A & C Start Investing In The Stock Market

A Well Overdue Dividend and Stock-Split Update

2014-10-03T10:06:00.003-07:00

On June 9, 2014, Apple (AAPL) did a 7:1 stock split. This made the stock a little more affordable to buy at $100/share ($99.76 as of 9:42am PST 10/03/14) compared to $592.74 on 05/15/2014. Since the split, Apple announced and released their new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus phone models to compete in the "phablet" market. On pre-order weekend, Apple said that they took 4 million units for pre-order. This is a high number considering their Apple Store website failed to open and take orders on time. This failure added to the stress the carrier websites experience as they also struggled to take in pre-orders. On launch weekend, Apple said they sold 10 million phones and that is not even including China (Which they are about to sell on Oct 17).

I expect Apple to sell maybe another 5-10 million phones if Fortune.com's article is accurate. Nevertheless, these new iPhone models are hits and we'll find out in Apple's next earnings call just how much of a hit these new phones are.

Apple also announced new products and services. The Apple Watch which will come out early 2015 is meant to be a fashionable companion to the iPhone. Since no one outside of the few media outlets have seen the watch in real life, I would have to reserve judgment on whether it would be a success. Personally, I'll have to wait for version 2 or at least a price cut. A watch that starts at $349 is a huge gamble and I expect an increase on watch thefts so I hope Apple also includes a "kill switch" on these new watches.

The Apple Pay service is the true product I am excited for. Apple is now positioned to make money on every Visa/Mastercard transaction (both brick & mortar and online) each Apple Pay user makes. This is huge. With over half a billion accounts on file and partnerships with Visa/Mastercard, Whole Foods, McDonald's to name a few, Apple is about to make NFC transactions mainstream. Sure, Google Wallet may have done it first but Apple's "It Just Works" philosophy is going to ease in the non-techie consumer. I will keep an eye on Apple Pay.

As usual, I received dividend payouts from April 2014 thru today:

Upcoming Dividend Payouts:

I am so sorry for being absent these past few months. School and vacations took up majority of my time and I don't see it getting easier in the near future. Nevertheless, I'll try my best to update this blog and keep track of my portfolio. I have a few ideas that I'm researching on and hopefully on my next post, I can share these new positions I'm looking into.

Automatic Investment Plan Transaction for 03/25/2014

2014-04-04T10:10:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update on my automatic investment plan transaction:

Ticker Symbol	Date	Purchase Amount	Shares bought	Price per share
LULU	03/25/2014	$300	6.1450	$48.82
WM	03/25/2014	$304 ($4 fee)	7.3750	$40.69

Dividends, Annual Returns, Lululemon's Future and 2014

2014-03-21T09:24:00.001-07:00

Hello again.

(Photo credit: http://sistersgrimm.wikia.com/wiki/File:Miss_me.gif)

Did you miss me?

It has been a while (again) since my last post. I have school, travel and many essays to blame for that. Safe to say I am a busy person but what matters now is that I have a few hours free to right this simple and short update. I have an upcoming buy. I have a free credit from my broker that allows me to get a free automatic investment plan transaction. So, without further ado, here is my dividend update:

Ticker Symbol	Date	Dividend payout	Dividend per share	Shares bought	Price per share
MO	01/10/2014	$9.41	$0.48	0.2526	$37.25
MDLZ	01/14/2014	$3.72	$0.14	0.1057	$35.19
AAPL	02/13/2014	$6.77	$3.05	0.0126	$537.30
ETP	02/14/2014	$11.18	$0.92	0.2065	$54.14
XLNX	02/27/2014	$2.33	$0.25	0.0447	$52.13
WM	03/21/2014	$4.69	$0.38	0.1142	$41.07
KRFT	01/17/2014	$2.14	$0.53	0.0391	$54.73

Here's the ex-dividend update:

Ticker Symbol	Ex-dividend date	Dividend per share	Payout date
KRFT	04/09/2014	$0.53	04/25/2014
MDLZ	03/27/2014	$0.14	04/14/2014
XLNX	05/12/2014	$0.29	06/04/2014

And for other news:

I still believe in Lululemon (LULU). LULU just had a horrible 2013. The sheer yoga pants issue. The departure of CEO Christine Day. The founder's controversial comments that hurt the sentiments of its core customers. LULU is down 50% from its 52-week high and the yoga apparel competition continues to heat up. The weather and the polar vortex did not help either. But with this long list of troubles, why would I be bullish on LULU? First, the stock is now cheap. It's PEG ratio is at a low of 1.42 (with 1.0 being the magical "under valued" ratio). Besides, I think the stock is or close to bottoming out and that the initial fear and loathing of LULU is subsiding. LULU is also launching a new apparel collection called &Go. The new line includes sun dress, pants and tank tops that should resonate well with LULU's target market. As expected, this new line would have premium prices which should help with profit margins.

I am cautiously optimistic on LULU. I hope to buy a few shares at close to $47/share when the automatic investment transaction executes on Tuesday.

I am also planning to buy more Waste Management (WM). I need to balance out the portfolio. I also expect the spring season's that would bring out more trash and by products that would need WM's services. I am a bit disappointed that I just missed the Ex-dividend date (Dividend payout is today). I could sleep at night knowing that WM is one of my more "productive" positions. The PEG ratio is a bit more than LULU (making LULU the "cheaper" stock) at 2.54. The dividend and the stock's strong performance give me the confidence that our money is not wasted in WM. I hope, we'll get a slight pull back so I can get WM at around $40/share.

2014 so far has been a bullish time for the Market. Yes, we've had some pullbacks and down days but in general, it does seem that the bull market is still alive and well. Am I concerned. A little. I have been hearing whispers that say we're due for some market correction. Yet, with the recent IPO fever. The Market has been experiencing in recent months, I think the Market still has enough juice to carry us through 2014. Ending on a slightly related note, I might look into Disney and Netflix for 2015.

Well, my friends, that would be it for now. I wish I can promise more regular scheduled posts. But I will update whenever I have the time and any notable news and opinions.

Portfolio Up around 16% Due to Apple, Lululemon, Xilinx and a Really Awesome Market Rally

2013-12-27T11:42:00.000-08:00

I've been negligent.

As you may have read from my previous post, I have been pre-occupied by classes as I returned to school to complete my college degree. To that effect, my contributions to our portfolio decreased in order to pay for my tuition fees... at least the fees not covered by my employer's benefits package.

Luckily for our portfolio, I picked dividend paying stocks and 2013 has been good to investors and the economy in general. In spite of the self-inflicted wounds the US Government gave the economy, the markets has been fairly robust and stocks maintained their status as the investment vehicle to be in given the current market conditions.

