Friday, October 2, 2009

Pared Stock Positions Including the Sell of COP & XLK/Bought 100 GJS AT $13/Sold BEEPRA at $9.47

1. Pared Stock Positions (See Disclaimer) : In the Roth I sold two closed end mutual funds on Friday, for around a $500 profit, neither of which I have discussed in these posts. I also sold 3 stock ETFs in my taxable account, including 100 XLK at $20.25 bought at $18.14 on 6/1/09: Afternoon Comments 6 1 09/ Bought XLK-Pared Campbell Soup/ISM New Orders over 50/Bought VZ and Sold PHO/ added 50 FRPRJ as a gamble The other two have not been discussed by me. The stock paring was profit taking in response to the dismal jobs report and other data that recently indicates at best a sluggish recovery. Although I did not do a tally of the proceeds, I suspect that the total may be around 15 grand with the following stock sell.

2. Sold ConocoPhillips (COP) at $46.45 (see Disclaimer): These shares were bought at $38.6 in March: Buy of COP/Advantage Energy, AXP, Life Insurance Company Downgrades/Politicians Have Had it With Wall Street/

3. Bought 100 GJS at $13 in the Roth (see Disclaimer): For the third time this year, I bought 100 shares of the synthetic floater GJS. This floater is linked to a senior Goldman Sachs bond that matures in 2033. I blow lukewarm and cold on this one due entirely to the lack of a guarantee. This security pays monthly interest calculated at a .9% float above the 3 month treasury bill rate, which is extremely low now. Par value is $25. My last buy was at $12.25 with the sell was at $13.06 Bought 100 GJS SOLD GJS Having sold some closed end funds in that account, I felt like I needed to do something with the excess cash building in the Roth, way too much cash now. This is the link to the prospectus: http://www.sec.gov While this synthetic floater has no minimum guaranteed rate, it has, in effect, a minimum of .9% at a zero 3 month treasury rate, and the 3 month bill is currently near zero at around .09%. Bloomberg.com: Government Bonds There is a maximum rate of 7.5% for this synthetic, which would be reached when the 3 month T bill rate hits 6.6%. At a 7.5% maximum rate, the penny rate would be $1.875 annually for 1 share (assuming of course the maximum rate for the entire year). That would translate into a 14.42% yield at a total cost of $13. The current yield at the total cost of $13 is close to 2%: GJS Stock Quote - Strats Tr Goldman Sachs Grou STRATS CTF And that is about as low as the yield can go with T Bills already near zero. So that calculation gives me a range of what to expect if I manage to hold onto this security until maturity. This is a link to the Fed's weekly data on the 3 month bill since 1982: http://www.federalreserve.gov/ This is the link to the FINRA information on the underlying bond: FINRA - Investor Information - Market Data - Bonds - Bond Detail The swap counterparty swaps the fixed rate coupon interest paid by Goldman Sachs with the trustee for the floating rate payment. If the Swap agreement is terminated, then the owner of this TC GJS would receive the fixed rate coupon interest of the underlying bond. I do not expect that this will happen, though it is possible, and did in fact happen to another TC JBK where Lehman was the swap counterparty. The swap counterparty for GJS is Wachovia, now part of Wells Fargo.

The following is a link to the last distribution reports for GJS filed with the SEC:
efc9-0938_7091958ex991.htm And this is the link to all of the filings: Search Results

4. Sold 100 BEEPRA at $9.47 (See Disclaimer): This one is already a tax headache for this year with 3 accrued and unpaid dividends prior to today. I just decided to put an end to that problem by selling the shares, deal with the issue next April. I also wanted to realize a profit, having bought those shares at $7.55 last October: BEEPRA: STRATEGIC HOTELS PREFERRED A This one fell to as low as $1.5 or so during the dark period.

No comments:

Post a Comment