4th Blog Post

My strategic approach throughout this semester has been to buy and hold. I have not sold any of my stock in hopes that it would steadily increase throughout the semester. I have continued to review my stocks weekly to analyze change. Throughout the semester, I became more invested in researching the companies I chose to find factors that may have influenced stock prices. For example, Nordstrom’s stock was minimally decreasing throughout the semester, but by the end of the term, the stock was the highest performing within my portfolio. Now at the end of the semester, I have noticed that the stock price growth of Nordstrom was 16.95%. This is the highest growth in all of my stocks, which is interesting because it had been one of the lowest performing stocks earlier in the semester. 

I think there are numerous reasons that drive stock prices to increase or decrease. Specifically when analyzing Nordstrom stock, I have been following the stock price with regard to drop the Ivanka Trump line. Although the stock has been down compared to last year, it is finally illustrating a growth over the last few weeks. Because of the amount of publicity that Nordstrom got when they decided to drop the line, it may have drove the stock price down because of their bold move. In a wider observation, retail industries have also been taking a hit as more consumers are moving online for their shopping needs. I think a lot of retail industries  --Nordstrom included--are dealing with the balance between brick and mortar stores and online presence.  

Overall, my stock portfolio increased by 0.02%, so very minimal growth over the course of the semester. I am still satisfied with my growth because throughout most of the semester, my portfolio illustrated a loss. Even within the pass few weeks, my portfolio grew from a loss of 2.19% to a gain of 0.02% (growth of 2.21% since last blog post).

Throughout this portfolio project, I have learned how important is it to invest in companies not for the sole reasons that you enjoy the products and services. It is important to invest in companies after you have evaluated financial statements and analyzed the growth of the company. I have also observed that certain industries will demonstrate highs and lows throughout the year. For example, I choose to invest in both Gap and Nordstrom, which are both within the retail industry. For the majority of the term, both stocks have shown similar patterns with growth and loss during the same time evaluation. I find this interesting as different industries can be affected by different factors, and it is important to have diversification in your portfolio.

If I were to change anything about my strategic approach, it would have been to start investing more money earlier and research constantly. As the semester continued, I increasingly spent more time analyzing my stock prices, but I would have liked to pay more attention earlier in the investments process. I look forward to continuing to analyze the stock in my portfolio in the future.

3rd Blog Post

Over the course of the last month, I have invested in many stocks from Berkshire Hathaway B stock, Apple, Kimberly Clark and Dunkin’ Donuts. Before buying stock from these companies, I did a little research to analyze the growth of their stock over the last few months to see their stock. As I have seen growth in my Berkshire Hathaway A stock, I decided that would be a good investment. With the purchase of Dunkin’ Donuts, I read that comparably over the last few months, Dunkin’ has been doing better when analyzed against Starbucks. Without research, I would have bought Starbuck’s stock because of my personal opinion about the company and products; however, as an investments move I choose Dunkin’. It has been interesting to see the fluctuations in prices over the last month, as the stocks that have lost value last month are now some of the bigger gains within my portfolio. My strategy is to keep a close eye on the stock I purchased and follow along in the news to how different types of stocks are doing in the market. As of the closing price on April 19^th, some of my stock demonstrated a loss, and my portfolio as a whole shows a loss. My General Motors stock is showing the greatest loss in value at -11.59%. My decline in growth has been 2.16% overall. I am hoping to see this increase out of the red. I am going to watch my General Motors stock over the next few weeks and consider selling.

2nd Portfolio Blog Post

My main business strategy for my investment portfolio was to create a diversified portfolio including a variety of companies from different market sectors to minimize risk and create an increase in value and profits. I also wanted the opportunity to learn and evaluate different companies across multiple markets. It was important to me to invest in companies that I had previously known a little about or have been a loyal customer previously. The companies I chose were based on those two factors. In addition, I am interested in learning how companies of larger size compared to small and medium size are affected by stock price. For example, does this change how much the price fluctuates or is size not a factor? I carefully chose companies from a variety of sizes to help analyze this. Among the companies that I chose, I predicted that my portfolio would increase minimally over the last few weeks because of the diversification of my portfolio.

