Highlights from the Week

Biggest Winner: Kohl’s (KSS)

Kohl’s stores (KSS) bounced a significant +6.04% this week from its recent bottom on no real news. However, long-time Kohl’s holders won’t find much solace in this bounce following its selloff in excess of -40% following last quarter’s horrendous earnings report.

While my position is up +6.55% and Kohl’s does sport a 5.12% dividend yield at this  level, I only hold 1/3 of my total portfolio target allocation currently as I wait for either Kohl’s to pull back below $46 or for their next earnings report on August 20.

Biggest Loser: Boeing (BA)

Boeing (BA) reported their earnings this week, and while it should come as no surprise that the grounding of the 737-Max has negatively impacted their quarter, the company announced it might have to suspend production of the airline altogether if BA can’t get the plane off the ground.

Given the immense cost of the planes, if Boeing has to halt production, the lack of income for the company is so substantial that its loss will actually take -0.2% off the national GDP. BA sold off -8.54% on the news.

While Boeing has made me a huge amount of money in the eight years I’ve been a shareholder – I’ve sold enough of the position to take out six times my initial investment over the past year and a half – I won’t be adding back to my position again until it pulls back below $315, a drop of more than -8.5% from Friday’s $345.00 close.

Even then, I have additional targets of $269 and even $232 given the potential bad news in the stock before my position is back at its target allocation for the portfolio. 

This Week’s Moves

While I made no moves in the portfolio this week, a particularly bad news item from 3M (MMM) on Friday made me want to make readers aware of a potential closure of the position that may happen as early as Monday.

3M (MMM): Potential Closure

While 3M (MMM) gave a decent earnings report this week which initially led to a good bounce in the stock, the company announced an “internal investigation” into potential violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) on Friday.

Apparently, 3M discovered “certain travel activities and related funding and record-keeping issues raising concerns from marketing efforts in China.”

Between the internal probe, an investigation into possible groundwater contaimination from one of its factories, and its struggles with the U.S.-China Trade War, there’s just far too much headline risk in the stock.

I’m using a stop-limit sell order slightly above my $172.38 per-share cost to close the entire position. Given the stock closed at $173.98 on Friday – less than 1.0% above my per-share cost – I don’t expect this position to stay in my portfolio for long.