I thought it my be useful for myself and others if I list out the stocks in my portfolio and watch list. I have informal categories for each stock I own based on whether I’m looking to buy, hold, or sell. I’d like to make those categories a bit more formal in this post and going forward.

The “Method”

There are really two things I’m tracking here for each stock in the portfolio.

One is what mode I’m in with regards to the stock; whether I am watching, buying, holding, or selling the stock.

The second item tracked in this list is the value of the stock; if I think the stock is undervalued, fairly valued, or overvalued.

Note that the mode is not a recommendation. It’s just how I am personally approaching the stock. The mode I list is based primarily on how large my position is in the stock. If I say I am “buying” a stock, I could be buying it right now if it’s undervalued or I might be waiting for the price to fall (sometimes as much as 50%) before getting in. Similarly, if I list the mode as sell, it just means that I have too much of that stock and need to find the right time and price to sell.

The Value on the other hand can be considered my opinion of whether a stock is a good buy or not based on the current price. I am not a professional… disclaimer disclaimer… I should really get the correct language to keep people from suing me… but if I say something is undervalued I think the stock price is going to be higher 5 years out and if I say it’s overvalued I think the stock price is going to be unchanged or lower 5 years out.

Here are the categories again.

Mode

  • Watching
  • Buying
  • Holding
  • Selling

Value

  • ? (Need to research more.)
  • Undervalued
  • Fairly valued
  • Overvalued

Ideally I will be buying stocks when I think they are undervalued and selling them when they are overvalued, but whether I am buying or selling depends on some other things.

To skip to the list, you can load the Google Spreadsheet here. Or read below for an explanation of each “mode” and “value” category.

Modes

The “mode” I list for each stock is not a recommendation to buy or sell. It’s simply how I am approaching a stock. If I say I am “buying” a stock, I am really looking to buy. It just means I wish I owned more of this stock. I might be buying the stock at the current price or just as often I will be waiting for a stock to pull back (maybe as much as 50%) before really committing to it.

Similarly, if I say I am “selling” a stock, I may be selling it right now but just as often I am waiting to sell it. This really just means that I have more of this stock than I need and I could sell some to purchase stocks that I think are undervalued. I am almost never selling 100% of my position in a stock.

Here are some more details on each of the above “modes” I might be in with regards to the stocks in my portfolio. At any given time I’m either watching, buying, holding, or selling.

Watching

These are stocks that are on my radar, but I haven’t yet invested in. They might be a company that I am confident in, but need to do more research on to find a fair price to buy the stock at. Or they are a stock that I think is “on sale”, but I need to do more research on to find out if the underlying company is strong.

Buying

These are stocks I am looking to buy more of. Usually I am buying when the stock is also undervalued, but I’ll sometimes open positions in stocks when they are fairly valued with the hopes that they will drop further.

When buying, I try to open a 25-50% position and then buy in 25% chunks for each 10-20% drop in stock price. So if I had $10k to put toward a position, I would open a position with $5k and then buy another $2.5k when the stock price dropped, and another $2.5k if it dropped further. These are rough numbers. The specific numbers will depend on the particular stock and situation. But I’m generally dollar cost averaging into these stocks as the price bottoms out.

Holding

These are stocks that I am invested in and holding. I’m not buying more, either because my position is too large a % of my total portfolio or because the stock is fairly valued or slightly overvalued. I’m not selling either because in general I’m more interested in acquiring as much stock as possible in companies I think are strong vs trying to make “trades”.

Selling

These are stocks that have run up for me and I’m looking to sell. I generally won’t sell stock unless I need the money to purchase something else that is on sale (from my Buy list) or I think the market is heading downward and I want some cash to hunt for opportunities.

Value

How do I determine if a stock is undervalued, fairly valued, or overvalued? In general, I try to guess how much revenue a company is going to be making 5-15 years out and figure out what a fair price would be assuming they get there and then discount that price based on risk factors. I use an analysis similar to what Phil Town does in his book Payback Time. You can see an example of that kind of analysis I did for GOOG here.

The list below will contain just one word, but behind that is typically a lot of research, earnings calls listened to, model spreadsheets, and deep thinking about the technicals and fundamentals of the stock and company. I also try to do some “main street” thinking by considering what the company actually sells, how much they think they are going to sell and at what margins/etc. It’s awesome to see a company like Apple growing at 25% per year, but are there enough people in the world to buy enough iPhones for them to double their revenue again?

Here are some general thoughts about each category of value.

? More Research Needed

If its been to long since the last time I researched a stock, I’ll put a ? in the value column. Maybe the stock price has run up and I’m not sure if it’s still undervalued. Maybe a few earnings reports have come in and my numbers need to be updated to take new numbers and growth rates into account.

Undervalued

These stocks are either mature companies with low PEs or revenue multiples (like Apple) or young companies where (in my opinion) the market is undervaluing the future earnings potential of the company (like Tesla). If a stock is in this category, I generally expect it to grow 2-4x over the next five years.

Unless I already have a large position, I should be looking to buy more of these stocks. If you asked me for a “stock tip”, these would be the stocks I would talk about.

Note however that undervalued doesn’t mean “will not fall in price”. Stock prices can always go lower, especially stocks that have had a good run recently. Stocks that are up 100% over the past year could still be undervalued. You’ll just have to be more careful when buying them (i.e. dollar cost average).

Fairly Valued

These stocks are priced about right based on the models I’m using. I’m generally holding these stocks and letting them run.

Over Valued

These stocks are highly priced (or “frothy”) based on the models I’m using. These are probably “momentum” stocks that the market is taking higher and higher. I’m generally letting my winners run, but if I need cash to purchase more of a stock in the undervalued category, these are the stocks I’m going to sell first.

My Portfolio

These are stocks that are on my watch list or stocks I own some amount of in my retirement account, my wife’s retirement account, or a couple of personal accounts I hold in my children’s names. For each, I’ll say what “mode” I’m in for that stock and how I think it’s “valued”. A “?” in the value column means that I need to update my research based on the current stock price and fundamentals.

I’ll keep an updated spreadsheet of this portfolio in Google Docs publicly here. Or you can see the list from the time of this blog post below.

Company Ticker Mode Value
Activision Blizzard ATVI Hold Fair
Amazon AMZN Buy ?
Apple AAPL Buy Undervalued
Disney DIS Hold ?
Google GOOGL Hold Fair
Hasboro HAS Hold ?
Netflix NFLX Hold Fair
Nintendo NTDOY Buy Undervalued
PayPal PYPL Buy ?
Solar City SCTY Buy Undervalued
Starbucks SBUX Hold ?
Square Enix SQNXF Buy Undervalued
Tesla TSLA Hold Undervalued
Take Two TTWO Hold ?
Twitter TWTR Buy Undervalued
Zynga ZNGA Buy Undervalued

Notice that this is almost 100% technology stocks, which does leave me undiversified by industry. However, technology companies are something I feel I have a lot of domain knowledge over which helps me to pick the winners. We also invest part of each of our accounts in total market and world market index funds.