For 2004, Mechanical Investing yielded a 37.2% return for 2004 for me. I’m going to continue following the SOS_Ancer screen primarily. Stock picks for Dec 31, 2004 can be found on the Motley Fool Mechanical Investing board, but I’m pretty sure it’s subscription only to read it.
Holding for another month:
| Ticker | Bought | Now | Return | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AKS | $9.46 | $13.81 | +46.0% | AK Steel Holdings. I sold about 20% of these shares today to rebalance my portfolio a little. |
| AAPL | $52.69 | $63.30 | +20.1% | Apple Computer, off a little since last month. |
| IM | $18.84 | $20.30 | +7.7% | Ingram Micro. |
| LDG | $25.58 | $26.92 | +5.2% | Long Drug Stores Corp. |
| NAFC | $28.34 | $37.78 | +33.3% | Nash Finch Company. I’ve held this since August and it’s paid dividends twice on top of the great gains so far. |
| NVR | $630.50 | $742.95 | +17.8% | NVR Inc. Looking good. |
| .BGUFF | $3.70 | $7.2 | +94.6% | BMHC (June 05 30) to be sold January 31. I like it when options double. 🙂 |
| .CAIFN | $4.10 | $4.20 | +2.4% | CAI (June 05 70), will sell in March. |
| .SWNFJ | $4.10 | $4.90 | +19.5% | SWN (June 05 50). This was a double, but it’s given the gains back. Oh well. I’ll sell this one January 31. |
| .TXUGN | $2.85 | $2.20 | -22.8% | TXU Energy (July 05 70), will sell in March. Ouch. |
Selling these:
| Ticker | Bought | Sold | Return | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BZH | $123.34 | $145.43 | +17.9% | Beazer Homes. Again. Can’t complain about an 18% return in one month, but the screen tells me it’s time to sell. |
| CCK | $9.58 | $12.20 | +45.9% | Crown Holdings Inc. One of my better picks, almost 46% after 4 months. |
| GLBL | $8.46 | $8.03 | -5.1% | Global Industries. Yuck. |
| ISSX | $24.30 | $22.83 | -6.0% | Internet Security Systems, Inc. Yuck. |
| MACR | $27.25 | $28.12 | +3.2% | Macromedia, Inc. |
| OSG | $64.39 | $52.36 | -18.7% | Overseas Shipholding Group. Ouch! Make it stop! |
| .LSSEH | $5.40 | $0.90 | -83.3% | Lone Star Technologies (May 05 40). Sometimes options are a total loss. Ouch. |
| .UICCH | $1.35 | $1.50 | +11.1% | United Industrial Corp (March 05 40). This was a double last month, but it gave back most of its gains before I sold it. |
New stocks for this month:
| Ticker | Bought | Sold | Return | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ALOY | $7.71 | $N/A | N/A% | Media and Marketing for Generation Y. I think I just bought a junk mail company. |
| CMC | $49.93 | $N/A | N/A% | Commercial Metals Company. Steel fabrication and recycling. |
| CPRT | $25.92 | $N/A | N/A% | Copart, Inc, vehicle salvage. I suspect this has something to do with tax changes and I won’t hold it long. |
| PCCC | $9.80 | $N/A | N/A% | PC Connection, Inc. |
| THO | $36.50 | $N/A | N/A% | Thor Industries, recration vehicles. |
| WLT | $33.45 | $N/A | N/A% | Walter Industries. Huh. I guess Uncle Walter finally bought a company. 😛 |
New options for this month:
| Ticker | Bought | Sold | Return | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| .ADQGH | $3.10 | $N/A | N/A% | ADSK (July 05 40), will sell in April. |
| .CQRFI | $2.80 | $N/A | N/A% | CREE (June 05 45), will sell in April. |
Next trade will be January 31.
Chasing the Wind 
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