Investcraft – The Art of Investing

Staying nimble is the key in a volatile market. A shrewd investor needs to protect gains while minimizing losses. In this past week, I have switched around several positions in anticipation of this week’s economic reports. I locked in some gains while taking a few small losses on a few stocks that I did not want to hold going into this week’s job report.

Below is a list of my current long positions along with some commentary below:

ADDED:

BPOPP – Banco Popular Preferred A
FHN – First Horizon National Corporation
FBCM – FBR Capital Markets Corporation

SOLD:

AIB – Allied Irish Banks, p.l.c. Comm
C – Citigroup, Inc.
FNGN – Financial Engines, Inc.
SNV – Synovus Financial Corporation
THC – Tenet Healthcare Corporation
HMA – Health Management Associates

INCREASED POSITIONS:

SUSQ – Susquehanna Bancshares, Inc.
CHINA – CDC Corporation
ETFC – E*TRADE Financial Corporation
RAS – RAIT Financial Trust

OTHER STOCKS IN MY PORTFOLIO:

AACFX – AIM CHINA CLASS A
AKAM – Akamai Technologies, Inc.
ALSC – Alliance Semiconductor
ARUN – Aruba Networks, Inc.
BAC – Bank of America Corporation
BPOPP – Banco Popular Preferred B
CPBY – China Information Security Tech
CSKI – China Sky One Medical, Inc.
EJ – E-House (China) Holdings
HBAN – Huntington Bancshares
IARAX – AIM REAL ESTATE FUND CLASS A
IBCA – Intervest Bancshares Corp.
JGBO – JIANGBO PHARMACEUTCL
KEY – KeyCorp Common Stock
LVS – Las Vegas Sands Corp.
NYVTX – DAVIS NEW YORK VENTURE FUND A
OKSB – Southwest Bancorp, Inc.
PNC – PNC Financial Services Group
RF – Regions Financial Corporation
RODM – Rodman & Renshaw Capital Group
SKBI – Skystar Bio-Pharmaceutical
SKS – Saks Incorporated Common Stock
TBBK – The Bancorp, Inc.
UBS – UBS AG Common Stock
WFD – Westfield Financial, Inc.

General Commentary About My Portfolio:

While I liked both THC and HMA for the long haul, I decided that there are better investments and bargains out there. It’s not that I’m day trading or anything — but I just feel that THC and HMA will likely move sideways for the next 6 months. With that said, I took positions in FHN and FBCM — both financial stocks that I feel have some upside in the near term. FBCM, in particular, looks very interesting. It seems to have been forgotten by investors and the investment community. If an analyst or active traders take notice, FBCM could really move since it’s thinly traded. As for FHN, it’s one of the more reasonably valued stocks in the banking sector. A lot of banks in the sector that have had a pretty huge run since March 2009 but I think FHN is still reasonably priced.

As for C (Citibank), I cashed out. The government said it’s planning to sell it’s Citibank shares and that’s going to put downside pressure on the stock in the near/intermediate term. I had already made a nice gain on this stock so I decided to take my profits now. One of my favorite sayings is: “It’s never wrong to take a profit.”

One particular stock I’d like to note is RAS. I think that stock, at under $2, looks like a steal. Hopefully, RAS will be able to continue to negotiate down it’s debt obligations and book gains on the early extinguishment of debt. When the real estate market starts to show signs of life, I believe RAS is going to be a really big winner. They just need to hang in there until the real estate market gets a footing. I definitely think RAS is one of those high-risk, high-reward kind of stocks.

Well, that’s it for now. Happy trading and as always, do your own due diligence!