I’ve made no secret of the fact that I invest in the tech sector. Indeed that I am a director of the RCM Technology Trust (#RTT.L). Rather pleased to report that RTT had a stunning year – up 63% - making it the best performing quoted Tech Investment Trust. Not just this year but since I joined the board in 2007 (up over 130% since)
As you read last year in Holway’s Share Portfolio – Annual Update Jan 13, my own portfolio was up 48% in 2010, flat-lined in 2011 and up 35% in 2012.
2013 saw another 50% rise making a 200% gain in four years since 2010. Not bad I’d say! BTW – That excludes dividends which, for shares like BT, MicroFocus, Vodafone now look very attractive.
This year’s top performer was Blinkx with a massive 215% rise and RIM/Blackberry which I sold out at $14 after it had doubled. I also recorded a 103% gain at Yahoo (since sold half). Other impressive gains at BT (+64%), Amazon (+59%), Google (+58%) Vodafone (+53%), AOL (+51% and since sold) and ARM (+43%).
The Holway Portfolio has around 25 tech stocks and the only stocks that fell in the year were VMWare (down 4% and since sold) and TeleCity (down 7.8%). I’m a great fan of Mike Tobin at TeleCity who constantly tells me to ‘keep the faith’ - which I will.
At one stage my biggest loss was actually my biggest holding – Apple; down 26% at their 2013 nadir. But Apple has since recovered strongly and are showing a 5.4% gain on the year.
I’m often asked for my investment criteria. It’s very boring. I buy companies where I like/use the products and/or know/like the top management and/or think they are ‘take out’ candidates. I NEVER consider the valuation metrics that other ‘experts’ use. Some might say I buy companies not stocks. So be it! I hold for a very long time – Capita (+37% this year) and Sage (+37% this year) for over 20 years! I only sell when my long term view changes and I don’t worry too much about short term fluctuations.
Biggest regret of 2014 was not buying Facebook when they slumped to $22 in June 13 – the price I very publicly said they were worth at the time of their IPO. They are now $54. I both use Facebook and greatly admire their ability to monetise mobile. I could kick myself! Also, maybe I should have sold Parity in May when I was recording a 100% gain. But I rather like Mr Swinstead and felt it would be disloyal! Anyway, Parity is still up 37% this year.
The only new stock I added in the year was Qualcomm (up 14%). But I added to my holdings in Apple, Amazon, Sanderson (up 37%). I sold out of RM when Martyn Ratcliffe departed – although the shares have risen well since.
I still feel bullish about 2014 with an economy, both in the US and the UK, on the up.
Warnings– Just to make clear, none of this is intended as any kind of financial advice. We are not registered to provide that. Also we have strict rules about trading in stocks (I rarely trade anyway!) that we might cover and will never do so around the time that we might be writing about them.