Initiated a new position by buying 20 shares of Medtronic for 82,58 USD per share. This is likely a position I will build during the first half of the year depending of course how the stock moves. Thesis is very simple as stock has dropped significantly, it offers decent dividend yield and history. Company itself operates in segments which benefit from the state of general population and are therefore not likely to go out of fashion.
Recent Buy: Kemira Oyj
I missed the boat with Kemira a while back when it was significantly lower. Tried to double my position but counted pennies instead of pulling the trigger. Stock rallied afterwards and marked all time high valuation. Therefore I’m not thrilled about the current valuation but lacking better ideas made maintenance purchase of 10 shares at 14,79 EUR per share. Still have very mixed feelings about the market in next three to six months. This makes it a bit hard to make bigger moves but can’t really justify selling either. I suppose these small maintenance purchases are decent compromise while waiting.
Q4/2022 & FY2022 Results and FY2023 Plans
Most people are probably glad that 2022 is now over and done with. This year will probably be remembered as tail of COVID-19 pandemic and from Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine. Perhaps it will eventually be remembered as the year when Ukraine forged itself into proud western democracy that will build itself back and prosper. Russia will be remembered the way it always has been remembered: failed 3rd world country. Next years hopefully will bring end to the war with clear victory for Ukraine, and hopefully well executed build back better financed by Russian money and with western backing.
In general this was very bad year for the markets. Therefore it’s a bit surprising that my portfolios performed well. Main portfolio gained 8,56% during the year while overall markets declined significantly. Dividend income for the whole year was 10821,77 EUR before taxes. At the time of writing this, last dividend from Lockheed Martin has not yet been registered but that does not have huge impact on the bigger picture. Based on preliminary analysis this dividend income covered 130,6% of base consumption after taxes (exact effective tax rate will be resolved later). This indicates that current portfolio fulfils requirements for lean FIRE. Therefore project appears to be on schedule and on track.
Plan for FY2023 is quite simple. I’ll try to eliminate last debt I have but that depends on market moves. I’ve been net debt free for quite some time already but main portfolio still contains small amount of investment debt which I’ll try to eliminate during first half of the year. In addition I’ll re-invest dividends and all other extra cash that remains after handling the debt. Should the market drop significantly, I might postpone the debt payment and buy stock instead.
Recent Buy: EPR Properties
Black Friday is not a big deal for me as I’m not into consumerism but decided to use this opportunity and reinvested dollar dividends without transaction fees. Bought additional 20 shares of EPR properties for 41,22 USD per share. Still seems quite reasonably valued if not even cheap all things considered. Sure, there are still all kinds of risks but position is quite small so overall risk is quite limited. This position comes with quite high dividend yield but all of those can’t be traps.
Q3/2022 Results & Q4/2022 Strategy
Third quarter is over and we are getting to bearish enough sentiment. Russia’s invasion in Ukraine has escalated but Ukraine has put on a brave fight and seem destined to eventually win this war. Price they have and will pay is enormous but mandatory. Hopefully western nations will only scale up the military support and financial support afterwards. Russia appears to be escalating in Nordic neighbourhood with the explosions in the Nord Stream pipelines and probably more will follow. Then there’s the central bank activities with steep rate increases, inflation being somewhat out of hands and overall very pessimistic investor sentiment. Taking all this into account third quarter was somewhat OK as YTD in main dividend portfolio is still positive but performance during third quarter was -3,47%. Dividends before taxes were 1834,10 EUR (169,54 EUR, 190 SEK and 1 633,59 USD).
Assuming that there’s no big changes in overall environment, I’ll slowly decrease my accumulated cash. Dollar investments will probably be dividend reinvestments unless I’ll start converting received dividends into euros and Swedish kronas. Euro zone stocks in focus will probably include at least Kemira and possibly Finnish heavy industry related stocks if/when those will drop enough going towards recession.
Recent Buy: CapMan Oyj
Sentiment is getting bearish enough for me. Someone (totally not Russia but it was Russia) blew up Nordstream I pipelines, stocks are dropping all around and have been doing so for a while now, Russia’s war effort in Ukraine is approaching later phase peak in many ways, nuclear threat is thrown around, Bank of England is already moving back to QE and list goes on and on. This is enough for me and I’ll move from holding pattern to normal purchasing mode with option to slowly scale down cash reserves. First purchase was CapMan Oyj with 900 shares bought for 2,365 EUR per share.
Recent Buy: AbbVie
Time for dividend reinvestment and this time I decided to add on existing AbbVie position and bought additional 10 shares for 143,93 USD per share. Abbvie has it’s risks with outgoing blockbusters but overall I consider the company solid and valuation decent. This is part of attempt to increase overall exposure on medical and pharmaceuticals. Assuming that market does not move from recession mode to bull market anytime soon, I’ll probably try to add on Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson during the next three quarters. Johnson & Johnson is bit of a question mark with the consumer spinoff and all. Anyway this will happen with dividend reinvestments only as I haven’t felt comfortable changing euros to dollars in a long long time. Quite contrary, I’m tempted to start converting received dividends back to euros or possibly to swedish kronas. That would make sense but then again majority of interesting companies are dollar nominated.
Recent Buy: CapMan Oyj & Kemira Oyj
Turbulent times continue but I’m sticking with the short term plan as my cash reserves are otherwise getting too large. Therefore I bough additional 120 shares of Kemira for 11,75 EUR per share and additional 100 shares of CapMan for 2,59 EUR per share. Both of these positions are almost full but few additional purchases are still likely. Once remaining USD dividends for September are paid, I’ll probably add on Abbvie, Johnson & Johnson or Pfizer.
Recent Buy: Kemira Oyj
Energy crisis is escalating and European markets are feeling the pain. Euro as a currency reached new lows when compared against US dollar. I decided to buy additional 80 shares of Kemira Oyj for 11,75 EUR per share. This is not really related to the recent turmoil even though Kemira is not immune to it. Valuation seems to be decent, second dividend of the year is still coming and my main thesis (water) for building a full long term position is intact. Let’s see if I manage to complete the position during Q4.
Recent Buy: CapMan Oyj
My cash reserves are above my hard limit so I bought additional 400 shares of CapMan Oyj for 2,81 EUR per share. I find this valuation to be acceptable even though the overall situation if full of risks. This is mainly dividend play but the sector has some serious M&A potential as a bonus. It’s extremely difficult to say anything about the likelihood of CapMan being part of such activity and if it would be, it would be difficult to know on which side of the table it would be sitting on. I see significant risks on the market but will follow strategy as follows: re-invest dividends, try to limit cash reserves to current level and focus on primary DGI strategy.