Selling STLD and Buying back VGR

I am taking my gains from Steele Dynamics as it has crossed my target price.

I am getting back into VGR with the pull back that happened yesterday ... this stock has great yield.

Adding 5 stocks for the long term

Adding the following stocks for long term growth:

The Shaw Group - SGR
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. - FCX
ConocoPhilips - COP
Raytheon - RTN
VMWare - VMW
Hudson City Bankorp - HCBK


I think all these stocks have great growth prospects and with the recent pull back, this is a great time to buy

Selling YHOO

Yahoo has had a good run ... I am taking my profits and moving on. With Google heading for new dizzying heights I am nervous about Yahoo's return in the short term.

Selling Frontier Oil Corporation

Having gone past my target price of $40 by a loooong margin. I sold FTO today for a gain of over 37%.

Adding Citigroup

Now looks like a great time to buy Citigroup. Stock is near its 52 week low - pays a dividend of 4.6% and Citigroup isnt going away anytime soon with a market cap of 233B :)

Selling Maxwell Technologies

The stock has jumped back up over 35% so i am selling and taking my gains.

Adding Maxwell Technologies

Maxwell has lost over 15% value in the last week itself. I am adding it to my portfolio with a target price of $17

Adding FTO and Selling UNFI

Here is what Jubak says ... and I agree.
Refining margins continue to soar which should generate a huge cash flow at Frontier Oil (FTO). At the end of the first quarter the company's cash balance was $455 million, more than twice the level of the same quarter in 2006. But it's the future opportunities that the company has to put that current cash to work that I find most attractive at a time when the oil industry as a whole is struggling to find a place to reinvest its profits. The company expanded capital spending by 67% in the first quarter to add capacity to its existing Kansas and Wyoming refineries. In addition, Frontier Oil kicked off 2007 by buying a small ethanol blender giving the company added capacity in that growing market. The long-term future is even more interesting: As more oil flows south from Alberta's oil sands, the Rocky Mountain West will go from being a refining backwater to one of the most promising opportunities for expansion in the industry. Since Jubak added the shares of Frontier Oil to Jubak's Picks with a target price of $57 a share by March 2008, the stock is down by over 25% and is an excellent time to get in.

I am taking my gains with UNFI and moving on ... the recent sell off has created a lot of opportunity to buy and hold.

Adding Yahoo

The company has strong brand and is THE portal for the world's internet users. They'll always be around and they'll learn how to make more and more money off the net and it's users in good time.

Buying Bebe

Considering this stock has lost almost 17% in the last 6 months and summer = shopping for women :) ... I have added this to my portfolio as of Friday

Goldcorp Inc

I am selling Goldcorp and taking my 10% gain

Five Ways to Keep Inflation at Bay

Here is an interesting article from Businessweek that I am just summarizing here.

Five ways that investors can protect their portfolios from the harmful effects of inflation are:

1. Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities
Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities, or TIPS, were created in 1997 to enable investors to avoid having the real returns on their bonds eroded by rising inflation and interest-rate levels. The coupon on the bonds is fixed, but investors get an extra kick: The principal amount on TIPS is increased periodically to keep pace with changes in the Consumer Price Index, or CPI. Its interest payment is calculated on the inflated principal, which is eventually repaid at maturity. The yield to maturity on the the 10-year TIPS is 2.71%.

2. TIPS Bond Funds

One disadvantage of owning TIPS individually is that investors are taxed on any increase in principal as if they were receiving it today, even though they won't realize that income until the bond matures, says Matthew Tucker, who heads the investment solutions group at Barclays Global Investors. Investing in bond funds allows people to receive their income in the same tax period in which they're being taxed on it.

3. Laddering Bonds

Apart from TIPS, if you're investing in individual bonds and have some concerns about inflation, the recommendation is to stay short in duration. One way to do that is to buy what's called a "ladder" of individual bonds that mature at different intervals over time.

4. Commodity-based Stocks and Funds

Investors can also hedge inflation by betting on stocks of companies that hold reserves of commodities whose prices you believe will continue to rise.

5. Closed-end Funds

There are also several closed-end funds whose primary objective is to maximize income and capital appreciation over time.


I personally prefer would prefer commodity-based stocks although if I can achieve a 10% return over 12-18 month horizon, I dont see how inflation would affect me so long as I reinvest the gains.

Added Bronco Drilling Company to the portfolio

This stock just lost 12.5% in a day because of flat earnings in Q1. This is an excellent time to get in with a target price of $19

Stocks to keep an eye out for... (Motorola, Infosys)

Motorola (MOT) looks like a good buy right now ... this stock has dropeed over 30% in price from a high of $26.30 from October last year. A major factor on where this stock goes will be today's election of Carl Icahn the billionaire who has a stake of 2.9%. Speculations are that if he doenst win then Motorola's price could be fall to as low as $13. If that does happen, that presents a great buying opportunity.

Another stock that I am tracking at the moment is Infosys (INFY). The outlook looks good for the rest of the year, they just posted a revenue surge of 70% and most importantly, this company has a solid management. I am tracking this stock to find a good time to buy it.

My Portfolio proforma

Here is the current state of my investment portfolio. My intention is to invest $1000 / month over the next year to build a diversified portfolio. I am using Scottrade as my online portal which charges me $7/trade ... I am researching Zecco which is supposed to be free for upto 40 trades a month.


You can find my current portfolio here


Please feel free to recommend any stocks that I should be looking into.