So far, here are the dividend payouts paid to our portfolio since 08/01/2013:

08/14/2013 - ETP Distribution - $10.50 ($0.89375/share) - Reinvested to buy 0.2022 shares @ $51.93

08/15/2013 - AAPL Dividend - $6.69 ($3.05/share) - Reinvested to buy 0.0134 shares @ $499.25

08/28/2013 - XLNX Dividend - $2.31 ($0.25/share) - Reinvested to buy 0.0536 shares @ $43.10

09/20/2013 - WM Dividend - $4.48 ($0.365/share) - Reinvested to buy 0.1060 shares @ $42.26

10/10/2013 - MO Dividend - $9.28 ($0.48/share) - Reinvested to buy 0.2694 shares @ $34.45

10/14/2013 - MDLZ Dividend - $3.71 ($0.14/share) - Reinvested to buy 0.1209 shares @ $30.69

10/25/2013 - KRFT Dividend - $2.12 ($0.53/share) - Reinvested to buy 0.0388 shares @ $54.64

11/14/2013 - AAPL Dividend - $6.73 ($3.05/share) - Reinvested to buy 0.0129 shares @ $521.71

11/14/2013 - ETP Dividend - $10.81 ($0.91/share) - Reinvested to buy 0.2058 shares @ $52.53

11/27/2013 - XLNX Dividend - $2.32 ($0.25/share) - Reinvested to buy 0.0521 shares @ $44.53

12/20/2013 - WM Dividend - $4.52 ($0.36/share) - Reinvested to buy 0.1030 shares @ $43.88

Upcoming:

KRFT - Ex-Dividend 12/23/2013 Dividend date 01/17/2014 @ $0.525/share

MDLZ - Ex-Dividend 12/27/2013 Dividend date 01/14/2014 @ $0.14/share

MO - Ex-Dividend 12/23/2013 Dividend date 01/10/2014 @ $0.48/share

I've never been more thankful that I picked these dividend paying stocks which supplemented my decreasing contributions for 2103. I also like the price appreciation of our stock positions and it seems like we'll see more growth at least through the first half of 2014. I'll have to squeeze in some time to reassess each stock position especially the tech and retail sectors.

We currently carry a slightly huge cash position which was supposed to buy more shares of LULU but the news of CEO Christine Day's resignation, recall of products and the co-founder's unfortunate remarks made me hold off buying. LULU just recently hired their new CEO so I would need a few quarters' worth of reports to decide whether to stay or go.

Apple on the other hand recovered from their steep decline from their all-time high. It looks like AAPL stabilized at $560/share. Their 2013 product line release late in 2013 were enough to post in great numbers but AAPL would need to show more "new" products in 2014 in order to be the tech darlings once again. For now, the China Mobile deal and the new iPhones would be enough to keep shareholders happy.

All in all, I'm still bullish with the US economy. The real estate market is back to "normal" and the IPO market brings in new money and new millionaires that would hopefully infuse the economy with new jobs, businesses and market activity (new homes, cars and etc). So far, the US Government seem to be less crazy this time and seem to be more "cooperative" compared to around this time last year. It does help that 2014 is a mid-term election year so these "employees" are motivated to keep their jobs. Hopefully, the Obamacare issues and NSA leaks would be fixed soon so that the Government could focus on creating/stimulating job and economy growth in 2014. One could hope.

I'll be in college classes in 2014 but I promise to keep this blog alive and keep tabs on our portfolio. Who knows? Perhaps when I finish my studies, this portfolio would be profitable enough to help fund my new adventure. I'll be crossing my fingers.

Updates - blog still alive - I'm just busy

2013-07-22T14:00:00.000-07:00

Hey,

It has been over 2 months since I last updated. During this time, I received dividend payments for the following:

Dividends XLNX 06/05/2013 = $2.29
reinvested to buy 0.0563 shares @ $40.67

WM: ex dividend date 06/05/2013. Dividend date 06/20/2013 = $4.44
reinvested to buy 0.1123 shares @ $39.54

MO: ex Div 06/12/2013. Dividend Date 07/09/2013
Dividends MO 07/10/2013 = $8.40
reinvested to buy 0.2316 shares @ $36.27

MDLZ: ex Div 06/27/2013. Dividend Date 07/14/2013
Dividends MDLZ 07/15/2013 = $3.43
reinvested to buy 0.1130 shares @ $30.35

KRFT: ex Div 06/26/2013. Dividend Date 07/11/2013
Dividends KRFT 07/12/2013 = $2.00.
reinvested to buy 0.0353 shares @ $56.66

I'll be back full time (hopefully) after my classes in August.

Fresh New Dividends from Apple and Energy Transfer Partners

2013-05-17T16:24:00.000-07:00

We got paid dividends this week:

Apple (AAPL) paid $6.65 on 05/15/2013 which I reinvested to buy 0.0155 shares @ $429.03.

Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) paid $10.31 which I reinvested to buy 0.2057 @ $50.12.

Slight update:

I'm slowly building our cash positions to get ready for a market pull back. As you can see, the DOW has been up for a few weeks and I'm anticipating a pull back probably around summer time. That is when I'll start buying more stocks.

I'm looking into getting more LULU (our position is up 50%), MDLZ and WM.

I'll keep you posted.

Apple's Q2 Earnings

2013-04-23T14:49:00.000-07:00

Info from CNBC.

Apple (AAPL) has been pummeled lately being down 47% from it's all-time high. Stock price even went below for the first time since 2011. With the lack of new product updates, production delays and rumored iOS software redesign, AAPL seemed to have lost it's mojo. Analysts estimate that AAPL would still beat earnings but it's profit margins would be down year over year.

CEO Tim Cook said that the stock price decline has been very frustrating and that Apple does not control that; it controls product innovation. That being said, new product releases are now expected towards the end of 2013.

It was not all bad news for the Cupertino company. Apple sold 37.4 million iPhones in the quarter, compared with 35.1 million in the year-ago quarter. The tech company sold 19.5 million iPads versus 11.9 million a year earlier. For most companies, those numbers would be awesome.

A little bit more good news for investors, AAPL's shares surged in after-hours trading (currently at $411.39) due to Apple's earnings numbers, Apple's announcement of a dividend hike of 15% and increase of stock repurchase from $10 billion to $60 billion. These moves should be enough to keep the stock price afloat while we patiently wait for the new hotness.

Long term, I'm still bullish with Apple and with numbers like these, how can I hate them Apples?

Updates From Previous Post: Mondelez, Altria and Kraft Dividends

2013-04-15T09:23:00.000-07:00

First of all, an apology. I thought Modelez (MDLZ) paid me $8.30 but actually, it was Altria (MO) paying me that dividend. So here are the dividend payments from last week:

MDLZ paid us a dividend of $3.41 which we reinvested to buy 0.1116 shares @ $30.56.

KRFT paid us a dividend of $1.98 which we reinvested to buy 0.0388 shares @ $51.03.

MO paid us a dividend of $8.30 which we reinvested to buy 0.2339 shares @ $35.49.

I was probably tired last week and associated MO with MDLZ. Oh well. :)

Mondelez (MDLZ) Dividend Payments, LULU Fires Chief Product Officer Over See-Thru Yoga Pants, Ron Johnson Out At JC Penny (JCP) and Has Apple Lost It's Groove?

2013-04-11T10:32:00.000-07:00

Now that's weird.

Yesterday was dividend pay day for Mondelez (MDLZ). We got paid $8.30. Now remember from my previous post that I expected to be paid $3.41 for 26.2504 @ $0.13/share. Either MDLZ increased their dividend payout (I estimated @ $0.3161/share) or for some reason, they thought we owned 63+ shares of MDLZ. I know there's an error somewhere and I expect a correction soon.

Now for some news and my opinions:

Lululemon has been on the news lately for having a product recall because their black Luon yoga pants appeared to be see-thru. As you can imagine, female customers would be deeply affected by this product defect which resulted in the recall.

Aside from the embarrassingly bad press, future earnings of LULU are expected to drop to offset the estimated $67 million in lost revenue as the cost of the product recall.

Another victim of this product snafu is LULU's Chief Product Officer Sheree Waterson. LULU announced on April 3 that Ms. Waterson would leave the company on April 15. It was obvious that this was a move to help stem the drop of stock price and as the company's atonement for the product recall. Quite frankly, I wouldn't require someone to lose their job over this and I highly appreciated LULU's quick and fast response towards the issue. While most companies would spend months with smoke and mirrors denying any fault or even flaws with their product, LULU faced this challenge head on. Recalling 17% of your product was very expensive but the possible loss of trust from loyal customers was just too high of a price to risk by LULU.

