Current Positions
Click here to access the “Portfolios” section to view each portfolio’s respective positions.
Portfolio Discussion
All-Weather Portfolio
With the market rallying as of late, the All-Weather portfolio is now up 6.0%, with the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) and SPDR GLD Shares ETF (GLD) doing the heavy lifting, up 19.3% and 6.5%, respectively.
Both bond funds (TLT and IEF) and the commodity fund (DBC) continue to lag behind, but that is the yin-yang protective nature of the All-Weather portfolio just doing its job.
Only one of our positions has been rolled so far. We still have four June 16, 2023 calls due to expire this week, As a result, expect to see quite a few alerts come through early in the week as we roll our positions and sell more premium going out 30 to 60 days.
Yale Endowment Portfolio
Our Yale Endowment portfolio is up 8.6% after being down more than 4% just three expiration cycles ago.
The S&P 500 (SPY), emerging markets (EEM) and the European Union (EFA) have led the way for the Yale Endowment Fund while bonds (TIP) and real estate (VNQ) have lagged.
As we head towards the June 16 expiration cycle, all five of our positions are due to expire. As a result, expect to see quite a few alerts come through early in the week as we roll our positions and sell more premium going out 30 to 60 days.
Dogs (and Small Dogs) of the Dow
Well, just last expiration cycle we mentioned the fact that our Dogs approach was the tale of two portfolios. And that’s continued. Our Small Dogs portfolio was up a healthy 19.10%, while our Dogs of the Dow portfolio was down 7.58% since the onset of 2023. Now, with the market, particularly the Dow, pulling back recently due to a variety of ongoing issues, the performance has pulled back. Our Small Dogs portfolio is up 5.7%, while our overall Dogs portfolio is down almost 18%.
Three out of five Small Dogs are in positive territory with Intel (INTC) leading the way up 28.5% on the year, while the stock is only up 13.4%. Although Cisco Systems (CSCO) is not far behind with a return of 18.9% while the stock has only made 3.7%. Verizon (VZ) has been the loser so far this year, down 17.5%.
As for the remaining higher-priced stocks that make up the rest of the Dogs of the Dow (including the Small Dogs) the hands-down winner is JPMorgan (JPM). Our position is up 18.8%, while the stock is only up 2.6%. Unfortunately, JPM is the only winner of the remaining holdings in the portfolio.
We have five call positions (DOW, INTC, AMGN, CVX, JPM) that are due to expire this week. As a result, expect to see quite a few alerts come through early in the week as we roll our positions and sell more premium going out 30 to 60 days.
Warren Buffett’s Patient Investor Portfolio
Nothing has changed here. I’ve decided to keep our positions to a minimum due to the ongoing volatility in the market, but hopefully that could be changing soon. At the moment, we only have one position (AAPL) but intend to add several more in the next week or two if the market cooperates … a statement we’ve been making for quite some time now. The market just hasn’t accommodated our cautiously optimistic stance; therefore, I’ve allowed the passive portfolios to do a lot of the hard work, as always. But sentiment could be changing soon, especially if the market reacts favorably to this week’s economic news. Our AAPL position is up close to 10.1% after being down close to 25% just a few months ago.
As I have stated in our last few issues, I will be building out the portfolio to a minimum of five positions over the coming expiration cycles, and remember, because this is an active portfolio we will be rebalancing every month around expiration.
James O’Shaughnessy’s Growth/Value Portfolio
Nothing has changed here either. Like the Patient Investor portfolio, my Growth/Value portfolio continues to take a cautious approach. We locked in gains in CVX several months ago and now my hope is to add at least two to three positions over the next few expiration cycles. Of course, we’ve been planning this approach for months, but our indicators have kept us on the sidelines and for good reason.
As I said earlier, the market just hasn’t accommodated our cautiously optimistic stance; therefore, I’ve allowed the passive portfolios to do a lot of the hard work, as they always do. But sentiment could be changing soon, especially if the market reacts favorably to this week’s economic news.
And like our Patient Investor portfolio, I will be rebalancing every month around expiration. This simply means that we could have a position for just one expiration or, at least in theory, in perpetuity.
Next Live Analyst Briefing with Q&A
Our next Live Analyst Briefing with Q&A is scheduled for tomorrow, June 13, 2023, at 12 p.m. ET, where we will be discussing the options market, giving a detailed look at open positions, strategies used, and will have a follow-up with live questions and answers. Register here.
The next Cabot Options Institute – Fundamentals issue will be published on July 17, 2023.
