Bought more BABB.

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.

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.

Bought TICC.

I had some cash left over from my recent sale of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock.  I resolved to keep it in cash for a while.  That resolve lasted almost 24 hours.

Today I purchased 127 shares of TICC Capital Corp. (NASDAQ:TICC) at $9.74 each.

I love this stock.  It currently pays a dividend of $0.29 per share each quarter.  That's more than 11% each year.  Dividend-reinvestment in the past has resulted in me accumulating a number of extra shares without trying too hard.  For that matter, the dividend-reinvestment program through TDAmeritrade somehow purchases the shares for me at slightly below market value, which is especially nice.

In late 2011 I purchased 200 shares of TICC for $8 each.  At some later point I purchased another 120 shares, for a total of 320.  When I sold my shares in late 2013 I had 388.03 shares.

When I sold TICC I noted that I was concerned about their balance sheet, long term.  I'm less concerned now.  Cash flow looks good, and the company's cash to debt ratio doesn't look out of whack.  I suppose I still have some concern about the company's ability to keep paying an awesome dividend in the event of an economic downturn, but I'm also less concerned about an economic downturn than I was in late 2013.

This time around TICC is going to be a buy and hold.  Whenever I have some enough extra cash I'm going to pay the fee and buy some more shares and let them accumulate over time.

Sold AAPL. Bought SSP.

I sold my 71 shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) today at a price of $102.40 each.  I purchased 10 shares for $500.02 each back in January.  The 7-for-1 split in June made it so that I possessed 70 shares that cost me $71.43 each.  I received another share through dividend reinvestment over a few quarters. 

After fees I netted a profit of 44.9%.

For now I'm keeping a little in cash, but I turned around and sunk the bulk of my AAPL money into The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE:SSP).  Again.  This time I bought 320 shares at $18.7963 each. 

I had previously purchased 135 shares of SSP back in January.  I bought 120 more in April.  I sold all 255 in May.  I netted a little over 12%.  I hope to do a little better this time.


SSP has increased revenue lately, largely due to political advertisements.  I expect they'll do well between now and November.  I hope to sell for $22 a share somewhere in that time.  SSP has already hit that mark a couple times in intraday trading in the past month.  If I'm right then I'll make over 15% for a relatively brief investment.

As ever, we'll see.

Sold TSLA. Bought LF.

I sold my 25 shares of Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) today at a price of $239.2399 each.  I purchased them for $181 each back in May.  After fees I netted a profit of 31.7%.

I turned around and sunk that money into LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc.(NYSE:LF).  I bought 968 shares at $6.3099 each.

I'm a parent now, and we own a few of the items manufactured and sold by LeapFrog.  I'm generally impressed by their quality.

Leapfrog announced quarterly results at 5PM on Monday the 4th.  They weren't good.

Leapfrog has millions in the bank, though, and so they'll be able to weather this through Christmas.  I'm betting that the coming year will be a good one for Leapfrog.

I'm also betting that today's plummet was an over-reaction.  The stock will have at least a dead-cat-bounce tomorrow.  I'll be tempted to sell.  But I'm planning to hold the stock until the market agrees with me that Leapfrog is going to have a good Christmas.  I don't expect that to happen tomorrow.

Sold SSP Bought TSLA. Sold VZ Bought USAT and BABB.

Quick update:

On Monday the 12th I sold my 255 shares of E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE:SSP) at $19.91 per share. 

I did this so that I could finance the purchase of 25 shares of Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) at $181 per share.

With a week-and-a-half of hindsight, those both appear to have been good decisions.

Today I sold my 120 shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) at $49.18 per share.

I used some of the proceeds to purchase more shares of USA Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:USAT).  I bought 1,140 more shares at $1.76 each.  I now have a total of 3,140 shares with an average purchase price of $1.93 each.

I've used some more of the proceeds from the Verizon sale to buy 5,710 shares of BAB, Inc. (OTCMKTS:BABB) at $0.76 each.

One of these days when I make the time I'll sit down and go over my holdings:  What I have, why I have it, and when I expect to sell it.  Not today, though.

Sold JBL. Consolidating.

On Friday the 4th of April I sold 120.471 shares of Jabil Circuit, Inc. (NYSE:JBL).

It was having a good day, and it seemed like a good time to sell.  I was right.  I sold for $18.75 a share and it hasn't seen that level since.

And then I turned around and purchased more shares in E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE:SSP).  That was a mistake.