            I made the choice to only watch my stocks over the course of the last few weeks to closely monitor the fluctuations of prices instead of focusing on buying and selling. In these few weeks, I noticed that the majority of stock prices decrease a little. Although none of my stocks had decreased with drastic values, I noticed a decrease in over half of my companies (five out of 8). Nordstrom, Gap, Tyson, General Motors, and Amazon all decreased in stock value by less than ten percent. I found it interesting that the biggest decreases were with Gap ($24.87 to $22.52) and Nordstrom ($45.35 to $41.23) because of the similarities with products and industries. I was extremely surprised to see my prediction go in the opposite direction, and that I had lost money investing (less than $4,000 with commission fees). I want to research this more to see if the decline may have something to do with the time of the year or other external factors. However, my biggest investment—Berkshire Hathaway—had steadily increased minimally (from 254,151 to 255,000). This increase was the smallest increase in the companies and I found this interesting as it was the largest investment I made. Walt Disney and Netflix also increased by less than 2 percent. I decided that I was not going to sell or buy any stocks during the last few weeks to make sure I was devoting my focus to monitoring my stocks. Especially because this is my first experience investing in stock, I wanted to stay focused on learning more about the companies I chose to invest in. My goal for the next few weeks in to make at least one additional buy and possibly sell some stock, but to continue a conservative investment approach.

Initial Stock Rationale

Blog Post #1

When looking to invest in stocks, I decided to choose different companies covering a diverse market. I wanted companies that have historically shown increased growth. Therefore, there would be hope that my stock will steadily increase at a mild rate. I also choose companies that I already have some knowledge about and consider myself to have customer loyalty to. I think it is important to invest in companies that mirror the values that you hold as an investor. 

I choose Nordstrom as I have great loyalty ties to and consider myself a frequent customer. I am also researching Nordstrom in my Strategic Management course and wanted to learn about the company more from an investment perspective. Nordstrom's values as a company mirror what I tend to look for in a company, such as great customer service and exceptional value. In addition, I choose to also invest in Gap as I am a frequent shopper and have been interested in watching the different divisions within Gap grow and gain consumer attention. Similar to Nordstrom, I have had excellent experiences with customer service and the value of the products.

I choose Netflix because I am interested in learning more about how a company has transformed and grown with the constant changes within the global world. Amazon also sparked my attention because I am a loyal customer. I have found Amazon to successfully gain a large segment in the market, but also with heavily diverse products. I am intrigued to learn how the company as a whole has been able to reach such a large part of the consumer market and how that has assisted in the growth of this company,

I also wanted to invest in a company where I felt I do not know as much as I should. As I am not as knowledgeable about car companies, I thought it would be a good idea to start an investment in a company where I own the product. General Motors is different from the other companies that I choose because of the type of industry they cover. I choose to invest in GM to learn more about the automobile industry by starting with only investing 50 stocks at first in hopes to closely monitor my stock while researching the company to learn more about the growth and their values. Similarly, Tyson is a brand that I frequently buy from, and I also have a desire to learn more about. I also only invested 50 stocks initially to learn more about the company and their products with the goal to learn more about these two extremely different markets.

Berkshire Hathaway was another company I choose to invest in. Warren Buffet has superior knowledge in investing in a diverse range of companies and I am eager to learn more about his strategy. This company also holds much more value per stock than other stock I purchased. This sock will hopefully create balance among my other stock with its high value and with the inclusion of diverse companies. I started with only investing one share at it is valued high in hopes that I can watch the price grow.

My goals were to choose companies that demonstrated a variety in stock price. Within the eight companies I choose, the stock prices range heavily from valued over thousands per stock to pocket change. My initial plan was to invest in 100 stocks in the companies I felt I had greater knowledge about and invest only 50 stocks in the companies where I thought I needed more time to research and watch the stock before making a bigger decision. I want to give myself room to buy more stock as well and grow my portfolio. Currently I only invest about a third of the total amount granted. My strategic plan is to buy stock in companies that reflect safe investments with a variety in stock prices to create an investment portfolio that portrays diversity to grow while still having a solid base for stability. In addition to the stocks I initially bought, I hope to buy more stocks in other companies as well to broaden the diversity of my portfolio. I hope to learn more about the companies I choose to buy stock from as I gain more confidence and knowledge about investing. 

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