Friday, September 25, 2009

LOTTERY TICKET PURCHASES: LINKS IN ONE POST


Snapshots of my account showing some of these trades can be found in ITEM # 7: Stocks & Politics (May 4, 2011 Post)  Like other Gateway Posts, I add information to this post as new trades are made. 

 A more comprehensive post on this subject is myStocks, Bonds & Politics: Lottery Ticket Strategy: New Gateway Post (October 14, 2011). This post written over two years later than this one has snapshots of all trades made pursuant to this strategy where the gain or loss exceeds $30.  


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After Tennessee started its lottery, I purchased about $200 worth of powerball tickets without winning a dime. One day, I thought that I hit pay dirt when I matched the powerball number and two others. And I went to claim my prize, thinking about that new car that I would buy with my winnings, and the clerk said "here is your $7". Well, as you can imagine, I said to myself that I may be able to improve my winning percentages by taking that powerball money and buying lottery tickets on the stock exchange. So the lottery ticket strategy was born. I would look for issues that had been beaten down severely, limit my exposure mostly to $200 (now $300) per issue, manage the risk of this asset class by harvesting some gains and losses, and allowing a few to run. This topic is discussed in more detail, along with the risks of venturing into this area, in a prior post. Duality of Long Term Risks/Stocks Under $5: Per Se Lottery Tickets/
This is a form of entertainment for me, and it really does not matter what happens given the small amount of money at risk.

So far this year, I have harvested gains in lottery ticket purchases of LXPRD, SCMP, AINV, and NADX. The later stock had a huge move from my 50 share purchase at $1.27 to $4. I still own 50, and the stock is currently selling for over $7. Those purchases and sells are discussed in these posts:

SCMP (Sucampo Pharmaceuticals)

NADX (National Dentex):

LXPPRD (Lexington Realty Preferred)(part of a risk transfer, shares currently held in IRA after this sale):

50 AINV (Apollo Investment):


I sold GPX for a negligible loss of less than $20 subject to check. Another lottery ticket purchase subsequently sold for around a $100 gain, which was only alluded to, was 500 shares of WSTL, clipping about a 25 cent move and I no longer own it.

This is a list of the ones that I currently own, some have been sold since the original post, listing only the shares and price where I mentioned it in the blog (do not want to check my files for this limited purpose) and just adding the current total where I bought some more shares, never very much, and did not mention it:


50 MWA at $3.62 Mueller Water (Sold at $5.61)
Bought 50 MWA @ 3.04 (November 2010)

50 TMWEF at $3.24 (TimberWest Forest) (SOLD)


100 VIMC at $1.97 (Vimicro International) (sold at $3.53)

ISF (ING Preferred) at $4.6: (Sold at 14.65)

50 Forest City (FCE/A) at $6.3 (sold at 13.23)


30 Wilmington Trust at $9.98 (TOOK out of LT category on 10/30/09) (Sold at 14.13)

50 GRT (Glimcher Realty) at $1.61 (now at 150) (Sold 100 at $9.5)
40 GIVN (Given Imaging) at $8.08 (SOLD)
50 CBG (C B Richard Ellis) at $2.39 (sold at 9.73)
50 CBG at $3.49 (sold at 13.2)

100 Napco Security (NSSC) at $1.02 (sold at $1.96)
50 National Dentex at $4 (NADX) (sold 50 at 4 bought at $1.27 as mentioned above)(SOLD 50 AT $8.12)

GRTPRF (Glimcher Realty Preferred) at $2.9
50 EWBC (East West Bank) at $5.7: (TAKEN OUT OF LT CATEGORY 10/09) Sold at $19.04

50 RF (Regions Financial) at $3.47 (sold at $6.57):
50 WBS (Webster Financial) at $4.58:
50 TGB (Taseko Mines) ( now 100) at $.8 (sold at $2.5)
50 CIBER (CBR) at $4.5: (SOLD at a Loss)

