Several months ago, Purdue University researchers published the results of a study that looked at how Seeking Alpha contributors fare with regards to providing "valuable information" to readers. At the time, I made the promise that I would hold myself accountable by publishing the results of the sentiment I put forth in my Seeking Alpha articles.
In this article, I look at stocks I went bullish on. To see the performance of my bearish plays, click here.
| Company Name (Ticker) | Date, 1st Mention | Entry Price | Closing Price, 6/07/2011 |
| ProShares Ultra DJ-UBS Crude Oil ETF (UCO) | 2/24/2011 | $50.09 | $46.74 |
| Walmart (WMT) | 3/07/2011 | $52.02 | $53.83 |
| Nvidia (NVDA) | 3/11/2011 | $18.05 | $18.06 |
| Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) | 3/11/2011 | $8.65 | $7.71 |
| Ford (F) | 3/14/2011 | $14.30 | $13.95 |
| Amazon.com (AMZN) | 3/11/2011 | $168.07 | $187.55 |
| Proctor & Gamble (PG) | 3/17/2011 | $60.43 | $65.06 |
| Wisconsin Energy (WEC) | 3/17/2011 | $29.45 | $30.83 |
| Sprint (S) | 3/25/2011 | $4.68 | $5.49 |
| Best Buy (BBY) | 3/18/2011 | $31.53 | $28.93 |
| Cisco Systems (CSCO) | 3/19/2011 | $17.39 | $15.51 |
| Snap Interactive (STVI.OB) | 3/18/2011 | $2.42 | $1.80 |
| Open Table (OPEN) | 3/28/2011 | $104.29 | $80.70 |
| Qualcomm (QCOM) | 3/28/2011 | $52.18 | $56.51 |
| Expedia (EXPE) | 3/28/2011 | $21.62 | $26.89 |
| Target (TGT) | 3/29/2011 | $49.16 | $47.06 |
| Whole Foods Market (WFM) | 3/29/2011 | $64.35 | $56.99 |
| Electronic Arts (ERTS) | 3/29/2011 | $19.66 | $23.35 |
| First Solar (FSLR) | 3/17/2011 | $154.00 | $117.86 |
| Tesla Motors (TSLA) | 4/01/2011 | $26.66 | $28.37 |
| Public Storage (PSA) | 4/04/2011 | $111.73 | $115.68 |
| Forest City Enterprises (FCE.A) | 4/04/2011 | $18.61 | $18.66 |
| CBS (CBS) | 4/06/2011 | $24.51 | $26.55 |
| Regal Entertainment Group (RGC) | 4/08/2011 | $13.97 | $12.02 |
| Time Warner Cable (TWC) | 4/08/2011 | $72.85 | $75.61 |
| Disney (DIS) | 3/29/2011 | $42.94 | $39.35 |
| Microsoft (MSFT) | 4/08/2011 | $26.07 | $24.06 |
I did not show performance percentage for each stock like I did for my bearish plays because I think some stocks on the list deserve a bit more explanation.
First, between the time I expressed bullish sentiment on several of these stocks and now, I turned bearish. For example, I would have taken profits on WMT prior to taking my recent bearish turn. And, because investing is hardly a passive process, I would have likely stopped myself out (mentally) of several positions prior to taking too hard of a hit. Small losses mean nothing to me. It's all about avoiding the catastrophic ones. I probably would have stopped myself out of OPEN and FSLR. I would feel comfortable, right up to this day, averaging down in F, BBY, CSCO, STVI.OB, WFM, RGC, DIS, and MSFT. In other words, I would buy them today despite the on-paper losses shown above.
But, for the sake of fairness, time, and just to handicap myself a bit, I consider my performance in each stock from its entry price to its Tuesday closing price, assuming a 100-share stake in each.
To get into the portfolio, it would have cost $125,968. Had you sold everything at Tuesday's closing prices you would have been left with $122,512 for a loss of $3,456, or -2.7%. Of course, by taking out FSLR and OPEN debacles, without those buys, the portfolio would have cost $100,139 to get into. You could have got out at Tuesday's close with proceeds of $102,656 for a modest gain of $2,517, or 2.5%.
Disclosure: I am long TSLA, S.
