Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Apple has done it again!

Apple continues to amaze me!  Here is the breakdown of their recent earnings report today.

-Record quarterly revenue of $46.33 Billion on profits of $13.06 Billion
-$46.33 Billion vs. last yrs results of $26.74 Billion equates to a 73.2% increase in revenues
-Gross margins were 44.7% vs. last yrs results of 38.5%

Sales Results by product

-37.04 million iPhone sold- 128% increase vs. last year
-15.43 million iPads sold- 111% increase vs. last year
-5.2 million Macs sold- 26% increase vs. last year
-15.4 million iPods sold- 21% decrease vs. last year

-Numbers were derived from apple.com

On the surface Apple looks extremely strong, but I still must listen to the conference call.  I did hear on the way home from work that Apple may have a plan for the large amount of cash they have on hand.  That current number is a solid $97.7 Billion.  My vote is to pay out a dividend to all of the loyal shareholders!!! LOL! 

Apple is trading at $451.20 a share in after hours.  Up +7.34% Another 52 week high

It seems like the 52 week high trend continues when I'm out of my favorite stocks.  I have 0 shares of Apple (AAPL) at the moment.  Oh wait!  And I have 0 shares of Westport Innovations (WPRT), which conveniently hit a 52 week high as well closing at $38.06 a share.  Up +6.91% on huge volume.  It appears the big boys are betting Westport is going to go higher.  I'm guessing that with the current prices of natural gas vs. oil prices that natural gas is becoming very enticing.  Enticing as a bridge fuel to replace the reliance of crude oil.  It just so happens that President Obama will be addressing energy and job concerns tonight at 9:00pm.  The State Of The Union Address could uncover the recent upside action in Westport today. 

Congratulations to those that own Apple and Westport as of today.  I know someone is making money! 

P.S. Weatherford is currently on my radar.

Happy Trading!

Clay-

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Sidelined For Earnings Season!

So Westport (WPRT) proved me wrong as the stock was playing tricks on me closing up +5.02% today!  This stock has been a firecracker since the beginning of December and yet it still pushes higher.  I love this company, but I can't comprehend as to why the stock continues higher.  I haven't seen any type of catalyst for Westport and I can't back this stock at the current price.  I can't really back any stock at the current price levels.

I'm holding strong on the sidelines with plenty of cash to invest, but I haven't had an opportunity to get back in.  I'm going absolutely crazy right now! I missed my opportunity to get back into WFT yesterday as I was going to play the oil service earnings of Schlumberger (SLB) on Friday.  SLB earnings determines the direction of the oil service companies.  If SLB is positive the rest of the competition goes up as well.  With Weatheford up +5.96% today it would an idiotic move to chase this stock into Friday. 

Another key move that I missed was Caterpillar (CAT) as the stock has moved up +13.56% from the last day I was in the market with my Monster Portfolio.  12/22/11 is the date.  That's right I have been out of the market since 12/22/11. 

The only thing I can do now is listen to all of the conference calls to determine my next investment opportunity.  The best thing I can do is be patient.  Right? 

Earnings Calendar-  Here is a helpful link to get the dates on the upcoming earnings releases

http://biz.yahoo.com/research/earncal/today.html pulled from Yahoo Finance 

I will be listening to the conference call on the following companies

SLB Earnings 01/20/2012

AAPL Earnings 01/24/2012  52 Week High today...

CAT Earnings 01/26/2012

WFT Earnings 02/21/2012

Have a great night!

"When in doubt buy more"

Clay-

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

WPRT Yikes!/New Post Tomorrow

All I can say is I'm glad I didn't get caught in Westport's stock today.  I was upset when I saw the price was up 7.5% at one time.  Needless to say the stock closed down on the day, as there was a hurricane of selling pressure in the final 2 hours of trading.  It appears WPRT could be going lower after today's trading action!  I will be blogging tomorrow, but I had to at least mention WPRT today... Ugh!!!