50 UCBH at $1.64: (SOLD at Small Loss)

100 SBGI (Sinclair Broadcasting) at $1 (sold at $2)

100 TSCM (TheStreet.com) at $1.88:  (symbol changed to TST)

CB & L Properties at $3.07 ( now over 150) (Sold 170+ at $18.04)

40 First Industrial (FR) at $6.19 (Sold at 8.2)

100 Sunopta (STKL) at $1.65: (Sold at 4.06)

25 New York Times (NYT) at $7.08: (SOLD for Profit)

50 LXPPRD (Lexington Realty Preferred) at $7: (Sold at 23.46)

100 SLTM (Solta Medical) at $1.35 (sold)

50 GPOR (Gulfport Energy) at $4.2 (sold at $7.09))

Bought 50 KEY (KEYCORP) at $4.6
50 KEY at $5.88  Sold KEY at 8.12 

50 SIMG (Silicon Image) at 2.19 (sold at $3.37)

50 Opnext (OPXT) at 1.91 (sold at $3.1) Bought 50 OPXT at $1.91 Sold LT Opnext at $3.1 100 Opnext (OPXT) at $1.89 (second purchase after previous sell mentioned above)(Sold at 2.47) Bought 100 OPXT at 1.89 Sold 100 OPXT at $2.47 Bought 100 OPXT @ 1.6 (3rd entry) Sold 100 of the LT OPXT @ 3.15  Bought 100 OPXT as LT at $1.18 

100 Digirad (DRAD) at 1.24 (sold at $2.14)
Bought Lottery Ticket 100 DRAD AT 1.24

30 Yamana Gold (AUY) at 8.98 (sold at $11.4)

50 Seaspan (SSW) at 6.39 (sold at $8)

100 Ariad Pharmaceuticals (ARIA) at $2.55 (Sold for Small Profit)

100 Theragenics (TGX) at $1.28 (sold $1.63)
50 Landec (LNDC) at $6.2 (sold at 7.37)

40 EXAR at $7.15 Sold

100 Action Semiconductor at $2.21 (sold at break-even/no write up)

40 Anika (ANIK) at $6.45 TAKEN OUT OF LT CATEGORY 1/4/2010 Sold

100 U.S. CONCRETE (RMIX) AT $1.57: (SOLD AT 70 CENTS)

50 FRIEDMAN INDUSTRIES (FRD) AT $5.76 (Sold at $10)

40 TradeStation (TRAD) at $7.26 (sold at $8.3)

50 WPCS International (WPCS) at $3.8 (sold)

50 Huntington Bank (HBAN) at $4.27 & 40 at $3.69 (sold at 5.83)

50 Wolseley (WOSCY) at $2.3 and at 1.94 (sold small profit: no write up)

50 RCM Technologies (RCMT at $2.15) (Sold at 3.53)

50 Synovus Financial (SNV) at $3.73 (Sold at near break-even)

50 Susquehanna Banchares (SUSQ) at $5.85 (SOLD AT $7.5)
50 ADVANCED BATTERY TECHNOLOGIES (ABAT) AT $4.12: SOLD NO WRITE UP

45 Wilshire Bank (WIBC) at $6.54 (Taken out of LT category 1/2010) SOLD 10.99

50 Lions Gate (LGF) at $5.25 (Sold at 5.92)

50 Marshall & Ilsley (MI) at 5.84 (Sold at 7.14)

50 Delek (DK) at 5.75 (Sold $7.31)

50 Aegon (AEG) at $6.36

50 American Software (AMSWA) at $6.02 (TAKEN OUT OF LT CATEGORY 4/1/2010)

50 ActivIdentity (ACTI) at $2.2 (Sold at $3.19)(Sold at 3.21)

50 Pervasive Software (PVSW) at $4.72 (Sold at 5.68)
50 DSP Group (DSPG) at $5.62 (Sold at $7.04)

30 Brooks Automation (BRKS) at $8.62 (SOLD at 10.2)


100 Macquarie Power and Infrastructure (MCQPF) at $5.84 (SOLD at 7.18)
(special dispensation exception, combo lotto ticket granted to RB as a reward for its vision thing being right in 2009)

