Lover of trading, tacos, 3D/AR/VR, cryptos, and most things Japanese

This is a list of the top holdings in my personal investment accounts at this time. These are stocks I bought and have held/am holding for the long term returns, and will only be sold when there is a clear reason to do so. Most of these have had big runs already and still have room to grow, in my opinion, but I’m not sure I would add to my positions at these levels – perhaps on a big pullback. I’m looking for other opportunities with bigger growth potential now that these are well established.

 

Nvidia

Buy price: $61.97

Current price: $247.33

Return: 300%

Thesis:

The increasing popularity of video games and virtual reality will drive demand for Nvidia’s graphics cards

Notes:

After listening to the earnings conference call a few years back, I learned that not only is Nvidia the market leader in graphics cards for games, but more and more enterprises are utilizing their GPUs in their data centers to increase processing speed. This was a huge eye-opener for me, an unrealized enterprise revenue stream, and after establishing my initial position at $54 I had to bite the bullet and buy more as it went up. Nvidia went on a historic run, was the top earning stock of all markets last year, and has tripled in price since I built my position.

 

Apple

Buy price: $55.64

Current price: $187.97

Return: 238%

Thesis:

The iPhone and AppStore are going to transform the industry

Notes:

When Apple announced the iPhone and I saw what it could do, I knew it was going to change the mobile world. Add in the AppStore’s continuous revenue stream and it was clear the company was onto something that would change the world. 10 years later, smartphones are the norm, and a large percentage of the population can no longer imagine a life without. They have become so ingrained in our daily lives and, like a Tricorder from Star Trek, they have a ton of functions – and are still adding new ones.

 

Amazon

Buy price: $603.31

Current price: $1710.63

Return: 184%

Thesis:

Amazon is destroying traditional retail

Notes:

It took a long time for me to subscribe to Amazon Prime. Now, I do almost all of my shopping with it. Amazon has been crushing it in the retail space for years and has become such a force that it’s hard to imagine it ever going away. In addition to their retail domination, their Amazon Web Services (AWS) offerings have paved the way for companies to get their services into the cloud at great prices. As Amazon kept innovating, their revenues kept increasing, and although I missed the initial run, I was able to get in and start building my position a few years ago during a flash crash in the price.

 

Activision/Blizzard

Buy price: $40.83

Current price: $77.29

Return: 89%

Thesis:

Video games make more money than the movie industry now, and will continue to grow as both the games and technology improve

Notes:

Blizzard has long been a favorite game company of mine. Their attention to detail, story, and character have made almost all of their games instant classics. From the original Warcraft, to Diablo, to WoW, and now Overwatch, they just keep crushing it. And, they pay a dividend to boot. Blizzard’s latest game, Overwatch, was tailor made for multiplayer match play. With the worldwide explosion of eSports, and the announcement of the Overwatch League, Blizzard has established itself as a top contender. eSports are HUGE in Asia, and are just gaining traction here in the U.S., so this one has a long way to go still. And I’ve only owned it for about two years.

 

Google (now Alphabet)

Buy price: $267.82

Current price: $1155.08

Return: 327%

Thesis:

It’s Google. They own search and have a ton of other growing businesses

Notes:

With the #1 search engine in the world, Google has been dominating search and its advertising for years. Add to that YouTube, long time number one video platform, and the company’s continual investment in new technologies and platforms, and owning Google is a no-brainer. Who gets anyplace new without Google Maps now? These days, I’m most excited about their Waymo driverless car technology and their cloud solutions. Going forward, Google is going to need to keep developing new revenue streams as they are starting to lose search to Amazon (people just search Amazon for what they want to buy now) and advertising to Facebook (where millions still spend their time online.)

 

• The markets are not random.

• Don’t get caught in a situation where you can lose a great deal of money for reasons you don’t understand

• Patience – wait until a trade is so compelling that you can’t stand the thought of not taking it

• Focus on maximizing gains over number of wins

• Preserve capital and wait patiently for the right opportunity to make the extraordinary gainzz

• Expect the extreme! The unexpected and impossible happen from time to time

• Maximize profits, cut losses quickly

• If you have an edge (and you have to have an edge), be ready and willing to bet the house on it

• Never hold a position that gaps against you right after you put it on

• There must be a non-random pattern, and you must identify and trade it appropriately

• Trades that are difficult to take are often the successful ones

• If the trade goes wrong, how do I get out?

• You can’t win if you’re trading a leverage size that makes you fearful of the market

• Know when you’re getting out before you get in

Gleaned from The New Market Wizards: Conversations with America’s Top Traders by Jack D. Schwager

After watching other streams for a few months, I’ve decided to throw my hat in the ring and give it a go. You can come watch me play mostly poker, with occasional video games, at http://twitch.tv/imagin8orr – it’s free to watch, you can view previous archived streams, participate in the interactive live chat while I’m playing, and follow me to be notified when I go live. I took down last night’s Insomniac League event, which was nice.

What is Twitch? Twitch.tv is a rapidly rising streaming platform where people can watch and chat with streamers/hosts as they play games. Twitch started out streaming primarily video games, but as the user base and tools expanded, so has the channel selection. Poker players have found an audience for their play, with a lot of poker streamers playing for real money online. Recently, Creative content has started to take off. Adobe just started streaming keynotes, demos, and tutorials. There is a channel dedicated to the happy little painter Bob Ross, and other artists stream as they create. Twitch brings interactivity and viewer engagement to television, and does so in a time-sensitive way. Live chat with the hosts is a lot of fun to participate in, or even just watch.

My streaming schedule is still being finalized, but as of now I stream the Alligator Blood Poker League events on Saturday afternoons at 3pm, and do Insomniac tourneys several nights a week at 10:30pm and 11:30pm. All times Mountain.

Come check it out and say Hi! 🙂