Investors & Friends:
Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.
Option Strategies - Naked Puts
1) Adobe Systems Inc (Nasdaq: ADBE) - We sold April $15.00 puts. On Wednesday Adobe was down 21% resulting from its guidance for the fourth quarter. Adobe is a company with a wide moat, i.e., a durable competitive advantage versus its peers in the software industry, graphic design niche. Its Great Recession low was $15.70 on 2/23/09.
Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending September 24, 2010.
Click here for upcoming IPOs.
Lead Fund Manager
Investrio
Etcetera
1) "I always keep some stalwarts in my portfolio, because they offer pretty good protection during recessions and hard times. In general, Bristol-Myers and Kellogg, Coca-Cola and MMM, Ralston Purina and Procter and Gamble, are good friends in a crisis. You know they won't go bankrupt, and soon enough they will be reassessed and their value will be restored." -- Peter Lynch
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Investors & Friends:
Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.
Option Strategies - Naked Puts
1) Intel Corp (Nasdaq: INTC) - Our October calls reached 80+% of their maximum value, so we closed them out.
The date we opened the trade was 3/10/10.
Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending September 17, 2010.
Click here for upcoming IPOs.
Lead Fund Manager
Investrio
Etcetera
1) "No wonder people lose money in the stock market. They spend more time shopping for a good microwave oven than shopping for a good investment." --Peter Lynch
2) "It's far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price." --Warren Buffett
Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.
Option Strategies - Naked Puts
1) Intel Corp (Nasdaq: INTC) - Our October calls reached 80+% of their maximum value, so we closed them out.
The date we opened the trade was 3/10/10.
Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending September 17, 2010.
Click here for upcoming IPOs.
Lead Fund Manager
Investrio
Etcetera
1) "No wonder people lose money in the stock market. They spend more time shopping for a good microwave oven than shopping for a good investment." --Peter Lynch
2) "It's far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price." --Warren Buffett
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Investors & Friends:
Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.
Bonds & Fixed Income
1) We sold our Pension Obligation Bonds (POBs), issued by the Pennsylvania Authority for Industrial Development, on 9/2 @ 66.00 for a 12.1% gain. Our original intent was to hold the bonds to maturity, in 2017, and collect the 6.97% yield. However, the price of the bond appreciated 12% in just a year. We feel it would be foolish to forgo the profit or hold out for a higher price given the possibility a bubble exists in the bond market.
Return calculation = ($66.00 sale price - $58.875 cost basis) / $58.875 cost basis x 100% = 12.1%.
The date we opened the trade was 7/21/09.
Option Strategies - Naked Puts
2) Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE: BRK/B) - We sold Jan '12 $35.00 puts.
3) iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (NYSE: VXX) - We sold Jan '12 $13.00 puts.
Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending September 10, 2010.
Click here for upcoming IPOs.
Lead Fund Manager
Investrio
Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.
Bonds & Fixed Income
1) We sold our Pension Obligation Bonds (POBs), issued by the Pennsylvania Authority for Industrial Development, on 9/2 @ 66.00 for a 12.1% gain. Our original intent was to hold the bonds to maturity, in 2017, and collect the 6.97% yield. However, the price of the bond appreciated 12% in just a year. We feel it would be foolish to forgo the profit or hold out for a higher price given the possibility a bubble exists in the bond market.
Return calculation = ($66.00 sale price - $58.875 cost basis) / $58.875 cost basis x 100% = 12.1%.
The date we opened the trade was 7/21/09.
Option Strategies - Naked Puts
2) Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE: BRK/B) - We sold Jan '12 $35.00 puts.
3) iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (NYSE: VXX) - We sold Jan '12 $13.00 puts.
Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending September 10, 2010.
Click here for upcoming IPOs.
Lead Fund Manager
Investrio
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Investors & Friends:
Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.
Option Strategies - Covered Calls
1) Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) - Our Jan '12 calls reached 80+% of their maximum value, so we closed them out.
The date we opened the trade was 3/8/10.
Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending September 3, 2010.
Click here for upcoming IPOs.
