What I said in last month’s Portfolio Thoughts holds true this month as well… what a difference a month makes!  This applies to the swing in my Portfolio’s value, and its top holdings.

June saw a nice rebound from the declines posted in May.  While the U.S./China trade tensions linger, there has been a little more optimism in recent weeks that a deal can get done, and this has helped boost the markets.  News that the U.S. Federal Reserve may lower interest rates helped propel the markets upward as well.  In the grand scheme of things, I wouldn’t say these market moves are unusual behavior.  It just comes with the investing territory.

Last month I noted that my top 7 holdings (based on value) were rather bunched up and that there could be a lot of movement among that group as a result.  As it stood one month ago, my top 3 holdings were comprised of Union Pacific (UNP), Procter & Gamble (PG) and Pepsico (PEP).  Just a month later, my prediction seems to have been correct, as I’ve seen lots of movement in the top group.  Now the top 3 holdings are Qualcomm (QCOM), RPM International (RPM) & Aflac (AFL), with Visa (V) moving into the #4 spot.  The top 7 still remain fairly close in value, so I expect more shuffling within the ranks in upcoming months.

QCOM was able to reclaim the top spot after a fall from grace in May.  RPM also stumbled in May but recovered in June.  RPM has been a holder of my top spot in previous months and can easily get there again.  One of the initial holdings in my Portfolio, AFL, held the #1 spot for a day or two during the month, but has since settled into 3rd.  Meanwhile, V keeps steadily climbing my Portfolio staircase and is close to reaching the top, too.  V has been a big winner for me since my initial purchase back in Feb. 2016.

The big Portfolio news this month is that I managed to cross $10K in forward dividend income.  I currently stand at $10,060.68.  This was a long time coming, so I’m happy to have reached the mark.  My next target will be $12K in forward dividend income, or a cool $1K per month.  I’m hopeful I can finish 2019 strong, and set myself up to reach $12K by the end of 2020.  That seems like a long ways off, but it’s only 18 months.  It will go by in a flash, I’m sure.

As usual, expect the following to be covered in this Portfolio Thoughts post…  I’ll discuss my Portfolio transactions (which I have several of this month!), price movement for my Portfolio stocks, and what might be on my watchlist.

Let’s get to it…

 

Transactions

Through May, 2019 had been slow with regard to Portfolio transactions.  I’ve only had a single purchase to write home about (GD, back in April).  However, this month the transaction board lit up with activity.  June saw me eliminate one position, and replace it with two new ones from the same sector.  Then, two additional stocks were also added to the Portfolio mix.

All the gory details can be seen in my Recent Transactions (OZK, CHFC, ZION, IRM, EMN) post.

The net investment from these transactions is what pushed me over the $10K mark for annual forward dividend income.

Despite the one sale, thanks to the four new additions, the number of stocks in my Portfolio has grown to 47.

 

Price Movement

Note – my price changes cover closing prices from 5/26 to 6/27.

As noted earlier, my Portfolio saw a nice recovery in value in June.  However, it wasn’t a few standout names pulling my Portfolio higher, but instead solid, across-the-board increases from lots of stocks.  It was just over a 3-to-1 ratio of stocks with price gains compared to price declines.  32 of my 43 holdings posted a gain, 1 was unchanged, and the other 10 posted a loss.

QCOM continued to head either the winners or losers for the 3rd straight month.  Two months ago QCOM was a big winner for me.  Last month it was a big loser.  In June, QCOM was back to being a winner, rising 12.22% to become my best percentage gainer.

My only other stock to climb more than 10% was Gentex (GNTX).  This stock has been on a nice run up since about mid-March. and has reached a 52-week high.  Way to go GNTX!

Ten other Portfolio stocks rose at least 5%+, too.  The following stocks were the best of this group… Skyworks Solutions (SWKS) bounced back after declining significantly last month.  SWKS moved 9.64% higher.  Not far behind was Air Lease (AL) with a gain of 9.52%.  Texas Instruments (TXN) was a winner thanks to an increase of 9.32%.  Starbucks (SBUX) and Air Products & Chemicals (APD) notched healthy gains as well, with increases of 8.87% and 8.51%, respectively.

In general, my technology stocks fared well, especially the chip stocks.  My Materials stocks stood out as well.

Looking at stocks declining in value this month, I only had two with losses of more than 10%.  These stocks were Kontoor Brands (KTB) and Abbvie (ABBV).

KTB fell 28.3%.  KTB was spun off from VF Corp (VFC) last month and proceeded to start a significant decline just a week thereafter.  The stock seems to have settled in the mid-to-upper $20s for now.  The stock price of KTB will probably remain volatile until the company releases their first post-spinoff earnings report.  Thankfully, I didn’t suffer too much as a result of the decline, as I only obtained 11 shares in the spinoff.  I will say the big decline has me thinking about the idea of adding a few shares.

ABBV posted a loss of 14.37% for me since last month.  A big chunk of that came this week with their announcement to acquire Allergan (AGN).  More on this later.

The only other significant decliner for me this month was Altria (MO), which sagged 9.39%.  MO has had a rough go of it since mid-March, but has managed to stay above the lows reached in late January.  All my other monthly decliners booked losses of less than 5%.

Both of my Communication Services stocks posted losses this month, while my REITs were a bit of a mixed bag – 2 up & 2 down.

 

Watch List

The stock bargains are not as plentiful this month thanks to the market’s climb.  However, there’s always something on sale, right?

Within my Portfolio, here are some stocks that I’m watching for possible additions…

I still have interest in adding to my 3M Co. (MMM), Exxon Mobil (XOM), SWKS, Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH), Lowe’s Companies (LOW) and General Dynamics (GD) positions, but each has crept up in price compared to last month.  So, they are still on my radar, but not as strong as last month.

The one watchlist stock that has dropped compared to last month is MO.  If I didn’t have what I consider to be a full position, I might be inclined to add more, but MO already provides a good chunk of dividend income that I don’t really wish to see outsize the others.

ABBV is also on my radar again, especially after this week’s 16% decline in conjunction with announcing they’ve agreed to purchase Allergan (AGN).  AGN is the maker of Botox (among other things), and the additional revenue stream from Botox can help offset the future reduction in Humira revenue once that drug loses its patent protection in the U.S.  As was the case with MO, I’m torn on adding ABBV due to it already being one of the largest dividend payers in my Portfolio.

As for non-Portfolio stocks that I’m watching…

Last month I added Chemical Financial (CHFC) to my watchlist, and this month it’s in my Portfolio.  I was happy to snatch up those CHFC shares when I did.  It doesn’t always happen that I add a stock to my watchlist and it joins my Portfolio shortly thereafter, but it can happen.

As proof that making the watchlist doesn’t guarantee making it into the Portfolio… witness these two stocks that have been sitting on my watchlist for months

The price of Boeing (BA) has been floating higher, but that of FedEx (FDX) has not.  Thus, FDX is still ripe for an addition.  The stock price crept higher after this week’s earnings report.  Here’s hoping their stock price has found a bottom at the mid $150 level.

 

Thoughts?

Were you happy with the rebound in stock prices this month?  Or sad that lower prices did not stick around long enough to entice some purchases on your part.  Please share your thoughts!