November was a very good year!
We had a good year in November.
The S&P 500 was up 11%, and we were up about 14%. Year to date, we have erased our losses and are now up about 1.25% for the year. This is well below the S&P 500s 14.01% gain but ahead of the S&P Value Index's 3.4% loss. In all cases, our risk numbers were better than the S&P 500. Better risk numbers are always our aim and have been a target we have missed a few times this year.
Our largest position, Lumen, rebounded nicely. Investors remain skeptical, company fundamentals are tracking well, and the dividend pays us nicely for our patience. I do not know if it will continue to test our patience. Only recently, investors have been paying attention to the company's free cash flow growth and debt improvements.
Our number two position, Iridium, finally broke out of its trading range and went to a new high. Iridium is the only company that can connect a data or voice call anywhere on our planet. Iridium's proprietary technology enables this 100% coverage. Its satellites do not just carry signals; they also switch traffic. This switching in space is vastly different from other satellite carriers that continually move between satellites and the earth.
Our third largest position is an energy pipeline provider, KMI. We invested because of management and the dividend. Even though the energy sector is out of favor, management's performance and the dividend's security keep us there.
In other news
Our covered write program continues to add value.
We put cash to work by buying an ETF that mirrors the Russel 2000 small-cap index.
We held our Pfizer spinoff, Vitaris, and are continuing to research this promising company.
We have lost a small amount of money with our small Peloton short (via puts.) The market appears to be hinting that we are too early. I look forward to building a larger position.
We were too cautious with Seagate. The stock has been a rocket, and we could have owned more.
For those accounts cleared to own microcaps, we began building a position in Assure Neuromonitoring this week. Its stock has jumped rather nicely since we bought it. This jump makes buying the remaining balance harder. We should all have such problems. Assured is one of the most compelling businesses in our portfolio.
We exited Cryoport and trimmed BioLife Sciences thinking they had run too far as investors perceived them to be vaccination beneficiaries. To a point, they are, but I expect the vaccine companies rapidly to develop serums not requiring cryogenics. I aspire to return to these companies as I put more of our cash to work.
Please call, email, or text with your questions or concerns.
Yours truly,
A greatly relieved,
Gerard