Looking forward, I still think LULU would come back strong and there's always the possibility for a black Luon shortage which may cause a panic buy reaction from the customers (which may increase the price of merchandise - higher margins to offset the loss). Also, customers may continue to stay loyal to LULU due to the company's fast and effective response and whatever fringe bad experiences that popped up on the internet are just outliers or isolated incidents.

If at all, the drop in price is a perfect buying opportunity.

In other news, JC Penny (JCP) fired CEO Ron Johnson after almost 2 years on the job. Johnson oversaw a disastrous drop in earnings for JCP and the Board just had enough of it. JCP then hired Johnson's predecessor Myron Ullman effective immediately.

Who would have thought that Ron Johnson, the executive behind the highly successful (and profitable) Apple retail stores would fail horribly at JCP?

Well, it's easy to see now looking back. One of the early interviews Mr. Johnson made with CBS Morning News, host Gayle King ask Ron if he was wearing a JC Penny outfit for the interview. He answered and I quote: "No, it's not, but I will have one on the next time." Oops. Back then, it was easy to laugh this off and forget about it but now, I realized it was a big marketing disaster. Can you imagine the late Steve Jobs being caught with an Android phone? Even Bill Gates was famously quoted for never touching let alone, own an iPod, iPhone and an iPad. Ron Johnson getting caught with his pants down figuratively was a sign of him being out of touch with JCP and it's costumers. How would a CEO know what the customer would want or need if he himself was not a customer? He ended the promos and coupons and even taken out customer favorite brands. As a result, Mr. Johnson alienated his loyal customers for the gamble of gaining new "higher-end" customers. Obviously, discounted jeans and shoes were a foreign language for Johnson who for the most part of the last decade sold premium computers, phones and music players.

Would reinstalling Mr. Ullman be good for JCP? Only time will tell.

Finally, we go back to Apple.

In recent weeks, stock analysts such Jim Cramer and tech pundits like Leo Laporte have expressed their opinions about AAPL. Mr. Cramer was not as bullish as he was before and may have implied that AAPL lost it's "cool factor". As recently as last Sunday, This Week In Tech (TWiT)'s Leo Laporte pretty much waved the white flag for AAPL. He said that the AAPL has ran out of innovation and that future product releases would pale in comparison to what the Cupertino-based company released in the past five years. These opinions, for the untrained eye/ear, would seem the death of Apple and would probably push some investors to sell their shares of AAPL. But then, I remembered a story from Jim Cramer's book Confessions of a Street Addict where Mr. Cramer's Hedge Fund was getting beat on Wall Street in 1998. Cramer wrote in his book that there was a point during that time that he just gave up on the Market and even wrote an article for theStreet.com to SELL EVERYTHING. He then said that was the cue for Mrs. Cramer to start buying for the fund which then saved the Hedge Fund and Jim Cramer himself. Also, Leo Laporte admitted he was wrong about Apple in the late '90s when he pretty predicted the death of Apple. This was before the then newly design iMac, the iPod and iPhone/iPad. So in short, I'm considering these recent statements by these two people I respect as a sign that AAPL is at (or near) it's bottom. Plus, Warren Buffet always said: "I buy when people are fearful and I sell when people are happy/greedy."

I believe AAPL still has a few products up it's sleeve. Recent news about the iPhone 5s and iPhone 6 being designed by Jobs himself give me confidence and with iOS/Software under Jon Ive, I'm optimistic that AAPL would wow us within the next few months. Also, let's not forget that AAPL still has that over $100 Billion in the bank.

Besides, it's nice that our portfolio is no longer dependant on AAPL's stock price to succeed. And that my friend, is diversification.

Automatic Investment Plan Results, Sector Risks and Cash Reserves

2013-03-26T13:50:00.001-07:00

This is an update of the Automatic Investment Plan I executed last week.

My $434 bought 14.4152 MDLZ shares @ $30.11/share.

We now own 26.2504 MDLZ shares. I expect to be paid $3.412552 in dividends (@$0.13/share).

With our new MDLZ total, our top five holdings are as follows:

1. AAPL 17.91%

2. GLD 14.26%

3. MDLZ 14.05%

4. LULU 13.92%

5. MO 11.48%

With this update, our portfolio's sector exposure has changed. Before, the Computer and Technology sector was the bulk of our sector exposure due to Apple's meteoric rise in value which concerned me especially during the months when Tech was hated in Wall Street. It took some time (and Apple's decline) but we were able to balance out our sector risks. So now, the Consumer Staples Sector (29.28%) took the lead from the Computer and Tech Sector (24.10%). I am still not satisfied and I think I need to bump up the rest of my sector exposures (Business Services 8.36%, Oil & Energy 10.17% and Retail Stores 13.82%). My goal is to put each sector at 20% value of our portfolio which would make our portfolio's exposure risk as divers as possible.

Why am I so focused with sectors? Because Sector performance/sentiment pretty much affects about 50% of each stock's performance. Going back to my original concern, the Tech sector was pretty much hated by Wall Street in the summer months of 2012. My XLNX position pretty much suffered while Apple held on to it's values for as long as it could. It can get frustrating seeing XLNX pretty lose value or at best, stay the same while my Consumer Staple stocks (MO, KRFT & MDLZ) have carried our portfolio during those tough months. Knowing how this affects stock prices, I am convinced that diversifying our Sector risk would be good for our portfolio.

In other news, I need to rebuild our cash position. I should see opportunities to do so in my next few paychecks. Now the question would be whether or not to buy more XLNX with an upcoming Ex-Dividend Date of 05/13/2013 or get some more WM to bump up our Business Sector position.

We'll see. We have until May 9, 2013 to decide.

Getting Stuff For Free, Apple (AAPL) May Boost Dividend Yield, Waste Management (WM) Pays Dividends, Mondelez (MDLZ), Xilinx Inc (XLNX) and Kraft's (KRFT) Ex-Dividend Dates!

2013-03-23T00:10:00.000-07:00

I got an email from my discount brokerage.

They gave me a free credit to use their Automatic Investment Plan service for free! That's $4 savings!

You might ask: "So what?"

I say: "Awesome!"

Here's why, that $4 I would have paid (as commission) to buy stock would just go into buying more shares of the company I want to buy. And when I'm about to chase the dividend distribution, every share counts!

Here's what I did:

Mondelez International (MDLZ)'s ex-dividend date is 03/27/2013. I also looked into Kraft (KFRT) and Xilinx Inc (XLNX) ex-dividend dates, 03/26/2013 & 05/13/2013 respectively. As you can see, I'll miss KFRT's must own date by a day and XLNX is just too far off. That is why, I'm going with MDLZ. Granted, MDLZ's dividend is "just" $0.13/share which was down from $0.29 in September 2012 (which was paid before the Kraft/Mondelez transaction), I am bullish with MDLZ's future growth. With the economy improving, consumers would be buying more snack foods and drinks. Also, with Easter, Memorial Day and summer just around the corner, I expect a jump in sales for Cadbury chocolates, Nabisco and Oreo cookies and Tang beverages.

Anyways, here's a recap of my purchase:

I transferred $250 into our brokerage account (expected funding on 03/25/2013, Monday).

Along with my $184.50 cash position, I executed an Automatic Savings Plan transaction to buy $434 worth of MDLZ shares.

MDLZ is at $29.81 as of 03/22/2013 11:58 am ET

I estimate to buy 14.4666 shares of MDLZ at $30/share.

I would then own 26.3008 shares of MDLZ which will pay me $3.4191 in dividends.

As always, our dividend payments would be reinvested to buy more shares (0.1139 shares @ $30).