50 BigBand Networks at $3.51
50 O2Micro (OIIM) at $5.12 (Sold at 6.5)

50 GenCorp (GY) at $3.7 (SOLD AT 6.4)
50 ACETO (ACET) at $5.2 (Sold at $6.82)

BOUGHT 50 GRUPO TMM (TMM) at $2.85

50 Suter Technology Group (SUTR) at $2.81
100 Xinyuan Real Estate (XIN)- Two 50 share lots  
30 Pacific Continental (PCBK) at 8.9 (SOLD at 10.18, no write up)

30 Enterprise Financial (EFSC) at $8.48  (SOLD AT $8.97)

50 Alon USA (ALJ) at 5.24 (sold)

100 BioDelivery Sciences International (BDSI) (Sold at 3.53)
30 Boyd Gaming (BYD) at 9.78
Bought 30 BYD at $ 9.78 as an LT 
Sold 30 BYD at $12.68

50 Vimicro International (VIMC) at 3.84
Bought as Lottery Ticket: 50 VIMC at 3.84
(prior buy and sale: Buy  100 of VIMC at $1.97 Sold 100 VIMC at $3.53

40 Melco Crown Entertainment (MPEL) at 7.36
Bought 40 MPEL at $7.36
Sold MPEL at 11.46 
Bought 30 MPEL AT $9.32 as LT
Sold 30 MPEL at $13.12

30 KeyCorp (KEY) at 8.75 and 30 at 4.8 (multiple trades as LTs)
Bought 30 KEY at 8.75

30 First Horizon at 11.34
Bought 30 FHN as an LT at 11.34

30 Huntington Bancshares (HBAN) at 7.25 (2nd purchase as an LT)
Bought 30 HBAN @ 7.25 as LT
Added 30 HBAN as LT at $4.8

70 PLX Technology (PLXT) at $3.37
Bought 70 PLXT at $3.37-a LT
Sold 70 PLXT at $6.66 

50 RTI Biologics (RTIX) at 2.57
Bought: 50 RTIX as LT @ 2.57
Sold LT RTIX at $4.2

50 Par Technology (PAR) at 5.44
Bought 50 PAR at 5.44 as LT

40 Virginia Commerce Bancorp 
Bought 40 VCBI as LT at 5.56
Sold 40 VCBI at 7.64

30 Pacific Continental (2nd purchase as LT)
Bought 30 PCBK as LT at 9.42

30 National Penn (NPBC)
Bought  30 NPBC @ 7.83

30 New York Times (NYT)(2nd purchase as LT)
Bought 30 NYT as LT @ 8.61
SOLD LT NYT at $10.45

30 Susquehanna (SUSQ)(2nd purchase as LT)
Bought at 8.75  (brief mention in introduction)
Sold SUSQ:  30 at $13.10-Being Acquired by BBT

30 Umpqua Holdings (UMPQ)
Bought 30 UMPQ as LT at 11.53
SOLD 30 UMPQ at $13.33

30 First Commonwealth (FCF)
Bought 30 FCF at 5.86 as LT

50 O2Micro (OIIM) 
Bought 50 OIIM at 7.04 as LT (2nd entry since starting blog)
Sold For Near Total Loss 2014-Snapshot in New Gateway Post

40 EXAR (EXAR)
Bought 40 EXAR as LT at 6.23
Sold 40 of the LT EXAR at $8.08

Bought 50 ACETO (ACET)
Bought 50 ACET at 5.07 as Lottery Ticket
Sold 50 ACET at $7.02

100 Theragenics (TGX)(2nd entry)
Bought 100 TGX at 1.24 as LT
Sold 100 of the LT TGX at $1.83

100 Opnext (OXT) (4th entry as an LT, see above)
Bought 100 OPXT as LT at $1.18
Sold 100 OPXT at 1.05

50 SunOpta (STKL) (2nd entry as an LT, see above)
Bought As Lottery Tickets: 50 MDCI at $4.47 and 50 STKL at 5.25
Sold 50 STKL at 6.64-LT Category

