3/29/09 Bottom Fishing Portfolio - Almost Completely Closed

Since October 3, 2008, my attempts to buy stocks near a bottom have failed miserably. My first attempt was to buy financial stocks, which have since fallen 50 to 90%, and an agricultural stock, which has fallen 10%. I have also experimented with buying calls on auto stocks and financial stocks, also without success. I've had the most success selling put contracts to open on Monsanto (MON) and Energy Conversion Devices (ENER), which earned a few hundred dollars to slightly offset the losses. In addition, I have had some success buying and selling stocks that I believe will emerge well from the recession, Monsanto, Amazon (AMZN), and Energy Conversion Device.

In mid March, I took the opportunity to sell most of my positions during the bear market rally, even if it meant taking some losses. (If I had waited until last week, I would have reduced my losses in the financial stocks by about 12%.) In late March, I sold the PNC (PNC) leap call for a small profit At this point, I only have three positions in this portfolio, Monsanto, Energy Conversion Devices, and one PNC call. If the financial stocks rally again this week, I will try to close out the remaining PNC call. I will likely hold onto Monsanto and Energy Conversion Devices for the longer term.

Overall, this portfolio is down 20.9%. Financial stocks, which had losses of 52 to 84%, were the main reason for the negative returns. In the table, the sales with gains are in blue and the sales with losses are in red.

	Bottom Fishing Portfolio
Stock or Option [purchase date]	Shares	Purchase Price	Price on 3/27/09
Bank of America(BAC) [10/3/08]	100	$38.00	sold on 3/20/09 @ $6.03
J.P. Morgan (JPM) [10/3/08]	100	$49.74	sold on 3/20/09 @ $23.71
Wells Fargo (WFC) [10/3/08]	100	$37.07	sold on 3/20/09 @ $13.95
Monsanto (MON) [10/3/08]	50	$88.97	$80.35
Ford Dec 5 call (FLA) [12/2/08]	1000	$0.078	expired 12/20/08 at $0
Ford Jan 7.5 call (FAU) [12/3/08]	1000	$0.088	expired 1/16/09 at $0
PNC May 45 call (PNCEI) [1/20/09]	100	$1.51	$0.30
PNC Jan 55 call (WYLAK) [1/20/09]	100	$1.71	$1.99
Monsanto (MON) [2/23/09]	50	$76.38	sold on 3/16/09 @ $81.34
Amazon (AMZN) [2/26/09]	50	$64.45	sold on 3/18/09 @ $71.13
Monsanto (MON) [2/26/09]	50	$80.26	sold on 3/20/06 @ $83.56
Amazon (AMZN) [3/6/09]	100	$60.25	sold on 3/11/09 at $68.87
Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) [3/6/09]	100	$17.49	sold on 3/13/09 at $18.46
Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) [3/20/09]	100	$19.25	$15.77

Currently, I have profited from all five our of six put contracts which have been closed, allowed to expired or been exercised.

	Put Contracts Sold Short to Open
Option [short date]	Shares	Short Price	Closing Prices
Monsanto Nov 60 put (MONWL) [10/3/08]	100	$2.39	closed on 10/29/08 for $0.91
Energy Conversion Nov 20 put (EQIWD) [11/12/08]	100	$0.69	expired 11/21/08 at $0
Monsanto Dec 40 put (MONXI) [11/20/08]	100	$1.19	expired 12/20/08 at $0
Energy Conversion Dec 17.5 put (EQIXW) [11/25/08]	100	$1.39	expired 12/20/08 at $0
Energy Conversion Feb 15 put (EQINC) [1/14/09]	100	$0.44	expired 2/19/08 at $0
Monsanto Mar 65 put (MONOM) [2/23/09]	100	$1.09	expired 3/20/08 at $0
Energy Conversion Mar 20 put (EQIOD) [2/26/09]	100	$0.74	exercised 3/20/09 @ $20

Since I am closing out this portfolio, there will likely only be one more updates before completing this series.

Disclosure: At time of publication, I own shares of Monsanto, and Energy Conversion Devices. I am long a PNC call contract.

For more on New Beginnings, check back every Sunday for a new segment.

This is not financial or investment advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2009 Achievement Catalyst, LLC