Here is another pair of Portfolio transactions that I made earlier this month but have yet to report on.
Both moves involve stocks in the Information Technology sector. In summary, I eliminated one of my Tech positions and started a new one.
The stock I sold I didn’t own for long… a little less than 11 months. It was performing poorly, and it was my smallest holding at the time of sale. The stock I bought has been one I’ve eyed for a while.
Neither stock sports much of a yield (especially the new one), so in the end I gave up some forward dividend income with the stock swap.
I reinvested all the sales proceeds, plus some cash, into the new holding. Combined, the two transactions resulted a small net investment.
Here are all the details for this pair of Portfolio transactions executed near the beginning of February…
Salesforce (CRM)
I initiated a position in CRM in March of last year. The two months prior accounted for the majority of the stock’s losses in 2025. Thus, the performance of CRM in 2025 was OK for me.
However, the start of 2026 has been noticeably different. A new decline of CRM’s stock price has been swift and unrelenting. It’s one of the biggest losers in the S&P 500 thus far in 2026. Investors are questioning business software and the growth prospects of the software-as-a-service model. The threat of AI disrupting CRM’s business has investors exiting the stock and asking questions later.
Sadly, I’m among them. I’ve noticed a handful of my Portfolio stocks (especially software stocks) reacting in the same way to potential AI-driven demand fears. These include Intuit (INTU), Accenture (ACN) and Amdocs Ltd (DOX).
In order to limit my number of software stocks in the AI crosshairs, and with CRM being my smallest position already (which didn’t look like I’d be adding to anytime soon), I decided to cut bait and invest elsewhere.
On 2/4/26, I sold all 20.059 shares at $200.20/share. The sale proceeds were $4,015.81. There was no SEC fee.
At my sale price, shares of CRM yielded a minor 0.83%. This is roughly 1/3 of my current Portfolio yield of 2.57%.
With this sale, I realized a short-term capital loss of $1,368.76. This should offset some of the capital gains I realized from the FedEx (FDX) sale that I reported on in my last Recent Transactions post. The CRM sale also resulted in a small $33.38 decrease in my annual forward dividend income.
Since my initial purchase in March 2025 until this final sale, I calculate my annualized total return for CRM to be -29.67%. Here’s a prime example that not all investments work out.
Here’s how I made use of my CRM sale proceeds…
NVIDIA (NVDA)
Even though the company was only founded in April, 1993, NVDA is the largest company in the world by market capitalization. Its valuation of nearly $4.7 trillion is the result of its dominance in AI hardware.
I used to own NVDA shares back in 2013 (before I started my Portfolio), when the company was primarily focused on designing & building graphics processing units (GPUs). At that time, the stock wasn’t exhibiting the same crazy earnings growth that it’s seen over the past decade. Sadly, I sold my shares back then to pursue other investments. Oh, if I had only held onto those shares!
I’ve been watching the company from afar over the past decade. More recently, I’ve been hoping to find a re-entry point. After peaking in price last October around $212, and subsequently retreating into the $170s a couple of time since then, I decided it might be a good time to become a shareholder again.
Buying NVDA keeps investment dollars in the Information Technology sector, where I wish to expand the sector’s weighting within my Portfolio – so that’s a bonus.
Earnings growth for NVDA will most likely be slowing down over the next few years, coming down from some lofty levels. But even if that’s the case, I suspect NVDA will be one of my Portfolio’s better growth stocks.
On 2/4/26, I established my NVDA position by purchasing 25 shares at $175/share, for a total of $4,375.00. The stock yielded a paltry 0.02% at my purchase price, which is barely noticeable.
The purchase added just $1 to my annual forward dividend income. This fell well short of the amount I gave up in the CRM sale. My first dividend payment from NVDA will arrive in March.
NVDA entered my Portfolio with a weighting around 0.47%… just below my preferred minimum of 0.5%. So, I’ll look to add further, especially should the stock price for NVDA decline. The stock entered my Portfolio as the smallest holding (out of 57 stocks), but has since moved up 2 spots.
NVDA is now my 10th Information Technology holding. The stock currently trails fellow Tech stock Intuit (INTU), but is ahead of The Walt Disney Co. (DIS).
As I normally do with a new holding, let’s take a quick look at its dividend growth history dating back to 2000…
NVDA started paying a small dividend in 2012. Dividend growth has been pretty strong over the years for each of the periods, in spite of the absence of a dividend raise from 2020 through 2023.
I don’t expect annual dividend raises from NVDA, as they hold onto their capital to enhance internal growth.
Given the very small yield amid huge cash flows for NVDA, the stock has a ‘Very Safe’ dividend safety score (89 out of 99) from Simply Safe Dividends. This says that a dividend cut is highly unlikely.
Once NVDA’s stellar growth slows down, perhaps dividend growth will become more of a priority. For now, I’ll look to capital appreciation to make up for the tiny yield.
Summary
After one set of Portfolio transactions early in the month, I waited just a couple of days more before executing 2 more trades.
To start, I eliminated CRM from my Portfolio. This software stock has performed poorly to start 2026 as investors feel CRM’s business will slow down due to AI disruption.
With this being one of a handful of software stocks in my Portfolio that were quickly declining in price, I decided to remove my smallest company from this mix and invest elsewhere. I hate to sell at what may be a bottom, but it’s also possible the stock falls further.
I then used the CRM sale proceeds and some cash to invest in NVDA. This is a stock that I used to own over a decade ago, before I constructed my Portfolio.
By buying NVDA, I kept my investment in the Information Technology sector, and exposed myself to one of the strongest growth stocks in the stock market.
The two transactions resulted in a net investment into my Portfolio of $359.19. However, my forward dividend income fell by $32.38, as NVDA barely yields anything.
With the sale of CRM, I realized short-term capital loss of $1,368.76. The annualized return for my CRM investment in the 11 months I held the stock was -29.67%.
Since CRM was eliminated from my Portfolio, but NVDA was added, the number of holdings in my Portfolio held steady at 57.
Should I have held onto CRM instead of selling during the software turmoil in the market? Was the price I paid for my NVDA shares too high? I look forward to your comments!