This page monitors the performance of the investment ideas presented on this blog. Please remember that unless otherwise noted, the ideas I present are intended only as long-term investments, not trades. Short term out-performance or under-performance reveals very little of the idea’s true merit.
Also, please note that OTCBB and pink sheets stocks often trade with huge bid/ask spreads and price may swing widely. I use the bid/ask midpoint when pricing initial purchases.
The total return column includes the effects of regular and special dividends, assuming full re-investment on the ex-dividend date and disregarding tax effects.
Active Ideas
Stock | Ticker | Date Added | Price at Addition | Price Now | Total Return | Return vs. Benchmark |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QEP Company | QEPC | 1/18/2012 | $18.75 | $17.74 | -5.39% | -36.75% |
| Schuff International Inc | SHFK | 1/30/2012 | $10.63 | $13.00 | 22.35% | -8.48% |
| McRae Industries | MCRAA | 2/5/2012 | $12.93 | $22.53 | 84.08% | 56.35% |
| Webco Industries | WEBC | 2/15/2012 | $125.00 | $114.00 | -8.80% | -36.49% |
| Alaska Power & Telephone | APTL | 2/23/2012 | $17.55 | $24.00 | 39.93% | 14.18% |
| Steel Partners Holdings, LP | SPLP | 3/2/2012 | $12.55 | $13.61 | 8.45% | -16.65% |
| Advant-E Corp. | ADVC | 3/13/2012 | $0.23 | $0.26 | 23.08% | 0.45% |
| Detrex Corp | DTRX | 3/31/2012 | $16.14 | $29.00 | 100.58% | 80.02% |
| Siem Industries | SEMUF | 4/9/2012 | $64.38 | $76.00 | 18.06% | -7.78% |
| Mestek, Inc. | MCCK | 4/25/2012 | $12.75 | $13.75 | 29.87% | 6.98% |
| Care Investment Trust | CVTR | 5/25/2012 | $6.94 | $6.20 | -4.98% | -34.37% |
| Reserve Petroleum Company | RSRV | 6/8/2012 | $321.00 | $305.01 | -1.96% | -30.46% |
| LICT Corp | LICT | 6/25/2012 | $2,100.00 | $2,130.00 | 1.43% | -28.13% |
| Unilens Vision | UVIC | 7/10/2012 | $3.29 | $3.10 | -1.46% | -28.21% |
| Rockford Corp. | ROFO | 9/4/2012 | $5.45 | $7.35 | 34.86% | 14.24% |
| Spindletop Oil & Gas | SPND | 9/28/2012 | $2.09 | $3.05 | 45.93% | 28.49% |
| Chesapeake Financial Shares | CPKF | 10/1/2012 | $14.30 | $18.00 | 27.58% | 10.55% |
| Computer Services | CSVI | 10/9/2012 | $28.55 | $29.37 | 7.07% | -10.23% |
| Armanino Foods of Distinction | AMNF | 10/17/2012 | $0.94 | $1.11 | 20.98% | 5.28% |
| CTM Media Holdings | CTMMB | 10/26/2012 | $39.53 | $49.50 | 37.50% | 17.81% |
| Power Solutions International | PSIX | 11/5/2012 | $14.75 | $33.75 | 128.81% | 109.61% |
| Retail Holdings NV | RHDGF | 11/7/2012 | $22.43 | $20.30 | -9.48% | -30.51% |
| Mexican Restaurants | CASA | 11/15/2012 | $0.88 | $1.85 | 111.43% | 86.81% |
| IEH Corporation | IEHC | 11/29/2012 | $2.28 | $2.95 | 29.67% | 10.68% |
| Repro-Med Systems | REPR | 12/5/2012 | $0.24 | $0.21 | -11.76% | -31.27% |
| Calloway's Nursery Inc | CLWY | 12/18/2012 | $0.73 | $1.00 | 36.99% | 20.69% |
| Quality Products Inc. | QPDC | 1/5/2013 | $14.25 | $15.99 | 12.21% | -2.78% |
| Great Lakes Aviation | GLUX | 1/15/2013 | $1.86 | $1.39 | -25.27% | -39.39% |
| Regency Affiliates | RAFI | 2/6/2013 | $7.25 | $7.35 | 1.38% | -9.64% |
| EACO Corp. | EACO | 2/13/2013 | $2.28 | $2.89 | 26.75% | 16.44% |
| The Marketing Alliance | MAAL | 3/6/2013 | $12.50 | $13.00 | 4.00% | -4.63% |
| Alerus Financial | ALRS | 3/13/2013 | $34.25 | $37.50 | 9.49% | 1.84% |
| Bonal International | BONL | 3/20/2013 | $1.37 | $2.35 | 71.53% | 64.18% |
| JLM Couture | JLMC | 3/27/2013 | $1.90 | $2.06 | 8.42% | 1.40% |
| Information Analysis, Inc. | IAIC | 4/6/2013 | $0.15 | $0.18 | 18.03% | 11.10% |
| Decker Manufacturing | DMFG | 4/18/2013 | $37.00 | $37.00 | 0.00% | -8.40% |
| Trans World Corp. | TWOC | 4/22/2013 | $2.55 | $2.60 | 1.96% | -4.99% |
Inactive Ideas
Securities listed below have been removed from the active ideas list as the result of a going-private transaction, or because the company’s fundamentals no longer support the original investment thesis.