As you would observed, without the $4 discount, the dividend payments would have been swallowed by the fee. Also, I would only be able to buy $430 worth of shares which only buy me 14.3333 shares which will bring me to 26.1675 shares = $3.4017. A net loss of $0.0174. Yeah, it may be a small loss but the greater loss is in the future growth due to compound growth rate. The more shares I own, the greater my dividend payments.

In other news, Waste Management just paid me some dividends.

We got paid $4.40 in dividends which we reinvested to buy more shares (0.1162 shares @ $37.87).

Extra Credit: I have read/heard speculation that Apple (AAPL) is "poised" to boost it's dividend payments by 56% (from $2.65/share to $4.14/share) for a 3.7% yield. As you can imagine, shares are up (currently at $459.37) since news of the hike got out. Although it's a far cry from it's 52-week high of $705. 07, this recent bump may be what nervous shareholders need. I believe that AAPL being below $500 is really cheap and that it's recent drop is a result of both self-inflicted wounds and external stabs to the company. From the botched Apple Maps launch to the profit taking during the fiscal cliff, Apple's stock has seen a nose dive to $419 before stabilizing at the $420-$430 range.

In spite of Apple's iPhone 5 and iPad sales being through the roof, Wall Street's expectations are just too high for the Company to beat. On top of that, Samsung's victories (court judgements and sales) did not help Apple's share price. But last week, I saw a small glimmer of hope for Apple. Samsung just launched their new flagship phone, the Galaxy S4 with hype that matched the iPhone but execution that fell flat on Samsung's face. The whole presentation just showed how masterful Apple's product presentations are. Samsung's "show" was generally panned by tech journalists and even mainstream media. The phone however, is a different story. It told me what I needed to know about Samsung's vision of their phone's future: more of the same. Critics blasted Apple for the iPhone 5's lack of a differentiating features and design that Samsung seemed to outpace Apple in both fronts. But with the Galaxy S4 looking and functioning almost the same as the Galaxy S3, I believe Samsung is now experiencing a lag in their "wow" factor.

In my opinion, it would be tough for Samsung to be "innovative" without Apple to "copy" from.

That's just my opinion so take it as it is.

So why is this good news for Apple? Well first, current Galaxy S3 owners have not much of a reason to buy the new S4 which could be the opening for Apple to snatch some of the market share back from Samsung. Currently iPhone 5s or iPhone 6 rumors have been leading towards a new phone design and with iOS 7 around the corner (WWDC is usually held in June), Apple fans will have a reason to hope. News of the iWatch and iTV also help fuel speculation that Apple may be launching a new product market that would bring back the Apple cool factor that Steve Jobs used to bring.

So will 2013 bring Apple back on top? Only time will tell.

Buying Altria (MO) For Dividends and Growth

2013-03-06T11:08:00.005-08:00

I just executed a limit order for 8 shares of Altria (MO) at $34.15.

MO closed up at $34.24 yesterday. The same day the DOW Jones closed at 14,253.77. This is the DOW Jones' new all-time high.

Therefore, I anticipated some profit taking so I predicted that MO would at least go down to $34.15 maybe even lower. My gambit paid off and my limit order was completed earlier today. I could have gone lower since MO went as low as $34.01 but I think my conservative bet was good enough. I just want to almost guarantee that I would get those 8 shares of MO. The main reason why is because we're approaching MO's Ex-Dividend date of March 13, 2013. The next valid Automatic Investment Plan date is on Tuesday, March 12, 2013. That is cutting it close since I have to buy the shares a day before the Ex-Dividend date in order to qualify for the dividend pay out. I decided to execute it early just to make sure plus the trading fees are now $6.95 (down from $9.95) so the $3 difference would be paid for by the dividends.

So why Altria (MO)? First, the dividend pay day is coming. Second, MO's dividend pay outs increased from $0.41/share in July 2012 to $0.44/share from October 2012. I love stocks of companies who increase their dividend payments because it tells me their earnings are doing well (after reviewing their financials of course) and they want to reward their investors with more cash. Finally, I am counting on Altria's growth prospects as the global economy improves. As the global economy improves, MO's customers would be more willing to spend money to buy MO's E-Cigarettes, high-end cigars and wine products. Even if MO's regular customers do not feel the improvement, they'll still continue buying Marlboro cigarettes (and other MO brands). If there's one thing I've learned from my siblings (and Mad Men), cigarette smokers have brand loyalty.

So that's pretty much my Altria thesis. I'll buy more shares in the future and as long as smokers smoke, I'm bullish on Altria's growth prospects.

Dividend Payments and Investing Thoughts

2013-02-27T01:14:00.005-08:00

The Markets has been quite volatile these past few weeks.

From weak earnings reports to worries of Sequestration (more on this later). Anyone who's not invested for the long term would have taken more hits than a MLB slugger.

Luckily for me, I'm here for the long term. I see the recent declines as excellent opportunity to get in to new positions or build up on my current portfolio. It also makes my dividend-paying stocks into accidental high-yielders. Since I reinvest my dividends, lower stock prices mean I can get more shares with my dividends.

Speaking of dividends, I have three stocks that paid me some dividends in February.

Apple (AAPL)

Ex-dividend date of 02/07/2013 with Dividend date of 02/13/2013.
AAPL paid me $5.74 dividends and I got 0.0123 shares @ $466.67.

Xilinx Inc. (XLNX)

Ex-dividend date of 02/04/2013 with Dividend date of 02/26/2013.
XLNX paid me $2.01 dividends and I got shares 0.0548 @ $36.68.

Energy Transfer Partners (ETP)

Ex-dividend date of 02/05/2013 with Dividend date of 02/13/2013.
ETP paid me $10.12 dividends and I got 0.2161 shares @ $46.83.

Not bad for February.

Lately, I've been hearing a lot of things on the news about Apple, the US Government and a possible slow down in the Market.

Let's start with Apple. Granted it has been a tough last few months for the company (and it's shareholders) as it's stock price dropped from over $700/share to just under $443/ share (as of 02/25/13). With increased competition from Samsung in the phone and tablet markets and the perceived loss of the "Apple Coolness", Apple may be feeling some pressure from shareholders, customers and Wall Street to come out with some new "must have" device. On top that, investor David Einhorn sued Apple a few weeks ago asking the company to start issuing "preferred stocks" to it's shareholders or at least show a plan on either returning cash to shareholders or other investments from Apple's $137 Billion in cash reserves. CEO Tim Cook said last week that this lawsuit is "silly" and I tend to agree. Here's why: One of the main reasons I invested in Apple is their huge cash reserves. Even if no innovative products comes out from Apple in the next 5 years, the cash reserves alone would be enough for them to operate without borrowing money or going bankrupt. Stability = Confidence. Furthermore, if some new company comes up with something new, Apple can use the cash reserves to easily acquire the company and it's employees (talent) into the fold and use that new product/talent to come out with the next new thing. Plus, if I want to go crazy with predictions, maybe Apple is just saving up to buy their own cable company or TV network. Imagine if Apple buys HBO and has sole exclusive rights to great content like Game of Thrones. Suddenly, the rumored Apple TV now has a must-buy feature. One can dream right?

Finally, suing to "force" a company to spend their money seems so short sighted. Apple is still a relatively successful company and it is only Wall Street who is doubting Apple's track record. Granted, I would appreciate a dividend raise and/or a stock split but I would rather have Apple's executives concentrate their energies and brain power towards new products. They may have lost the Steve Jobs bump but I'm still bullish that Apple can still innovate and lead another technology revolution.

Apparently, on Friday, the Government will have to their draconian budget cuts (Sequestration). From what I've heard, Defense spending and other government services would feel the huge cuts which some people say would affect our economy negatively. Quite frankly, I am not that worried. I bet a deal will be reached by Friday or Monday morning at the latest. Judging from our experience from the fiscal cliff debacle, Congress would either compromise with the White House or risk losing their respective seats during the midterm elections. They have to remember, the President is done with elections and practically has nothing to lose whether or not these negotiations succeed or fail. Worse case scenario, it would be a great time to buy stocks (at least the fundamentally stable companies like Apple).

Dividends and Updates

2013-01-18T15:42:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year!

So the US did not end up over the Fiscal Cliff (we came close though). I was not surprised that a deal would be made but was surprised with the amount of time it took for them to do something. Anyway, we're currently not in financial Armageddon and the Stock Market moved on.

So here are some updates:

The Social Security Tax holiday ended on January 1, 2013 which resulted in smaller take home pay. I still have to see how much impact this new development will have in my (our) investing capabilities. I highly doubt it would affect us much but as I always say, if a 2-5% tax increase would hurt you, you're doing it wrong. Luckily, we kept expenses are low and we built a huge emergency fund so as much as it hurt, I think we'll be fine financially speaking.

To offset the loss of a few hundred dollars, I'm happy to report that our portfolio got paid some dividends.

On 01/14/2013, Mondelez paid $1.53 in dividends. It was reinvested and bought 0.0558 shares of MDLZ at $27.42/share. On the same day, Kraft also paid dividends. We got $1.96. It was reinvested and bought 0.0423 shares of KRFT at $46.34/share.

Also, on 01/10/2013, Altria paid $4.71 in dividends. It was reinvested and bought 0.1476 shares of MO at $31.91.

Granted these dividends are small peanuts compared to the "lost" take home pay but over time, these reinvested dividends would compound and make us more money in the long term. Besides, it's better than nothing.

By the way, I'm not concerned with Apple's over 200 point drop. As long as Apple manages to use or save the over $150 Billion dollars in cash in the bank, I am confident they will find a way to release more exciting products either by in-house development or through acquisitions. But we'll have too see with their earnings call next week. I have a feeling that even if Apple bottoms out at $400, it would just be a perfect buying opportunity to get more shares and we'll have to have on as it goes back up to around $600. Besides, the stock is still cheap compared to it's competitors.

Meanwhile, I'll keep investing in other sectors that would hedge the current hatred with Tech Stocks.

More to follow!

Playing Defense, New Dividends and Split Companies - A Year-end post

2012-12-18T15:31:00.001-08:00

It has been a while since I posted something substantial concerning the portfolio.

I have been busy with work, co-planning (more like following) the honeymoon and multiple life events that will not be discussed in this post. Suffice to say, I have been delinquent with my posts and for that, I apologize.

Now, with that out of the way, let's get on to business.

These days, the Market has been pummeled by the whole Fiscal Cliff discussion. For those not in the know, if the US Government fail to come up with a deal to fix the budget deficit, there would be a catastrophic sequence of events that might bring the US back into a recession. Automatic cuts in services, Defense and across the board tax hikes would probably spell disaster not only for the US but for the global economy as well. That is why we've seen a lot of CEOs, insiders cashing out their stocks to take advantage of the current capital gains tax rate which in my opinion explains why high-flying stock such as Apple (AAPL) dropped so much in recent weeks.

Nonetheless, I think playing defense against a possible sell off/crash would be a prudent course of action which brings me to my last move for the year.

As you may know, I stocked up on my cash position in preparation for a possible Mitt Romney win in November. I wanted to be in a position to buy GOP/Wall St-friendly stocks such as Defense Stocks (Lockheed Martin) and the Financials (the banks). However, Mr. Obama managed to sneak in a win (good news/bad news, I'll leave that to you. This is not a political blog) and the current status quo was maintained. I left my cash reserves alone until after my honeymoon while I collect and analyze the data, news and trends from afar.

Now, I have made my decision, I decided to use the $500 I have from the reserves to buy the GLD ETF. The order was executed today (12/18/2012) and with the $4 fee (automatic investment), I got 3.0255 shares of GLD at $163.94/share. The GLD is my hedge in case the US does go off the so call Fiscal Cliff where taxes would go up, the economy would go back into recession and stocks would drop. The GLD would be my firewall in case my portfolio would take a hit and it would also be prudent to bring up my GLD position closer to the recommended 20% of my portfolio (It is currently at 16.7% including today's purchase). Eventually, I want my AAPL position at around 10-15% of my portfolio (currently at 23%) and the rest of my positions at roughly 10-15% so that I would not be heavily affected by the now "volatile" Apple stock.

In other news, I have received dividend payments since my last post. It is safe to say, at least my portfolio was "working" on it's own. Here's the breakdown:

Altria (MO): 10/10/2012 = $4.65 -> 0.1387 shares at $33.53.

Ex-Dividend Date: 12/21/2012 and Dividend Date: 01/09/2013

Waste Management (WM): 09/21/2012 = $4.19 -> 0.1287 shares at $32.56

12/14/2012 = $4.24 -> 0.1260 shares at $33.65

Xilinx Inc. (XLNX): 08/29/2012 = $1.98 -> 0.0585 shares at $33.85

11/28/2012 = $1.99 -> 0.0584 shares at $34.08

Energy Transfer Partners (ETP): 08/14/2012 = $9.71 -> 0.2223 shares at $43.68

11/14/2012 = $9.91 -> 0.2354 shares at $42.10

Apple (AAPL): 08/16/2012 = $5.69 -> 0.0090 shares at $632.22

11/16/2012 = $5.71 -> 0.0106 shares at $538.68

Kraft (KFT -> KRFT + MDLZ): 07/17/2012 = $3.39 -> 0.0854 shares at $39.70

10/15/2012 = $3.42 -> paid to the cash fund which is possibly taxable.

Kraft did something special this year. It broke up the company into 2 different companies which resulted in me having the following stock positions:

Kraft Foods (KRFT) = 3.9261 shares

Mondelez International (MDLZ) = 11.7784 shares

KRFT Ex-Dividend Date: 12/27/2012 and Dividend Date: 01/13/2013

MDLZ Ex-Dividend Date: 12/27/2012 and Dividend Date: 01/13/2013

KRFT will be the North American Grocery Division which will carry the Velveeta, Miracle Whip and Oscar Meyer brands.

MDLZ will be the Global Snacks Division which will carry the Cadbury, Milka, Oreo and Nabisco brands.

So far, both companies are performing well and upon further review, I would decide which of the two I would focus on.

That's it. 2012 is over and the portfolio has survived the Elections, a Tech downturn and even the Apple sell off. Not at all bad even though I could have locked in my Apple gains 3-4 months ago. But there is no use reviewing the past. I am still bullish on Apple and next year could be a big one for Apple with China, the rumored Apple TV set, the iPhone 5s and a possible refresh of the iPad. If there is one thing I want Apple to deliver for next year it would be a more innovation iOS 7. In as much as I love the iOS software, it would not hurt to have more innovation in the software and increase their lead from the Android OS.

With that, I would like everyone to have a happy holidays.

I'm not gone. I'm just busy.

2012-10-03T16:19:00.002-07:00

Hey,

I know I have been absent for some time.

I've been busy at work among other things.

Anyway, since my last post, AAPL has paid me dividends and I think XLNX did too.

I'll be back with more updates soon. I'm currently building up my cash position in preparation for the results of the US Presidential Elections in November.

See you soon!

Being Wrong and Owning Up

2012-07-17T17:10:00.002-07:00

I was wrong with my LULU prediction from last week.

LULU closed at $54.40 today.

