The Stay Invested portfolio was UP today: $635.65 (+0.59%) Overall GAIN/LOSS YTD: +$4,207.04 (+4.10%) Our benchmark index, the S&P 500 is UP Year-To-Date +6.95% http://money.cnn.com/data/markets/sandp/ "The most important rule of Fly Fishing is; fish don't have eyelids. This lets them see predators. Investors who seek less crowded trades are doing the same." ― Clay Baker/Kelly R. (I'm attribute most of this quote to my cousin Kelly R) CVS Health Corp CVS might be the cheapest growth stock opportunity in the market. I've set a limit buy order at $65. However I'm willing to buy any between $64.50 - $66. CVS closed at $65.96 today. My valuation model shows that the intrinsic value for the

The Stay Invested portfolio was DOWN today: $218.49 (-0.20%) Overall GAIN/LOSS YTD: +$3,502.97 (+3.41%) Our benchmark index, the S&P 500 is UP Year-To-Date +5.47% http://money.cnn.com/data/markets/sandp/ "Investing is like fly fishing, to catch fish your fly needs to be in the water." ― Clay Baker/Kelly R. (I'm attribute most of this quote to my cousin Kelly R) Cisco Systems In my last post I said I'm a Cisco Bull, I still am. When I posted that statement CSCO closed at $45.03/share. Today CSCO closed at $45.75 but something more important happened. The 50 Day moving average for CSCO dipped below the 200 day moving average, indicating that in the near term we should see the price pull bac

The Stay Invested portfolio was UP today: $407.01 (+0.38%) Overall GAIN/LOSS YTD: +$3,288.66 (+3.20%) Our benchmark index, the S&P 500 is UP Year-To-Date +6.54% http://money.cnn.com/data/markets/sandp/ "Investing is the only school where you get the final exam first, and the education afterwards." ― Clay Baker (I'm sure someone has said this before me, please let me know who) No Buying Today The rally in the market continues and there is still nothing in the bull pen to buy. The markets will be closed on Monday, so look for some buying on Tuesday, especially if the market declines. Cisco Systems Cisco is on my radar and may well be the next buy I make for the portfolio. Cisco is one of tho

The Stay Invested portfolio was UP today: $308.93 (+0.29%) Overall GAIN/LOSS YTD: +$2,892.39 (+2.82%) Our benchmark index, the S&P 500 is UP Year-To-Date +5.15% http://money.cnn.com/data/markets/sandp/ "In investing, what is comfortable is rarely profitable." ― Robert Arnott Nothing to Buy The rally in the market continues and there is still nothing in the bull pen to buy. This is the main problem with buying in tranches, sometimes you miss out on upside, but you almost always protect your capital; because its not working. I'll just keep looking, but will look outside the bull pen for new ideas. Goldman Sachs Left for dead with the rest of the banking sector Goldman got overly punished an

The Stay Invested portfolio was UP today: $409.20 (+0.39%) Overall GAIN/LOSS YTD: +$2,582.82 (+2.51%) Our benchmark index, the S&P 500 is UP Year-To-Date +4.36% http://money.cnn.com/data/markets/sandp/ "It's not whether you're right or wrong that's important, but how much money you make when you're right and how much you lose when you're wrong." ― George Soros Nothing to Buy With the rally in the market nothing in the bull pen has pulled back to a price where I'd be a buyer. We'll just sit tight and keep looking. Portfolio Performance The portfolio was up today and as usual it melted up a little less robustly than the overall market. Let's take a look at why that is, there's no accident he

The Stay Invested portfolio was UP today: $58.94 (+0.06%) Overall GAIN/LOSS YTD: +$1,998.46 (+1.95%) Our benchmark index, the S&P 500 is UP Year-To-Date +3.57% http://money.cnn.com/data/markets/sandp/ "One of the funny things about the stock market is that every time one person buys, another sells, and both think they are astute." ― William Feather Today's Buys Today just before the close I took a nibble on Independent Bank Corp (INDB) and First Community Corp (FCCO). These are a couple of regional banks that show a lot of promise for 2019. Both look to have roughly 30% upside in 2019. Portfolio has a 1.95% gain so far, slowly closing in on the S&P 500 our benchmark index. Yesterday's Pos

The Stay Invested portfolio was UP today: $215.21 (+0.21%) Overall GAIN/LOSS YTD: +$681.64 (+.66%) Our benchmark index, the S&P 500 is UP Year-To-Date +3.57% http://money.cnn.com/data/markets/sandp/ "The problem of social organization is how to set up an arrangement under which greed will do the least harm, capitalism is that kind of a system. " ― Milton Friedman Today's Buys This morning I bought a full position in Constellation Brands (STZ) with a limit order of $156. I've placed a $225 price target on the stock which is 44% above our buy price. I had set the limit order while researching the name for the bull pen and it triggered before I could finish. That's okay, hopefully the stock

The Stay Invested portfolio was UP today: $364.24 (+0.35%) Overall GAIN/LOSS YTD: +$27.03 Our benchmark index, the S&P 500 is DOWN Year-To-Date +1.71% http://money.cnn.com/data/markets/sandp/ “You can't rush 90-Day Corn" ― Clay Baker Escalator Up, Elevator Down There's an old saying, call it a cliche, in the stock market that stocks take the escalator up and the elevator down. Never wanting to be out quoted, I prefer to say, "You can't rush 90-Day corn". The growth rate chart below proves this, well...for corn anyway. Just as we tend to walk carefully in a dark room, human nature makes it hard for us to believe that a bull market can continue up, higher into the unknown; that's the escalat

The Stay Invested portfolio was UP today: $948.91 (+0.93%) Overall GAIN/LOSS YTD: -$429.75 Our benchmark index, the S&P 500 is DOWN Year-To-Date +1.00% http://money.cnn.com/data/markets/sandp/ “I believe in intuitions and inspirations...I sometimes FEEL that I am right. I do not KNOW that I am.” ― Albert Einstein Powell Read my Blog? Yesterday I wrote that FDA Chairman Jerome Powell is tone deaf to the economy and the markets. Hey Clay, "Powell must have read your blog and put new batteries in his hearing aides". Funny but it looks like the Fed blinked and decided that maybe they should take a look at what the markets were saying about the real economy. Today Powell, Yellen and Bernanke i

The Stay Invested portfolio was: N/A Overall GAIN/LOSS YTD: N/A Our benchmark index, the S&P 500 is DOWN Year-To-Date (1.38%) http://money.cnn.com/data/markets/sandp/ It Is a Bear Market In previous posts I've commented that Bull Markets don't have an expiration date, Bear Markets do. Bull markets can go on for years, but bear markets tend to last from as little as 3 months to just over a year. I don't think that we actually found the bottom in the stock market after Decembers wild ride as some analysts thought we did. In fact I was very suspicious of the 1,000 point rally, it felt more like an over reaction to the previous days over reaction 600 point decline. A bear market is a conditio

The Stay Invested portfolio was: N/A Overall GAIN/LOSS YTD: N/A Our benchmark index, the S&P 500 is UP Year-To-Date (+0.26%) http://money.cnn.com/data/markets/sandp/ 2019 Changes Normally I write after the close, I may not have time for that today so I'm doing something a bit different, I'm posting my short-list, or what we'll call the Bull-Pen. These are stocks that have made it to my final round of analysis, mainly pricing strategy, but that have not yet been added to the portfolio; so I'll hold them while they warm up and I get more or less confidence in these names. I offer them up for your own review while I work on determining price points. I will not be buying everything and holding