BARRICK GOLD CORP. (ABX)

I sold my shares in Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX) today at $48.55 per share. I held it for 3 months for a 20 percent gain. Barrick went up 16 percent in the last 2 days and I decided to take my profits. Gold is at a 28 year high but I think it could keep going up but figure there will be some wild swings up and down. I might be selling to early but I still have a position in Anglo (AAUK) which is not a pure gold play, it also mines Diamonds. Nobody ever went broke taking a profit.
I talked about Preferred stocks in my year end review and they have gone up from 3 to 7 percent a day for the last two days. I think the belief that the Federal Reserve will keep lowering interest rates throughout the year has woken up many investors as to just how cheap many preferred stocks have gotten. With 7 to 8 percent dividends they are going to look pretty good if rates do go down.

YEAR END REVIEW

2007 proved to be a difficult market. My portfolio lost 5.2 percent for the year. This is only the third losing year I have had since 1992. The previous years being 1994 with a loss of 1.4 percent and 2002 with a loss of 2.9 percent.
The major reason for the losing year was the declining value of my preferred stock holdings which make up 26 percent of my portfolio. The good news is they are now paying an average dividend of 8.5 percent and I added to several on the way down so I am in a good position to collect fat dividends while I wait for them to climb back up. I rarely ever sell a preferred stock, only if I think the underlying company is in trouble. The only way for a company to call them in is if they have reached the maturity date and they pay me $25.00 per share. Most of the ones I own are trading from $18.00 to $22.00 so they will have a nice move up someday when they do get called in.
While reviewing the year I counted 14 stocks or mutual funds I sold in 2007 for a 10 percent or higher profit. I counted 3 I sold at a loss of 10 percent or higher. There are several stocks I still own where I have a nice profit as well as several I own where I am down considerably from where I bought, most notably Citigroup which I wouldn't consider selling at today's depressed price. If I didn't already have a position I would be buying here even with the rumours of a dividend cut.
What to do in 2008? My portfolio is split between 38 percent stocks, 26 percent Preferred Stocks, 17 percent bonds, and 19 percent cash.
I hate to have almost 20 percent of my money in cash so I will be looking to put it to work in 2008.

NEW PURCHASES

New Purchases
Anglo AM PLC (AAUK) purchase at $30.50 Gold Mining Company
Home Diagnostics (HDIX) purchase at $8.11 Medical Instruments and Supplies
Rimage Corp (RIMG) purchase $26.20 Technology
Sanders Morris Harris Group purchase $10.20 Fianancial Asset Management

HRP Properties Trust (HRP)

I purchsed more share in HRP today at $7.78 per share.
HRP Properties Trust (HRP) is an office building REIT with 18mn square feet of space. Funds From Operations has been stable for the past year, although occupancy has slipped slightly. FFO Per Share at 29 cents a share is still above the dividend at 21 cents as of September 30 2007. The Company added $48mn in new buildings in the 3rd Quarter of 2007 which should help cash flow slightly. Debt levels are reasonable.The stock's at $7.78, just off its 52 week low, and yields 10.9%. Some investors are worried that the Company will cut the dividend but I don't see it. Even if I'm wrong, the downside is limited. HRP has a roster of quality buildings and customers, investment grade debt levels and a long operating history.

BPP & PFD

New purchases in the following
Black Rock Preferred Oppportunities Trust 12/12 at $17.17 Dividend now at 8.8%
Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Income Fund 12/12 at $11.73 Dividend now at 8.9%

New Financials Purchases

New purchases were made for the following three finanacial stocks.
Citigroup (C) 12/20 at $29.76
Wells Fargo (WFC) 12/19 at $30.26
Washington Mutual (WM) 12/19 at $15.15

Looking for a short term trade on these, 3 to 6 months unless they get a good pop before.

BLACKROCK ENHANCED DIVIDEND ACHIEVERS

Today I purchased more shares of BlackRock Enhanced Dividend Achievers (BDJ) at $11.80 per share. The BlackRock Enhanced Dividend Achievers Trust, BDJ, is a closed-end equity fund. It currently yields a 10.48 percent dividend at today's price. It also trades at a 12 percent discount to it's underlying stock holdings. The high yields are enabled by writing call options.
A call option on a stock gives the buyer the right to buy 100 shares of a stock at a pre-determined price (strike price), for a pre-determined period of time (expiration date). The fund only writes covered calls, which means they own the stock and are selling the option to someone else to buy the stock for a premium. In a covered call strategy, the risk of loss on the option is zero. If the stock increases above the strike price of the call, the investor simply delivers the shares of the stock to the call buyer. The investor gives up some upside on the stock position in return for risk-free option income. The nice part of this strategy is if the stock goes down or stays the same within the expiration date the seller of the call keeps the premium and can write another call, thus the extra income.
BDJ's top ten holdings are Chevron, AT&T, GE, Bank of America, and Pfizer.

