Watch List Triggers Buy and Sell Decisions

Weiss Ratings Home Page – I use the “Search by Name or Symbol” Function.

Although I no longer pay the monthly subscription for Weiss Ratings, the Watch List that I created when I was a subscriber still triggers and sends me email updates of my positions. I cannot add new positions, but I can do quick lookups for the rating value for new positions I am considering on the Weiss Ratings web site. When I get the daily email, I scan it for opportunities.

There are three things I look for. The first is a rating upgrade of a position I hold. For example, I have shares of STAG, and the update on March 12 showed STAG upgraded to “B”. While I don’t plan to buy more shares this month, this is an encouraging flag.

The second is a rating downgrade. If a position I hold is downgraded, I also look at my position to see if I want to sell some or all my shares. Most of the time I’m using Seeking Alpha for my key data analysis, so I don’t need to see the Weiss Ratings reasons for the upgrades or downgrades.

Finally, if a position appears with an upgrade, and I don’t currently hold the position, I consider buying shares. That is what I did when I saw the upgrade for ETF PTY. PTY is a bond fund with a good yield.

Weiss Email Reorganized

When the email comes from Weiss, I quickly copy the contents into Word and take two minutes to reformat the ratings changes in a way that makes it easier for me to read.  The first image shows a portion of the original email and the second shows the reformatting. Of course, if you don’t have good computer skills, you probably would not want to do this. Sometimes, however, my list is quite long, so it is far easier to do the quick reformat so that I can spot the diamonds in the dust.

The typical Weiss Ratings WatchList Email Looks Like This.
This is my formatted version of the email. Note my interest in HYG, PTY and STAG. I own ANTM and DGRO too.

PTY – PIMCO Corporate & Income Opportunity Fund

Generally, I dislike funds with high expense ratios. PTY has an expense ratio of 1.30%, so I don’t often take a second look once I see that. However, my idle cash is earning 0.0%, and PTY pays a monthly dividend of $0.13 per share. That gives PTY a yield of 8.69%. Therefore, my actual yield is over 7%. As one Seeking Alpha author said in his title article about PTY, “Yield To Temptation.” – Michael A. Gayed, CFA

I yielded for the yield. Pun intended.

I do NOT recommend RIDE as an investment. Lordstown shares were sold on March 17th.

LINK TO WEISS RATINGS.