Special Situations Real Money Portfolio 2005 Performance
It's hard to believe that the Special Situations Real Money Portfolio (AKA my son's Coverdell Education Savings Account) has completed it's first full calendar year. I've had some time this weekend to look over all the transactions that have occurred. It has been a pretty interesting year for going private transactions. Even a few of the transactions blowing up, I still had market beating performance with these low risk risk arbitrage transactions.
There was no lack of great opportunities this year, but my son's Coverdell ESA did lack funds many times to take advantage of the full range of opportunities. I look forward to adding another $2,000 dollars to that account in the next few weeks now that a new year has started.
Let me update you on what has happened so far in my real money portfolio. The detailed transactions are listed in the table below. Each transaction in the table is linked back to the post that discussed that purchase, sale, or cashout.
|
Date |
Action |
Quant |
Description |
Symbol |
Price |
Amount |
|
12/27/05 |
Cashout |
499 |
FGNT |
$0.97 |
$484.03 |
|
|
12/07/05 |
BOUGHT |
1,999 |
TOUCHTUNES MUSIC CORP |
TTMC |
$0.42 |
-$846.53 |
|
12/05/05 |
BOUGHT |
99 |
JBOH |
$1.90 |
-$195.05 |
|
|
12/05/05 |
BOUGHT |
1,999 |
RFCG |
$0.28 |
-$566.67 |
|
|
12/01/05 |
Cashout |
85 |
LIC |
$29.94 |
$2,544.49 |
|
|
12/01/05 |
Interest |
|
Money Market Fund |
|
|
$0.10 |
|
11/01/05 |
Interest |
|
Money Market Fund |
|
|
$0.79 |
|
10/14/05 |
Dividend |
200 |
CENTRAL FEDERAL CORP |
GCFC |
|
$18.00 |
|
10/10/05 |
BOUGHT |
85 |
LIC |
$25.70 |
-$2,191.45 |
|
|
10/07/05 |
Cashout |
900 |
CIMG |
$1.10 |
$990.00 |
|
|
10/06/05 |
Cashout |
300 |
MAX |
$4.00 |
$1,200.00 |
|
|
10/03/05 |
Interest |
|
Money Market Fund |
|
|
$0.70 |
|
09/07/05 |
BOUGHT |
900 |
CIMG |
$0.90 |
$816.95 |
|
|
09/01/05 |
Interest |
|
Money Market Fund |
|
|
$2.19 |
|
08/29/05 |
SOLD |
1,700 |
RFCG |
$0.35 |
$587.02 |
|
|
08/23/05 |
BOUGHT |
300 |
MAX |
$3.45 |
-$1,042.95 |
|
|
08/02/05 |
Cashout |
99 |
BSTW |
$13.00 |
$1,287.00 |
|
|
08/01/05 |
Interest |
|
Money Market Fund |
|
|
$0.45 |
|
07/22/05 |
BOUGHT |
1,700 |
RFCG |
$0.25 |
-$432.95 |
|
|
07/18/05 |
Dividend |
|
CENTRAL FEDERAL CORP |
GCFC |
|
$18.00 |
|
07/12/05 |
Cashout |
1,990 |
CFRC |
$0.18 |
$355.41 |
|
|
07/01/05 |
Interest |
|
Money Market Fund |
|
|
$0.03 |
|
06/24/05 |
Interest |
|
Money Market Fund |
|
|
$0.03 |
|
06/16/05 |
Interest |
|
Money Market Fund |
|
|
$0.51 |
|
06/13/05 |
Interest |
|
Money Market Fund |
|
|
$0.03 |
|
06/07/05 |
BOUGHT |
499 |
FRGN |
$0.58 |
-$297.37 |
|
|
05/16/05 |
Interest |
|
Money Market Fund |
|
|
$0.50 |
|
04/18/05 |
Interest |
|
Money Market Fund |
|
|
$0.44 |
|
04/15/05 |
Dividend |
|
CENTRAL FEDERAL CORP |
GCFC |
|
$18.00 |
|
03/16/05 |
Interest |
|
Money Market Fund |
|
|
$0.44 |
|
02/16/05 |
Interest |
|
Money Market Fund |
|
|
$3.45 |
|
02/14/05 |
BOUGHT |
200 |
GCFC |
$12.39 |
-$2,485.95 |
|
|
02/07/05 |
BOUGHT |
99 |
BSTW |
$11.01 |
-$1,102.94 |
|
|
02/01/05 |
BOUGHT |
1,990 |
CFRC |
$0.12 |
-$251.75 |
|
|
01/21/05 |
Deposit |
|
CONTRIBUTION 2005 |
|
|
$2,000.00 |
|
01/18/05 |
Interest |
|
Money Market Fund |
|
|
$0.96 |
|
01/03/05 |
Interest |
|
Money Market Fund |
|
|
$1.38 |
|
12/08/04 |
Cashout |
425 |
ASAA |
$5.00 |
$2,125.00 |
|
|
11/16/04 |
Interest |
|
Money Market Fund |
|
|
$0.27 |
|
10/22/04 |
BOUGHT |
425 |
ASAA |
$4.55 |
-$1,946.70 |
|
|
10/19/04 |
Deposit |
|
CONTRIBUTION 2004 |
|
|
$2,000.00 |
Closing the year out, my positions at the close of the market on December 30, 2005 are as follows:
Holdings on December 31, 2005|
Date |
Quant. |
Description |
Price |
Amount |
|
12/31/05 |
|
Cash |
$1.00 |
$1,461.96 |
|
12/31/05 |
99 |
JB OXFORD HOLDINGS |
$1.72 |
$170.28 |
|
12/31/05 |
1,999 |
REFOCUS GROUP INC |
$0.27 |
$539.73 |
|
12/31/05 |
200 |
CENTRAL FEDERAL CORP |
$7.84 |
$1,568.00 |
|
12/31/05 |
1,999 |
TOUCHTUNES MUSIC |
$0.39 |
$779.61 |
|
|
|
|
|
$4,519.58 |
As you can see, my recent additions include JB Oxford and Refocus Group. There is a problem with the cash out of my Refocus Group shares, but I am hopeful that Firstrade will resolve it soon. For now, I am using the $0.27 value per share that is listed on my account summary page. That value may go up or down depending on how this issue gets resolved.