50 Medical Action Industries (MDCI)
Bought As Lottery Tickets: 50 MDCI at $4.47 and 50 STKL at 5.25
SOLD 50 MDCI at $5.2

100 Frozen Food Express (FFEX)
Bought 100 FFEX at $1.4-Lottery Ticket
Sold: 100 FFEX at $2.07

100 THESTREET (TST)(3rd entry as an LT, see above)
Bought 100 TST at $1.8
Sold 100 TST at $2.27

30 Horsehead Holdings (ZINC)
Bought 30 ZINC at $7.9
Sold 30 of the LT ZINC at $11.59

40 XEROX (XRX)
Bought 40 XRX at 7.55 as LT
Transferred to Flyer's Basket Strategy and Added Shares

50 Metalico (MEA)
Bought 50 MEA at $4.36 as LT

70 Exide (XIDE)
Bought 70 XIDE as LT at $2.75
Sold 70 EXIDE at $3.71-LT Category

30 Terex (TEX)
Bought 30 of TEX at $12.68-LT
Sold LT TEX at $19.11 

30 Huntsman (HUN)
Bought 30 HUN @ 9.91
Sold LT HUN at $14.65

30 Forest City Enterprises (FCE/A)(second LT)
Bought 30 FCE/A at 11.58

30 Dole Food Company (DOLE)
Bought 30 DOLE as LT at $8.34
Sold 30 DOLE at $10-LT Category

50 Novatel Wireless (NVTL)
BOUGHT 50 NVTL at $2.98-LT
Sold:  50 NVTL at $4.04

40 Ferro (FOE)
Lottery Ticket Purchases: 100 DRAD at $1.9 & 40 FOE at $6.32
Sold: 40 FOE at $9.61

100 Digirad (DRAD)
Lottery Ticket Purchases: 100 DRAD at $1.9 & 40 FOE at $6.32
Sold 100 DRAD at $2.36 -LT

40 SuperValu (SVU)
Bought 40 SVU as LT at $6.98
Sold 40 SVU at $5.94-LT Basket

40 BNC Bancorp (BNCN)
Bought 40 BNCN at $7.09 as LT
Sold 40 BNCN at $10.02

40 Applied Motion Technologies (AMOT)
Bought 40 AMOT at $5.95-LT
Harvested AMOT Profit +157% Based on Total Cost-Sold 40 AMOT at $16

50 Quicksilver Resources (KWK)
Bought 50 KWK at $5.3-LT Category
Sold Near Total Loss 

70 Synergy Resources (SYRG)
Bought 70 SYRG at $3.32-LT Category
Sold 70 SYRG at $4.14-LT Category

50 RRsat Global Communications (RRST)
Bought 50 RRST at $3.95-LT Category
Sold  50 RRST at $7.78 

40 Sandridge Energy (SD)
Bought 40 SD at $7.68-LT Category

Bought 30 ING
Bought 30 ING at $8.79 as LT

Bought 100 LML Payment Systems
Bought 100 LMLP at $1.8-LT Category
Sold 100 LMLP at $3.4-Being Acquired by Digital River (LT Category) 

Bought 40 RadioShack (RSH)
Bought 40 RSH at $6.89-LT CATEGORY
Sold RSH at $1.79-Loss

Bought 35 Select Medical (SEM)
Bought 35 SEM at $8.37-Lottery Ticket Basket Strategy
Sold LT SEM at $10

Bought 35 CNO Financial (CNO)
Bought 35 CNO at $7.81- Lottery Ticket Basket Strategy
Sold 35 CNO at $9.98-LT Category

Bought 50 Power-One (PWER)
Bought 50 PWER at $4.66-LT Category
Sold 50 of the LT PWER at $6.03

Bought 50 Health Management Associates (HMA)
Bought 50 HMA at $6.87-LT Category
Sold 50 HMA at $8.41-LT Category

Bought 50 Symmetricom (SYMM)
Bought 50 SYMM at $5.55-LT Category
Sold 50 SYMM-LT at $6.66

