Portfolio Move - Adding Positions and a Candidate

I subscribe to one the Motley Fool newsletters so I can't claim the pick are my own.  As it is a subscription service, much of the data or analysis is not for public consumption.  I pay for the service and The Motley Fool issues stock and financial advice in return.  Given those circumstances, I will disclose very little other than say where my source for the stocks I'm purchasing are from.

I'm rating an immediate buy for Ameresco (NYSE: AMRC).  Ameresco is an energy services company.  I'll post a better description in a few days.  I don't want to publish results from the newsletter.  Instead I'll do my own synopsis. It's currently priced around $15 per stub.  There is a lot of potential for returns and it's a recent IPO.  More details coming soon.

Chinese web portal Sina is slow accumulation stock.  I plan on purchasing slowly over a period of time until I have a what I consider a full position in my portfolio.   

Watch List stocks: TTM Technologies (TTMI), Titanium Metals (TIE), Vodafone (VOD)

Vodafone will be an official candidate for the ThunderCougarFalconBird Fund pending research and due diligence.  I plan on presenting my research on this blog and making a decision on whether or not to add VOD to the Fund.

Finally, due to stock appreciation, I already own more than a full position in Dolby.  As of this post, I'm up 35% on my original investment.  Sometimes the best investment is a stock you already own.  So I'm considering adding to my Dolby holdings.

Brazilian Growth

I've been obsessed with Brazil and its economy. Finance media regards Brazil as an "emerging" market. I tend to disagree with that assessment. I'm starting to view Brazil as a stable and growing market versus an emerging market. Right now I'd rather money in Brazil than Greece or Ireland. Brazil striving to become a world class economy. Greece is struggling to stay afloat. China is a hot economy trying not to overheat.

Brazil obviously isn't without risk. When I describe it as stable, that term is still relative. Poverty and crime still are a major problem. No matter what you think, those issues affect the economy.

I have no clue about government regulation and oversight of financial markets.

Then there are risks inherent in investing such as human nature and greed, bad management and taking on to much debt and flat out business failure.

However as a growing economy Brazil represents a unique opportunity to profit in a country's growth and future. Over the next year or two I plan on investing in a three or four Brazilian companies as well as a broad market fund.

These investments will be gradual and in addition to my usual investing objectives. I view the Brazil opportunity as chance to augment my portfolio but not my primary investing concentration.

The iShares Brazil fund I talked about in my last post will probably be my first investment. While a broad index fund is a good way to get money on the table, individual stocks can increase profit potential. Keep in mind that individual stocks also increases risk.

So far I have four candidate companies from the the Motley Fool article "Follow Landers Into Brazil." The article features four companies I will use as jumping off points for research: Petrobras, Itua UniBanco, Vale and Banco Bradesco.

The choices I make will become part of the official ThunderCougarFalconBird Fund.

Also on my previous post, I indicated interest in an iShares high yield bond fund. It may or may not be what I was looking for. After reading the prospectus I'm not entirely clear if it is a junk bond fund. It probably is but of course the literature won't refer to it as such. Thus the term "high yield" because junk bond investors require a higher interest for the risk.

All Is Quiet

Right now I'm on the grand voyage of looking for a home. As such, my investing has slowed down as I prepare for purchase of the house.

I finally closed out my portfolio portion of shipping company Seaspan. Other than that I've let the research go to the way side for now. Not smart but house buying and summer fun have gotten in the way.

Until now I've dealt exclusively in buying stocks long. No shorts, options, mutual, ETFs or bonds have entered the portfolio.

I'm about to add a new product to my fund. I'm going to research a Brazil broad market fund. I'm also going to attempt to dabble a small part of my portfolio in a junk bond fund.

My portfolio is humming along very well despite the gloom and doom of the mass media. I adhere to the Motley Fool philosophy is you can make money regardless of the market. The key is to find well run companies, return cash to investors and have a history of good shareholder relations. It helps that management owns a good size of stock to align their wealth with mine.

So why the change? It's not really a change. My overall investing thesis remains. I decided to branch of for exposure to different risk. Most my exposure to foreign markets is through the international portion of my 401. I decided country specific gets me more targeted returns but it comes at a higher risk. As for junk bonds, it's just a risk I'm willing to take for some higher yields as well as capital appreciation since it is a traded fund.

For disclosure purposes the funds I'm researching are the iShares MSCI Brazil Index Fund (EWF) and iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond Fund (HYG). Actually I'm not sure High Yield is junk bonds but it's worth a look.

I should have a decision sometime next week.

ThunderCougarFalconBird Fund Buys and Amended Rules

The new Thundercougarfalconbird Fund continues to acquire the first asset of Seaspan (SSW) which I explained in previous post. SSW is going to be a gradual accumulation until I feel I decide the risk outweighs the return. I'm looking to buy twice the amount of SSW than I do other spots. One reason is that I feel it has plenty of growth left in the stock price. Another is it pays a hive dividend distributing most profit not used to expand or run the business. I'm also allocating an amount toward my Roth fund.

