Trade ideas: STT, LQDT, BOFI

STT (Watch initiated May 18, 2014)

I think this could be an interesting play. It might fit in well in the Ts basket, which is underweight in financials. More soon, got to get ready to go to church.

LQDT (March 19, 2013)

5/18/14 13.91 glad I haven't pulled the trigger yet!
3/19/13 29.30

3/21/12 46.77

4/4/13 32.80 up 11% on the day they are in basket Ts

Liquidity Service operates various online auction marketplaces where they sell surplus, salvage and scrap assets in the United States. According to Google Finance: The Company’s marketplaces provide professional buyers access to a global, organized supply of surplus and salvage assets presented with digital images and other relevant product information. It organizes its products into categories across industry verticals, such as consumer electronics, general merchandise, apparel, scientific equipment, aerospace parts and equipment, technology hardware and specialty equipment.

I am just adding the the watch list for the eCommerce basket. They have had a tough year and looks like there has been some insider trading, 50k shares in the past six months. This would be a value buy. Their web site is not as fancy as eBay though. Apparently, people shop for deals and then sell the items on eBay.

BOFI

5/18/14 75.25 I think I missed the boat on this one :) They have dipped a bit. Maybe re-research and try again with a limit.
3/19/13 35.30
1/18/13 30.18

This week while waiting for a haircut, or the dentist, or as bathroom reading, I am rereading Peter Lynch's One Up On Wall Street, especially the dumb money chapter.

Nothing I am about to say doesn't mean focus on the company's financial picture, of course that is critical. However, Peter makes the point that the individual investor's secret weapon is actual experience with the company. He, feels taking a tip from a broker, when you do not know the company is suicide. I suppose there is a risk of correlation bias, but I agree. I feel best about investing in companies I know well.

Now to be sure, I have my mutual fund basket (Ts) which has small bets on many companies, some of which I do not have direct experience with, but all of the larger bets are companies I know and track. Which gets us to Bank of the Internet (BOFI).

This was a recommendation and the logic is sound. The upcoming generation wants to do everything from their cell phones and Bank of the Internet trades in all 50 states and has no physical presence. They do not care about the personal relationship that I have with Gladys at BB&T or Claudia at Heritage. And BOFI offers the best, bar none, checking account interest rate on the planet. And for reasons that are complicated, I need to open one more bank account.

So I applied online. And it was painful. It was one thing after another. All of our money needs to be in a trust account. And the third time I was filling out that form, I snapped and just gave up. So, I am going to let this one go, at least mostly. Please do not get me wrong, it closed on:
March 1, 2013 @ 34.00

I will try to update this post over time to track this equity, I expect that it will go up, not down; the thesis is valid. I may even put it in my mutual fund if there is a decent dip, but I am not going to try to make it a core investment, I think either BB&T, Heritage or if you want to think big, Wells Fargo are better choices for me. Because, I will actually drop into their branches, because I will be interested in the Google alerts on them. I will follow and track them. BOFI, is not for me, but I am sure some twenty something will make a pile of cash averaging in to them. Their five year slope is exactly what I look for: