Portfolio update - 2023 June 19

My top (>2%) positions in no particular order: BRKB, GOOGL, META, AAPL, RILY
In: 
Out:

Fixed income: 2%
Cash: 3%

Sectors (kinda): Insurance (BRK): 14%, Malone/media: 1%, Banks/financials: 8%, Stock funds: 4%, Industrial: 0%, Consumer: 3%, Medical/pharma: 2%, Tech: 47%, Various owner-operators (not included in other categories): 2%

New positions: SCHW, CSL,
Positions increased: RILY, THRY, ZS, ABNB, RILYP, RILYT, LMGIF, EXPE, V, NOW, LVO, LYV, KARO, FTNT, FOUR, RNG, TSM, PANW, INTU, SPLK, CRWD, THQQF,
Positions reduced: META, MTCH, VMW,
Positions eliminated: IRBT, COF, ETSY, VMEO, FNKO, WFC-PL, BAC-PL, TRTN-PD, OTCM, ZIP, OPRX, ATVI, PUBM, AYRWF, GNL-PA, GNL-PB, INN-PE, MGNI,
Flip-flop: FRC, FRC-PN, FRC-PJ, WAL, VBNK,

Fixed income: Added to RILYP and RILYT as they dropped, sold a bit of RILYP as it recovered. Sold most of my preferred shares WFC-PL, BAC-PL, TRTN-PD, GNL-PA, GNL-PB. I was not sure if the yields were sufficiently high for risks taken.

Traded some banking stocks: FRC, FRC-PN, FRC-PJ, WAL resulting in some losses. Also traded VBNK and sold COF. Bought and holding SCHW. Added and holding RILY, V, FOUR, 

Bought CSL on valuation.

Added to THRY, ZS, ABNB, LMGIF, EXPE, NOW, LVO, LYV, KARO, FTNT, RNG, TSM, PANW, INTU, SPLK, CRWD, THQQF on valuation and attractive expectations.

Sold some META for position sizing.

Sold VMW on price runup.

Sold MTCH, IRBT, ETSY, VMEO, FNKO, OTCM, ZIP, OPRX, ATVI, PUBM, AYRWF, MGNI mostly because of uncertain prospects. Some of these may have lowish valuations and the sale might not have been the best choice.

Portfolio update - 2023 March 05

My top (>2%) positions in no particular order: BRKB, GOOGL, META, AAPL, RILY
In: 
Out:

Fixed income: 3%
Cash: 3%

Sectors (kinda): Insurance (BRK): 14%, Malone/media: 0%, Banks/financials: 9%, Stock funds: 4%, Industrial: 0%, Consumer: 3%, Medical/pharma: 2%, Tech: 44%, Various owner-operators (not included in other categories): 2%

New positions: ZS, LYV, SWAV,
Positions increased: THRY, PANW, CRWD, GOOGL, DDOG, VRTX, KARO, FTNT, RILY, RILYP, PYPL, EXPE, ABNB,
Positions reduced: META,
Positions eliminated: MCO, APPS, APO, PX, FVRR,
Flip-flop:

Fixed income: Added to RILYP when it dropped due to short seller's report on RILY.

Sold MCO, APPS, APO, PX, FVRR mostly for portfolio cleanup.

Sold a bit of META on the stock runup to $18Xs.

Bought and added stocks that seemed to be trading at attractive prices.

Portfolio update - 2023 January 2

My top (>2%) positions in no particular order: BRKB, GOOGL, META, AAPL, RILY
In: RILY - bought
Out: PSHZF - sold

Fixed income: 2%
Cash: 8%

Sectors (kinda): Insurance (BRK): 15%, Malone/media: 0%, Banks/financials: 8%, Stock funds: 4%, Industrial: 0%, Consumer: 1%, Medical/pharma: 2%, Tech: 41%, Various owner-operators (not included in other categories): 2%