Clay-

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Stay Cautious!!!

Hello Everyone! 

The message for today is to not get to excited!  The market has been performing very well since the beginning of the New Year, but I believe many stocks are in overbought status.  I'm basing this solely off technical analysis.  The charts are telling me that in the near future we could have a pull back to lower prices. 

I can honestly say that I have been out of the market for the past few weeks and have missed a portion of the upside.  There were a few stocks that I had my eye on, but I was unable to get in at a good price.  If you currently have any major gains it would be a good idea to lock in some profits over the next few days.  Currently I'm not a buyer of any of my favorite stocks at the moment.

Lower prices= increased activity for me. LOL! 

I can disclose that I sold Apple (AAPL) and Weatherford (WFT) over the past 2 days in another account.  I was able to lock in a nice +8.14% gain after fees in Apple which I bought at $388.36 a share back on 11/15/11 and sold out yesterday 01/09/12 at $424.81.  In regards to WFT I was able to make a solid +14.88% return off of my money.  I bought WFT on 12/19/11 at $13.48 a share and sold out today 01/10/12 at $15.87.  I was trying to put more money into WFT, but I was never given an opportunity after that day. 

Needless to say my accounts are filled with a majority of cash and I'm itching to buy anything that comes my way!  

In the end be patient and never be overly excited when your stocks run up.  Sell into strength and continue to look for the next investment opportunity! Earnings season is here and there is a lot of uncertainty of how companies are doing.  Pay attention to your favorite stocks and listen to the conference calls...

I have my eye on Westport (WPRT) at the moment.  The stock has been holding pretty strong.  I thought it would have sold off by now.  I will have to wait and see.

Happy Trading!

Also, I attached my video blog link from last week.  I ran into some technical difficulties if anyone missed it!

Monster Portfolio Year End Results 2011

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XGA8vURBL8

Clay-

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Monster Portfolio Year End Results



MONSTER PORTFOLIO 2011


Balance: Inception 01/07/11
$1,977.32 Stock
$13.65 Cash
Total $1,990.97

Balance: End of Week 50 12/30/11
$126.90 Stock
$2,627.72 Cash
Total $2,799.62

Since Inception: +10.20%

Back out cash inflow and we have a balance of $2,194.12

2011 was a very challenging year, but I can happily say that I met my goal of finishing up on the year of 10.0%.  5 weeks ago my portfolio was down a hefty -16.79% and as of the closing prices of Friday 12/30/11 my portfolio came in at +10.20% That’s a 26.99% move to the upside.  Back on a 11/28/11 I decided to take my own advice and push my portfolio to the extreme!  I had 3 stocks to choose from


-Weatherford (WFT)
-Westport Innovations (WPRT)
-Apple (AAPL)

I chose Westport and my bet paid off handsomely!  I was so excited that I reached my goal I sold out of Westport a little early on Thursday 12/22/11 at $32.18. I may have sold out early, but I didn’t care at the time!  It took a lot of discipline not to jump back in the market.  As of today my portfolio is in cash excluding my small position in COSI.  2011 turned out to be a great year for my portfolio regardless of the constant road blocks. I managed to outpace the 3 major indices. 

Monster Portfolio vs. the major indices

Dow Jones
Jan 7th Close: 11,674.76
Dec 30th Close: 12,217.56 Up +4.65%
Outpaced by +5.55%

NASDAQ
Jan 7th Close: 2,703.17
Dec 30th Close: 2,605.15 Down -3.63%
Outpaced by +13.83%

S&P 500
Jan 7th Close: 1271.50
Dec 30th th Close: 1257.60 Down -1.09%
Outpaced by +11.30%
All in all 2011 was good, but my goal is to have a great 2012! The plan is to buy stock at lower prices and to reduce my transaction fees.  If I can do these 2 things I believe I can beat my performance from 2011.  Let the games begin!
Clay-

“When in doubt buy more!”

Current Holdings:
Cosi Inc. (COSI)