NOVEMBER TRADES

Trades made in November

Sold American Century Global Gold (BGEIX) at $23.32 for a 23 percent profit held 8 months
Sold IXC at $142.27 for a 2.3 percent profit held 4 months
Sold IOO at $81.16 for a 3.2 percent loss held 4 months
Sold IYW at $61.49 for a break even no loss or profit
Sold Walmart (WMT) for a 1.2 percent loss held 2 weeks
Bought Citigroup at $31.87 sold for $34.42 for a 7.2 percent profit held 1 week
Bought Citigroup at $31.55 sold at $33.29 for a 4.8 percent profit held 10 days
Bought Citigroup at $31.38 sold at $33.26 for a 5.3 percent profit held 9 days

WALMART (WMT) & CITIGROUP (C)

I purchased shares in Walmart today at $43.81 per share. The company reported they will cut back on spending to build new stores and tighten cost controls as sales growth slows over the next three years. Many analysts welcomed the move to focus on keeping more of the cash Wal-Mart generates rather than spending furiously on new stores.
Increased free cash flow, or the money left over after a company pays its expenses including capital expenditures, could make Wal-Mart shares more attractive by funding higher dividends, new technologies or acquisitions."Strong free cash flow is the key to corporate flexibility and potential growth. Wal-Mart, which is finding fewer places to build new stores and faces tougher competition from other retailers, said sales will continue to slow after years of strong double-digit growth.
I also purchased more shares in Citigroup on Oct. 19 at $42.39 per share. It has been hammered hard for their sub prime loans but they still have more credit cards issued than any other company and I think now is a great time to buy a premier company like Citigroup at the lowest price in almost 5 years. They pay a 5.1 percent dividend which I think is safe, so I'll sit on them and collect the dividend and wait for them to get their act together. If they would fire their CEO, Chuck Prince you will see the price rise a few points in one day.
Buy when no one else wants to and the pessimism is running high. All week the press has been hammering Citigroup and today Walmart. I remember when no one else wanted Coca Cola (KO) and I bought in the low 40's, it's now trading at $59.75 and guess who recommended it last Friday as a buy on their show, Jim Cramer of Mad Money. Be patient, collect those fat dividends, reinvest them, and wait for better days. These are premier companies who will be around long after we are gone.

BARRICK MINING CORP. (ABX)

I purchased shares in Barrick Gold Corp. today at $40.53 per share. The target price is $48.00 which I hope will hit within the next year. Gold is in an upward trend and last week I sold Newmont Mining (NEM) and am now replacing with Barrick which I think is a better gold producer.

NEWMONT MINING (NEM)

I sold my position in Newmont Mining yesterday Sept. 26 at $45.53 for a 9.5 percent profit. I held it for 4 months. I still like Gold but with it at an 18 year high we might have a pullback before going higher.

NEW TRADES Citigroup, BDV, & DOG

Today the Fed cut rates by 1/2 percent point and the stock market skyrocketed by over 300 points. Financial stocks have been hammered during the past several months because of the sub-prime loan problem and the weak housing market. The Fed cut signals that they are going to address the problem, thus the big upswing in the stock market. Right after the Fed announced I bought Citigroup and Black Rock Dividend Achievers which is heavily invested in Finanacials. I have been waiting for a sign to get into some of the big banks and this could be it. There are several other financials I like such as Washington Mutual, Bank of America, and Wachovia.
I purchased Citigoup (C) at $47.74 and it pays a 4.6 percent dividend.
Citigroup operates through a network of 8,140 branches, approximately 19,100 automated teller machines, 708 automated lending machines, and the Internet. A truly global powerhouse in the Banking & Investment world and a blue chip company.
Black Rock Dividend Achievers (BDV) was purchased at $13.90 per share and pays a 6.5 percent dividend. I already own shares in BDV so this is an addition to shares already owned.
My other trade was DOG which is a bet that the stock market will go down. I sold my position at $58.36 for a 2.7 percent loss. I am no longer so pessimistic on the stock market, especially if the Fed keeps cutting rates.

