I'm Back!!!!

I first would like to start out and say it’s great to be back!  Do to some unforeseen circumstances I was unable to blog for the past 4 weeks.  Unfortunately the past 4 weeks have been devastating to the stock market, at least for those stocks that I follow.  The only stock that held up was Apple (AAPL), which has pulled back off its high of $644.00 a share.  No worries as Apple can buck the trend of most markets as Apple is in a world of its own!

Earnings have started off pretty well and it appears as of today that buyers are starting to step back into the market.  The headlines have been pretty negative as worry that the economy is slowing in the US, China, etc, housing issues, high oil prices, European trouble, and banking issues to name a few.  If I listened to this garbage day in and day out I would never invest in stocks.  As an investor you have to look past all the negative news and filter out all the junk that is being put onto the news wires.  I scan each of my investments throughout the week and look for anything that could negatively impact the business.  If the story hasn’t changed I continue to own that particular investment.  Of course the price of the stock may go down during that period of time, but that is to be expected.  The reason I’m bringing the subject of negative news is mainly focused on the recent price action in Westport Innovations (WPRT)

Westport has been recently brought back down the earth.  After hitting an all time high of $50.19 on March 21^st 2012 it has plummeted roughly 33% as of yesterday’s close of $33.47 a share.  Talk about being punched in the gut!  Very disappointing!  This downturn could force someone to quit investing in stocks all together.  I’m here to tell you not to panic.  This has happened before too many high flying growth companies and they have rebounded nicely after a sharp downturn.   Since I started investing in Westport back in July of 2010 the stock has had extreme volatility.  On 4 occasions WPRT has went from peak to trough in excess of 25%.  Below is a list of date ranges to where WPRT traded crazy!

July 27^th 2010 high $21.34
Aug 25^th 2010 low $15.51

Equates to a 27.32% downturn

April 6^th 2011 high $27.90

June 8^th 2011 low $19.66

Equates to a 29.53% downturn

July 13^th 2011 high $28.05

Aug 8^th 2011 low $20.01

Equates to a 28.66% downturn

Sep 20^th 2011 high $34.23
Oct 4^th 2011 low $22.63

Equates to a 33.88% downturn

As you can see this isn’t out of the ordinary for Westport to trade from one extreme to the other.  Don’t worry about the wild price movements.  If negative news comes out that is detrimental to the company then I would be worried.  Yeah I would like to side step downturns, but sometimes they aren’t avoidable.  The story hasn’t changed for Westport.  I wouldn’t put too much time into the recent news that Cheniere Energy (LNG) is building the first LNG export facility in the US.  The US has an abundance of natural gas and one facility isn’t going to drive natural gas prices up over night.  As of today natural gas has hit an all time low of $1.95!  Some say it could hit $0.75.  Westport will still benefit even if the price of natural gas goes up 50% it’s still a $1.00 cheaper than a gallon of gas.  Also, remember that 150 fueling stations are being built as we speak to support the natural gas revolution.   That’s right millions of dollars are being spent on natural gas taking hold as a major alternative to foreign oil.  Be patient and WPRT will give back to loyal shareholders in the near future.

Clay-


Full Disclosure

Current Holdings:
Cosi Inc. (COSI)-Monster Portfolio
Caterpillar (CAT)
Westport Innovations (WPRT)-Monster Portfolio
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (KMP)

I'm not a licensed financial advisor.  All recommendations is strictly my personal opinion and the information is intended for learning purposes only.  Invest at your own risk!