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Well, they continue to surprise a bit, you'd have thought with all the economic woes wherever you look there would only be downside
Well, they continue to surprise a bit, you'd have thought with all the economic woes whereever you look there would only be downside.
However markets have held up remarkably well although volatility means on a single day the FTSE could easily trade in a 150 pt range.
Indeed for now they hold up so well (while not exactly going up either) that one wonders whether looking forwards perhaps it is felt the current malaise could actually end at some point next year?
Anyway I know nothing about economics or currencies or anything else! But everytime they tank and they look like they are about to collapse buying comes in and they stop falling.
Old Merv, head cheese of the Bank of England was as gloomy as ever this morning and looked totally knackered. Maybe he'll join the head of Lloyds and disappear on sick leave through stress..
But I do know the portfolio has been doing rather well in the last week.
As many of you know my policy is always to "average up" not "average down"
Averaging down of course means buying another load of whatever crap you bought in the first place hoping desperately if it now goes up a bit you'll at least break even.
Of course what then happens is it goes down some more so you just end up with a load more crap and an even bigger loser. (Then it goes down some more and you buy some more and lose more money then it goes down some more and.......)
Indeed one company last week even told shareholders "actually the shares aren't really worth anything"!
I prefer buying more of something I already bought lower down. I believe most investors just can't do it. Psychologically it's very difficult.
Of course it doesn't always work but when it does it pays off in spades and that's where you can make the big money.
Anyway a long ramble just to say I bought some more Avon Rubber (LON:AVON) (Not to be confused with Avon calling)
I know some of you get excited by the word "rubber", try to calm down.. I won't judge you but I can't say it does anything for me...
However the shares are in great form and I added some more at 303 to top up the ones I bought much lower down in the low 200s. Avon is supplying the US Government with, ahem, rubber masks. If you see government officials on dodgy websites wearing them then that's where they got them from!
Some very good buying is going on and if this carries on a new 350-400 range could be on the way giving 10-20% upside fromn current levels.
I made quite a bit of money on oiler Afren (LON:AFR) in the past. Those of you who get the sipp mail know I bought this for the sipp last time, well, I also bought some for the Isa and a spreadbet too. I got 5,000 at 77.45. I also collected some on a spreadbet at 78.
This one got hit by political worries as it operates in a politically sensitive area. However these downside risks looked to be overdone and I went in - they are currently looking very strong and any rise over 100 will be very bullish with 120 then on the cards though I would be tempted to bank profits at that level.
So despite the market vagaries I'm still happy to pick up some shares though I remain a very cautious buyer for the moment given any minute some politician could say/do something to send tremors through the market once again.
I stupidly missed the 790 available on Supergroup (LON:SGP) and ended up with a massive 100 points lower taking £900 profit instead of £1,900 profit. Silly really, I still don't know why I didn't bag the profit earlier.
Although not half as bad as the Blinkx (LON:BLNX) short where I took a profit of £320 exiting at 338 when today I could get out at 98 for a profit of £1,120. This is so annoying as I felt Blinkx was my big short of this winter trading on 120X profit. Never mind. It's just too easy to snatch a profit too quickly or miss 100 pts of profit. However that is the market for you and perhaps a reason why to me it always remains fascinating.
So although I took some profits, if I had played these two much better, profits would have been early £2,000 more.
Portfolio highlights:
Biggest three winners in the portfolio are: (rough profits!)
1. Telecom Plus (LON:TEP) profit £92,000
2. Dialight (LON:DIA) profit £43,000
3. Microgen (LON:MCGN) profit £27,000
(which doesn't include thousands of pounds worth of dividends from all three!).
The common bit between them? Net cash, growing profits and dividends.
Well, highlights aplenty - the portfolio has been going very well indeed.
And plenty of my companies have reported with the best news being no stinkers!!
My favourite was Entertainment One (LON:ETO). It produced a corker of a report. I actually think a bid is now in this one for next to nothing! To me the shares are pretty much worth 2 quid each without a bid and I would now imagine any bidder would have to pay nearer three pounds than 250.
Everything is going well, Peppa Pig is conquering America. (Christopher is too old for it now thank goodness I don't think I could honestly have managed one more episode without hurling the TV out of the window). The "Strategic review" continues which in effect means how much do you want to bid for the company. And even if there is no bid the price won't go down much so this one has been a win win and very happy to have more than doubled my money here.
Eros (LON:EROS) also reported and it looks fine here too, similar business to ETO though a specialist in the Indian market.. It has been a big star and has had another good week yielding profit of well over £1,000 and already reaching and beating my target. However as I like holding onto winners I've held on here for what looks like more to come. Early profit takers took it down but it was soon taken back up again.
The brilliant Coastal Energy (LON:CEO) reported today - and another magnificent report with upgrades all over the place and now pretty much a doubler for me and a pretty fast douber too! Glad I topped up last week. This good news story just keeps getting better and better...
Long-term superstar Dialight (LON:DIA) also reported. All very sensible there and it is in a rapidly growing market. Much is in the price admittedly but with patience there is a tenner to come. Well, I have been patient all the way from 150p to 750 and as those of you who have to my seminars have seen from my accounts my profits in real life are something like £70,000. For the website profits are more than £40,000 - and of course there have been dividends on top.
Gulf Keystone (LON:GKP) posted an upgrade last week and that has helped the share price to leap a lot higher and now sitting on some excellent profits there.
Kentz (LON:KENZ) has posted two new contract wins. A statement is due Friday, I guess there are worries about it as peer Cape (LON:CIU) reported tighening margins, but I think Kentz is a different type of company with piles of cash. But there is a little question mark there. A ton of profit built up in that one.
Microgen (LON:MCGN) went ex dividend for the special 5p dividend without doing any real damage to the share price. Profits on this one over £25,000.
Telecom Plus (LON:TEP) continues to be a shining star and my biggest ever winner. I suspect it will buzz around 7 quid till the next re-rating but in the meantime happy to have the whopping dividends and it remains a fabulous long-term play Total profits here are well in excess of £90,000 and way more than that personally - plus all those lovely dividends. I would think these would be trading at a tenner within about a year.
The shorts continue to shine: Ocado (LON:OCDO) continues to gradually drift down: I keep wondering whether to bank the rest of the Ocado short as there is a profit there of more nearly £4,000 It doesn't go up much with the main market but wonder if I am being too greedy expecting any further falls.
The Carpetright (LON:CPR) short! It's nearly £2,000 in profit and sticking with it as I think there is further downside with this one. I don't know anyone who goes anywhere near Carpetright!
Capital Drilling (LON:CAPD) produced a very confident report last week and the shares went up a bit. I'll continue with them as long-term hold that could come very good.
I tend to forget about little LOQ (LON:LOQ) but it has made me some very super profits and indeed I haven't looked at it for months except noted the share price stays strong. Last week it announced a smartphone trial which could prove very promising indeed. The share price is rising nicely again and it could surprise some more to the upside so I'm staying in there!
CML had a very nice rise yesterday, results are next week. Perhaps there is some good news on the way though it needs to break the stubborn 230 resistance area.
Little MS International (LON:MSI) creeps a little higher every day, half year results due next week, I wonder whether they will surprise to the upside? I had another look at them today, they look cheap still and they have a whole heap of cash.