Hawaiian Electric & Cental Fund of Canada

I made new purchases Friday of Hawaiian Electric (HE) at $20.86 which now pays a 6.0 percent dividend. I made previous purchases of this company at a much higher price and hope this is the bottom.
I sold shares in Central Fund of Canada (CEF) at $9.40 for a 4.1 percent gain. I held for 3 months and again will wait for a price below $9.00 for another purchase.

ishares Dow Jones US Technology (IYW)

I made my first purchase in over a month today. I bought shares of ishares Dow Jones US Technology (IYW). This is a ETF or Exchange Trade Fund and the top ten holdings are Google, Apple, Microsoft, Intel, Cisco, Hewlett Packard, Dell, IBM, Oracle, and Qualcomm.
The investment seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Dow Jones U.S. Technology index. The fund uses a representative sampling strategy to try to track the index. The index measures the performance of the technology sector of the U.S. equity market. The index includes companies in the following sectors: software and computer services and technology hardware and equipment. It is nondiversified.
Shares were purchased at $60.98 and will most likely hold long term.

NEW TRADES

On July 27 I sold several long time positions. I think we are in order for a downturn in the stock market.
Sold positions
Gabelli Utility Trust (GUT) $9.55 Held for 1 year and 7 months for a 19.7 percent profit
Wasatch International $23.36 Held for 3 years 6 mo. for a profit of 98 percent
Wasatch Strategic Income (WASIX) $11.29 Held 5 months for a loss of 1 percent
Wasatch Ultra Growth $25.89 Held for 5 years for a profit of 77 percent
Third Avenue Real Estate (TAREX) $32.93 Held 3 years for a profit of 91 percent
Third Avenue International (TAVIX) $24.54 Held 3 year 6 mo. for a profit of 60 percent
Third Avenue Small Cap Fund $26.66 Held 5 years 6 mo. for a profit of 101 percent
Netflix (NFLX) $17.26 Held 1 month for a loss of 12.7 percent
Sara Lee (SLE) $16.11 Held 1 year 6 month for a loss of 2 percent
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) Held 1 year 3 months for a 6.8 percent profit

New Buys
HRPT Properties Trust (HRP) $9.28 pays a 8.9 percent dividend
Wells Fargo Cap IX (JWF)$21.60 pays 6.4 percent dividend
Flaherty Preferred Income (PFD) $15.30 pays 6.6 percent dividend
Short Dow 30 Pro Shares (DOG) $59.87

As you can see I sold several long time positions, most at a nice profit. Many of the positions I sold were mutual funds. My exposure to the stock market has dropped rather dramatically, but I feel I need to take some profits now rather than watch them evaporate in this choppy market. I still own several stocks, mostly large stable companies like Coca-Cola and GE.

My new purchases are nice dividend payers. The Wells Fargo Cap IX (JWF) is a preferred stock which is more like a bond than a stock. Preferred stocks are mostly issued at $25 per share and have a call date in the future where the company can buy them back at $25 per share. The call dates are usually around 5 to 10 years out from the issue date. The payout on dividend is $1.38 per year, which means that when it was issued at $25 per share it's dividend payout was 5.5 percent. You can now collect 6.4 percent if you buy at $21.60 because the payout never changes and if you divide $1.38 into $21.60 you get 6.4 percent. Now the kicker is someday it will be called at $25 per share which represents 15 percent upside from this price. So you can collect 6.4 percent with a guaranteed 15 percent gain on top unless Wells Fargo goes bankrupt, which doesn't seem likely. Preferred stocks are great to buy in an enviroment like this because you can collect your Quarterly dividend while you wait to be called. The underlying price will go down if interest rates go up and they will rise if interest rates go down. But you can never lose if you hold them until they are called.

Short Dow 30 Pro Shares (DOG) is a bet that the stock market will go down.

A lot of money I made in my sold positions is now held in a Money Market account, I'll collect my 4.5 percent until I find some buys out there, but right now there seems to be too much risk in the market for my taste.

ETF IShares Global (IXC) (IOO)

I purchased two ETF's today. ETF's are Exchange Traded Funds and are basically like a mutual funds where they hold a basket of stocks but the expense ratio is much cheaper and the holdings typically don't change like a managed mutual fund. They are traded just like stocks. For example the IShares S&P Global Energy Index (IXC) which I bought today for $138.00 per share has a miniscule expense ratio of 0.48 percent. It holds energy companies and the top 10 holdings are Exxon, British Petroleum, Total, Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell, Schlumberger, ENI SPA, Occidental Petroleum , BG Group. . The other ETF I bought was IShares S&P Global 100 Index (IOO). Purchase price was $83.32 and the top 10 holdings are Exxon, GE, Citigroup, Microsoft, BP, HSBC, Total SA, Chevron, Proctor & Gamble, and Johnson & Johnson. This ETF holds the 100 largest Global companies.
ETF's are a great way to diversify, low expenses, and great liquidity.

