If I Knew Then 2

As I said in my first post, that if I knew then what I know now, I would just invest in Canadian Dividend Growth Stocks. I did try investing in the US, in International Stocks and in Mutual Funds. In this post I want to talk about my adventures in US stocks.

Solectron Corp was a US electronics company in California's Silicon Valley and I lost some $10,000 or some 85% of the investment. My purchase was for $11,753.00 I sold this stock in June 2005 for $1,514. I lost some $10,000. I wrote in 2005 that I doubted at that time this is stock will improve much. The stock is at present worth under $2,000and they are again restating Revenue in the 2004 Annual Report.

In my RRSP account I started with buying DY-4 Systems in September 2000 for $11,029. C-Mac Industries bought DY-4 Systems and I ended up with 180 shares. Because of this I bought some 20 shares for $724 in March 2001. Then C-Mac Industries was brought by Solectron Corp and I ended up with 351 shares. So it is a rather complicated history.

I sold it in June of 2005. My investment lasted just over 4 years. On October 15, 2007 Solectron was acquired by Flextronics International Ltd the Singapore-based contract electronic assembly firm in the U.S., so it is no longer listed on an exchange.

WorldCom Inc. was an American telecommunication corporation that I bought in October 1997 for $9,253.68. In 2002 this stock was delisted by NASDAQ I wrote this company off in my 2004 taxes because it was worthless. I had received some $25.35 in Dividends (less US Tax withholding). So I lost 99.7% of my investment. In September 2015 there was an article in Value Walk of the Top Ten Investment Scams Ever and WorldCom's CEO, Bernard Ebbers was number one.

Gillette Company was a supplier of personal products that I bought in October 1998 for $25,671.51. I sold this company in March 2001for $17,980.22. I had held this company just over 2 years and lost 30% of my investment. I did make some dividends, so my final loss was 27%. The company merged into P&G in October 2005.

I sold because their long term Revenue growth is much lower than their long term profit growth according to my spreadsheet. This is a concern as profits growth cannot continue to out strip revenue growth. I read an article in the paper about this very thing. I am not the only one concerned about it.

I had Johnson and Johnson in 2005 and 2006, but was losing because of the exchange rate. I paid $8,188.54 for this stock and sold for $6,275.57. I lost 16% of my investment and just over $1,000 because I did get some dividends.

The thing was that I had started to look at 5 year IRR on this stock. I was right about losing money on this stock. The 5 year period to the end of 2005, in CDN$ terms the stock lost 0.97% per year. For the 5 year period to the end of 2006 and 2007 in CDN$ terms the stock lost 2.59% per year and 2.79%per year. The first good year was 2013 when the stock made over the 5 year period to the end of 2013 a return of 8.88% per year.

On my other blog I wrote yesterday about Canadian Real Estate Investment Trust (TSX-REF.UN, OTC- CRXIF)... learn more. Tomorrow, I will write about RioCan Real Estate (TSX-REI.UN, OTC- RIOCF)... learn more on Wednesday, March 1, 2017 around 5 pm.

This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. I do research for my own edification and I am willing to share. I write what I think and I may or may not be correct.

See my site for an index to these blog entries and for stocks followed. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk. The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.