It wasn't a mistake to buy more shares in Scripps, I think, but in hindsight it was a mistake to buy them when I did.  I purchased 120 shares for $17.12 each.  Had I waited until yesterday then I could have purchased Scripps at $16 a share.  I could have purchased 8 additional shares at that price.

I purchased 135 shares of Scripps back in January for $18.12 each.  I planned to sell for $21.50 or more, but I didn't plan to sell until election season in November.  That's when Scripps will be making some money from political ads.

For this reason I did not already have sell order in place when Scripps inexplicably shot over $22 a share on the 4th of March.  Had I sold I would have made over 20% for an investment of roughly 1.5 months.

Scripps has been declining, and so I decided to double down.  I need to work on my timing, though.

My sell order is in.  I'm hoping to sell at $22.37 within seven months.  I figure the stock will shoot up sometime between now and election season.  The average price I paid for my shares is $17.65, so I stand to make over 25%.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Two weeks late, and other faults

I've been meaning to inform my loyal readers of a couple of transactions.  On Friday the 14th I sold my shares in Zillow Inc (NASDAQ:Z) in order to finance the purchase of some additional shares of 3D Systems Corporation (NYSE:DDD).

• 
  

I usually try to keep my readers informed.  If someone is actually trying to copy my investments then it's vitally important that I keep them informed and don't go selling and buying behind their backs.

Just by the way:  Don't do that.  I'm not a professional.  Insert legalese disclaimer here.

Well, in this particular case I suspect I'll be forgiven for failing to keep my audience informed, because it hasn't gone well for me so far.

I sold my 24 shares of Zillow on 3.14 for $86.03 each.  In the two weeks since, the stock has gone over $100 per share and back down again.  I had originally planned to hold out for $100 a share, but changed my mind back on Pi Day.

I changed my mind because 3D Systems stock was so ridiculously low, and I didn't think it would stay there.  I had originally purchased 61 shares at $77.90 each.  On 3.14 I purchased 34 more shares of DDD at $60.28 each.  I now have 95 shares that I purchased for an average of $71.59 each.

In the two weeks since I bought my additional shares, though, the stock has dropped below $57 a share.  Right now it's back up to $59, which is still less than I most recently paid for it.  

In retrospect, I clearly should have held onto my Zillow stock a little longer.  

I've done a few things wrong lately.

1 - I really shouldn't have bought Zillow in the first place.  It's not been consistently profitable.  It had three negative quarters last year.  Had I stuck to my rules for investing then I wouldn't have bought it.  I bought it anyway, though, because I was certain it would go to $100 within a few months.  If only I had remained certain . . . .

2 - This one is counter-intuitive, but once I decided to disobey my own rules and buy it then I should have bought more of it.  I only bought 24 shares at $83.25 each.  I should have bought 48 or even 72 shares.  See, I pay roughly $10 to buy and $10 to sell.  I lose $20, then, over the course of each individual investment.  I made a gross profit of $2.78 on each of my 24 shares of Zillow, for a total gross profit of $66.72, however once I subtract the $20 I had to spend then my net profit was only $46.72.  Had I purchased 48 shares, though, then my net profit would have been $113.44, and if I'd purchased 72 shares then my net profit would have been $180.16.  The $20 loss means less the more I invest.

3 - I should have waited for Zillow to go to $100 a share.  I figured it would go up when the housing market heated up, probably in the late spring or early summer.  Who knew it would happen at the very beginning of spring?

The good news is that I didn't lose any money on Zillow.  The bad news is I didn't really make any serious money, either.

It'll all work out someday when I sell DDD.  I'm reasonably certain it will eventually go back up to over $96 a share.  Sadly I have no idea WHEN that might be.  The key word is "eventually." 

Sold MIND CTI. Purchased Dreamworks Animation

On Monday March 3rd I sold my 2225 shares of MIND C.T.I. Ltd.(NASDAQ:MNDO) and used the cash to purchase 166 shares of Dreamworks Animation Skg Inc (NASDAQ: DWA).

With the benefit of hindsight I know now that I should have sold MNDO today instead of early yesterday.  I might have been able to get $2.30 per share instead of the $2.19 that I ended up taking.  For that matter, it turns out that if I had purchased DWA later in the day yesterday then I could have purchased my shares for as little as $28.50 each instead of $29.135.

In a best-case scenario, I could have purchased 179 shares of Dreamworks Animation instead of the 166 that I now own.