Ruth's Chris Steak House (RUTH)

I bought shares today in Ruth's Chris Steak House (RUTH) at $17.27 per share. It trades at a P/E of 16.40 and has $1.05 per share earnings. The 52 week trading range is $16.72 to $23.00.
I owned this company previously on a short term basis and made a nice profit in a short amount of time.
Ruth's Chris Steak House, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates a steakhouse company. It operates company-owned and franchisee-owned restaurants in the United States. The company's restaurants offer food, beverages, and other services. As of July 1, 2007, it owned and franchised 107 locations worldwide. The company was founded in 1965 and is headquartered in Heathrow, Florida.
The nation's largest upscale steak-house chain was based in New Orleans when it made its Nasdaq debut in early August 2005. Three weeks later Hurricane Katrina hit.
Shares that opened at $19.80 lost more than a fifth of their value by the middle of November of that year. Ruth's stock has struggled to remain above water ever since, despite offering a robust growth rate and a compelling valuation.
Ruth's, now based in Heathrow, Fla., has a total of 106 company-owned and franchised restaurants. Expansion plans put it on track to have as many as 250 locations in six to eight years, and those restaurants are extremely productive. Ruth's return on capital stands at 19%, according to Reuters data, more than three times that of Morton's (MRT: 17.87, -0.09, -0.5%), its nearest competitor, and well above the 14% industry average. Meanwhile, return on equity stands at a very healthy 40%, almost twice the industry average.
Furthermore, the long-term investment thesis sounds persuasive, based on brand strength and Ruth's ability to replicate its highly productive restaurants in a variety of markets, both here and abroad.

NEW SELLS

I have decided to take some profits and sell several stocks today. I still hold positions in GE, Sarah Lee, and Gabelli Utility Trust and sold partial positions in them.

GE sold @ 38.24 for a 12.5 percent profit and held for 1 year and 10 months. Remember it pays a 3 percent dividend so I collected that while I held the stock so my real return was around 17 percent, when divided by 1 year and 10 months equals a yearly return of 7 .79 percent.

Sarah Lee (SLE) sold at $17.56 and held for 10 months for a 18.3 percent return. Sarah Lee pays a 2.3 percent dividend.

Gabelli Utility Trust (GUT) sold at $9.73 and held for 6 months for a 6.5 percent return. Gabelli pays a 7.6 percent dividend so real return with dividend is close to 10 percent on an anualized basis.

This one gets a little more complicated. I bought 100 shares of Philip Morris (MO) 9 months ago. While I held it, it spun off Kraft Foods (KFT) and I got 69 shares in the spinoff. So I now had 100 shares of Philip Morris and 60 shares of Kraft. I sold the MO at $70.44 and the Kraft at $35.48. My return was 20.3 percent over a 9 month period and this includes the dividend paid.

I am going to wait a while to invest the money and will hold it in my money market account until then.

NETFLIX (NFLX)

I purchased Netflix on June 20 at $19.71 per share. Netflix has dropped about 25 percent this year and I think now is a good time to buy on weakness. Competition with Blockbuster's aggresive pricing model and competition from video-on-demand have hit the stock.
Netflix is the largest online movie rental service offering 80,000 DVD titles to 6.8 million subscribers. I like Netflix's business model by using the Internet to manage customers and the Postal system to reach them, Netflix has been able to build it's business without drowning in red ink. On each dollar of non-cash assets it generates more than $4.50 in revenues and .30 cents in operating income.
Netflix's balance sheet has $388 million in cash, no debt, and not one inventory or accounts receivable cost. During the past three years, it has spent $381 million on new DVD titles for it's library.
Reed Hastings, Netflix chairman and CEO, has been the visionary ever since he founded the company 10 years ago. He now owns $60 million in Netflix stock.

HRPT PROPERTIES (HRP)

I purchased more shares of HRPT Properties today at $11.02 per share. It pays a dividend rate of 7.6 percent and is close to it's 52 week low. Nice solid company to hold and reinvest the dividends and let it grow.

HRPT Properties Trust operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT) in the United States. It engages in the ownership and operation of real estate, including office buildings, industrial buildings, and leased industrial land. As of December 31, 2006, the trust owned 504 properties, including 351 office properties and 153 industrial properties. HRPT Properties Trust is elected to be treated as a REIT. As a REIT, it would not be subject to federal income tax, provided that it distributes at least 90% of taxable income to its shareholders
HRPT continues to diversify and build on its strategy of going into markets that aren't quite as high-profile. During the quarter, HRPT purchased four office buildings in South Carolina and Massachusetts, with 391,000 square feet and 96.3% occupancy, for $42.6 million at a very healthy 9.8% cap rate.
Although nationwide occupancy was slightly down, HRPT did see some positive trends. Management noted that competitors were pushing for stronger rental rates and fewer concessions of free rent. Tenant improvement dollars have largely stayed constant, but lessors are getting longer lease terms as a result -- which means, on a net basis, the landlord is getting higher rents.