Inside my Laptop and iPhone and the list goes on

Seagate Technology SXT Opportunity to Buy?

It might not seem like it, but this post is about investing, computers, and where I worked after I graduated from New Berlin High School in 1969. Let’s get started.

Inside my Dell laptop there are two drives. One is a relatively slow thing that spins. One is a very fast thing that sits quietly but can outrun the slow thingy. The slow drive is a 2TB (terabyte) 2.5-inch SATA drive. It spins at 5400 RPM. That means it spins at 90 RPM per second. The faster drive is a 256GB (gigabyte) SSD (Solid State Drive). The SSD doesn’t spin, but my, it is fast. My previous laptop could take more than a minute to start up. This one starts in less than ten seconds. Companies make these drives, and Seagate Technology is one of them. SSD drives are in many of the gadgets we use every day. I sometimes have a 256MB drive in my pocket.

SSD Storage is amazing!

A solid-state drive (SSD) is a solid-state storage device. It uses integrated circuit assemblies to store data continually, sometimes functioning as secondary storage in the hierarchy of computer storage. It wasn’t always like this.

Old Man Reflections

This is the first mainframe computer I could operate in the early 1970’s (this is not me!)

My first job with computers was in 1969 at Nordberg Manufacturing in Milwaukee, WI. The first IBM mainframe computer I was able to operate was an IBM 360 Model 40 mainframe. You fed it data using punched cards. The slowest System/360 model announced in 1964, the Model 30, could perform up to 34,500 instructions per second (terribly slow), with memory from 8 to 64 KB. See what I mean? It was a tiny-brained computer. Five models of the 360/40 were offered. The D40, E40, F40, G40 and H40 were configured with 16K, 32K, 64K, 128K and 256K of core memory. In other words, the big mainframe that filled a big airconditioned room had a teeny-tiny brain.

Buying Investments in Technology

I like technology companies. The list includes Microsoft, Texas Instruments, Broadcom, Intel, Advanced Micro Devices, and several others. One of my favorites is Seagate. Over the last year I have added to our Seagate shares.

Pictures to Explain Why

When I look at an investment, I usually go to Seeking Alpha to learn more about the investment. I want to know things about earnings, growth, the business sector, and dividends. The following set of pictures about one of my top ten investments, STX, helps explain some of the things I consider.

STX Seeking Alpha Ratings and Grades. Also VALUATION metrics.

Recent Buys and Sells

More than one way to make money using options!

Because I trade covered call options on my STX shares, sometimes my shares are called away and I have to sell them at the contract price. On Friday 100 of my STX shares were surrendered, and the buyer gave me $103 per share for my shares. On Monday, as you probably know, the stock market went down. As a result, I was able to rebuy my 100 shares at a price lower than $103. I then bought a second lot of 100 shares at an even lower price. I won’t be eager to sell them because the Ex-Dividend date is just a couple of weeks away. Because the dividend is $0.70 per share, I will receive $1,120 for my 1,600 shares if I don’t sell any of them before the Ex-Dividend date.

Company Profile

Seagate Technology Holdings plc provides data storage technology and solutions in Singapore, the United States, the Netherlands, and internationally. The company offers hard disk and solid state drives, including serial advanced technology attachment, serial attached SCSI, and non-volatile memory express products; solid state hybrid drives; and storage subsystems. It also provides enterprise data solutions portfolio comprising storage subsystems and mass capacity optimized private cloud storage solutions for enterprises, cloud service providers, and scale-out storage servers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). In addition, the company offers external storage solutions under the Seagate Ultra Touch, One Touch, and Expansion product lines, as well as under the LaCie and Maxtor brands in capacities up to 16TB. It sells its products primarily to OEMs, distributors, and retailers. Seagate Technology Holdings plc was founded in 1978 and is based in Dublin, Ireland.

Full Disclosure

STX is the number two investment in my IRA by dollars invested.

Cindie and I own 1,600 shares of STX as a long-term investment. However, I do sell covered calls on my shares from time to time. Then I often rebuy the shares if they are called away. STX is one of the top ten investments in my traditional IRA.