I'm not unhappy, though.  I wanted to sell my shares in MNDO at a decent price before they go ex-dividend at the end of trading on Friday, and I also wanted to purchase Dreamworks Animation before Mr. Peabody and Sherman premieres in movie theatres, also on Friday.  This I have done.

I made a 30% profit on MNDO, having purchased my shares for $1.67 each back in September.

I expect to make at least a 20% profit on Dreamworks Animation.  If Mr Peabody and Sherman fails to get boomers and their grandchildren in seats then I'll hold onto my stock through the release of How To Train Your Dragon 2 in June, or perhaps Kung Fu Panda 3 in 2015. 

Eventually I'll make a profit, but hopefully Peabody will do well enough that it's sooner rather than later.

Sold Monster.com. Purchased Verizon

While writing my previous post I had decided to sell my Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:MWW) stock somewhere between $7 and $25 a share - probably closer to $7.  Really I was thinking that I'd hold out until it was $10 or so per share.

But then I nearly sold MWW on Thursday at $7.34 a share.  It was a confluence of the MWW stock being profitable for me AND of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) stock being priced very low.  The timing didn't quite work out Thursday.

Well, on Friday the 7th, MWW went higher - looks like its intraday high was $7.80 - and Verizon stayed relatively low.  I was able to make my trades.

I sold 750 shares of MWW at $7.44 a share.  After subtracting fees, etc, that's a gross of $5,569.91.

I purchased 119 shares of Verizon at $46.69 per share.  With fees that cost me a total of $5,566.10.

I will write more about my plans for Verizon, but I don't have time right now.  My sell order is in for $54.25, but that's subject to change.

Purchased more Monster Worldwide.

I purchased more shares of Monster Worldwide, Inc.(NYSE:MWW) on Monday.  I had purchased 190 shares for $8.32 each back in April of 2012.  At the time the numbers for the stock looked decent.  Monster was profitable, was adequately capitalized, and had climbed to a post-recession high of $25 per share at the end of 2010.

In fact, on March 23rd 2012 Monster had closed over $10 a share.  I purchased at $8.32 thinking that I would sell at $25 a share as the economy recovered and employers started offering jobs again, or worst case scenario I could sell at $10 a share in the nearer term and take a 20% profit. My break-even sale price was $8.43.  Anything above that would be okay.  Not great, but okay.

The worst case scenario wasn't really the worst case scenario, though.

The recovery appeared to be a jobless recovery, and then LinkedIn took off despite the joblessness, somehow.  Social Networking appeared to be the way to find the few jobs that were available.  LinkedIn was all and Monster was nothing.

Monster then reported a loss for the quarter ending in September of 2012.  A massive loss.

Monster's stock price dove, occasionally recovering a bit but never reaching my break-even point.  The longer I waited the more it declined.  In the past year it has almost, but not quite, dropped below $4 a share.

It came back in November and December.  As 2014 began Monster was back above $7 a share.  The last 3 quarters have been profitable.  Things are looking up.

Of course the markets have more recently decided to have what may be a sudden bout of uncertainty or may be an overdue correction.  Stocks have been declining and Monster has been declining with them.

So of course I decided to buy some more shares.

It's a bit more complicated than that, but it largely comes down to a desire on my part to lower my break-even sale price.  I did the math and decided that if Monster declined to $6.03 a share then I could buy 560 more shares at that price and lower my average purchase price to $6.61 a share.  That would give me a new break-even sale price of $6.64.  Since Monster has recently been over $7 a share then the likelihood of making a profit looked good.

I didn't think it particularly likely that the stock would go significantly below $6.03 a share.  That was at 9:30 Monday morning.  Fifteen minutes later I purchased my 560 additional shares.

Monster's low Monday was $5.71 a share.  I could have bought 594 shares instead of 560.

And now I find myself thinking that the markets will continue to decline for another day or two or three or four or more.  I think the Dow will hit a drop of 10% from recent highs and we'll officially have a correction on our hands.  Warren Buffet will be buying but no one else will.

And then it will come back.

Eventually Monster will come back, too.

I've got my sell order for my 750 shares of Monster at $25 a share.  Because I'm an optimist. A completely unrealistic optimist, at times, but certainly an optimist.  I expect I'll sell somewhere between $7 and $25 a share, really.

Probably a lot closer to $7 than to $25, in fact.  We'll see.  When Monster enters into the realm of profitability for me then we'll see what other opportunities present themselves.  If one of those opportunities seems a bit more guaranteed, and a bit faster than waiting on Monster to go back over $25 a share, then I'll take it.