The JB Oxford's going private transaction was completed on January 4, 2005. However, since I'm doing this update for the 2005 calendar year, I used the closing price of $1.72 for December 30, 2005 instead of the cashout value.
Now that I've gone through all the transactions and my current account balance, let me take a look at my performance. I have invested $4,000 in this account and I am up a total of $519.58. That's almost a 13 percent gain on my investment. The internal rate of return since this portfolio was first funded on October 19, 2004 is by my calculation 12.1 percent APY. For the 2005 calendar year, my performance was 8.4 percent APY. That is almost double the 4.91 percent return for the S&P 500 for 2005.
I was bit surpised at the performance of the Special Situations Real Money Portfolio. Given the losses that Central Federal Corp. caused, I didn't think that I would beat the S&P 500 index this year. Hopefully when the Fed stops raising interest rates, Central Federal Corp. will recover a bit so I can close out that position.
I look forward to the increased flexibility that I will have in this account in 2006. There were several opportunities that I couldn't participate in due to a lack of funds. If you are interested in current going private transaction opportunities, consider contributing to Fat Pitch Financials to gain access to my exclusive daily updated detailed summary of current going private transactions.
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Why save your debt til you graduate with a student loan? A short term loan could work if you've got a steady income.
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9 Responses to “Special Situations Real Money Portfolio 2005 Performance”
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Refocus Group Cashout Complete - Fat Pitch Financials[…] Yesterday, all 1,999 shares of Refocus Group in my Special Situations Real Money Portfolio were cashed out for $0.35 per share. I received $699.65 for the shares that cost $566.67. That earned my son’s Coverdell ESA $132.98 or a 23 percent gain. Since I only held these shares for 39 days, this trade earned a 220 percent average annualized rate of return. I was pretty happy with this little trade. […]
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Carnival of Personal Finance #33 - Fat Pitch Financials[…] While you are here, I encourage you to explore some of Fat Pitch Financials most popular content. This includes my Special Situations Real Money Portfolio, which tracks the transactions and performance of my son’s Coverdell Education Savings Account that is mainly invested in “Going Private” transactions. The 30 Days to Becoming a Better Investor series is also very popular. More recently, my exploration of Joel Greenblatt’s Magic Formula for investing in stocks has also attracked interest. You can subscribe to Fat Pitch Financials via RSS feed or by email if you like what you see. Premium content is also available in Fat Pitch Financials’ Contributor’s Corner. […]
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Cash Received for TouchTunes Music Going Private Transaction - Fat Pitch Financials[…] I discovered that I received cash today for TouchTunes Music Corp. (TTMX). You might recall from the Special Situations Real Money Portfolio 2005 Performance report that I bought 1,999 share of TouchTunes Music Corp. on December 7, 2005 for $0.42 a share. […]
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Major Automotive Companies Deal Completed - Fat Pitch Financials[…] On January 25, 2006, I purchased 999 shares of Major Automotive Companies (MAJR) at $1.60 per share. The company had announced that they were going private, so I was interested in adding this stock to the Special Situations Real Money Portfolio. […]
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Carnival of Investing #15 - Fat Pitch Financials[…] While you are here, I encourage you to explore some of Fat Pitch Financials most popular content. This includes my Special Situations Real Money Portfolio, which tracks the transactions and performance of my son’s Coverdell Education Savings Account that is mainly invested in “Going Private” transactions. If you like what you see here, you can subscribe to Fat Pitch Financials via RSS feed or by email. […]
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Special Situations Real Money Port Update - Fat Pitch Financials[…] Since inception on October 19, 2004, the rate of return for the Special Situations Real Money Portfolio has been 23.5% APY. This is a substantial improvement from what I reported earlier this year, 12.1 percent APY. The quick turnarounds with AutoNation, PVC Container, and Major Automotive definitely juiced my returns. While not quite as safe as putting my son’s college money in EmigrantDirect’s 4.5 % Savings Account, these relatively low risk special situations produce some great returns. […]
#1
George,
Why has your Refocus not been cashed out yet?
Morning Son
#2
This was very illuminating - thanks for putting up the details George. If you’re considering doing this again for 2006, would you consider posting this information
up on a “real time” basis? Just an idea, since you’re someone who’s gone through the trenches for a year - I’m sure me, and others like me would find a world of good in it.
Thanks again for the diligence and good work on your site.
#3
Hi Sree -
I will try to do more frequent updates on the performance of Special Situations Real Money Portfolio and let you know about positions that have been closed out.
I have moved my “real time” reporting of new trades to Contributor’s Corner.