Don’t apologise that’s why I asked for feedback.
So to answer why on the stocks you mentioned:
Lloyds has droped 50% on pre crash and I think has a potential to come back up. At the time I started with them I didn’t favour other banks as I felt they were a little too unevenly exposed or there are moral reasons for not wanting to be directly investing in them (eg: HSBC’s actions in Hong Kong). It’s history as a good dividend payer and relatively cheep price pulled me in and I’ve put a bit more in recently to average down to here I’m sitting around 29.9p a share.
Tesco and BME were some of my very first pics. Bought mainly on speculation as they were the only business operating relatively freely at the time. Tesco was based on strong financials at an uncertain time with all indicators being they would weather the storm well it was also bought with a mind of gaining some exposure to consumer retail in a brand that I felt was strong in recognition.
BME however was based upon its expansion plans and seemingly financials alongside a lowered price. In addition, lockdown forced many people to shop outside their usual comfort zones and become exposed to B&M for food shopping at discounts they may miss elsewhere leading to an uptick in sales. It currently sits around +22% for me
Microsoft is a funny one. I’ve yet to decide if I’m going to flip that at the end of the month for the reason you mention. Comparing Microsoft to its competitors I’m not so sure that it is over valued any more than the NASDAQ is as a whole. I think that s market dip is to come but that it may well be worth riding out. Microsoft also have some large developments In their pipeline. Azure Cloud while not as prevelent as AWS provides for strong infrastructural components while cloud based services of theirs such as the 365 suite etc put them on for strong recurrent personal and business clients. Additionally the new Xbox console releases at the end of this year and their E3 equivelent keynote occurs on the 23rd which will introduce the performance, price and games for the console. Many of which are Microsoft game studio games and accessable by their game pass reccurent revenue stream. While the console may be a loss leader there’s speculation of them to be coming in lower priced as a loss leader to gain in the console leadership which would put them in good footing over the next 5-10 years in that sector. In addition, their key announcement titles in this field were industry changing historically and have high recognition as well as being dependant on their Azure infrastructure for both development and ongoing support.
Frontier Dev is a pet of mine. I admit my investment here is in belief in the company overall rather then sound financials (though I think they have that also). They have signed multi-year IP deals with both F1 and Games Workshop leading to increased throughout over the next 4 years and have other titles in the works. They have had market upsetting titles in the past with their park and city simulation games usurping market leaders as the go to title in the field with 3 strong Unique IP’s that have DLC and other recurring revenues. Their investor documents indicate a strong future here and in addition to my belief I saw nothing but positive signals.
Sage is another I caught in the drop and I think has the potential to come back up, they were also making positive moves to support businesses through shutdown with deferment of payments which while yes will hurt the bottom line short term has seemed to gain themselves good favour from SME’s who have been fighting somewhat with other payment providers. I think that goodwill may well translate long term and they seem to have a strong set of financials that mean theyre secure mores then some others. Again, the key for me with them was diversification looking to extend my exposure and make me less prone to single sector drops in the market.
EasyJet was another I got in near the floor. Prior to that I wouldn’t have touched airlines but I saw the potential for growth and rolled my dice. The main factor making me take them over other operators was they swift action at the start of the pandemic to secure themselves. Despite some agrevation in the board they made clear they could withstand 9 months with no flights without need for assistance which out them in far better standing then other operators. I honestly think this is a stock that has some strong potential as normality starts to resume.
Accor I bought later then easy but I feel they have a decent propsective short to midterm return potential as they are lagging currently due to the downturn of tourism and travel that will start to ease as the world restarts.
Oil I already noted
SMT and KLWD are based on strong historical performances and their potential for future up tick particularly as cloud computing and remote working has shown its benefits due to Corona.
As for the FTSE, I think realistically it will only go up and return to where it once was and since it tracks the market as a whole I’m ok with a relatively small pot of it just as an addition though as I build it out I may split 10% of the overall portfolio away from stocks to being distributed into a pie holding FTSE, S&P and others.
Well done - keep doing what you are doing and don’t be discouraged.
