We’re half way through our small group of bloggers’ contest for the four best stock picks of 2009. I’m still pulling in a solid last place, but have begun my comeback from a distant last at the end of Q1.
This is how my picks faired over the two quarters:
Here are the current standings and our year to date returns:
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FourPillars, 48.83%
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IntelligentSpeculator, 43.32%
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WildInvestor, 41.45%
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Wheredoesallmymoneygo, 28.52%
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TheFinancialBlogger, 13.29%
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Million Dollar Journey, 4.76%
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DividendGrowthInvestor, 0.70%
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ZachStocks, -3.04%
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MyTradersJournal, -11.36%
If I pointed out that the two of us in the final two spots trade and use options more than invest in a standard buy and hold style it might sound like sour grapes. Then I’d also have to point out that this contest doesn’t account for dividends which has to hurt the Dividend Growth Investor. Since I’m not going to point out any of that, I can just simply praise the guys who guessed best so far this year and point out we’re only half way there, so don’t count me out yet. I definitely recommend reading these other blogs when you have time. They clearly know their stocks.
This is redundant for the regular MTJ readers, but worth mentioning for those who are just dropping by for the quarterly update. I dumped my DRYS shares at the end of January as I saw worse days ahead. I’ve sold naked puts on NDAQ a few times, taken one option assignment and then sold those shares for a profit once and currently am short NDAQ July puts, which are sitting out of the money. This has been one of my more profitable stocks to work in 2009, so far. have been in and out of SSO with options a few times and have made a little money. I’ve made a couple of USO option trades and have a profit on it too.