Oh well, I never said I'm a Wall Street expert. Besides, even if I did the automatic investment plan, there is no guarantee at what price it would execute. Also, it would only gain me maybe a quarter of a share more.

No regrets.

What makes me feel better is that I still see a lot of women wearing Lululemon apparel on the street. So I am good. :P

Smoking Hot Dividends and the Hot Summer

2012-07-11T09:13:00.000-07:00

The good old Big Tobacco company Altria (MO) just paid me a dividend. I got paid $4.28 which I then reinvested to get 0.1217 shares at $35.17.

As much as I was disappointed that Prop 29 failed, it is nice that I still profited from Big Tobacco's win. For the uninformed, Prop 29 would have imposed a $1.00 tax on each pack of cigarettes sold in California. Supporters claim that the additional tax would have paid for cancer research, tobacco law enforcement and smoking reduction programs. As one might expect, Big Tobacco spent $46.8 Million (Altria/Philip Morris alone spent $27,531,416 - full disclosure). Far outspending Prop 29 supporters' $12.3 Million. The silver lining for anti-smoking supporters is that it was a tight race: 50.3% No vs. 49.7% Yes. The fact that the difference of 0.6% was all the extra $34.5 Million could buy, perhaps they'll be more successful next time.

Now I bet I'm confusing some people with my 2-sided position. How can I own tobacco stocks (MO) and yet support a ballot measure that would severely affect the Tobacco Industry? Simple, I want a cure for cancer. If the additional $1.00 tax would bring us closer, then so be it. I also believe that smokers would not stop smoking even if they have to pay an additional dollar per pack of smokes. They are too addicted to smoking and it would be a hard habit to break. Either way, I'll still profit for the habit of addiction.

In other news, I just posted a LIMIT order for 5 shares of Lululemon. Yes, I did a limit order instead of my usual Automatic Investment tactic. So what did I get for the extra $5.95 in fees? Well, I got 5 shares of LULU at $55.90 (currently LULU is at $55.85 - 8:36AM). I do not think waiting till next Tuesday for the order to post would have made the difference. I believe LULU will be higher than $55.90 by next Tuesday. I would rather pay a bit more in fees to catch the downward movement now than save the $5.95 only to ride the possible rally next week. I'd rather be wrong and next week and still end up with 5 shares of LULU than be right and end up with less than 5 shares of LULU.

So here is my Lululemon thesis:

LULU peaked at $80.30 on May 3, 2012 (52-week high of $81.09) and has been moving down since then. I believe LULU has been dragged down by the Euro crisis. I believe this decline would reach the bottom soon and LULU, along with it's athletic retail competitors would experience a boost during the summer months and of course, the Olympics. I am confident this would happen because of what I've been seeing on the streets and at the gym. People are out and about walking in the streets, working out and trying to get fit. I still see a huge number of LULU gear on women and some men. LULU's business model and their steady expansion in North America would be enough for them to keep growing and put money back in my pocket.

The summer Olympics would be another catalyst I'm looking at. Fans would be watching the world's best athletes and would be "inspired" to buy some athletic apparel. Sure, Nike, Reebok and Addidas would take the lion's share of the new active wear purchases but I believe the Lululemon brand would start capturing new customers. If LULU managed to sponsor at least 1 medal winner, this could be big boost for LULU. Even if the athlete wore Nike or Reebok during the events, if those athletes start wearing Lululemon for their other activities... like yoga sessions perhaps, LULU would be poised to benefit from this. Only time will tell.

One more thing about LULU. I have noticed that the women who wear Lululemon yoga pant also wear those pants as part of their daily apparel. It is almost like what happened to UGGs (Deckers - DECK). I would not discount the possibility that Lululemon apparel would become more than just yoga pants and workout gear. It may even become an UGGs-style phenomenon. However, unlike UGGs, LULU yoga pants look great and even if the yoga wear as daily wear trend dies down, people women would still need to buy yoga pants for their yoga sessions.

With these points in mind, I predict LULU would do the head and shoulders movement and would rise back up to it's $80-$90 mantle within the next 12-16 months. So yes, I am long term investor of LULU.

Dividends and the Europe Recession

2012-06-26T09:14:00.000-07:00

First some portfolio updates:

Since my last post, I have received dividend payments from Xilinx Inc. and Waste Management.

Xilinx Inc paid me a total of $1.97 in dividends which I reinvested and bought 0.0618 shares at $31.88.

Waste Management paid me a total of $4.14 in dividends which I reinvested and bought 0.1277 shares at $32.42.

On deck is Kraft (KFT). Tomorrow is their Ex-Dividend date (06/27/12) and I'm speculating a dividend date sometime in July or August.

I recently became aware of a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT): Realty Income Corporation (Ticker symbol: O). What struck my fancy was the monthly dividend payments this REIT pays. It's current dividend yield pays at 4.40% and has been up about 3 points since I got introduced to it.

On the surface, this looks like a great investment but I still have to do my homework (and accumulate enough capital to buy a sizable position) to see if the monthly dividend is worth having another position to manage.

Meanwhile, Europe has been pulling the global economy down... at least it feels that way. Spain and Greece are currently experiencing what the US had gone through in 2008. Basically, all the US can do is wait and hope that Europe would figure out a way to fix this recession.

I'm just happy that my portfolio and retirement accounts have managed to survive this Euro situation. I'm sad that I currently don't have enough capital to double down on my positions and mutual funds (car repairs would do that).

Hopefully this would be an opportunity for me to keep buying while everyone seems to be selling. Good times for the bullish!

Dividend Payments and the Facebook IPO Fizzles

2012-05-18T11:58:00.001-07:00

My favorite natural gas position just paid me a dividend.

ETP paid me $9.53 (May 15, 2012) which I reinvested back to get 0.2065 shares at $46.15.

I really love dividends.

Just an update, XLNX's Ex-Dividend date was May 14, 2012. Dividend date is on June 5, 2012.

Now for the news of the day...

Unless you've lived under a rock for the past few weeks, you would know that the Market has been tanking due to the reported European woes that focused on austerity measures and the possible Greek bank defaults.

A lot of people may be worried and panicking while I am grinning from ear to ear because this massive sell-off may just give me another chance to buy more stocks for our stock portfolio. It also inspired me to get more shares of my mutual funds for my Roth IRA. Europe may be in trouble but as long as the USA does not collapse along with our European brothers and sisters, I'm very optimistic that this "bear" market is the second chance I've been praying for some time.

In other news, there's this small social networking company that went IPO today.

Facebook (FB) was priced at $38/share and opened at $42. The initial pop went up as high as $45 but that quickly dropped to just over $38.

Currently, FB is holding steady at $40-$41 (as of 11:41 am PST).

My brother asked me if I'll buy FB today. He even told me he can spare $10,000 to buy at the opening only to sell it at the end of the trading day. I declined his offer and told him that I think FB was overpriced and that I do not invest in companies that does not show a positive cash flow (FB has yet to report their financials publicly... I'll check again later).

With only an hour of trading left, I think I just saved my brother $10,000. Can you imagine if I took his $10,000 and bought FB at the opening price of $42? I would have lost him $476! I guess I turned out to be a financial genius this time.

Jim Cramer had warned his viewers to avoid FB in the after market (at the opening $42 valuation). He also said that at $38, FB was way overpriced and that they should have kept the price at around $28-$30.

Comparing FB to LinkedIn (LNKD). LNKD opened at $45 and closed at $94.25. LNKD outperformed FB's performance on IPO day. There was even a time that LNKD was over $100 (Today, LNKD is at $100.18).

What went wrong with Facebook?

