CLOSE POSITION - International Coal Group (ICO)

I have an announcement to make. My stock tracking portfolio will be closing its postion in International Coal Group, Inc. (NYSE: ICO).  This position netted roughly 258% over a one year period.

The reason why I'm closing the position is Arch Coal, Inc. (NYSE: ACI) has decided to acquire International Coal Group, Inc. (NYSE: ICO) for $14.60 per share. I have to admit that this deal was first announced on May 2, 2011 and since then ICO has hovered at a 52 week high of $14.52. With nothing else to gain, I will close the position in the portfolio.  Note: Your portfolio would hold this stock until the deal is completed and there would not be a need to sell the stock like I am in my tracking tool.
 
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Housing – When will the comeback story be written?

I look at the giant housing market here in the US like a prized fighter that has seen better days. The complacency is easy to see when you compare it to other fighters (like Canada) who’ve trained harder and set higher standards, such as requiring 20-30% down payments. However, all good prize fighters don’t stay down too long and eventually bounce back. I still think that the US housing market needs to see improvement in areas such as jobs and foreclosures but this fighter is getting its feet back underneath him. As usual, I’ll remind you to not listen to the Wall Street hype men out there who are always trumpeting that everything is great in housing, look where that would have put us 2-3 years ago. You have to always do our own research! I have not done a large amount of research but I think the housing market will make a comeback similar to LL Cool J’s return on ‘Mama Said Knock You Out’.

Notes from the Matix - April Download Pt II

Pharma
Pharma is short for pharmaceuticals and this has traditionally been an industry that I have shied away from as I’ve tried my best to incorporate a rule that I have learned from Warren Buffett and Peter Lynch awhile ago: Invest In Things That You Know

This is at odds at times with the strategy that I’ve been harnessing over time and that’s being a MACROVALUEQUANT. Often, my screens lead me select a stock that I believe has positive momentum (QUANT) and I further weed out these stocks if they are not trading at a low valuation (VALUE) and support my general view on what industries and sectors should do well in the current global economic environment (MACRO). My screens recently led me to 2 pharma stocks (See Pharma Premium Alerts Post) and I was very reluctant to nibble at the bait.

May Alert - NOBLE ENERGY

NOBLE ENERGY (NBL : NYSE) - An alert was triggered for NOBLE ENERGY. NBL has recently traded at $86.95, and this is an entry level that interests URBANOMICS


Note: This is an alert that this was triggered for URBANOMICS Alert Subscribers. This is a one-time free viewing of an alert that is viewable to subscribers.

Portfolio Update

Radisys (NASDAQ: RSYS)
As you all know I have owned this stock for a long long time. This is my second time around so search older posts for my writings. I am more positive about the direction its heading after yesterday's earnings call.

Notes from the Matrix - April Download Pt I

I know its a little late but it is about that time to download thoughts that have been swirling in my head (usually typed into my phone) for the month of APRIL. As I mentioned in the past, I've noticed a not so subtle shift in my investing habits and it has been a huge thirst for data! I think that in periods like this where the direction of the economy, country and the world are not so clear cut, everyone saturates the internet, tv, and newspapers with there different view points of how it will all play out. For me this amounts to a lot of noise. And noise for a MACROVALUEQUANT (not sure what this means, run a quick search for previous posts) can be good and bad, but mainly its time consuming. Its time consuming because I think investing and being wrong about these events may be worse than not investing at all. This gets us back to that VALUE concept and my need to want to have conviction that I am entering into an investment at a point where there is significant value to be gained.

But enough of my ramblings and onto the themes and concepts that I've dialed into the most this month, starting with the oldest dated notes: