Selling Half My Position in Stoneridge Inc.

Stoneridge Inc. (SRI) is one of my favorite stocks to trade around. Yesterday I sold about half my position at $12.39.  The auto parts maker moves up and down drastically on relatively small news. 

I think that the relative illiquidity of this Stoneridge makes move a lot when one or two fund managers decide to move in or out.  I usually try to move the opposite direction.  My last trade in SRI (this SRI is the New York Stock Exchange ticker and has nothing to do with Socially Responsible Investing - the other kind of SRI) was a buy in March of 2006 at $5.56.  The company recently announced good earnings and much better prospects for earnings of $0.38/share for 2007. Analysts put 2008 earnings at $0.61 a share, but that rosy prospect still puts the stock at a p/e of over 20.  For now, I'm selling half my position, if nothing else changes I'll probably sell the other half in March when my short term gain turns into a long term gain.  I'll risk the stock falling to make up a 20% differential in tax rates.

Disclosures and Confessions:  I own Stoneridge Inc. (SRI) and have traded SRI both "buy" and "sell" in the past two years.  If prices stay where they are or higher, I am likely to sell more in the next month. 

SRI 1-yr chart: