It’s time to say goodbye to shares of Apple (AAPL). The stock closed at around $550 yesterday — I considered selling it before the close — and now is set to open around $500. I’ll sell my shares of AAPL today.
To the right is the one-year chart of AAPL as of 2013 Q4. As you can see, this hasn’t been a growth stock for quite a long time. When the 0% profit growth hit, the stock dropped to $440 and really never recovered.
Pundits could say we could have gotten out sooner, but $500 is more than $440, and before the stock was $440 it seemed like AAPL was worth $600-$700. When the stock was $700 everything looked great, and the stock was cheap. so selling then didn’t make sense (at the time).
AAPL — a former #1 holding — isn’t a big position in client portfolios anymore. It’s not in the Aggressive Growth Portfolio and has been at the bottom of the Power Rankings for months. I was just giving the stock a chance to catch its breath and make another move higher. As you can see from the one-year chart AAPL had made a bullish saucer pattern and looked to be going higher. Now I don’t think so.
I need the proceeds from the sale of this stock to invest in LKQ Corp (LKQ), which I have wanted for a year now and should have purchased a decade ago. LKQ is a solid core holding that could deliver 20% to 25% growth year-in year-out — including recessions — and is a more stable, consistent addition to the Growth Portfolio.