Stock | Ticker | Date Added | Price at Addition | Date Closed | Price at Close Date | Total Return | Return vs. Benchmark | Reason for Removal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abatix Corp. | ABIX | 5/7/2012 | $11.63 | 10/8/2012 | $14.75 | 26.83% | 15.97% | Going private transaction - reverse split. |
| ACME Communications | ACME | 10/4/2012 | $0.86 | 12/26/2012 | $1.04 | 20.93% | 23.21% | Distribution from station sales received. |
| ALJ Regional Holdings | ALJJ | 8/10/2012 | $0.44 | 2/14/2013 | $0.83 | 91.20% | 62.88% | Tender offer completed. |
| Empire Resources | ERS | 3/22/2012 | $3.10 | 2/14/2013 | $5.00 | 77.69% | 66.20% | Uplisted. Fully valued. |
| AutoInfo | AUTO | 10/11/2012 | $0.83 | 11/25/2013 | $1.05 | 27.27% | 15.34% | Bought out. |
What benchmark do you use?
I use the S&P 500 Total Return Index as a benchmark. One could make an argument for a more broad-based measure, but it’s the most well-known US capitalization-based index.
I just wanted to point out that your “total return” metric is flawed because it does not take dividends into account.
Hi Brian,
I want to assure you that the total return column does include the effects of dividends, but does not display that factor. Perhaps I should alter the display to make that clearer?
Ahh, I can see it now. However, I think it would be easier to under stand if one could see the dividends that were included in the total return. By having “Price at Addition” and “Price Now” right next to each other, with no mention of dividends, it would be very easy for one to assume that total return was based solely off of capital appreciation (if one did not calculate it themselves and compare).
Thanks for the feedback. I will work on creating a clearer display. After I implement it I will probably close comments and delete existing comments on the page so it looks better. Don’t take it personally because I do appreciate your comments.
Hi Nate,
Just curious what you use to keep track of ideas? As I’m sure you do also, at any given point I have maybe 20 names in my portfolio and then am probably casually following another 40-50+ stocks and have still not found a good way to track them all at once, receive news on them, get alerts if the stock prices move to a certain price, etc. Do you have a website or software service or something you use to keep tabs on all of these?
cheers on the fantastic blog! getting even better with time!
Haha, Nate? You’re thinking of my buddy over at oddballstocks.com. I’ll take that as a compliment because he’s a sharp guy.
You’re correct in thinking I have a large list of stocks to monitor. I’m searching for better solutions but all I do at this point is maintain a big Excel spreadsheet and update each company at least once per month. For breaking news I actually find Yahoo! Finance to be a decent source. I have a portfolio entered there and it seems to pick up nearly all corporate news and filings.
I’ve attempted to use Google alerts for quicker information gathering but I’ve been disappointed in the quality and timeliness.
Thanks for the kind words!
You did a wonderful post on four community bank stocks in the summer of 2012 – yet they are not posted to your idea tracker – any reason for that?
Also, what dissuaded you from purchasing any of these stocks? They did well over the past year as you predicted.
Keep up the great blog.
Just wondering, how long does it take for you too create a thesis for your active ideas or any ideas you would make a decision on?
I guess the answer could be subjective since each company is different and each company warrants different amounts of time and effort to understand. I’m just wondering since I’m more of a weekend analyst for myself and I want to gauge where I am at skill wise.
I only recently started and I want to track my development.