Bob’s Activity and Action

BobL — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:54:43 +0000

I have been rather active in the last few days. I have been trying to resist the urge to be greedy. I am going against my mantra of “Don’t turn a trade into an investment and don’t turn an investment into a trade!”. I did sell some long term plays last week, but avoided my past mistake of simply putting the proceeds on the sideline. I sold out of some dead money positions (so I thought) and moved into a couple of firm plays that are also dividend plays (BLK, PFE, BP, GS). BP has been a solid winner and has a yield above 6% a year. Thanks for the BP call Teddy!!

I am currently in a TimothySykes.com short of DRGZ. I will stomach the short term pain over the next couple of days since I don’t expect to be able to find shares to short. Short them while you can. I had some success with a past call where shares were available during the run but not during the fall (GWSC).

I am speculating on the earnings of FNFG (First Niagara Financial Group). They are a regional bank (In my back yard) who have been clicking on all cylinders for the past 6 months. They did 2 offerings during the worst of it. Took TARP and were one of the first to pay it back. They report earnings on Friday. My option play is a speculation that the numbers will be good and will move this stock back up to the level the reached in late April.

I also placed a buy of ERX (energy bull). This is a volatile way to play oil and the energy sector. As I write this, half of my position sold off (7.48% gain in 1 day). I am holding the other half to speculate on the EIA petroleum status report due at 10:30 today.

I have written many times about how much I like Corning. I placed an option trade and the shares got caught in the market downturn. I bought 10 more contracts. I sold 8 of the 10 contracts yesterday for a 33% gain. I am holding my last 9 contracts for a longer term play. If the recovery is real, Corning will be a big winner. These are Nov 15 call options. Plenty of time left and well into the money.

Bob

Check out my trading log to stay up to date with what I am up to. I might not be writing lengthy articles regarding each move, but you can catch up on my thoughts with the Bob and Scott Twitter feed.

BTW: Scott has been on Vacation. He’ll be back to share.

Blackrock is Picking up the Pieces

BobL — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:30:29 +0000

A wise investor once said that the time to buy is when everyone else is selling. Well, who is doing the buying of assets right now? Blackrock is one of them BLK. The chart on Blackrock is pretty impressive. If you feel we are at a bottom for markets, assets, companies, Blackrock could end up a huge winner 3-5 years down the road. I just picked up a small number of shares. I gave up on some AIG shares at a loss to pick up the BLK shares. Sounds like a fair trade to me. I don’t see how AIG is going to make it through this mess. Might as well wipe out the common and fold them into the new bank oversight agency.

Keep an eye on Blackrock. This will be one to watch for many years to come. A well capitalized entity, picking up assets at a discount, at or near the bottom will be a winner. The key is the pricing. They are buying assets that can support themselves. When they are spun off in the future, expect huge returns for BLK.

Blackrock

Bob and Scott » blk

Bob’s Activity and Action

Blackrock is Picking up the Pieces