All the way back

For most if not all of 2010, I've had at least one stock that has been underwater (especially EXC). Today is the first day that I can remember that all my holdings are in the black. I still have some lots in negative territory, but in net, each stock has a gain. Perhaps more importantly, overall unrealized gain is at 1.5% and two of the holdings are sitting at about 6% gain, so they will soon (hopefully) be tuned over.

This seems to be related to the recent run-up in oil prices. I hope it lasts a little longer, even though it’s having an impact at the gas pump too.

March 2010 Trading

It's been a while, but finally a good month! Good realized gain, good dividends, decent turnover and I'm still invested at about 70% in some good positions with decent upsides (although I have a small unrealized loss at this writing). I earned 12.5% on the turned-over funds and 3.64% on all available funds. I'd characterize this as my third best month to date.

I sold the following:

• Lockheed Martin Corp - I held some of these shares over 6 months, but this was by far the biggest contributor to realized gain for the month.
• Marathon Oil Corp - Small holding, but turned over fairly quickly at a nice gain.

I currently hold the following:

• Exxon Mobil - Up 0.2% - Up and down, but no serious opportunities to sell yet.
• FPL Group - Down 0.9% - Still in negative territory, but way up from recent lows and moving in the right direction.
• Exelon Corp - Down 2.7% - I don't think this was in the black all month, but up from lows as well
• FirstEnergy Corp - Up 0.9% - Small holding.
• National Grid PLC - Up 3.6% - Small holding bought at an attractive price. Div paid semi-annually, so this represents a deviation from typical purchase. But goes ex-div in about 3 months.
• Public Service Enterprise Group, Inc. - Up 0.6% - Another small holding at a good price. I've held this in the past too.

I collected dividends on the following:

• Marathon Oil Corp
• Exxon Mobil
• Exelon Corp
• Lockheed Martin Corp

Back in Black!

March is starting out like a lion.  I was able to sell my LMT position after the stock going ex-div and all holdings are up from their February positions.  I already have my best realized gains since July and another stock (MRO) is approaching the sell price.  So there is a chance of the best month to date if trends continue. 

Further good news is that many of the realized gains from the LMT sales are associated with our Roth IRAs.  And these gains are not subject to tax, ever.  So maximizing gains in these accounts is a very good thing.  If fact, these accounts are up 39% and 53% since May '09.  These are higher than the gains in the other accounts, but that was the plan.  What makes these gains even more surprising to me is the fact that the LMT holdings took 6 months to turn over and I've only been using this strategy for 10 months..

And if things turn south again, I'm now only 68% invested, so their are funds available for reinvestment.  I'd like to clear the books a bit more before buying back in, but you take what the market offers.

February 2010 Trading

Another slow month for realized gains.  I only sold one holding for minimal gain, but I was able to invest 100% of my funds as the market stayed depressed.  If not for an injection of new funds from a transferred IRA, I would be 100% invested right now. 

 As indicated, I had my second slowest month ever for realized gains and I only earned 7.3% on those.  I'm also marginally in the red for unrealized gains related to the current holdings.  But I went ex-div on 5 of 6 holdings, so March will be my biggest dividend month to date.

I sold the following:

• Owens and Minor, Inc - This is the second time I've cycled through this stock. 

I currently hold the following: 

• Lockheed Martin Corp - Up 6.3% - I've now held some of these shares for 6 months and will be collecting the 2nd round of dividends on them.  I'm tempted to cash in because the gains are reasonable, but I still like the topside on this.
• Exxon Mobil - Down 2.8% - I've been in the black on XOM several times since I've held this, but the gains have always been modest.
• FPL Group - Down 4.9% - This has been depressed since news of their rate case going south.  But it's still a sound company, so I hope to see a bounce back in time.
• Exelon Corp - Down 3.8% - Another depressed utility holding company with sound numbers, but I might bail out with modest gains.
• Marathon Oil Corp - Up 3.6% - Small holding bought at a nice discount.
• FirstEnergy Corp - Down 0.3% - Another small holding purchased at an attractive price, but it's had some bad news lately keeping the price down.

No dividends were collected this month, but I'll be collecting dividends for all stocks except FirstEnergy in March.  March income is already assured to be 250% of the paltry take for February.  With a few sales, it could very easily be a big month.  We'll see what the market has to offer!

100% Invested

For the first time, I have 100% of my available funds invested. The recent market drop has presented buying opportunities that I've not been able to pass up. So now I'm ready for a market run-up!

I've been able to follow my planned strategy and have observed rules relative to my buy-in price as the basis for making purchase decisions.

Strategy      Rule      Actual
Premium       25%     26.2%
Average        50%     28.1%
Discount       25%     45.7%

So I've actually been able to get in at more attractive prices that I anticipated, so this should provide great yields when I sell.

The big question is...When will I get an opportunity to sell? That hard to say. Obviously, I'm hopeful that the market will turn around soon and I'll be able to cash out these positions. But realistically, this probably will not happen quickly. So I may be dependent upon dividend income for the coming months. That's not so bad, as my current portfolio yields 3.92%, which is not so bad and is above current CD yields.

It's also worth pointing out that I'm not entirely shut out and can continue to invest if prices stay depressed. I have a small CD maturing this month that will roll into the ingestible funds pool and some larger CD maturing in August that will increase my ingestible funds by about 30%. So I'd prefer an immediate market turnaround, but I also have a strategy to continue to buy into an extended bull market.