Mechanical Investing for April 2006

April 3, 2006

Mechanical Investing for April 2006

No complaints this month on the Mechanical Investing side. Nothing spectacular, nothing traumatic, but I’m falling a little behind the market as a whole.

Last 4 weeks: +1.5%
Last 3 months: +1.3%
Year to date: +1.3% (Dow is +4.7% ytd from 10,718)
Last 12 months:+1.8%

Holding for another month:

Ticker	Bought	Now	Months	Return
AH	$58.86	$59.95	1	+1.9%	Armor Holdings. Hot dogs, maybe?
BAC	$45.98	$46.01	1	0.00%	Bank of America Corp. Hey, I own a bank.
FDG	$41.01	$37.79	1	-7.9%	Fording Canadian Coal Trust.
IM	$19.77	$20.00	3	+1.2%	Ingram Micro Inc.
SPY	$128.58	$130.59	2	+1.6%	SPDRs.
TEN	$23.33	$21.48	1	-7.9%	Tenneco, Inc.
UNTD	$14.69	$12.99	3	-11.6%	United Online Inc. Ouch. I can’t fathom why the screens say to keep this one.

Selling these:

Ticker	Bought	Sold	Months	Return
CRDN	$46.15	$49.74	4	+7.8%	Ceradyne, Inc. Still a nice return, but was +28% a month ago.
FHN	$38.75	$41.84	5	+8.0%	First Horizon National Corp.
OATS	$17.75	$19.01	1	7.1%	Wild Oats Markets, Inc. Look, I’m done sowing my wild oats.
PBR	$89.57	$89.50	1	0.00%	Petroleo Brasileiro.
TLAB	$15.15	$15.92	1	+5.1%	Tellabs, Inc.
WM	$38.54	$42.76	6	+10.9%	Washington Mutual. Aw, I liked this one.

New stocks for this month:

Ticker	Bought	Sold	Return
CMA	$59.03	$N/A	N/A%	Comerica Inc. Look, I own another bank.
CMC	$54.51	$N/A	N/A%	Commercial Metals Company.
EMKR	$10.18	$N/A	N/A%	Emcore Corp. From the “Screamers” mechanical list.
HCC	$34.24	$N/A	N/A%	HCC Insurance Holdings.
HOC	$76.45	$N/A	N/A%	Holly Corp. Sold this last December at 58.35. I’m noticing a pattern of doing this.
JDSU	$4.11	$N/A	N/A%	JDS Uniphase. I think I sold this last in, oh, 1999, for like $160. It’s fallen a long way.

The next trade will be May 1st.

Rate this:

Finances

Bank, IRS, Washington

Posted by:

Michael

Follower of Jesus, conservative, freedom-loving patriot.

About Me

Michael, a sinner saved by grace, sharing what the good Lord has shared with me.

Solomon, in the book of Ecclesiastes, said, “I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.”

If you’re not living for the glory of God, then what you’re doing is meaningless, no matter what it is. Living for God gives life meaning, and enjoying a “chasing after the wind” is a gift from God. I’m doing what I can to enjoy this gift daily.

Got questions? I’m not surprised. If you have any questions about Chasing the Wind, you can email me at chasingthewind@outlook.com.

Chasing the Wind