Bought 40 Grupo Financiero Galicia (GGAL)
BOUGHT 40 GGAL at $6.72-LT Category
Sold LT GGAL at $9.6

Bought 50 First Busey (BUSE)
BOUGHT 50 BUSE at $5-LT

Bought 50 Nokia (NOK)
Bought 50 NOK at $2.88-LT Category
Sold 50 NOK at $5.48

Bought 80 Harris and Harris (TINY)
Bought 80 TINY at $3.3-LT Category

Bought 40 LSI
Bought 40 LSI at $7.28-LT Category
Sold: LSI at $10.96-LT Basket

Bought 300 Capstone Turbine
Bought 300 CPST at $.9852-LT Category
Sold: 300 CPST at $1.55

Bought 40 Edgen Group (EDG)
BOUGHT 40 EDG at $7.28-LT Category
Sold: 40 EDG at $11.88

Bought 50 Fiat  (FIATY)
Bought 50 FIATY at $5.17-LT
Sold 50 FIATY at $ 8.45

Bought 50 Beazer Homes (BZH)
BOUGHT 50 BZH at $2.92-LT Category
(1 for 5 reverse split after purchase)
Sold: BZH at $23.95

Bought 30 Terex (TEX)
Bought TEX at $14.43-LT Category
SOLD LT TEX at $23.27

Bought 70 Alumina ADR (AWC)
Bought 70 AWC at $3.44-LT Category
Sold 70 AWCMY +52% Gain

Bought 40 Brooks Automation (BRKS)
Bought 40 BRKS at $7.23-LT Category
Sold 40 BRKS at $9.71

Bought 35 Datalink (DTLK)
Bought 35 DTLK at $7.49-LT Category
Sold  35 DTLK at $10.93

Bought 30 Velti (VELT)
Bought 30 VELT at $7.7-LT Category
Update for the Lottery Ticket-Sold Total Loss

Bought 50 Silicon Image (SIMG)
Bought 50 SIMG at $4.33
Sold 50 SIMG at $5.41

Bought 50 Tetra Technologies (TTI)
Bought 50 TTI at $5.98
Sold  50 TTI at $9.97 

Bought 50 STKL at $5.85 (3rd entry as LT; 4th overall)
Bought 50 STKL at $5.85
Sold: 50 STKL at $9

Bought 30 QLGC at $8.83
Bought 30 QLGC at $8.83
Sold 30 QLGC at $11.7

Bought 30 SMS at 9.26
Bought 30 SMS at $9.26
Sold  30 SMA at $10.81

Bought 100 Cinedigm Digital Cinema
Bought 100 CIDM at $1.55
Added 100 CIDM at $1.38
Sold 200 CIDM at $3

Bought 40 AuRico Gold
Bought 40 AUQ at $6.55

Bought 50 Alexco Resource at $2.73
Bought 50 AXU at $2.73

Bought 100 Gastar Exploration (GST)
Bought 100 GST at $2.68
Sold 100 GST at $4.1

Bought 100 Document Security Systems (DSS)
Bought 100 DSS at $1.6


Bought 50 Atlantic Power (AT)
Bought 50 AT @ $4.08

Bought 40 Iridium Communications
Bought 40 IRDM at $6.82

Bought 50 VantageSouth Bancshares (VSB)
Bought 50 VSB at $5.17-LT Basket
Sold 50 VSB at $5.88

Bought 50 Echelon at $2.23 (ELON)
Bought: 50 ELON at $2.23

Bought 100 Merge Healthcare at $2.47 (MRGE)
Bought: 100 MRGE at $2.48
Sold 100 MRGE at $3.54-Lottery Ticket Basket

Bought 40 LF at $7.49 (LF)
Bought: 40 LF at $7.49
Sold  LF at $6.76-Loss

Bought 30 Electro Scientific Industries (ESIO)
Bought: 30 ESIO at $9.88

Bought 50 RF Micro Devices (RFMD)
Bought as LT: 50 RFMD at $5.18
Sold 50 RFMD at $16.52-Total Realized Gain 206+%

