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.
10 February 2014
04 February 2014
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.
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.
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