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IRA Investing: Finally Making Money

04/23/08 - 09:51 AM EDT

Richard  Moore

Last week I sold my position in Open Text OTEX because I had held that stock for seven months and it no longer appeared on my screening system as a buy. I also sold one half of my position in Life Sciences Research LSR because a combination of appreciation by that stock and a decline in the median company valuation of the research services industry left LSR looking fairly valued at current price levels.

I was unable to identify any individual stocks to buy so I added to my position in S&P 500 Depository Receipts SPY. Because of my inability to find new individual stocks to buy, I now have about 45% of my total portfolio in this ETF.

The energy-related stocks that I do own were again the stars last week. Complete Petroleum Services CPX was up 12.3%, Stone Energy SGY was up 9.6% and Helmerich & Payne HP was up 9.5%. The first two still seem to be very attractive when compared to industry median valuation but HP looks to be approaching fair value and I rate it a hold.

Technology stocks were also strong last week, leading to nice increases in Rofin Sinar Technologies RSTI, which was up 8.6%, and Sybase SY, which was up 7.9%. I continue to think that RSTI is fairly valued and that SY is attractive for purchase.

The table that follows shows all the current holdings in my IRA as of last week:

Symbol Name Purchase Date Cost Price Gain
Regular Holdings
CALM Cal-Maine Foods 4/16/2007 $13.30 $28.94 117.59%
CPX Complete Production Services 3/27/2008 $22.37 $26.03 16.36%
EXAC Exactech 11/5/2007 $21.00 $26.83 27.76%
GIB CGI Group 3/9/2007 $8.52 $11.92 39.91%
HP Helmerich & Payne 12/27/2007 $39.88 $56.53 41.75%
ISYS Integral Systems 3/5/2008 $25.90 $29.86 15.29%
LSR Life Sciences Research 3/11/2008 $24.22 $27.97 15.48%
RSTI Rofin Sinar Technologies 9/21/2007 $35.06 $47.54 35.60%
SCL Stepan Co. 2/27/2008 $34.94 $40.78 16.71%
SCX L. S. Starrett 12/10/2007 $18.88 $19.38 2.65%
SGY Stone Energy 11/1/2007 $43.74 $63.32 44.76%
SPY S & P Dep. Receipts 1/14/2008+ $132.20 $138.48 4.75%
SY Sybase 11/13/2007 $25.79 $27.77 7.68%
USPH US Physical Therapy 1/17/2008 $13.98 $15.57 11.37%
One Month Screen
No Current Holdings
Performance Results As Of 4/18/2008 IRA S&P 500
Full Year 2007 33.0% 5.5%
2008 Year To Date 0.9% -4.8%
Total Return For IRA
S&P 500 Does Not Include Income for Current Quarter



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Richard Moore, CFA, has 40 years of experience in various facets of the investment business. He has been employed by banks, mutual funds and investment advisory organizations during his career and has also owned retail and service businesses. Under no circumstances does the information in this column represent a recommendation to buy or sell stocks. Moore appreciates your feedback; click here to send him an email.

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