I have been pretty leveraged the last 6 months. Start-ups, angel and venture investing and stocks. Impossible to avoid stocks with all the new all-time-highs the last 6 momths.
I remain very bullish on things that I control and private investments, but am going to seize the amazing stock market run of the last 5-6 months and book some more profits. I do not short stocks, so the only hedging I do is with cash and I am currently leveraged in my stock portion of my fund.
I already said goodbye to RIMM last week. Four stocks I will sell portions of this week are RENT, EWM, PFWD, MFW.
Back in May I added RENT, EWM and PFWD. All three have been nice winners. I would like to wait until 2007, but I don’t let tax decisions stop me from booking profits. I am sure this is another reason I remain a thousandairre.
MFW was a very recent purchase (December 14th). I also added back Smith and Wesson in the low $10’s, but MFW has shot straight up 25 plus percent and I will sell half my position.
Despite all the selling I am going to do, I can’t resist a small trade here in Apple down at $82 (from $93 a few weeks back). Hey – it’s Apple :) .
HL-
Even I’ve added to my long term AAPL holdings at 82.
Furthermore If you go back and look at AAPL’s trading pattern you will notice it usually sells off before its about to report earnings.
I’ve traded 6 AAPL earnings, and if my memory serves me right, 5/6 of them some analyst has come out saying AAPL can’t sustain the edge, yet each time it kicks ass.
Even though AAPL is my key holding I would prefer if it didn’t release the iPhone next month. Why? It will result in a shake-out. All those investors who got in for the announcement will dump the stock and people who really understand AAPL will get to scoop it for discount prices.
Either way it pays to be positioned. If you bought it before 70 hold on to it- if you bought it after its always good to hedge a little (do a long straddle- buy calls/puts 3 months out). If you’re looking to buy, position yourself with a 25-30% stake in it now, if it drops you get to buy a majority of your position at a cheaper price and if it releases the iPhone you won’t miss out.
By the way HL- weather in t.dot is just awesome! I hope you visit in Jan.