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April, 2013: 6 8 13 18
Disclaimer - IMPORTANT - Read this first!
Investor's Journal is a diary focused strictly on investments and personal finance issues, primarily from a contrarian and retiree point of view. Follow along with an average guy's failures and successes as he learns, by trial and error, the fine art of value investing.


4/6/13-Since the last entry, there have been no sell signals among stocks in the portfolios followed here.

Alphabetically, though in no particular order of merit, my current top-five low price to book value stocks are: AOSL; BBOX; MSN; TX; and VOXX.

My new featured equity from among them is VOXX International Corp., ADR (VOXX) (recent price $10.17). It meets Benjamin Graham's bargain stock safety and value criteria.

VOXX International Corp., ADR will be added to our nest egg at its market price in early morning trading on Monday, 4/8/13.


4/8/13-Since the last entry, there have been no sell signals among stocks in the portfolios followed here.

Spring is a time of new cleaning and organizing. In that spirit, I propose to do some simplifying of the portfolios followed here. Over the last few years I have added three experimental dividend stock portfolios, Ben Graham Dividend with Value, Love 'Em & Leave 'Em, and Selective Six Percent Plus. Reviewing their criteria and records, there really does not appear to be that much that separates them, and they all have in common good value dividend equities.

Accordingly, I shall be combining the records and stocks of all three into one new portfolio, Dividend Value. The three, which till now have been reviewed separately, will now be assessed only as this fresh grouping in future. Thus the two primary foci of this journal will continue to be low price to book value and low price to dividend value.

In the latter category, I am currently looking at several candidates for new purchase: KKR; INTC; TOT; AAPL; SAI; SPLS; AB; FIG; AYR; GLAD; and AINV.


4/13/13-Following the last entry, our Low Price to Book Value (Low P/Bk) portfolio stock, STRT, purchased on 7/13/12, was sold on 4/9/13 for a net gain of 49.83% (taking into account commissions but not regular dividends). Due to an error in calculating where to set the limit sell price, the asset was redeemed a bit below my preferred minimum sell point. STRT has been deleted from our open positions record for Low P/Bk assets, and its closed position info for 7/13/12 through 4/9/13 has been added to our spreadsheet record of the portfolio's redemptions and mergers.

Also following the preceding entry, our Low Price to Book Value portfolio stock, MRH, purchased on 4/18/11, was sold on 4/10/13 for a net gain of 50.01% (taking into account commissions but not dividends). This MRH position has been deleted from our open asset record for Low P/Bk equities, and its closed position info for 4/18/11 through 4/10/13 has been added to our spreadsheet record of the portfolio's redemptions and mergers.

Alphabetically, though in no particular order of merit, my current top-five low price to book value stocks are: AOSL; CNTY; DSX; MSN; and TX. (Though it does not meet all my usual low price to book stocks criteria, VLCCF also looks interesting, and I am thinking of going ahead and investing a small amount in it. Call me crazy.)

My new featured equity from among them is Alpha and Omega Semiconductor, Ltd. (AOSL) (recent price $8.86). It meets Benjamin Graham's bargain stock safety and value criteria.

Alpha and Omega Semiconductor, Ltd. will be added to our nest egg at its market price in early morning trading on Monday, 4/15/13.

With the market down a bit Friday, I am as well adding a couple stocks early Monday morning to our Dividend Value portfolio: KKR and TOT. Their dividends are about 6%, the average of their book values is around 1.8, while their P/E ratios are relatively low at 9 or under. The D/E in each case is below .5, as are the dividend payout ratios. They meet Ben Graham bargain criteria based on their high dividends plus reasonable debt to equity levels.

Despite how it may appear from mentioning the above three or four assets intended for purchase in a couple days, I have been a net seller since the market's rise began last fall, and expect this shall continue, though the selling is moderated by a gradual addition of equity low price to book value, to assure our year-end total book value target is achieved. Thus, am involved in a balancing act till the market may begin a significant correction, at which point I anticipate more aggressively acquiring shares.

Meanwhile, am also looking into a low risk portfolio combination I can perhaps use as an alternative to simply holding so much in terribly low return money market reserves as we await bearish trends in stocks. Ideally this will prove a combination with roughly half the volatility of market averages such as the S&P 500 Index, yet which likely would perform as well as or better than that average on a total return basis. At the moment, a portfolio which suggests itself as useful for this purpose would include 20% in Templeton international closed-end funds which have had a value orientation, another 20% in Templeton global bond funds, plus 10% each in a money market fund and in five index funds: one focused on domestic equity small-cap value, another on intermediate bonds, one on precious metals, another on commodities, and finally one on real estate investment trusts, the portfolio to be rebalanced and restored to the 10(or 20)% target percentages annually. Of course, history is no guarantee, but taken as a whole this array seems to provide better than 10.5% total return per average year, yet with significantly less risk than for the S&P 500 Index.


4/18/13-Since the just previous entry, there have been no new sales or sell signals among stocks or portfolios followed here.

Alphabetically, though in no particular order of merit, my current top-five low price to book value stocks are: AOSL; BHE; LUKOY; PARF; and SLT.

My new featured equity from among them is Sterlite Industries, Ltd. (SLT) (recent price $6.47). It meets Benjamin Graham's bargain stock safety and value criteria.

Sterlite Industries, Ltd. (ADR) will be added to our nest egg at its market price in early morning trading today.


Disclaimer and Disclosure Statement
Much as I'd love it to be otherwise, I receive no payment of any kind for disseminating investment information unless, by some fluke, millions of folks, on the strength of these entries, start buying shares of stock I own, a possibility only slightly less likely than our being destroyed by a large meteorite. Do not follow any suggestions made in Investor's Journal as if I were a professional.

Neither I nor Investor's Journal will be responsible for losses by anyone who obtained ideas from this site.

This diary is intended for personal interest and general information only. You are advised to do your own research (as well as to consult highly compensated professionals) before spending money on anything.

I know of no reason anyone should take my financial musings seriously. At best I am a dedicated amateur providing a bit of investment-related insight and entertainment, at worst an amusing diversion.

My wife, Fran, and I may at times own shares of some of the assets mentioned here. But neither of us receive any benefit from reference to them, unless you count the mutual misery when we get it wrong, or the opportunity to gloat when we get it right.

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