I'm in the process of vetting new stocks for my next purchases. I'm currently looking to add another small cap but and finding one mega oil company to look tempting.

One final note on my portfolio candidates. I've stated that I base most my selection for my personal portfolio on newsletters I subscribe to. With the Thundercougarfalconbird Fund, I want to limit my exposure to those picks on my scorecard. I plan on using no more than four per year in the Thundercougarfalcon Fund's performance. Other stock ideas that I get from newsletters that are not official recommendations will be counted. The newsletters only introduce watch list stock with minimal research. Due to the research I'd put in, I feel I can rightly include these stock.

Name Change: Thundercougarfalconbird Fund

Inspired by a Futurama episode, I renamed my new investment portfolio the Thundercougarfalconbird Fund.

Originally I named the fund after my alma mater, state and Liberty sounded cool.

I like the new name better.

Cougar Texas Liberty Fund

Cougar Texas Liberty Fund

This is my new investing idea. I plan on building a portfolio of stocks outside my current account to see how I can do at picking my own stocks. Currently, most the stocks I buy are based on recommendations from subscription services. In the last seven years, I’ve learned a lot about stocks and now I would like to put my money where my mouth is. While there is a lot I know, there is even much more that I don’t know. My goal is to succeed in stock selection but also to learn from any failure and not repeat the same mistakes.

I’m still debating how to track my stock selections. The issue is to track them separately from my subscription based selections or lump them in together. I think I’ll have to decide on criteria for which subscription based stocks go into the fund tracker. If a stock is just mentioned on a subscription watch list, it will go into the fund tracker due to the amount of analysis I put into it. Official subscription recommendations probably won’t go on my fund tracker. I’ll have to think it through so more because I think there might be an occasional selection that does belong on the fund tracker.

Investing Philosophy
Since this is really just my personal stock selections and not a real fund, there are no limits or amounts I have to invest. The bottom line is for me to increase my investments and maximize profits and minimize losses. I’ll choose to invest in whatever financial instrument I feel best furthers my financial goals.

Despite the previous wide open statement, I have a preference in the type of stocks I like to buy. I prefer small cap stocks with the potential of a high return. I look for companies and businesses that show potential to explode due to a unique idea, niche market with room for plenty of growth or a small business with the ability to shake up and reinvent a traditional industry.

Two examples of my preferred stocks are Netflix and Buffalo Wild Wings. Netflix reinvented DVD rentals from the traditional brick and mortar store with its DVD by mail rentals. Netflix is now starting to branch out in other movie delivery systems. Buffalo Wild Wings does nothing unique. I can drive around town and find dozens of buffalo wing places. BWW combined the wings eating experience with the sports watching environment. With a controlled expansion, they are building the brand while using cash flow instead of heavy debt to build new restaurants.

Another type of stock I’m starting to gravitate toward is dividend paying stocks with potential for medium growth in stock price. To help spread and lower the risk, I will also add some solid steady paying dividend stocks like ExxonMobil, Johnson & Johnson and Pepsi.

I’ll also add ETFs, mutual funds, bonds and other type of investment vehicles as I deem appropriate. I may even one day expand to options if I can ever get my head around them.

Sell Notification, Purchase Notification

Sell Notice - Netflix NTFX
I sold approximately 40% of my Netflix (NFLX) shares. The main reason is Netflix ballooned to 30% of my entire portfolio. It's a nice problem to have but a problem none the less. Netflix has been my top money maker especially due to an increase of my holdings when it bottom in the teens a few years ago. This is the second time I've shaved back my Netflix on the size in a year.

With the price reaching into the $100-110 range, I decided it was time to kill to birds with one stone. As I stated before, I'm cutting back primarily because NFLX ran up to inflate my holds (a good thing). However I had some valuations concerns and decided to take some of the gains off the table and look for new ideas to invest in. I have no doubt Netflix will continue to perform well but I'm just cutting my exposure while looking to put that capital gains right back to work.

One of the philosophies of the Monkey Portfolio is to reinvest in all manners. I reinvest dividends. I also reinvest shares sold to buy in other business. Last year after I sold my first installment of NFLX I put it to work in MSM Direct and Dolby Labs. Dolby has continued to beat the market.

Once again, that philosophy applies. The net gain from Netflix will be used to either expand current holdings or invested in new companies. A full position is a position in my portfolio that I consider the max I'll own of a stock. I do make exceptions and own more or less. Anyway, I've gained enough from the Netflix sale to fund three complete positions and a third of another.

Purchase Notification - Seaspan Corporation (SSW)
I give my reasons in my results of review of my holdings. I continue to keep buy until I reach my predetermined amount. Also I'm making it my first holding in my new IRA account.

Even though they are separate accounts, I'm counting them as one toward my new Texas Liberty Cougar Fund. More on the Texas Liberty Cougar Fund on the next post.