Archive for the ‘Watchlist’ Category

Watching the watchlist….

Posted: October 27, 2014 in Watchlist

I’m probably not alone in being guilty of growing a watchlist far beyond a manageable size, ignoring monitoring alerts, and forgetting its real purpose. In fact I’m guessing many novice investors such as myself, probably treat portfolios in a similar manner.

I was perusing through mine today, and realised that I hadn’t actually maintained it in quite a while. There were companies that had already matured past my intended entry point, or had declined enough to be now unattractive.  Yet I had recently added more. It was a sprawling list with a few notes and little value.

All the monitoring tools and alerts in the world won’t help, if as an investor I am not disciplined enough to action the data.

In a similar fashion to my portfolio of owned shares.  I had started my watchlist with an intention of ruthlessly monitoring the companies over a period of time. Culling all those that no longer met my criteria, or purchasing those that became attractive investments. 

I want my watchlist to be a real useful tool, so over the next few days I will revisit the list according to my investment criteria. And will reset my alerts,  and monitors, and actually use my watchlist as intended.

Author can be contacted: investing1234@hotmail.co.uk

Please read the blog Legal Disclaimer.

Fracking pointless or worth a look…

Posted: August 12, 2013 in Alkane Energy, Companies, Elementis, IGas, Watchlist

Having read a few recent articles on fracking.  And just this morning hearing about the recent backing by no less than our PM who was more than upbeat about the possibilities, that the UK shale gas deposits represent.  I can’t help but wonder if some UK shares which are directly or indirectly involved, are going to be the beneficiaries of any future booms in this sector.

So with this in mind and after doing a bit of scouring around on the internet, I have added Alkane Energy (ALKN.L) and IGas Energy (IGAS.L) to my watchlist, along with another share I have more than a passing interest over Elementis (ELM.L).

I am not sure how things will playout in the UK shale gas scene, but I expect one or more of the above to figure somewhere when the dust settles.

While I don’t have any definite plans, to add any to my portfolio, I would be foolish (I think anyway) not to at least keep a very watchful eye right from the start.

Author can be contacted: Investing1234@hotmail.co.uk
Please read the blog Legal Disclaimer.

Legal and General excel, Barclays cause me a headache…

Posted: August 6, 2013 in Barclays, Companies, Legal and General, Watchlist

Another one of my portfolio heroes at the moment is (LGEN:LN) and todays excellent RNS announcement regarding H1 operating results has given it a further push, in fact the share is now up and over the £2 mark. And in light of the fact that the RNS also mentioned that the dividend has taken a 22% upward hike it has helped make up my mind, to not bank any profits just yet.

As the saying goes though, “what Financial God giveth with one hand, thou taketh away with the other”. Indeed Barclays (BARC:LN)  is posing a dilemma for me at the moment with its proposed shares issue.  I am torn between taking up the offer, or selling out now and banking the profits.

So;

(1).  I take part in the rights issue, and dilute myself by 25% over the remaining shares, partly off-setting the gain of getting the issue at 40% discount.

(2).  I crystallize (love that word) the profits now and protect the capital from unknown (unknown to me at least) impact of this issue later down the road.

The problem is that by selling and releasing the capital (crystallizing the profit)  I will need to redeploy it sooner than I hoped, because it is held within an ISA, and under current rules cash can’t be held in those for very long.

So if I choose to do (2). I am faced with;

(3) Ploughing a capital amount equivalent to around 22% of my portfolio’s total value into a new share from my watchlist, just a short while after making a double purchase already.

I am going to reserve final judgement until after I read the Rights Issue Prospectus, but I am starting to errr (is that a word) towards (1). And playing the long game. 

Author can be contacted: Investing1234@hotmail.co.uk
Please read the blog Legal Disclaimer.