Talking stocks, trading, and investing in general

[brokencycle]

Looking at my IRA last night - I'm up more than18% since last year there too.

 

[jbarwick]

Adjusted our holdings slightly from an International perspective to focus more on Europe than other continents/countries. I was holding 20% of our total portfolio in International which had some Europe but moved half of that to VEUSX which is a Vanguard fund which is European focused.

This is sort of a MC style move to where the underperformance was and hope for a little outperformance in the future. I am buying the basket and not just looking for one country to outperform. The CAPE ratio theory of US (~30) vs. Europe (~17) was compelling enough to try this out.

I guess the question arises, why not move part of my US holdings into Europe and not just adjust my International holdings? Honestly, I don't have a good response. Home country bias?

 

[venividivicibj]

Been reading some vanguard (and other) white papers, moved into 25% international. About 5% of the 25 is EM.

 

[Piobaire]

I try and stay about 15-20 international and 5-10 emerging. My default is 15 and 5 respectively and what my portfolio adjusts to upon a rebalance.

 

[stimulacra]

Is VEUSX a good complement to VEMAX (Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund)? Thinking about shuffling around some IRA allocations. Also agree that European markets are due for a rebound.

I have an Global Equity Fund in my 401k account but am not keen on the 0.048% expense ratio compared to the U.S. Domestic option I have there (0.001%). Looking to consolidate down to just U.S. Equities and Short-term fixed income.

Regarding Emerging Markets: At what point do people think that China will transition over to “Developed Markets”?

 

[jbarwick]

Is VEUSX a good complement to VEMAX (Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund)? Thinking about shuffling around some IRA allocations. Also agree that European markets are due for a rebound.

I have an Global Equity Fund in my 401k account but am not keen on the 0.048% expense ratio compared to the U.S. Domestic option I have there (0.001%). Looking to consolidate down to just U.S. Equities and Short-term fixed income.

Regarding Emerging Markets: At what point do people think that China will transition over to “Developed Markets”?

You would have to do a comparison to see is VEUSX is a compliment to VEMAX or if there is a lot of overlap. I'd assume there may be some European in the EM fund. A 0.0048% ER is nothing! I think I pay more than that for S&P in my IRA. But again, look at the mix as Global Equity is likely to contain a lot of the US. As for the China question, I have no idea.

 

[brokencycle]

Is VEUSX a good complement to VEMAX (Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund)? Thinking about shuffling around some IRA allocations. Also agree that European markets are due for a rebound.

I have an Global Equity Fund in my 401k account but am not keen on the 0.048% expense ratio compared to the U.S. Domestic option I have there (0.001%). Looking to consolidate down to just U.S. Equities and Short-term fixed income.

Regarding Emerging Markets: At what point do people think that China will transition over to “Developed Markets”?

The difference between .048% and .001% is pretty trivial. You're talking about going from 48 cents per $1000 to 1 cent per $1000. Vanguard is well regarded in terms of expense ratios, and their admiral class shares are ~0.06% depending on the fund.

 

[Master-Classter]

Just bought some DDR since it seems to have come down a LOT and pays a nice dividend. Seeking Alpha comments are mixed on if retail is dead or these are still good properties. I expect interest rates going up will likely hurt REITS so I took about a 40% position in this and expect it might keep going down but I'm comfortable starting at this price.

wow, XOM and GIS are both down quite a lot. I'm a little tired of oil/gas but of all companies, XOM seems like one of the biggest 4-5 out there and will at least recover if not do very well when oil eventually comes back up. I'm tempted to get back into this as more of a blue chip holding type of buy instead of guys like GLF (GLFM) that took me for a 50%+ loss. GIS has an ok dividend and smaller upside (historically) than I'd like but also seems like a fairly strong stable company for a longer investing timeline.

Any thoughts on the above companies?

 

[jbarwick]

GIS is at a 52-week low which may be a good time to get in. It has underperformed compared to the rest of the market and offers a stable dividend. Comparing it to its rivals, K is the only one who has performed worse and has a lower yield.
I have no idea about DDR. Google Finance select PetSmart, Ross Stores, and Best Buy as competitors? It has underperformed the most compared to its other peers as well. I feel like ROST or TJX may be better bets as they are the discount retailers?

 

[Master-Classter]

If GILD does well tonight I'll trim some off and am considering getting some GIS to hold for a while.

I'm seeing that even when I move to 'bigger' companies, chasing ones that move around a lot still catches me sometimes. I bought into LULU and MAT thinking the drops were big enough and then they kept going lower. I'm ok holding them being 'down' 5-7% or even up to 10% down if I think I can get a 20-30%+ eventual return, I just thought I'd bought close to the bottom and they kept on going a lot lower. so when I see a long slow downward trend like GIS, I sort of assume it'll keep going. 52 week low club is usually where I go hunting for my buys. At least now I'm trying to stick to larger market caps and decent dividend payers instead of these twitchy little micro caps that killed me before.

 

[Master-Classter]

Forgot to mention I bought a little SKT. Could go further down, and it's not a high yielder, but there's something there.
Trimmed some AOBC (at 21.5) and have set to rebuy if it goes back under 20.
Added a bit to GILD at 66.5.
Opened a small position in CPG at 9.5. Will add more at 9. Too much potential upside here and will pay me to wait. Totally speculative so I'm keeping my buys on these sort of things much smaller than I used to.

FLSR had a nice run there, up almost 20%. I sold off about 1/3 of my position and have reset the buy for under 30. I suspect there may have been some short covering and while I think long term they'll go higher, in the next few months or less I think this high will cool off and come back down closer to 30 again. That's my theory anyway. I thought the same thing would happen with TSLA but it just never came back down.

 

[effay]

You can discuss all the stocks you want. If you are living off of your buffer and your largest holding is high risk, you must have a very high risk tolerance or would be ok enjoying cat food.

Well, as i described, i'm not "living of my buffer", as it's topped of from my salary each month. I suppose im trying to explain the flow chart of my personal economy, though i realize i was rather vague. Though i do have a high risk tolerance, sure. I'm young, high salary and relatively low living expenses and i don't expect to need it for a decade at the very least so im not sleepless about taking a hit.

High-risk and fundamental analysis' has done me well so far, albeit i acknowledge confirmation bias as a factor.

 

[stimulacra]

Interesting where Apple parks it's mountain of cash. They now own more corporate debt than the value of Vanguard's Total Bond Fund.

Apple Buys More Company Debt Than World's Biggest Bond Funds
https://bloom.bg/2qJ9Bx7

 

[Master-Classter]

Started nibbling at a few REITS. Malls seem to be dropping hard. SKT, DDR, STOR, WPG, MPW - have either started buying or will be buying soon on these ones. 5-10% dividend and possible 20-30%+upside on the stock price? count me in. I've started small since I am trying to be more cautious in general and these have come down SO fast recently I assume they'll keep going.

 

[venividivicibj]

Lots of taxes on REITs due to the high div % aren't there?