Core Laboratories (CLB) has been an excellent stock for us but after
reviewing the various P/E ratios within the oil services, and adding a lot of new positions elsewhere the past month I want to continue to keep the long portion of the portfolio streamlined, and hence chose this as a candidate to sell. I have nothing but love for this company, simply a quiet oil service name that executes quarter after quarter and almost no one talks about; even I almost never type about it. It simply sits in a 0.5% to 1.5% type of holding and performs. But as the market continues to devolve into the abyss we have some other opportunities being created with more potential upside and I want to focus on those names. Maybe it is counterintuitive but this is a name has held up and as we finally might be approaching panic levels (maybe), I'd rather sell a name like this than something the market has abandonded but has just as good fundamentals such as a
Gafisa (GFA) or Mechel (MTL)This position has been with us since day 1 of the fund, and we've
gained $8500 since early August 2007. The stock is hitting some resistance levels here but that is not a reason I am selling; the reasons above are why. We sold out the remaining 0.7% stake today in the $135 area. This helps us raise about $8K in cash. Again, I expect nothing but good things in the long run for this company but we have some other oil service/drilling names that perform a similar function in terms of exposure. It's been a good run.
[
Nov 28: Revisiting Core Laboratories]
Long Gafisa, Mechel in fund; no personal positions