Here a short video from the LA Times:

I think the delay of the initial trading (I checked at 7am today and there was no info on any FB trading), high IPO price, GM pulling out of Facebook ads, Eduardo Saverin renouncing his US Citizenship to allegedly avoid taxes and the high amount of stocks being sold (trading volume) hurt Facebook (FB). I guess the massive hype did not help FB and it probably disappointed a lot of investors. I took a bet that the upside of getting the IPO will not make up for the downside of the IPO disappointing Wall Street. I could not afford losing that much over a profit so insignificant the fees and taxes alone would eat it.

This time, I was right.

Automatic Investment Plan for May 1, 2012 Results

2012-05-01T15:40:00.000-07:00

The Markets closed up today.

The DOW Jones Average at 13,279.32 up 65.69 (+0.50%).

The NASDAQ is at 3,050.44 up 4.08 (+0.13%)

The S&P 500 is at 1,405.81 up 7.91 (+0.57%)

It is safe to say that my automatic savings plan purchase would be up a bit. Here are the results of today's trading:

ETP = 3.9240 shares @ $49.95

XLNX = 2.6490 shares @ $36.24

WM = 6.4473 shares @ $34.28

As you can see ETP was around $2 up from when I set-up the purchase. Luckily, WM and XLNX were a few cents down which made up for the "pricier" ETP.

In other news, AAPL was down a lot today.

I bet the stock is still reeling from the New York Times article that exposed how companies like Apple manage to avoid Billions of dollars in taxes by leveraging tax loopholes that primarily benefit huge corporations. As you can imagine, public opinion on such practices have driven the stock price down. However, I am not concerned for Apple. If at all, I wish I had $1,000-$2,000 extra to buy more shares of Apple.

To support my bullishness on Apple, here are some Apple news:

Apple just released and sold out tickets for their WWDC event in June and speculations are building up that the new iOS 6 software would be released at the event. Let us also not forget that the Apple earnings call proved that sales of the new iPad, iPhones and Macs are strong. So I expect Apple to take in more record breaking earnings numbers in the near future.

Dividend Payouts, Apple (AAPL) Worries and Automatic Investment Plans

2012-04-24T13:34:00.002-07:00

April has been mostly good for our portfolio.

We got paid dividends twice in April. First, Altria (MO) paid me $4.23 in dividends on April 9, 2012. With my Dividend Reinvestment Plan, I was able to purchase 0.1358 shares of MO at $31.15.

Second, Kraft (KFT) paid me $3.36 in dividends on April 15, 2012. Again, my Dividend Reinvestment Plan bought me 0.0900 shares of KFT at $37.33.

This may seem peanuts to the untrained eye but that's $7.59 of free money. Plus, I got more shares of a company which can increase in value over time. Besides, $7.59 will not pay my bills so it might as well work harder for us in the stock market.

On top of that, WM, MO and LULU have been pulling their weight with the appreciation of our portfolio. Apple still owns the bulk of our growth but the Cupertino company has been beaten up these past few days. Rumors of supply issues and that mobile carriers were sick of Apple plagued the stock price which dropped to $560 from an all-time high of $644 (04/10/2012). I'm not worried. It's just some profit taking and rumor-mongering (although that patent infringement judgement against them can be an issue).

Now, I have some cash to spend and I'm looking to buy more shares to add in our portfolio.

Currently, I'm looking at Xilinx Inc (XLNX) and Waste Management (WM).

XLNX looks tempting because of it's upcoming Ex-Dividend date (May 14, 2012 with a dividend date of June 5, 2012). I also expect XLNX to increase their net profits due to the upcoming technology purchases by consumers (back to school/college CPU purchases for example) in the near future. Intel has also launched their IVY Bridge chips which would spur a new line of products that would come from Xilinx and it's competitors.

However, the trend of XLNX and the possible competitive arms-race may not bode well for my stock position. Also, Wall Street's estimates does not give me confidence either. In addition, if I buy more XLNX, my asset allocation would be heavy on Tech ahead of the summer Tech Sector slow down. Furthermore, the PEG ratio of 4.89 would suggest XLNX would be an expensive stock to buy (AAPL is at 0.66 - my cheapest stock purchase).

Given my concerns and with Analysts' HOLD recommendation, I would seriously reconsider my plan of buying more XLNX.

On the other hand, WM has been showing better news than XLNX.

WM has seen profits grow at the average of 1.2% year-over-year. WM has managed to capture the methane gas from their landfills and transformed it into energy for their trucks and possibly households. Also, WM has E-Waste recycling services contracts with electronic companies such as Sony. I've been an environmentalist even before being "Green" became cool and this news caught my attention and made me feel better with my investment. Besides, worse case scenario, people would still need WM to get rid our their trash... a sustainable business if you ask me. Furthermore, I'm a bit underweight with my WM position (Business Services Sector at 5.83%) at $187.99 (4.6% of total portfolio).

So perhaps, I'll use the $525.00 dollars I have in cash to buy some WM... or perhaps split it with some Energy Transfer Partners ETP as part of my Natural Gas/Greener Fuel play.

All right, I have decided:

ETP = $200 - $4 fee = $196/$47.72 as of 04/24/12 1:15pm = 4.1072 shares

WM = $225 - $4 fee = $221/$35.98 as of 04/24/12 1:15pm = 6.1423 shares

I'll leave the $100 cash in the sidelines and wait for more opportunities to get in the stock market.

Update: I've decided the use the $100 to get as much XLNX as possible.

XLNX = $100 - 44 fee = $96/$36.67 as of 04/27/12 9:38am = 2.6179 shares

Aside from the upcoming dividend payout, something tells me that XLNX will be key yo the increase of data use by smartphone users. Especially the 4G LTE group... perhaps, a new 4G phone from a Cupertino company?

The Automatic Investment Plan will execute on May 1, 2012.

Let us wait and see.

Automatic Investment Plan for March 27, 2012 And Some Updates

2012-04-04T11:19:00.001-07:00

I was able to beat Kraft's (KFT) Ex-Dividend date of March 28, 2012. My order of $350.00 worth of KFT stock posted on March 27, 2012. I locked in 9.0937 shares at $38.49 a piece.

Also, on March 23, 2012, Waste Management (WM) paid a dividend to their investors. I received $1.84 and reinvested it to get more shares. The dividend bought me 0.05727 shares at $34.91. It is so nice to get paid just by investing in a company.

To recap, our portfolio looks like this:

AAPL = 2.1473 shares = $1,331.11 (Market value as of 10:45 am 04/04/2012)
ETP = 6.7367 shares = $313.12 (Market value as of 10:45 am 04/04/2012)
GLD = 2.1581 shares = $338.77 (Market value as of 10:45 am 04/04/2012)
KFT = 11.6030 shares = $443.47 (Market value as of 10:45 am 04/04/2012)
LULU = 7.3301 shares = $548.36 (Market value as of 10:45 am 04/04/2012)
MO = 10.3151 shares = $321.83 (Market value as of 10:45 am 04/04/2012)
WM = 5.2271 shares = $182.69 (Market value as of 10:45 am 04/04/2012)
XLNX = 6.2860 shares = $221.90 (Market value as of 10:45 am 04/04/2012)

Cash available = $225.68
Total Portfolio Value = $3,926.92 (Market value as of 10:45 am 04/04/2012)

If I were to play Jim Cramer's Am I Diversified Game where I look at my top 5 positions:
1. AAPL - Tech
2. LULU - Retail
3. KFT - Consumer Staple (Food)
4. GLD - Gold ETF
5. MO - Consumer Staple (Vice)
You will see that KFT and MO are overlapping sectors. Normally I would have to switch out the weaker stock and replace it with either an energy, biotech of financial stock. However, I can argue that KFT is more of a food and household pantry play and MO is more of my consumer vices play. Also, both positions pay healthy dividends and are great recession plays. People would still eat food (probably pre-packed like Kraft's Mac & Cheese) and addicted smokers will still smoke (as shown by my brother and sister). So perhaps, I can get away with the overlapping sectors.

