Friday, January 31, 2014

Monthly Update: January 2014

Portfolio Activities
     $1,700 deposits into Investing account

     $325 deposits into Lending Club account
     Sold HAS +43% gain

     Sold OHI +0% break even
     Bought 174 shares of CIG @ $5.78
     Bought 16.63 shares of VTR @ $60.12

Portfolio Income
Dividends

     MDT: $1.49
     SPLS: $2.43
     WMT: $2.10
     ARCP: $2.67
     PSEC: $7.50
     NDRO: $4.16
     JNK: $1.42
     PCY: $1.94
     Interest from cash: $0.46
Rental Income
     Townhouse 1: $855


A big fat $2,025 was made in deposits this month. The extra money came from selling unused vacation time back to my company. Several coworkers have mentioned that I need to go travel some. I do enjoy weekend trips but a week long trip somewhere for 5 days of hotel plus meals, airfare and activities for 2? When I also add in 5 days of extra pay (vacation sellback + working it normally)? I just look at them and say "Do you know what I could do with $1,500?"

I made some portfolio changes. I sold HAS for profit taking and it was looking really toppy. It had broken below its 50 day SMA (simple moving average) and other companies were talking about the struggles they had over the Christmas holiday.  I wanted to be sure I kept that +43% gain and looking at today's price action, it was the right call.

I sold OHI and bought VTR. OHI is a fine REIT and it was a tough decision to sell this one. However when I compared the two fundamental wise VTR seemed like the better deal.

I gave up 1.5% in yield but VTR is more diversified having retirement homes, assisted living homes, and medical office buildings (MOBs). Think of MOBs as the little business parks and buildings that your dentist and chiropractor is in. I have no idea what impact the Affordable Care Act will end up being but seeing as how OHI was only assisted living homes funded by Medicare I think VTR is going to have diversification.
The pullback in its historic price range gives a lot of upside whereas OHI is the most overvalued its ever been. That's not to say its actually overvalued but time and the market will tell.
Additionally, with concerns about rising interest rates, REITs got hammered in 2013 except for OHI. They may or may not have a pullback but VTR already had theirs so I'll play it safe.

I also bought CIG which is a Brazilian hydroelectric power company. That one is odd, interesting, and hard to evaluate. Last year it had a 20% cash dividend plus a 10% stock dividend. The stock dividend needs some explaining. In the U.S. we would call it a stock split and its no net gain as the stock price changes to reflect the new shares. CIG created more shares and gave them out. However in talking with CIG investors that qualified for the split, they received 30% more shares. I bought on the day of the split to take advantage of the drop in share price but the price only dropped by 20%, a 10% net gain for existing shareholders. As I mentioned in my review of CIG, U.S. financial services and websites have a very tough time tracking CIG. So for a 30% net yield between cash and stock, I'm willing to put in the extra time.
As with most foreign companies, they pay a semi-annual dividend. April and December, so you have plenty of time to research this one and I will definitely be reporting their activity on my blog.

January was a real busy month as I also returned to Lending Club. I originally tested them in 2009 and 2010 but I didn't like the search and sorting software on the trading platform so I left with the intent of returning when they improved. They have and I did. I haven't discussed it yet because of Q4 earning season taking my blogging time. IBM, CIG, MCD down and AAPL, STX, RKT, POT, SPLS already reported and I have yet to review them. I have lots of thoughts and ideas about Lending Club that I will share with in February.


Disclaimer: The investments and trades discussed are not recommendations for others. I am not a financial planner, financial adviser, accountant, or tax adviser. The financial actions I talk about are for my own portfolio and money and only suited for my own risk tolerance, strategy, and ideas. Copying another person's financial moves can lead to large losses. Each person needs to do their due diligence in researching and planning their own actions in the financial markets.

13 comments:

  1. You've got a lot going on Pully. Great gain on HAS by the way. Isn't it nice to finally get some volatility back in the global markets?! I used the chance to initiate a position in Unilever this morning in the mid $38s.
    -Bryan

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    1. Volatility back. You ain't kidding that its good to have it back. Speaking of volatility... UL wow. Nice price and that is some fast moving stock.

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    2. Solid moves. The volatility is very much welcomed. I'm glad to have it back, but I know it makes things a bit more difficult psychologically. Honestly the part that troubles me the most when it's alternating big up and down moves is getting the buy right. If I make the buy the shares will continue down so I could have gotten in cheaper. If I don't then they inevitably go back up and the volatility's done with before I can make the buy. Man, I completely missed the UL dip. I added some more CVX today but UL would have been a great add in the $38's. I might have to pick some up on Monday to get that next dividend payment since they go ex-div on 2/5.

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    3. PIP: Thank for the compliment. I think you are spot on with keeping the psychological aspect to volatility in mind. Its very easy to be a dividend investor after 2009. Market has done nothing but go up, record dividends, record share buybacks. WHEN we get a 30% correction we will see blogs go silent and people who didn't prepare themselves mentally for it.

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  2. Nice move selling HAS and swapping OHI for VTR. I had a position in HAS from 12/12 till 05/13 - in hindsight I left some money on the table there.
    I am really looking forward to posts about Lending Club. Keep it up!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks TI. You did leave some on the table but you had a nice win.

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  3. Congrats on getting back into Lending Club. I am definitely bullish on P2P lending and have been investing with LC since 2009. Be interested to see your posts on Lending Club as well.

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    1. Thanks. The more I think about lending club the more I see it as a pillar of my portfolio.
      Local: Rent
      Societal: Lending Club
      Corporate: Dividends

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  4. Boy, a lot of activity this month!

    Pretty solid move with HAS, even with the pullback it seems over valued. Hasbro is a nice dividend growth company, but I'm not prepared to pay a premium for it. I think that by moving from Omega to Ventas you gain some stability. I like OHI and VTR for different reasons. Best of luck with lending club!

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    1. Hey CI thanks for stopping by. Yes it was a lot of activity. I had noticed I was wanting to do even more but had to give my poor cash position a rest and let it catch up.

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  5. Nice gain on Hasbro. Hasbro has to complete with video games these days. The video games of today are millions of times better than they were 20 years. I do not know much about Hasbro besides a part of this business is toys.

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    1. I'm not worried about them being able to compete.
      Nearly the entire toy section is Hasbro or Mattel. Hasbro owns or licenses... Transformers, Nerf, My Little Pony, GI Joe, Wizards of the Coast, Play-Doh, Playskool, Parker Brothers. Licensed IP Beyblade, Marvel Comics, Sesame Street, Star Wars, Zynga.

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