Stock Banter

After buying LNKD shares at $80 and $75, it’s time to sell half my holdings at $88 per share.

Yesterday, Morgan Stanley, UBS, J.P. Morgan and Bank of America/Merrill Lynch — set price targets for the shares ranging between $85 and $92.  Ken Sena of Evercore Partners initiated coverage on June 13 with a $70 price target.

I believe it is time to book my 10% gain on my $80 per share holdings and hold on to my LNKD stock I bought at $75.

Linkedin has been an extremely volitile stock ranging from $60.14 to $122.70 per share. I will hold on to a small amount of stock and look to buy more once we see next quarters performance.

I still believe in LNKD, but when the stock moves up so fast in such a short period of time, its time to take a little off the table.

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At 10:55 this morning, I sold 1/2 of my INTC position at $23.2716 per share. Since we are past the x-dividend date of May 4 and the date of record of May 7, I will still recieve my June 1 dividend payment.

Why the sell?
1. Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock to a target of $20 per share.
2. I can buy back the stock before the August 4 (estimated) x-dividend date.
3. It looks as if INTC has reached a peak. So I’m taking some off the table.
The dividend rate is currently 3.04% so I want to be back in this stock before the first of August. If the stock drops below $20, I will likely buy at that time.

I still believe that INTC has a great story and will be a large part of the future of computing. If the stock does drop yet the fundamentals hold up, I may double my buyback. And I’m keeping half of my position just in case Goldman is wrong and the corporate pc upgrade kicks in large.

I sold my entire TAP position today at 10am for $47 per share. I have held a position since November 5/2009 with an adjusted cost basis of 44.049 per share. I’ll take a small gain in my small position at this time because it looks like TAP has some strong headwinds. From raw material costs to continuing slow economic growth, TAP looks like it will be stuck in this price range or worse, may decline in price.

Other headwinds can be seen in these headlines:

UPDATE: Molson Coors 1Q Net Down 21%, Volumes Continue To Slide
Molson Coors: Seeing Discounting By Smaller Brewers In Canada
Molson Coors CFO: Seeing ‘Significant’ Cost Challenges From Inputs
Molson Coors: Year-Ago 2Q Benefited From World Cup Sales
Molson Coors: 2Q Comparison In UK Will Be Challenging
Molson Coors CFO: Higher Fuel, Freight Costs Add Pressure

Before the start of today’s trade, Citigroup Inc. announced a 1 for 10 reverse stock split and said it plans to pay a quarterly dividend of a penny a share in the second quarter. Reverse split and then a penny dividend? A penny?

“The reverse stock split and intention to reinstate a dividend are important steps as we anticipate returning capital to shareholders starting next year,” said Chief Executive Vikram Pandit in a press release.

I’m selling.

Rarely does a revers split work out well for stockholders. A 1 for 10 split with today’s presplit price is really a one-tenth of one cent dividend. Vikram, that is not much of a return. Don’t you think something more worthwhile would make more sense?

My plan is to pickup Citi under $35 after the split. Long term, I’m still bullish on C. Short term, I’m completely out.

I’m selling half of my target GS holdings at $171.49 if the stock ever gets there. I will still be holding 1/4 of my target allocation of GS.

Why am I selling? GS took me by suprise today by having a larger quarterly drop than expected.  GS’s institutional clients traded less and the backlog of investment-banking transactions shrank. Yes they still have a backlog, but the trend is not good. Fourth-quarter revenue declined to $8.64 billion from the prior year’s $9.62 billion. Profit-per-common share was $3.79 compared with $8.20 in the final three months of 2009.

I think it is time to take a little GS off the table after such a nice run up on the stock. I will put a buy back in at $155.

In the long run, I am bullish on GS and agree with Credit Suisse’s target price of $190. In the short run, I don’t consider GS an ‘outperform’ as CS does. I think GS is due for a pull back and I look to pickup some shares in the next three to six months at my target buy price.

If GS ever hits $190 I will either sell my remaining shares or half of my holdings, if I bought more.

Why I like GS:

Goldman Sachs is a best of breed franchise with a strong balance sheet and an ability to gain market share against its piers. GS has a myriad of businesses that include investment banking and institutional clients.

What I sold last year:

I sold EMC at $19.25 for a 18% long term gain – still holding significant number of shares. Sold too soon.

I sold all my SLV at 27.65, 43% short term gain, but did I sell too soon? Very scary at these levels. Looking for a major pullback before considering any purchase.

I sold all my UUP in March at 27.65, good move because I got out with a 2.5% gain and now the fund is down to 22.71. I’m staying away.

I sold 200 shares of PG at $63 early on February 18th, I had a 31% short term gain on half the shares. I bought 100 shares on May 5 at $60. Gives me 200 shares total. Considering additional shares.

I sold 150 shares of RIMM on February 18th and then my remaining shares on April 26 all at an average selling price of $70.92. Good move because RIMM is trading at $58.13 right now. Looks like the stock peaked at the end of March. I have zero shares of RIMM at this time. Looks like I sold just in time.

I sold RFMD after holding the stock for just one month. If you have a 21% gain in a month, I think that might be a good time to book profits. I sold RFMD on October 28 at $7.33. Today the stock is trading for $7.35. Waiting for a pull back on this before considering.

I sold TBT at $50 on January 13, 2010 booking an 11% profit in less than 3 months. Looks like I sold just in time.

First and Last Call of 2010 was January 6

After ending last year by selling some GE for a loss (read: tax purpose)  and then buying 71 GE Calls on December 30, March 20 2010 Call 13 @ 2.94, I then sold those calls on January 6 @2.70, netting me $3072 in one week. But that scared the crap out of me. The call-put prices are so volatile, it seems like a crap shoot. That was the last call I bought in 2010, and I didn’t buy or sell any puts either.