New positions: TREX, SDIIF, RNG, VCSA, INN-E, GNL-B, GNL-A, RILYP, COF, TSM, FTNT, FOUR, CELH,
Positions increased: PX, TTD, GOOGL, ZM, INTU, CRM, VEEV, DOCU, SHOP, MRNA, CURN, DFAU, IWF, META, RILY, ADBE, VMEO, U, MGNI, NOW, SCPPF, KARO, APPS, AYRWF, IVSBF, HLFFF, TEAM, THRY, LRCX, DOCS, PANW, AMD, DDOG, ABNB, AMZN, YELP, CRWD, FNKO, WDAY, ETHE, PUBM, PAGS, EXPE, GBTC, CNSWF, V, SSTWS, VRTX, TDOC,
Positions reduced: COIN, KNBE, COUP, RVPHW, VMW, PINS, ATVI, ETSY, MTCH,
Positions eliminated: XP, ATY, RMD, TWTR, POSH, STNE, PSHZF, MLSPF, IAC, TER, CHGG, OTMOW, HZONWS, WEJOW, SHCRW, KPLTW, BGRYW, OUSTWS, TTWO, 
Flip-flop: FVRR

Fixed income: I invested in several fixed income securities, including INN-E, GNL-A, GNL-B, and RILYP, which had yields of 8-9%.

Merger arbitrage: I had good results with TWTR. I bought and later sold VMW as the prices increased. I bought COUP before the buyout announcement and sold it afterward. I sold my position in KNBE after the buyout announcement. I gave up on ATVI and sold most of my shares. I also bought some IRBT.

Crypto: I added some ETHE and GBTC to my portfolio as the value of cryptocurrency dropped.

I sold some stocks and reduced my positions in others due to uncertainty about future growth and performance.

I initiated tracking positions for TREX and SDIIF.

I bought stocks that I believed were attractively valued. However, many of these stocks continued to decline after I purchased them.

2022 returns: My actively invested accounts had a return of -31% in 2022. This could have been better if I had invested in the SP500 instead. $IWF had a return of approximately -30.5%, so that would not have performed better. Although considering that I had some cash, $IWF probably would still have done better.
$META at -65% and $GOOGL at -40% definitely did not help. These stocks made up a significant portion of my portfolio and contributed to the negative returns. $AAPL at -27% or so, performed somewhat similarly to my portfolio.

My returns overall:
Comparisons with SP500 are approximate, since SP500 calculator does not have December 2022 data yet.
Earliest to date: 8% annual vs ~9.3% SP500
Last 10 year return: 6.92% annual investment accounts, 6.87% active accounts vs ~12.4% SP500
Last 5 year return: 4.62% annual investment accounts, 3.69% active accounts vs ~9% SP500
Last 3 year return: 3.34% annual investment accounts, 0.85% active accounts vs ~8% SP500

Portfolio update - 2022 August 7

My top (>2%) positions in no particular order: BRKB, GOOG, META, PSHZF, AAPL
In:
Out:

Fixed income: 2%
Cash: 8%

Sectors (kinda): Insurance (BRK): 13%, Malone/media: 0%, Banks/financials: 7%, Stock funds: 9%, Industrial: 0%, Consumer: 1%, Medical/pharma: 2%, Tech: 38%, Various owner-operators (not included in other categories): 3%

New positions: DDOG, OPRX, DOCS, PANW, THQQF, SNOW, APO, COUP, ATVI,
Positions increased: NOW, THRY, XP, YELP, RBLX, MELI, CNNE, U, XBI, TTD, CPNG, MTCH, PX, PSHZF, ABNB, SHOP, GOOGL, INTU, DOCU, PUBM, AMZN, ETHE, JTKWY, RILY, KNBE, IWF, KARO
Positions reduced: VMW, ZEN
Positions eliminated: ADCOF, COST, PSTH
Flip-flop: ETSY, COIN, IAC, TWTR, ALGN, META, PINS, STNE

With large price swings, I bought and sold a lot. Not always in the best way. No significant changes in top positions.

Practically no action in the fixed income category. 

Sold PSTH without waiting for SPARs.

Lots of M&A activity. Sold most of positions in VMW and ZEN. Some flip flop with TWTR, mostly not profitable yet. Bought a position in ATVI. ATVI results are not good, so the stock may drop a lot if MSFT acquisition is not approved.

Sold ADCOF on bad results. Sold tiny position in COST.

