Friday Stock Sales: ASO, IHRT
Following up on today’s weekly earnings review we have a few positions we’re going to step aside from. Big picture, I like the way the market is shaping up. However, we have a portfolio flush with positions and while most are looking good to great we have a few that are slipping, and some that lack near-term catalysts yet have a modest profit. It feels like a good time to lighten up. Here’s what I suggest.
iHeartMedia (IHRT) tripped my mental stop at 20.7 this week and I wanted to give it a little time to show us what it’s made of. But even in the wake of a good report (and reaction) to podcast megastar Spotify (SPOT), which cited strong advertising trends in their quarter, shares of IHRT keep heading south. While I hate to sell so close to earnings (next week) the divergence of this stock as compared to our others is just too dramatic to ignore. Let’s step aside. SELL
Academy Sports (ASO) reported in early September and followed up the report with a secondary stock offering. Shares dipped on that news, but have perked up recently. Still, we’re not at new highs here and there is a lot of noise out there in the retail world so I’m not overly excited to sit on a stock that is looking a little toppy, especially when we can walk with a gain now. Let’s take it. We’re up around 8%. SELL
Lightspeed (LSPD) has come back some after a terrible second half of September that featured a blistering short-selling report. Prior to that the stock had gotten ahead of itself and the selloff brought us back to around break-even. The recent recovery has us up around 7%. As with IHRT, I don’t like walking away the week prior to earnings. But to say there will be a little more scrutiny on LSPD than normal next week would be a huge understatement. We could easily be exiting before a relief rally if LSPD knocks it out of the park, but if there is just one slip-up the stock will likely be hammered. I don’t like those odds, especially when we have so many other opportunities that don’t have so much drama around them. Let’s take the modest gain and move on. SELL