A Market Well Played

I’ve been trimming my holdings for most of this year, feeling somewhat jittery about stock valuations. And on a day like today, with a big market sell off underway, I’m feeling pretty good about that choice.

But in truth, the largest motive for my stock sales and hoarding of cash in recent months has been my intention to make a trade up condominium purchase. (I’ve never been much of a believer in market timing, so I probably would see my portfolio dipping even more if I weren’t piling up cash for a potential home purchase.)

Thus, I haven’t had many stock picks to share lately, because I haven’t been in my usual mind frame of scouring the market for income oriented equity opportunities.

But I am pleased with my recent choices, for the most part. Clearway Energy (CWEN) is now one of my largest holdings and still pays a healthy dividend. Would I add shares at the current price? It doesn’t make sense to me from a portfolio diversification standpoint, but if you are adding a new stock that I didn’t already have, I’d still recommend it.

The most recent new stock I added was Viacom/CBS. It’s a small stake and I think the valuation reflects speculation that it could be an acquisition target, but so far the value is holding up and the current dividend yield is very attractive. Still, the short sale ratio makes me a bit nervous.

My tech stocks — Microsoft, Intel and Cisco — have pulled back in the current sell off. I’d be tempted to add shares of Intel and Cisco if I were in a buying position. And while I’d love to own more Microsoft, I think it remains a pricy stock today, especially given its lower dividend yield.

With the market pulling back, I may start to see some tempting stock picks in the months ahead.

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