Flip-flops were mostly in selling direction. Apart from META, I have way smaller positions in ETSY, COIN, IAC, PINS, STNE now. Selling in bear market is likely a mistake though. For example, COIN has now ran up way higher than where I sold it. I bought and then sold ALGN after they reported results.

Practically all purchases were based on attractive prices or adding on price drops. June reports from these companies have been mixed. Some are more attractive now, some are less, some have not reported yet.

THRY seems to be executing well. YELP too. MELI continues high growth. I liked ABNB report. KARO is growing well.

MTCH has some issues with Tinder business unit. I'm not particularly excited about new MTCH CEO, but planning to hold for now. I think they can do well.

Portfolio update - 2022 May 1

My top (>2%) positions in no particular order: BRKB, FB, GOOG, PSHZF, AAPL,
In:
Out:

Fixed income: 6%
Cash: 4%

Sectors (kinda): Insurance (BRK): 15%, Malone/media: 0%, Banks/financials: 7%, Stock funds: 12%, Industrial: 0%, Consumer: 1%, Medical/pharma: 2%, Tech: 38%, Various owner-operators (not included in other categories): 3%

New positions: FNKO, ASML, PX, LRCX
Positions increased: STNE, PINS, VEEV, MELI, COIN, CPNG, FB, DOCU, XBI, AMZN, RBLX, EXPI, GOOGL, RILY, ZM, TER, MRNA, SHOP, PAGS, TDOC, PUBM, CRM, BMBL, PSHZF, HLFFF, OTCM, FVRR, MGNI, THRY, ZIP, CURN, ETSY, MTCH, JTKWY,
Positions reduced: TTWO, MCO, TRRSF, COST, YELP, EXPE, TWTR
Positions eliminated: EAGRF, KD, NWINF, ZNGA, IBM, FICO, PLTK, BABA, BIOX, TCEHY, RDBBY, REGN, CRCT, FFXDF
Flip-flop:

Out of all the stocks growth or "value" (I don't hold many value stocks), the only three stocks that held up so far are BRKB, VRTX and V. Also PSTH, but that's pretty much cash equivalent. Crypto did not do well. Good funds did not do well. Most holding companies apart from BRKB did not do well.

Sold stocks due to lack of growth (RDBBY, CRCT, KD, IBM), not strong conviction (FFXDF, REGN), high valuations (MCO, TRRSF, COST), cleaning up portfolio (EAGRF), and political reasons (BABA, TCEHY). BIOX sold after merger announcement. TWTR sold after buyout announcement.

Out of the buys, GOOGL is probably the highest conviction buy at this time.

STNE needs to climb out of the hole it dug last year.

FB needs to split into two companies... or barring that to refocus on the growth of the non-meta businesses. 

ASML, LRCX, PX are currently small/tracking positions.

Some growth stocks listed as purchases are still expensive and I added mostly small adds at possibly not great prices.  

 

Portfolio update - 2022 January 3

My top (>2%) positions in no particular order: BRKB, FB, GOOG, PSHZF, AAPL,
In:
Out:

Fixed income: 6%
Cash: 6%

Sectors (kinda): Insurance (BRK): 12%, Malone/media: 0%, Banks/financials: 6%, Stock funds: 11%, Industrial: 0%, Consumer: 1%, Medical/pharma: 1%, Tech: 39%, Various owner-operators (not included in other categories): 4%

New positions: ZEN, TER, ATY, ACHR, BMBL, ZIP, KD, IBM, DOCU
Positions increased: FB, KARO, GOOG, STNE, PINS, PLTK, V, IAC, POSH, PAGS, ZM, FICO, VMW, TWTR, CPNG, XBI, AMZN, VEEV, COIN
Positions reduced: ETSY, RDBBY, CURN, JPM, EXPE
Positions eliminated: ANGI, HMLPRA, MNTV, DIS, MGI, DISCK, VIAC, BKNG, NTES, EXXRF, KKR, WLDBF, LBRDA, EEFT, NTDOY, CBOE, FSPHX, IWO, MITK, IDXX, PWFL, ROP, SABR, QLYS, PETQ, BOX
Flip-flop: ATUS (sold), NWINF (kept), PSFE (sold), ANCTF (sold)

2021 IRR ~15.76%. The "growth" account that smashed 2020 had 2021 IRR of ~1.2%

Lessons from 2021:
- Buying/hodling growth at any price does not work (that's the account with 1.2% return in 2021 )
- Holding cash/cash equivalent SPACs in bull market does not work ( -3% in the account that held mostly SPACs/PSTH + some other stuff )
- AAPL/BRK/GOOGL/FB still worked, so KISS would have worked ( 28% return in account that had majority of money in these companies ).

