Friday was another strong day on the markets with the DOW up 0.6%. Most of our stock picks were up.
Overall, my own account is up 8.5% since January 1. Our average stock that was rated in the Buy or Strong Buy range (everything above Weak Buy) has risen 6.8% since January 1. The Toronto Stock Exchange index is up 2.6%. The DOW is up 10.7%.
I sold 900 of my 1900 Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund units. I am not sure it was wise to sell. But is was only last month that I rated these units a (lower) Buy at just under $20 and they went up another 7.5% since then. I believe they raised the distribution 4% since then and also resumed borrowing money to buy back shares. There is probably no reason to think the units will not continue to do well. But they were starting to look expensive and so I pulled the trigger and sold half. I am up 45% on these units (which I believe I have held for several years). That is in addition to the distributions received. These units briefly went under $8.00 in the despair of December 2008. We rated it Strong Buy at that time.
With Walmart now above $74, it is probably still a good investment. Still, it is one that I may consider trimming to raise cash.
For the most part I am inclined to remain near fully invested. But I do recognize that markets can always decline at any time. I focus on owning businesses. I like owning shares in profitable companies that I frequent like Canadian Tire, Walmart, Boston Pizza and Shaw Communications. I also enjoy owning shares in well known companies like Berkshire, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Stantec, Melcor, Canadian Western Bank and Toll Brothers. Even if the market declines I will still own the same number of shares in these great companies. And I will have the opportunity to buy additional shares at lower prices. I’m confident that these will be good investments over the long term.