A small note:
Last week's Mega Millions Lottery price peaked at $656 Million dollars. As millions of hopefuls lined up for hours and spent hundreds (some even thousands) of dollars on tickets with the hope of winning that record prize. In spite of the lousy 1 to 176 million odds, people still hoped and prayed that they win the lotto. Majority spent most of their disposable incomes (or worse, borrowed money) to gamble where the odds just plain suck. If only they used some of the money to invest in a ROTH IRA or buying stocks, they would probably beat 99.9% of the Mega Millions hopefuls and made some money.

I for one, made some real money and only "lost" $1 in a Mega Millions Office Pool (Hey, it doesn't hurt.. All I needed was to be the 1 in 176 million).

Uncle Sam's Cash Back, Apple Goodness, Promos and Some Cheesy Dividends

2012-03-21T10:31:00.001-07:00

Our household recently received our State and Federal tax refunds.

After spending $1000 to help pay down my wife's car payment, we decided to split the remaining cash equally between the two of us. Then my wife asked me: "What would you buy with your share of the refund? An iPad?" I answered: "I'll buy more mutual funds for my Roth IRA and some stock for our taxable investment account."

She smiled.

For the past four years, I have used my tax refunds to invest in my Roth IRA. I figured, why spend money and pay more taxes (sales tax) when I can just make more "tax free" money in my Roth IRA? The answer is a no-brainer. Reinvesting my tax refunds in my Roth made me more money and gave me more satisfaction compared to whatever gadget I would have bought. I love making (easy) awesome decisions.

So what did I buy with the money? I checked our portfolio and checked which stock had the closest Ex-Dividend date. It turns out Kraft (KFT) would have their ex-dividend date on March 28, 2012 (next Wednesday). I then transferred money to the account and set-up the Automatic Investment Plan for Tuesday, March 27, 2012. This should be enough time for me to get the stock before the ex-dividend date and be eligible for the dividend.

Here is a breakdown of my transaction:

1. I transferred $350 to the account (the rest of the money will go to my ROTH).

2. I set-up the automatic investment plan.

3. I'll buy $350 worth of KFT shares - Potentially 9.1217 shares @$38.37 (as of 9:47am today).

4. There is no fee this time due to a promo (Thanks!)

5. I'll potentially own 11.6310 shares of KFT.

6. KFT currently pays a $0.29/share dividend - $3.37299 potential payout.

Thanks to Kraft, I'll have a nice and "cheesy" dividend. LOL

In other news, last Monday, Apple announced that they would pay a 1.8% dividend ($2.65/share quarterly, $10.60/share annually) to its investors. Apple will also spend $10 billion to do a stock buyback. This will reduce the number of stocks outstanding which would mean every remaining investor would own more of the company. This obviously is good news for me.

The dividend payout would allow "value-oriented" mutual funds to invest in Apple. In my opinion, this is both good and bad news. The good news is that Apple would be exposed to more mutual funds and the bad news is that this opens Apple to more volatility as mutual funds' dollars goes in and out of Apple depending on how the stock and the market performed on a given day. This also makes diversification a bit tougher as I expect a flood of new mutual fund investors. I suggest checking your mutual funds' holdings and try to be as diverse as possible.

The dividend is a welcome bonus for me as an investor. Although the dividend yield is not as huge as HP, Microsoft and the others but the growth rate and performance of Apple more than makes up for the comparatively "small" dividend. Besides, I'm more bullish of Apple than HP.

Tempting as it is to get more Apple stock, I'll keep my emotions in check and keep our portfolio as balanced as possible. We still have a long way to go.

Chasing Altria's (MO) Ex-Dividend Date, Dodging Yelp, Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) and Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) Pays Me Some Dividends and Can Anyone Stop Apple (AAPL)?

2012-03-09T10:28:00.001-08:00

I just bought 7 more shares of Altria (MO).

I executed a limit order for $30.41 which bumped my shares of MO to 10.3151. It cost me $222.82. I bought 7 shares for $212.87 plus the transaction fee was $9.95. This order was $5.95 more than what it would have cost if I had waited for the Automatic Investment Plan. I did not wait for the AIP because it would buy the shares on MO's Ex-Dividend Date (Tuesday, March 13, 2012) which would make me ineligible to receive the dividend (per SEC definition of the Ex-Dividend Date). This would have been a loss of $2.87 (7 x $0.41/share).

Where would I gain the $3.08 difference? That would come from stock price appreciation (MO's chart has been trending up and today it closed at $30.46) and yield (I'll be paid dividends for 10.3151 shares instead of 3.3151). I would be able to use the $4.22 ($4.2291 rounding down) to reinvest in MO pushing my yield higher.

The dividend would be paid on April 9, 2012.

Speaking of dividends, Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) and Xilinx Inc (XLNX) just paid me some nice dividends. XLNX paid $1.19 and ETP paid $5.91. These dividends were reinvested in the stocks my yields. I love dividends.

In other news, Yelp (YELP) went public recently. Just like LinkedIn (LNKD), Zynga (ZNGA), Pandora (P) and Groupon (GRPN), I avoided these new IPOs since I did not get any shares pre-IPO and I do not have enough cash (and time) to get in the deal at the moment of the IPO. With the exception of LNKD and in some way, ZNGA, these new tech IPOS have no profits to speak of. Their business models rely heavily on Online Advertising and "Eyeballs" while their costs are going up (content licensing, customer acquisition and labor).

Although I'm not a total Bear on these tech stocks, I am not risking my hard earn cash investing in companies that make no money. I am even on the belief that even Facebook would fail to satisfy Wall Street post-IPO.

Only time would tell.

Finally, Apple (AAPL) just announced their first major product launch since the death of Steve Jobs. The new iPad is poised to keep Apple's lead in the tablet market and is targeting the market share of laptop makers. During the keynote presentation, Apple CEO Tim Cook declared the iPad as the major leader of the Post-PC era. Mr. Cook and company did really well during the keynote and even though it lacked the Steve Jobs Halo Effect, the recent keynote was filled with oohs and ahhs from the crowd and the tech community. The new iPad boasted the new Retina Display, 4G LTE, a faster graphics processing chip and an amazing battery life all in the same "low" starting price of $499. Apple also kept the iPad 2 at a lower $399 price. Tech pundits and analysts predict AAPL would sell at least 10-15 million units on the first weekend. I'm even willing to bet they would sell up to 20 million units. My only fear with this prediction is whether Apple has enough iPads to sell that weekend. I'm sure the workers at FoxConn worked double/triple overtime since November producing these magical devices.

AAPL's stock price played around $528-$536 during the announcement. Normally, an Apple event brings down the stock price low enough for a nice re-entry but this time, the stock price held its own. Perhaps Tim Cook symbolized stability in the company and not seeing a frail looking Steve Jobs made investors "feel" secure about Apple.

Although Apple fans including me would have preferred seeing Mr. Jobs work his magic on stage, his presence, in spite of his health issues, was sorely missed. As for AAPL's future, I am bullish that this company would keep printing money for years to come. Their stock price though high, is cheap compared to it's competitors. The PEG ratio is at 0.66, making it the cheapest of my positions (believe it or not). The product line, high profit margins and brand equity would keep AAPL on top for a while. As long as the company continues to innovate and execute, I would keep investing in Apple (and buy a product or two).