It’s time for a bit of spring cleaning, before the summer correction - I mean vacation - is upon us. It may be late in the season for cleaning the screens and the windows, however, with the S&P almost doubling in just over a year and due for a correction, it is the perfect time to shine up that dusty portfolio.
Time to Ditch the Dogs and Skim the Cream.A stock portfolio is a personal matter. If you believe we may be heading toward a double dip, you may want to shift to a cash heavy position. If you are a bull among bulls, you will still benefit from taking some of your winings off the table, or at the least, rebalancing.
Making my Personals Public, Just For You.I’m selling what I have left of HP(HPQ) using a very tight trailing stop. The stock has been hit hard recently and the trailing stop will allow me to capitalize on a bounce, if there is one. HP has lost its way and it is going to take a long time to find it again.
Raytheon(RTN) is another dog that will be getting the boot this week. Government spending, notably military spending, will be declining for as far out in the future as I care to predict. I own LMT and BA, which I consider best of breed and a commercial aircraft play, respectively. That leaves RTN on the chopping block, as I reduce my exposure to government spending.
There has been a growing short interest in EMC and the reasons can be debated. Regardless, I’m up 45% and will be selling half my position. Depending on the action this summer, I may buy back in at $24-$26. I still believe there will continue to be room for growth in the cloud arena and EMC is still the king.
A Cobweb Free Portfolio is a Happy PortfolioNow that my holdings smell like Lemon Pledge, I can relax and enjoy the summer. What a relief it is to look up my account holdings and not see those stocks that have been in the back of the closet for months, or even years. Be sure not to give any of your stocks a free pass! I’m certain that you’ll feel better. I am now lean and mean with about 30% in cash. That will give me the freedom to take advantage of any opportunity that comes up. Open the garage door to your portfolio, bring a couple of trash cans, and get to work.
Disclosures are all mentioned in the article.
Joe McCauley
Disclosure: I am long HPQ, RTN, LMT, BA, EMC.
Additional disclosure: Positions and intentions to sell or hold all stocks mentioned in the article, is clearly stated.