Evidently I'm utterly incapable of sitting on any significant cash for 24 hours. I had a couple of thousand left over from the sale of my USA Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:USAT) stock on Wednesday. Today I linvested it in more BAB, Inc. (OTCMKTS:BABB) stock.
I like to know when an investment is going to pay off. I like to, at the very least, have some idea. That's a huge part of why I sold USAT yesterday. I didn't really know when it was going to increase beyond the range in which it had already been moving.
For much the same reason I sold my Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock at the end of August. I was pretty sure it had gone as high as it was going to go for a while. There was some risk that by selling when I did I would miss out on some awesome profits resulting from Apple's 9 September announcements. I suspected the risk was greater, though, that Apple's announcements couldn't meet, much less exceed, the expectations of the technorati. With a choice between take the win or risk a loss, I opted for the former.
When I'm sitting on some cash and I don't have any insights about any bits of particularly fortuitous timing then I look to the dividend stocks. I bought TICC Capital Corp. (NASDAQ:TICC) yesterday because its ex-dividend date is coming up, and I noticed today that BABB's ex-dividend date is also approaching.
BABB pays nearly 8% in dividends each year. It pays $0.06 per share per year. Officially it pays $0.04 per share per year, but at the end of each year they consistently throw in an extra $0.02 on top of the regular quarterly payment. If I hold my BABB stock through the end of the year then I'll make at least a 5% profit. It's also just a good buy and hold to leave my money in for a more extended period of time.
11 September 2014
Sold USAT. Bought more TICC.
Today I sold my shares in USA Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:USAT). I sold 3,140 shares for $2.30 each. At one point I had hoped to sell for $3 a share, or maybe even a lot more than that, but the last time USAT closed at over $3 a share was 29 April, 2011.
USAT closed at $2.62 on 28 March, 2013. But I first bought some shares of USAT about 4 weeks later, on 26 April, 2013. Between then and 21 May 2014 I accumulated the 3,140 shares that I sold today. I spent a total of $6076.37, including fees, on my purchases. Not counting the fees, I spent an average of $1.9256 per share.
My net profit on today's sale was 18.69%. Not bad.
USAT is the company that makes it possible for you to buy a Coca-Cola from a vending machine when you don't have any cash on you. Just swipe your card and out clatters a can or bottle. Done. I think I've seen the USAT name on one such machine at some point a few years ago.
They're name isn't on the machine anymore, though. As best I can determine, USAT has licensed their technology to Crane Co. (NYSE:CR) which puts its MEI brand on the swipe-reader on various machines I've encountered in the wild.
On some level, as a shareholder, I would prefer it if USAT's name was on the machines. I decided to sell.
Now, USAT seems to be a healthy stock. It's had 4 consecutive net-positive quarters, and seems to be ever-expanding the places you can spend money. Still, although I had hoped to sell USAT for $3, recently I decided to lower my sell price and cash out. USAT has crossed over $2.30 in intraday trading a few times in the last year. Clearly that was attainable, so I put in my order a few weeks ago.
Well, evidently $2.35 was the magic number. That was today's high. USAT closed today at $2.14 a share, though.
USAT will announce their most recent quarter's results on 23 September. The stock may be quite volatile between now and then.
Here's something noteworthy, though: Yesterday Apple announced the advent of the new Apple Pay system, which may go a long way toward making our transactions more secure AND, incidentally, slowly replacing credit cards over time with smartphones and smartwatches. I don't see the Apple Pay system as being healthy for USAT in the long term.
Meanwhile, I took some of my proceeds from today's sale and purchased more shares of TICC Capital Corp. (NASDAQ:TICC). It pays an awesome quarterly dividend, and its next ex-dividend date is 2 days from now on Friday 12 September.
I'm sitting on some cash, though. I have some of the proceeds left over because I don't want to put too many eggs in the TICC basket. I'm thinking of maybe buying some shares of Google, but for now I'm going to try and see if I can leave some money uninvested in any equities for more than 24 hours.
USAT closed at $2.62 on 28 March, 2013. But I first bought some shares of USAT about 4 weeks later, on 26 April, 2013. Between then and 21 May 2014 I accumulated the 3,140 shares that I sold today. I spent a total of $6076.37, including fees, on my purchases. Not counting the fees, I spent an average of $1.9256 per share.
My net profit on today's sale was 18.69%. Not bad.
USAT is the company that makes it possible for you to buy a Coca-Cola from a vending machine when you don't have any cash on you. Just swipe your card and out clatters a can or bottle. Done. I think I've seen the USAT name on one such machine at some point a few years ago.
They're name isn't on the machine anymore, though. As best I can determine, USAT has licensed their technology to Crane Co. (NYSE:CR) which puts its MEI brand on the swipe-reader on various machines I've encountered in the wild.
On some level, as a shareholder, I would prefer it if USAT's name was on the machines. I decided to sell.
Now, USAT seems to be a healthy stock. It's had 4 consecutive net-positive quarters, and seems to be ever-expanding the places you can spend money. Still, although I had hoped to sell USAT for $3, recently I decided to lower my sell price and cash out. USAT has crossed over $2.30 in intraday trading a few times in the last year. Clearly that was attainable, so I put in my order a few weeks ago.
Well, evidently $2.35 was the magic number. That was today's high. USAT closed today at $2.14 a share, though.
USAT will announce their most recent quarter's results on 23 September. The stock may be quite volatile between now and then.
Here's something noteworthy, though: Yesterday Apple announced the advent of the new Apple Pay system, which may go a long way toward making our transactions more secure AND, incidentally, slowly replacing credit cards over time with smartphones and smartwatches. I don't see the Apple Pay system as being healthy for USAT in the long term.
Meanwhile, I took some of my proceeds from today's sale and purchased more shares of TICC Capital Corp. (NASDAQ:TICC). It pays an awesome quarterly dividend, and its next ex-dividend date is 2 days from now on Friday 12 September.
I'm sitting on some cash, though. I have some of the proceeds left over because I don't want to put too many eggs in the TICC basket. I'm thinking of maybe buying some shares of Google, but for now I'm going to try and see if I can leave some money uninvested in any equities for more than 24 hours.
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