Lloyd's Stock Market Adventure! (Chapter 05)

Ok, it's been a while since I've posted about my stock market progress.

The reason for lack of info? Well, I haven't been doing so good. And of course when I'm not doing good, I don't feel like talking about it. So for the past couple months, I've just gritted my teeth and taken my lashings like a man.

But!   I finally have some good news to report.

But! First let's get the bad news out of the way. I tried to build a castle in the sky. Or in the air, as it were. Aircastle Limited (AYR). They're an international aircraft lessor, and not only way undervalued for reasons I couldn't figure out, they also seem to do better as airlines do worse. I bought in @ $9.78 and sold the next day @ $9.04. Considering the current share price is $13.15, this qualifies as a stupid decision.
Why did I do it? Basically, I had a bad day and came home feeling very pessimistic, when I saw the stock performing badly I lost my nerve. Lesson learned! (hopefully)

I've got a new holding in Evergreen Solar (ESLR) that I picked up @ $9.15. Minuses of the stock are the lack of, well... a factory. But they must have something, since on the plusses side they have backorders for several times their current market cap. In any case, this is a stock that should benefit from Obama policies, and it goes up whenever other solars go up, or when oil goes up. Current gains are minor.

NetSol (NTWK), I played it again, and after the wholly depressing months of June and July, I was relieved to finally see something come of this investment in August, when I sold @ $3.26, which turned out to be a very good decision, since it's been sliding down slowly ever since.

But no stock have I played better than China Security (CSR). I bought into it at $18.90, and sold @ $20.75, which was absolutely brilliant, since the day after I sold my shares the stock went over the cliff. I watched it crash and burn for a while, waiting to see if any bad news would come out to justify the sudden slump, and the stock took another big dip. My finger went back on the buy button at $15.17 and again at $13.10. After that came a prolonged period of frustration and mild agony as I waited for the stock to recover...
And when it finally did, I managed to pull off the nearly impossible feat of top-calling. After a slow and steady rise by CSR, I started to ponder whether I should cash out my substantial return or wait for more. Looking at the numbers Friday morning, I decided now was not the time to be greedy and to pull out.
Unfortunately I hesitated, so I had to pass up the cherry on top, but that aside, I was just amazed at how in tune my instincts were with the whole process. I mean, there was literally not even 5 seconds between when I pressed my sell button and when the stock started to tumble. Check out the image for this post so you can see what I mean.
Of course, the stock could just as easily rebound on Monday and my good move could turn into a bad one, only time will tell.

Yay! Stocks are fun when I'm right!

Oh, almost forgot Himax (HIMX). The stock is sucking but the company isn't so I bought some more. I figure at any rate the dividend is now 10%.

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Lloyd's Profile
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I'm currently holding:
FRNTQ (bought @ $0.84)
HIMX (bought @ $5.00, 3.68)
ESLR (bought @ $9.15)

Past holdings:
(+) NSANY (bought @ $16.97, 16.29 -- sold @ $18.48, 18.70)
(+) NTWK (bought @ 1.72 -- sold @ $2.70)
(+) NTWK (bought @ $1.72, 2.58 -- sold @ $3.26)
(-) CEDU (bought @ $7.05 -- sold @  $6.40)
(-) AYR (bought @ $9.78 -- sold @ $9.04)
(+) CSR (bought @ $18.90 -- sold @ $20.75)
(+) CSR (bought @ $15.17, 13.10 -- sold @ $16.40)

ROI since start date (March 24,2008)
Lloyd : +17.88%
Dow: -3.6%
Nasdaq: +11%
S&P 500: -0.02%