2024 Stock Portfolio Review
A detailed update on buys/sells and a look ahead
2023 Review
2023 was a heck of a comeback for the stock market and my portfolio was no exception. If anything, it was a lesson for us all to avoid timing the market as much as possible and focus on holding the best and most durable businesses with consideration for price paid.
Total return for the year was 40% while a 3 year total return came in at 59%. Unfortunately I haven’t been good at finding an easy way to track longer term performance while considering in/out flows of cash so I will leave it at that.
If I were to benchmark against the S&P500, I beat it by 16% or so this year and more than double the 3 year return. The Nasdaq100 index had a whopping 1 year performance that beat my portfolio by 13.8% and a 3 year return that I nearly doubled. This example is a wonderful example of the power of avoiding large losses; the only way I outperformed the Nasdaq over 3 years despite its tremendous 2023 performance.
Portfolio Holdings and Metrics
I am using Finchat.io as a way to track the portfolio going forward. Its a quicker way to do it and is rather beautiful. Because I have multiple brokerage accounts, doing it this way will save me a lot of time going forward and it has nice features like tracking average metrics (which can be edited).
Sells
$LEAT - I really missed the business cycle and the inventory issues. I’ve determined that I misjudged the temporary boom in the markets for Leatt’s equipment for something a little more permanent. Time to move on.
$GLXZ - This one was very disappointing. I will keep an eye on it. They abruptly fired their CEO after a disappointing period. I obviously missed something here. Will revisit with a clear head. Moving on for now.
$TBTC - TableTrac was disappointing for me as well although it could still go on to do well. I mostly sold to free up cash for (what I believe to be) better opportunities. I previously wrote about the business.
$BEW.V - This one ran up in price very quickly after I bought. I determined it was best to sell while the stock price agreed with me as I don’t see this one as a long term compounding business.
$LMN.V - Lumine was the most recent CSI spin out and although I still own a tiny amount, I decided the price ran took quickly. I still ultimately have exposure through the mothership that retains a portion of ownership. I may buy back given a good opportunity. It’s possible selling was a mistake. Time will tell.
Buys
$DE.V - Decisive Dividend is a rollup of small specialty manufacturing businesses trying to take advantage of a severely fragmented, low priced, aging owner industry. They have been successfully making acquisitions while raising the monthly dividend.
$HBFG - Happy Belly Food Group is executing the $MTY.to game-plan of developing and growing QSR brands and packaged branded food. I was lucky to be able to buy in at 0.14$ CAD per share. This one will not be a large position until they prove on their plans to move their businesses into growing franchises and expanding geographic markets.
$RWWI - Rand Worldwide is the newest addition and one I recently wrote about. It is extremely illiquid. It is a rare example of a high quality microcap.
Add $OTCM - One of the highest quality businesses I can think of. Needed to own more.
Add $VCI.V - Decided to add to this one as the business hums along and they will likely benefit from housing longer term. The stock price hasn’t moved much but dividends continue to come in and I suspect modest growth in the coming years. I previously wrote about the company.
Looking Forward
I think I have learned a lot from writing and reading about businesses. In particular, in the last couple of years I’ve shifted new ideas towards microcap ideas. I think that’s where the best ideas are with today’s high prices in the larger well known names.
That being said I’m not against larger names. TXN 0.00%↑ Texas Instruments and HSY 0.00%↑ Hershey are two which I’m studying and watching closely. I put out a very short writeup on Texas Instruments and an earlier deep dive on the business.
For 2024 you can expect more interesting investing ideas and business deep dives. One of my focuses for 2024 is to read more. I hope this translates to better writing and more well constructed investing ideas to share. As always, I appreciate your support. Sharing my work with others or providing feedback is always appreciated.
Cheers,
Simon
Your writing isn't bad and I like the content. But everyone can improve their writing. If you haven't read it already, the best book I ever read on that was "The Elements of Style", by Strunk and White.
Hey Simon. What do you think about the low ROE of BN. Wouldn’t that predict very poor long term returns?