I always consider myself a long term buyer but i think some long term hurts. I just wanted to highlight some stocks that have really frustrated me, i even forgot about them. I can never sell at a loss, and will hold them for as long as i can.

Bamburi bought @ 170 sometime in march 2010
Housing Finance bought @ 18 march 2010
EAPC @ 85
Kengen @ 15
BOC @ 160

While some stocks frustrated me, some gave me hope and not quit.

BAT @190 now 450
Equity @15 now 23
Carbacid @ 100 now 122
Scangroup @ 45 now 58

NSE has been performing very poorly but i still have hopes with the market. not too sure if it will be affected by the elections next year. For those back at home, what is the situation like? do you think there will be violence after the elections? i don't want to lose the gains that i've made in some counters. please advise. Thanks.

i agree that NSE has been frustrating for some stocks if u entered/bought them before june 2011. If i were u, i would sell BAT and buy HFCK and Kengen.
For me EACL have frustrated me and am just waiting to break even and quit.

First, you have too many counters which is a pointer that maybe you are just speculating. One rule of WB is that diversification is for those who do not know what they are doing. start afresh

I dont think anyone should blame the stock market...some counters gained even during the bear market...it depends on you!

Stock exchange is not for the faint hearted.

Indeed. Net return is what matters most. .... And @Afroblk need to set Target Price/Profit taking levels. Dont watch your counters makes gains, then reverse the gains to an extent of dipping into loss

@kenmac . i used to be of the same school of thought as you, but i learnt better. compare ur performance with nse 20 this year. is better? look at mutual funds with the best brains how do they perform? are they beating the nse 20?
buffet is extremely diversified . berkshire hathaway owns companies in different sectors and large diversified portfolio at that. even the insurance companies they own invest in a diversified manner. read annual letter 2011 for yourself. unless u have the gift to pick stocks, or u believe in ur self that much. it is extremely advisable to diversify at least 5 or more companies

My own point of view is that diversification should be in line with the amount of cash you have to invest. If you have 100k,I dont see why you should own 10 stocks....four stocks are enough so that you can utilise economies of scale...e.g if the bank charges 100 for dividends from each counter,you will lose 400 compared to losing 1000 in the case of 10 stocks. You will also have an easy time tracking four companies and not 10....research will be intensive and gains will be reasonable incase one counter rallies. Am surprised someone is comparing his account to berkshire hathaway....hathaway has a lot of cash to buy large stakes in many good companies...you dont!

It's been over two months since I expressed my feeling about the NSE and i'm happy to say I've finally managed to offload all the counters that i've made some gains over a period of time. I had a hard time offloading some counters like BOC :( very frustrating but i eventually got a buyer. Nway, below is a summary of my standing since i posted this entry.

Bamburi bought @ 170 sold @189 = 11% gain

Housing Finance bought @ 18 still holding (prospects of the housing market and access to mortgage in middle class Kenyans) with today's price of 15.50 that edges me to a 14% loss

EAPC bought @ 85 (I'm still holding this counter despite the huge loss, I'm not sure why i still have it but im not willing to loose more than half of the value by selling it. planning on holding for about 5 years and acquiring more next year. The company is changing the way they do business and a different source of energy which consumed much of their production costs. Increase infrastructure and GDP growth should push this counter hoping the management will also get their shit together) with today's price of 39.00 i've realized a 54% loss

Kengen bought @ 15 (still holding and planning on acquiring more of these, this is a looooong term counter for me, one that i might leave to my children. So much potential in the Kenyan energy sector especially with nuclear in the horizon. I know they owe a huge debt to Japan and others but it's another thing to acquire a huge stake while its affordable). with the current price of 8.95 i've realized a 40% loss

BOC @ 160 sold @ 109 (This is one counter i shouldn't have touched, should have just stayed with CAB only) realized a 32% loss


While some stocks frustrated me, some gave me hope and not quit. I offloaded all the counters below and reserve my cash for a prospective counter that I've been eyeing for a while. hoping the counter will dip a little bit more approaching the elections.

BAT bought @190 sold @ 487 = 156% gain
Equity bought @15 sold @ 23.20 = 55% gain
Carbacid bought @ 100 sold @ 118 = 18% gain
Scangroup bought @ 45 sold @ 66 = 47% gain

Here's a summary of my losses and gains

Losses
14 + 54 + 40 + 32 = Average loss is 35%

Gains
11 + 156 + 55 + 18 + 47 = Average gain is 57%

Net gain = 22%

Overall i made some poor choices and wise ones and i emerged the winner. I know i will deep dive further from the counters that i'm still holding i.e. HFCK, EAPC and KenGen which are very long term counters. For now i'm holding on to the ash reserves waiting to make a bold entry right before elections when most folks will be offloading. Key thing is try and buy at a bargain but you never know how much a counter can depreciate. Mystery of the stock market.

Hii hesabu inanikumbusha ile ya bodmas tulifanya hapa Juzi...... Kweli hesabu sio rahisi!....How do you talk of overall percentage gains without factoring in quantities held in various counters? Na transaction commissions nayo?