We rebalanced the portfolio this week. We sold our positions in JCI, FISV, LNCR, and ORLY. None of these are bad stocks. However, we were trying to reduce the overall number of stocks in the portfolio to about 20. Someone had to be voted off the island. We also were trying to raise the overall projected average return (PAR) of the portfolio by replacing low PAR stocks with equal or better quality stocks with higher PAR.
We took a new position in Synovus Financial Corp. (SNV). We increased our position in Chevron (CVX) and purchased a second energy stock, Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY). We also added to our positions in ACS, PFE, FTB, JKHY, BBY, and WMT.
Interesting looking at your sells. However, what about PDCO? The supplier of dental and pet products warned of second-quarter and full-year profit shortfalls because of weak sales. Is this an industry issue of just company specific and if it is the former what are your thoughts on the company going forward.
PDCO is on our list of stocks to watch and possibly exchange. Value Line recently reduced its year-end forecast by a $0.10 to $1.46. If you look at the SSG, the projected average return over the next five years is only 7.1% — well below the market average. And, that is after the price declined significantly after the lowered earnings guidance. If we find a better opportunity, we will probably redeploy the cash in PDCO. Nonetheless, PDCO remains a high quality stock and its business fundamentals remain intact, so there is no urgency to sell. MMC is another stocks that we are considering for replacement.
Ty, I was rummaging around your site and could not open the PDF for OXY. Can you please check it. I am able to open the SNV PDF and others.
Thanks
Sorry you had problems. Here is the link. http://stockherd.com/moosepond/files/ssg/oxy_20051117.pdf
Ty H.