For now, though, I remain hopeful in spite of everything.

Purchased DDD. Again.

I purchased 61 shares of 3D Systems Corporation (NYSE:DDD).  This is the fourth time I've purchased this stock since I started tracking this portfolio in September 2011.

Historically I have purchased DDD after it's hit a significant high price and then retreated a bit.  I then have sold when it has hit that price again.

In the case of this particular equity I do find myself wondering if I should have just held onto my shares.  I mean, I purchased 100 shares at $15.50 each back in 2011 and since then the stock has done a 3:2 split and then climbed above $96 a share.  It would have been nice to sell 150 shares for $96, grossing $14,400 from an investment of $1,550.

But that's the benefit of hindsight.  There's a lot to be said for taking the profit when you're not sure what's going to happen next.

Well, I purchased my latest round of shares at $77.90 and I plan to sell them at the aforementioned price of $96.  I'll tell you how it works out.

Big Changes

I bought a couple of stocks today, so of course I must update ye olde blogge.  First, though, some housekeeping.

Normally, in order to buy something I've got to sell something.  This week, though, I decided to move some funds from my TD Ameritrade Amerivest rollover IRA to the self-directed rollover IRA that is the subject of this blog.  In so doing I have necessitated the closing of one chapter and the opening of another.

First, let's close the books on how I've done, previously.

I started my self-directed IRA with $12,460 and made my first equity purchase therein on 16 September 2011.  Until today no additional funds were added. All of my trades have, eventually, been noted here.  The upshot is that at the close of business yesterday - 29 January 2014 - I had accumulated in cash and equities a total of $29,120.61.  I owned 8 equities, and the fees associated with turning them into cash would have totaled $79.92 ($9.99 x 8), so let's say that I really had accumulated $29,040 and change.  As best I can determine, I seem to have achieved an average annualized increase of around 40%.  Not too shabby.

Now that I've injected new cash, though, then I need to start a new chapter with a new initial amount.

I have added $17,500 to my current account total of $29,120.61.  That brings my new "initial" investment to $46,620.61.

I've not decided how I'm going to invest all of the new $17,500, but I have made a couple of purchases.

Today I bought 10 shares of shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) at $500.02 per share.  Apple just released a quarterly report in which the company beat expectations overall, but sold fewer iPhones than expected.  The market, in typical fashion, freaked out and sold Apple shares at a discount.  Apple has lost nearly 10% of its share price in the last few days.

Apple's historic share-price high was $700 back in 2012.  With that in mind, I've been very tempted to buy at its recent price of around $550.  Now that it's gone down to $500 then it's too good an opportunity to pass.

For now I've placed a sell order at $700 a share.  I'll probably sell at a lower price, but I doubt I'll sell Aple for less than $550 a share.  Mostly I'm just waiting for the market to regain its senses.

Another equity being mistreateda by the market just now is Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (NYSE:KKD). KKD released an excellent quarterly report back in December, and the market decided to sell.  KKD hit a 52-week high of 26.63 back in November.  Since then it's lost about 35% of its share price.

I purchased 245 shares of KKD today at $17.685 per share.  I've placed a sell order for $26.50 a share.  I'm guessing that KKD will re-attain its high at some point in the coming year, and when it does I stand to make a 50% profit.

I'll be making more investments in the next few days, and I'll keep you informed as I do.

Purchased Zillow

I bought some shares in Zillow Inc (NASDAQ:Z) today.  I may end up regretting it.  We'll see.

Zillow helped me find a new house last Spring.  I've been very impressed with the site, and I find myself looking at it on occasion, still, even though I am not at all in the market for real estate at this time.  I used to prefer realtor.com, but Zillow has made a convert of me.

Real Estate is a seasonal business.  It's slow in the winter and active during the other seasons, especially spring and summer.

Here's a two-year graph for Zillow.

 

As you can see, each of the last 2 years Zillow has generally climbed until the Fall, at which time it declines a bit.  In 2012 it declined from a high of $46.17 on 20 September to $23.36 on 15 November.  That's nearly a 50% decline, but it made up for that decline very nicely the following year.  In 2013 it hit a high of $103 in early September, but it declined to $71.28 by 4 December.  Since then it's started to climb again.

I told friends and family in December that I expected Zillow to climb back up to $100 a share, but I didn't buy at the time.  I've been alternately kicking myself and patting myself on the back since then.  A week ago, on 16 January, it hit an intra-day high of $92.50 a share and I engaged in much self-flagellation.

That said, it's not consistently making money.  Have a look at this chart from ycharts.com:

 

This is a chart showing quarterly net income.  It goes back to March of 2010.  As you can see, Zillow was making money for all of 2012, but it took a BIG dip in 2013.  That's worrisome, and it's especially worrisome that the quarter ending on 30 June was so unprofitable.  One would think that for the real estate biz the Spring quarter would be a happening time.

Looking at statements from that time, it looks like Zillow spent more on sales and marketing than they were able to offset with revenue.  Again, worrisome.

Zillow has millions on hand in cash, though, and they have no debt to speak of.

I like the product.  I think that this market is cyclical and that 2014 will be a good year for real estate.  The stock was on the decline today and I was sitting on some cash.  I took the plunge.

I purchased 24 shares of Zillow for $83.25 each.  With fees that's $2,007.99.  As long as the stock goes back up to$84.09 then I'll break even.  I've already got my sell order in for $100 a share, though.

I don't plan to hang onto this stock forever, but I should have it for a few months.  If history is anything to go by, though, then I should sell it no later than September.

Sold GameStop

I sold my shares in GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME) today at $38.76 a share.  I could have gotten a better price later in the day, as it turns out.  It went up to $39.38 at some point.  For that matter, I do think that GME will go to at least $40 a share in the near future.

I decided I had an opportunity to buy something else, though, so the decision to sell when I did was really based on the low price of the stock I wanted to buy.  It was also based on the fact that I don't want to sell any of my other stocks at this time.

I bought some shares in The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE:SSP).  I've been watching this one for a while, and told myself I would buy if it ever again wandered down to $18 a share.  Well, that happened today, so I pulled the trigger.

The reason SSP declined today may be this Moody's column.  It posits that there will be less political TV ad revenue than there was in 2012, which stands to reason, as 2014 is a year of mid-term elections instead of a Presidential election year.

What the column doesn't say is that there will still be PLENTY of political TV ad revenue this year.  Ever since Citizen's United there's more ad revenue than there used to be.  And certain politicians are bigger targets than others.

Specifically, John Boehner is on the outs with the Tea Party.  They're actively seeking a primary challenger to try to unseat Boehner.  If that happens then there will be plenty of ad revenue in the Cincinnati market.

There is only one TV station in the Cincinnati market that's owned by a publicly traded company, and it's owned by SSP.

The notion that I could reap some personal gains from this year's mid-term elections and primaries really appeals.

I purchased 135 shares of SSP at $18.12 per share.  I could have gotten them for an even $18 later in the day, but there you go.

Also, I could have purchased more than 135 shares of SSP with the proceeds from the sale of my GME shares, but I decided to divide the eggs from that particular basket.   I'm keeping a little bit of money in cash for now.  I'll probably invest in something else soon.

I'll do various addenda to this post, later.  I'll get specific about how much I profited from briefly owning GME. 

For now, though, I just wanted to disclose my activity.  I try to update this blog whenever I sell or buy.  As of now, it's updated.

UPDATE 1:  What kind of profit did I make on GME?

I purchased 115 shares of GME at $36.21 on 14 January.  Add a $9.99 transaction fee and that's a total of $4,174.14 spent to buy it.

I sold my 115 shares of GME at $38.76 on 22 January.  Subtract a $9.99 transaction fee and that's a total of $4,447.33 in proceeds.

It's a net gain of $273.19 for 8 days of investment.  When I do the math and account for all the fees, it's 6.5% in pure profit  It's also the shortest amount of time I've ever held on to a stock.

UPDATE 2:  The lists of what I own and what I have owned previously have been updated.

Gamestop

In my column Sunday night I revealed that I had some cash in my IRA that was waiting for the right investment to come along.  I had placed an order for Verizon Communications Inc.(NYSE:VZ) at $46.53 a share, with the expectation that VZ was not likely to go that low.  It was a placeholder order, really.

Yesterday VZ very nearly went that low.  It was down to $46.58 at some point.

However, another opportunity arose.  Or descended, perhaps. 

GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME) is a stock that I had been looking at a year or so ago.  Its financials are healthy.  It's making money.  I know who they are and what they do.  I've bought gift-cards for nephews from Gamestop, and when I needed a different cable to attach the Wii to my new flat-screen I was able to get a used cable from Gamestop for a fraction of what it would have cost me at Best Buy.