Somewhat unexpected returns: subpar AMZN, ADSK, LBRDA (sold), MA, V.

BRK beat the index (for a change).

Other positive contributions: BAM, CNSWF, COST (large runup, tiny position), DFS (sold), DPZ (large runup, tiny position, sold), INTU, JPM (sold), MCO, NVDA, OTCM (large runup), TOITF, TRRSF.

International indexes still underperformed hugely - is this the longest international underperformance ever? Similar to value-vs-growth underperformance.

PSHZF midteens performance - somewhat expected - still hodling.

Too many stocks -50% (that's minus 50%) to mention.

My 401(k) which is 40% US indexes, 40% international, 20% bonds returned 16%. So pretty much the same as my active portfolio, but way worse than SP500 since international and bonds/cash underperformed hugely.

Did a large portfolio cleanup at year-end/new-year. Still work in progress. There will be a lot more changes.

Buys: almost everything is a value/valuation add. There's one company that's a tracking position. Can anyone spot it?

Sells: a mix of valuation, low conviction, and too-much-effort-to-keep-track sales. Almost all stocks sold might do well. Might be interesting to track their performance and compare to index or to my remaining portfolio.

Portfolio Update - 2021 September 21

My top (>2%) positions in no particular order: BRKB, FB, GOOG, PSHZF, AAPL,
In:
Out:
 
Fixed income: 7%
Cash: 2%

Sectors (kinda): Insurance (BRK): 11%, Malone/media: 2%, Banks/financials: 5%, Stock funds: 11%, Industrial: 0%, Customer: 2%, Medical/pharma: 2%, Tech: 40%, Various owner-operators (not included in other categories): 4%

Impact investing: 23%

New positions: VIAC, KARO, REGN, ADCOF, LEMLF, MGI, NTDOY, PLTK, MNTV, QDEL
Positions increased: AMD, GOOG, ANCUF, FB, RILY, PINS, ANGI, TTWO, RDBBY, DISCK, PSTH, CNNE, ZNGA, YELP, COIN, QLYS, ABNB, RBLX, BABA, PROSY, EXPE, STNE, VRTX 
Positions reduced: NTES, SABR, TCEHY,
Positions eliminated: HTZZ, MG, DFS, MSPAF,
Flip-flop: HMLPPRA, LEAT

With HMLP facing contract lawsuit and refinancing problems, HMLPPRA dropped and then bounced back. I bought more on drop and then sold on bounce.

Bought a bit more PSTH before the announcement that the SPAC deal plans are essentially dead.

Mostly reduced positions in Chinese companies (NTES, TCEHY). Partially replaced them by buying some PROSY and BABA.

Sold low conviction and not very attractive expected return positions in HTZZ, MG, DFS, MSPAF.

Sold some SABR and replaced with a bit of EXPE.

Bought small tracking positions in KARO, ADCOF, LEMLF, MNTV, QDEL.

Bought NTDOY, PLTK and added to ZNGA, TTWO in gaming area.

Bought VIAC and added to DISCK in media area.

Bought REGN and added to VRTX in pharma/biotech area.

Added to AMD, GOOG, ANCUF, FB, RILY, PINS, ANGI, RDBBY, CNNE, YELP, COIN, QLYS, ABNB, RBLX, STNE. Bought initial position in MGI.

I am planning to increase the percentage of my portfolio that corresponds to "impact" investing, i.e. investing in the companies that I believe contribute to the progress and improvement of our civilization. This is completely subjective evaluation. The change may be slow. I will be looking for the attractive returns even when buying "impact" companies.