Controlled Greed Portfolio Performance: 9/30/09

Through the third quarter of 2009, the portfolio gained +18.2%. The S&P 500 is up +17% over the same time.

Here's how the portfolio positions look at the end of September:

Cash                          20.6%
SPDR Gold ETF           10.3%
DirecTV Group             9.8%
Fairfax Financial         7.7%
King Pharmaceuticals   6.7%
Liberty Media
    (3 tracking stocks)   6.2%
Microsoft                     5.9%
Cheung Kong ADR        5.7%
EGI Financial               5.7%
NipponKoa Insurance    5.2%
Superior Industries       4.7%
BCE                             4.6%
Capital Southwest        4.3%
Media General             1.4%
3i Group                      1.2%

Some notes. These figures are not audited, just me and my calculator. So if I'm off a bit, sorry.

The portfolio stretches over three accounts: my regular brokerage account and two retirement accounts. The VAST majority of my liquid net worth is in the positions above. The "Controlled Greed portfolio" isn't some little portfolio on the side. It is real money. Unless I lose it all, of course.

Cash is by far my largest holding. I'm not totally happy about that since it earns nothing. I'd like to put it to work, and we'll just see how long that is before it is.

The gold ETF was established as a "double" position when bought in the summer. DirecTV is another large holding -- and it's even larger when we consider that DTV is also a major part of one of Liberty Media's tracking stocks. I may well be making a mistake by letting this position remain as is without scaling back and taking some profits. We'll see.

Fairfax Financial is a nice-sized holding. Remember that I've sold enough of this stock a while back to get my original capital out of it. The holding is a free ride.

I'm mostly content with all these stocks, except for Media General and 3i Group. MEG has been a disastrous investment and represents money lost. 3i Group may fall into that category as well. Yet we'll have to see what the private equity firm does when the market comes back to make that call.

We're coming down the homestretch of 2009. Let's see what happens.

Comments

[Philbert]

So, I bought some CSWC recently for around $77. I know you don't take requests on stock articles, but since you already own this one... I'd love to hear more about them.

[John]

@Philbert: I'd love to hear more about CSWC, too. But since you bought it, I'll assume in your research you noted that the management keeps a low profile. Best thing to do is what you're probably doing now: read their quarterly reports and occasional press releases, and any SEC filings. Wish there was more out there.

[Peter]

Is the 18.2% an annualized percentage return?

[John]

@Peter: It's YTD and includes dividends. Not annualized.