I remember staring at GME shares in late 2012 and wondering why the stock was priced under $30, especially when it was paying a $0.25 dividend every quarter.  It was on my list of equities to buy if I had any cash on hand.  Back then I had my money tied up in equities I wasn't prepared to sell, or other opportunities came along that seemed, at the time, better than GME.

Then GME went on a tear in 2013, eventually topping out at over $57 a share in November - just 2 months ago.  Using 20/20 hindsight I wrote GME off as another opportunity missed.

Over the last couple of months the stock has come down a bit, and has fluctuated between $45 and $50 per share.  It hadn't come down far enough to really interest me, though.  Until yesterday.

Yesterday GME took a roughly 20% dive from its Monday close of $45.31 down to a Tuesday intra-day low of $36.10 per share.

Why?  Software sales are down.  This is a long-term concern.  The newest generation of gaming consoles allow gamers to download software directly from the manufacturer to the machine, meaning fewer software sales for GME.  It's a disruption for GME's business model.

GME is a disruptive business itself, though.  Used / resale is an adaptation to the market, and I suspect GME will adapt further as necessary.

Also, the used / resale space may not be sexy and may not be ultra-profitable, but it's still adequately profitable for now.  New bookstores may be dying, but used bookstores can make a living.  The same goes for used music stores.

Furthermore, GME sells hardware, and hardware sales this holiday season were up.  They sold a lot of next generation consoles - consoles that are ultimately trying to put brick-and-mortar stores out of business, true.  But GME is doing well selling the consoles and the accessories.

There is some legitimate concern about GME's ability to remain a going concern in the long run, and for that reason I don't plan to hold onto this stock forever.  I do think, however, that concern about long-term viability was already priced in, and that's what had brought GME stock back down to $45 a share.

I decided to buy.  And I had the cash.  So I did.

I purchased 115 shares of GME at $36.21 each.  It costs me $9.99 to buy and $9.99 to sell, so whenever I sell GME then I need to make at least $19.98 in profit in order to break even.  That makes $36.39 the break-even point for my 115 shares of GME.  Of course, if I still have the stock in March and it pays $0.275 per share in dividends then my break-even point goes down to $36.12 or so.

Regardless, for now my sell order is in for $45 a share.  I think the market has over-reacted on this one, and that there will be a bounce-back.

Of course, I could be wrong.  Welcome to the excitement of investing.

Sold CLCT

My previous post included the following quote:

I seldom have money in my investment accounts that's not already at work.

Well, for once, this is not the case.  Friday morning one of my stocks sold, albeit on auto-pilot.

When I purchased Collectors Universe, Inc.(NASDAQ:CLCT) a couple of months ago I put in a sell order for $18.15 a share, almost immediately.  I had purchased 230 shares at $15.921 each.  A sell order for $18.15 was, shall we say, optimistic.

I can't remember exactly how I arrived at that figure.  CLCT hadn't been above $18 since early 2005.  I had no inkling as to when or if it would go that high again.  I seem to remember picking a number that would be a good sell price PLUS include all the dividends it would pay in either a quarter or two.  If it didn't go above $18.15 then I would make dividend money for a while.  If it did go that high, though, then I would probably be just as happy to sell it as keep it.

Well, I got lucky again.  During the day on Friday CLCT went from $17.96 to $18.75 and then finished the day back down slightly at $17.92 a share.  TD Ameritrade sold it for me at $18.20, actually.  

My profit was nearly 13.75%  after all was said and done, and it was an investment that lasted just under 2 months.  Let me just say:  I feel pretty good about making a profit of nearly 14% in two months.

I thought very seriously about NOT placing that sell order a couple of months ago.  CLCT pays awesome dividends and can actually afford to do so.  If I hadn't placed that sell order then I would surely would have made the same profit, but if I had only profited through dividends then it would have taken 10 times as long.

Anyway, enough gloating.  The point is that for once I actually sold a stock without knowing how I'm going to turn around and invest the money from the sale.  This is unusual.

For now I've placed an order for some shares of Verizon Communications Inc.(NYSE:VZ), but it will only go through if VZ goes below $46.53 a share.  I don't think that's likely to happen, but in case it does, the order is in.  Really I expect that order to sit there, unfulfilled, until another opportunity presents itself to me.

If CLCT goes below $16.25 then I'll probably invest in it again.  I suspect I'll make more money from its price fluctuations, quarter-to quarter, than I would from its dividends.  This is a new strategy for me, and it deserves its own post.  I'll try to find the time to write it up properly.  But not right now.