value (VBR) – 1 share at $56.90
- Vanguard Emerging Markets MSCI ETF (VWO) – 4 shares at $40.25
STOCKS I WISH I HAD BOUGHT
- LDK Solar (LDK) – under $5 – That's just a steal. It's a speculative stock that I've bought and sold dozens of times.
- Lululemon Athletica (LULU) – under $50 – Feels like the next Chipotle or Netflix or OpenTable when you look at the momentum behind it.
I hope to re-visit this post in about 6 months and see where things stand. Nothing like putting your beliefs out there and holding yourself accountable.
So, what have you bought? Did you sell?