Sunday, July 26, 2015

Buying flurry: Dot Hill, Star Bulk, Ocata Therapeutics, Acceleron, Biogen

It is earnings season so I am very busy, so I am behind in updating followers on my trades.

If you want to read the notes I make on the analyst conferences of the stocks I follow, you can find a list of the stocks with links at: Meyers Analyst Conference List

I only sold once stock lately, a bit of my Celgene (CELG) stock, because I had bought some extra when it dipped and then it went back up and exceeded my portfolio limit rules. My last two trades were buying on April 30, 2015 at $107.20 and then selling the same amount on July 15, 2015 for $132.99. Of course Celgene has risen since then, so I am fairly near my portfolio limit of 10% of any stock for Celgene. Check out Seeking Alpha for my Celgene articles.

I also added shares of Dot Hill (HILL) to my existing holdings at $6.28 on June 26, 2015 and at $5.67 on July 7, 2015. Dot Hill continues to do well with sales of its data storage systems and so I would not be surprised at another record year and the stock heading to $8.

I bought some Star Bulk (SBLK) on July 16, 2015 for $2.99 because if the global economy revives a bit the demand for bulk shipping will too, and freight rates will hopefully come off their recent lows and reach levels that are profitable for shippers. It is off the beaten path for me and a risky investment because if rates stay low, it will continue to operate in the red.

On July 17, 2015 I bought an initial, tiny, position in Ocata Therapeutics (OCAT) pending further research.

On July 21, 2015 I bought an initial position in Acceleron (XLRN) because I was doing research for my article Accleron Has Two Potential Blockbusters for Seeking Alpha and I liked what I saw. Acceleron has a partnership with Celgene.

And finally, since I was quite cynical earlier in the year about Biogen's (BIIB) Alzheimer's early data, the updated data gave me a favorable impression. I have owned BIIB since 2009 or so, but well below my portfolio limit due to its high P/E ratio. So I bought more BIIB on July 24, 2015 for $306.96. True, by the end of the day it had fallen a bit lower, but consider that its 52-week high had been $480.18 back on March 20, 2015. Really, not that much has changed since March, it shows you how dependent day-to-day auction prices are on emotion.

My general strategy is that I am a long-term investor. I may sell a stock when it had done so well that it exceeds my portfolio limits, or when I have other reason to think it has become so over valued it is no longer a good long-term investment.

Keep diversified!

No comments:

Post a Comment