2nd Quarter Review
The second quarter has come and gone for the Long Term Dividend Fund and let me tell you something: The Bull Market was in full effect. I am glad that I continued to put money into the account on a bi-weekly basis because the profits continue to roll in. Now don't get me wrong, not everything has been sunshine and rainbows, and I know that this will come to an end at some point but why not enjoy it while it lasts. Anyways let's get to it.
Before we begin let's review once again what I wanted to accomplish by the end of year 2017:
- Have a total portfolio worth of $12,000.
- Have a total gain of 10% or higher.
- Total Dividend Income of at least $450.
Here is how the fund looked at the end of Q2:
As you can see my first goal of a $12,000 total fund value by EOY is well on its way to being accomplished. Barring any catastrophes it looks like this may be inevitable. Now the quarter also produced a total gain of just over $500 dollars in profit (pretty solid for just sitting and waiting) and moved from a 5.66% change to over 9.5%! That is outstanding! Again I do understand that this momentum will have to slow, but am I ever excited to see this continue to grow!
My second goal of a 10% gain still seems obtainable but as I have said before that will be the most difficult in my opinion, especially when/if this bull market loses steam and begins to trend lower.
My third goal, $450 in yearly dividend income, has just been met! Now I understand that there are some companies on my list that look ripe for a dividend cut (cough, CTL, cough) but I believe that I am in a great position to keep this number above $450 at EOY.
Review of Quarter's Transactions:
- Cash Invested This Qtr: $2958
- Dividends Paid: $103.92
- New Purchases:
-PFE
-VLO
-BP - Added to:
-CAFD
-F
-MPW
-ASX
-TGT - Positions Sold:
-BANC (Exited Full Position)
-NE (Exited Full Position) - Total # of Companies Owned at Start of Qtr: 17
- Total # of Companies Owned at End of Qtr: 18
- Potential Yearly Dividend Income, Start of Qtr: $378.04
- Potential Yearly Dividend Income, End of Qtr: $507.44
portfolio analysis
A few things happened in the 2nd Quarter that surprised even me. The first was that I was able to add shares of CAFD at a significantly lower point due to one of their sponsors announcing they were going to leave. This created a huge dip in after hours and allowed me to add to my shares at what I believe to be a great value.
The second was that I exited two positions. The first I exited BANC at an almost 20% gain. Yes this breaks my rule to own for at least one year but a couple things influenced my decision. BANC had seen significant gains since my purchase after the release of a potential scandal, and the actual investigation underway. I don't like when I have to worry about a company on a day-to-day basis and I was constantly checking for news. This is the main reason I sold, but taking a profit is really nice too!
Now NE on the other hand was just a bit of housekeeping on my part. I honestly had no business in owning this company. I know very little about the off-shore drilling industry and as I continued to educate myself I realized just how little I actually knew. I swallowed my pride and exited the position at a small loss. Sometimes you have to realize when you are wrong and exit a position. This one I am not sure I was even knew enough to know I was wrong, I just knew enough to know that I didn't know enough...that makes sense right? Sure...
Third, I followed my guidelines that I had laid out at the end of the Quarter 1 Review and added new positions in both the Basic Materials and Healthcare sector.
Biggest Winner:
Nokia Corporation (NOK) - I would not have guessed that this would have been my largest gains for the quarter but Nokia continued to pump away. What started at a 25% gain in Q1 added another ~18% and sat at 43% gain to end Q2! What a winner!
(RGR came in at around 19% but due to position size it was behind NOK).
Biggest Loser:
Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Inc. - Now let me start with this, ASX is still up 8.62% from my average entry price. The main reason for it dropping from a 20.6% gain to 8.6% is that I doubled my position at the now higher price. I like this company a lot and was okay with adding the higher cost.
Largest Holding:
8point3 Energy Partners (CAFD) led this category at the end of Q1 at almost 9% and gained a full percentage point in Q2 due to what I believed was a bargain drop following their quarterly call. I still believe in this company and think that it will look like a bargain at these prices.
Going Forward
Moving into Q3 I will be looking to add to positions that I already own. I am currently sitting at 18 positions and want to make sure that I continue to add to these companies. I will be looking to add in the retail sector, especially if the Amazon trend continues to push them entire sector lower. I believe that there are some steals out there that have been created by the overall sector declines.
Until next time, you can check out my current holdings here!