Lead Fund Manager
Investrio
Etcetera
1) Illinois has shouldered to the fore, as its dysfunctional political class refuses to pay the state's bills and refuses to take the painful steps to close a deficit of at least $12 billion, equal to nearly half the state's budget. Then there is the spectacularly mismanaged pension system, which is at least 50 percent underfunded and, analysts warn, could push Illinois into insolvency if the economy fails to pick up... Every major rating agency has downgraded the state; Illinois now pays millions of dollars more to insure its debt than any other state in the nation. "Their pension is the most underfunded in the nation," said Karen S. Krop, a senior director at Fitch Ratings... The state pension system is a money sinkhole and the most immediate threat. Illinois reports that it has $62.4 billion in unfunded pension liabilities... Many analysts, liberal and conservative, warn of a Greece by Lake Michigan. Borrowing costs are rising and the state's unpaid bills balloon each month.
-- Michael Powell, NY Times
2) Diageo, the maker of Johnnie Walker whisky, found an innovative way to plug its gaping pension hole: handing over two million barrels of maturing whisky from its distilleries in Scotland. Diageo said Thursday that it would transfer ownership of £430 million ($645 million) worth of whisky to a pension financing partnership. Diageo employees will not receive their pensions in whisky rather than cash, but they will have a guarantee that they will not walk away empty-handed should the company default. "A pension funding partnership will be formed, which will hold maturing whisky spirit as assets," Diageo, which also makes Guinness stout and Smirnoff vodka, said in a statement. As part of the deal, Diageo agreed to pay the pension partnership £25 million a year as it sells the recently distilled whisky once it matures after three years and replaces it with new stock. The agreement will expire after 15 years at which point Diageo will buy back the whisky. "We're seeing a huge growth in the use of noncash funding," Marc Hommel, leader of the pensions practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers in London, said. "There are big pension deficits and sponsors are cash-strapped. These mechanisms provide security for the pension plans in exchange for less cash." Diageo's pension deficit was £862 million at the beginning of April.
-- Julia Werdigier, NY Times
Here's a summary of our investment actions from the past week.
Option Strategies - Covered Calls
1) Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) - Our Jan '12 calls reached 80+% of their maximum value, so we closed them out.
The date we opened the trade was 3/8/10.
Click here for the Investrio Stock Selector Fund Bull and Bear Market Indicators Report for the week ending September 3, 2010.
Click here for upcoming IPOs.
Lead Fund Manager
Investrio
Etcetera
1) Illinois has shouldered to the fore, as its dysfunctional political class refuses to pay the state's bills and refuses to take the painful steps to close a deficit of at least $12 billion, equal to nearly half the state's budget. Then there is the spectacularly mismanaged pension system, which is at least 50 percent underfunded and, analysts warn, could push Illinois into insolvency if the economy fails to pick up... Every major rating agency has downgraded the state; Illinois now pays millions of dollars more to insure its debt than any other state in the nation. "Their pension is the most underfunded in the nation," said Karen S. Krop, a senior director at Fitch Ratings... The state pension system is a money sinkhole and the most immediate threat. Illinois reports that it has $62.4 billion in unfunded pension liabilities... Many analysts, liberal and conservative, warn of a Greece by Lake Michigan. Borrowing costs are rising and the state's unpaid bills balloon each month.
-- Michael Powell, NY Times
2) Diageo, the maker of Johnnie Walker whisky, found an innovative way to plug its gaping pension hole: handing over two million barrels of maturing whisky from its distilleries in Scotland. Diageo said Thursday that it would transfer ownership of £430 million ($645 million) worth of whisky to a pension financing partnership. Diageo employees will not receive their pensions in whisky rather than cash, but they will have a guarantee that they will not walk away empty-handed should the company default. "A pension funding partnership will be formed, which will hold maturing whisky spirit as assets," Diageo, which also makes Guinness stout and Smirnoff vodka, said in a statement. As part of the deal, Diageo agreed to pay the pension partnership £25 million a year as it sells the recently distilled whisky once it matures after three years and replaces it with new stock. The agreement will expire after 15 years at which point Diageo will buy back the whisky. "We're seeing a huge growth in the use of noncash funding," Marc Hommel, leader of the pensions practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers in London, said. "There are big pension deficits and sponsors are cash-strapped. These mechanisms provide security for the pension plans in exchange for less cash." Diageo's pension deficit was £862 million at the beginning of April.
-- Julia Werdigier, NY Times
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