Bought 40 Banco Santander Brazil (BSBR)
Bought as LT:  40 BSBR at $6.01
Sold at Break-even no write-up

Bought 15 Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile SA (SQM)
Bought as LT: 15 SQM at $27.74

Bought 50 ZAGG (ZAGG)
Bought 50 ZAGG
Sold 50 ZAGG at $5.99

Bought 30 Arcos Dorados Holdings (ARCO)
Bought in LT Basket: 30 ARCO at $9.03

Bought 30 CYS Investments (CYS)
Bought in LT Basket:  30 CYS at $8.58

Bought 50 Resource Capital (RSO)
Bought: 50 RSO at $5.56

Bought 150 RusHydro (RSHYY)
Bought: 150 RSHYY at $1.536
Sold as an LT 150 RSHYY at $1.94

Bought 30 Magic Software (MGIC)
Bought 30 MGIC at $7.9

Bought 50 Office Depot (ODP)
Bought 50 ODP at $5.09 as a LT
Sold 11/4/14 $42.34 Profit (snapshot in Gateway Post)

Bought 30 QLogic (QLGC)(2 re-entry)
Bought as LTs: 4 30 QLGC at $8.92
Sold QLGC at $11.92

Bought 40 RAIT Financial (RAS)
Bought as LT 40 RAS at $7.63

Bought 400 New Zealand Oil and Gas (NZEOF)
Bought as LT: 400 NZEOF at $.7

Bought 40 Gazprom (OGZPY)
Bought as LT:  40 OGZPY at $7.07

Bought 100 Cenveo (CVO)
Bought 100 CVO at $2.85

Bought 35 CorEnergy Infrastructure Trust (CORR)
Bought as Lotto: 35 CORR at $ 7

Bought 30 Regions Financial (RF)
Bought as Lotto: 30 RF at $9.33

Bought 35 Investors Real Estate Trust (IRET)
Bought as Lotto 35 IRET at $7.91

RRSat Communications (renamed RR Media)(RRST): 2nd Lotto Purchase
Bought 50 RRST at $7.4-Lotto

Capstone Infrastructure (MCQPF)
Bought 100 MCQPF at $3.632-Lottery Ticket Basket

Premier Oil (PMOIY)
Bought 80 PMOIY at $3.7 -Lottery Ticket Basket

Peak Resorts (SKIS)
Bough 40 SKIS at $7.4

Gastar Exploration (GST) Second Re-Entry as a Lotto
Bought Back 50 GST at $2.53

Tetra Technologies (TTI) Second Re-Entry as a Lotto
Bought Back 50 TTI at $4.94

I would add a couple of caveats. I started doing this a couple of years ago, just for entertainment, and actually made money doing it. As you can see, the total investment in this category is less than a couple of grand and I have already realized over the past two years about that much in profit in this category. So, I am playing with the house's money.

Of all of those mentioned above, only two are now classified as long term holds for now. CB Richard Ellis was so classified at the time of purchase, and National Dentex received that label after its last earnings report. LXPPRD and TSCM, the add from yesterday, are currently borderline. By making that classification, I am hoping for a 5 to 10 bagger.

There are a few other securities that would qualify as lottery tickets, but I did not buy them with the intent of putting them in that category. An example would be the 50 DKR that I purchased at 6 and change.

I am way too conservative to put much money in these kind of securities, but I do not want to ignore them entirely. So this is my lottery ticket asset class.

For those who do not know me, I would add the following. I do not have a margin account. I have a cash account and have not added to it since 1984. The only withdrawals from my main taxable brokerage account since 1982 has been to fund my retirement contributions, with the maximum contributions transferred into the retirement brokerage accounts from the taxable account over the past several years. So the tortoise is making progress, plugging along. There are benefits to being a plodder, rather than one of the wild and crazy ones. Anyone investing in these downtrodden issues has to understand and appreciate the risk, and the potential for a total loss on the position.

I will add to this post as new lottery ticket purchases are made, just adding them at the end.

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