Friday File: Insurance and Tech Updates (and buys)

by Travis Johnson, Stock Gumshoe | April 30, 2021 6:14 pm

Quarterly updates from Amazon, Alphabet, AJ Gallagher, Brown & Brown, Markel, Goosehead and more... buying in five stocks this week, and selling in one

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Source URL: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/2021/04/friday-file-insurance-and-tech-updates-and-buys/


22 responses to “Friday File: Insurance and Tech Updates (and buys)”

  1. retiredrancher says:

    Travis – excellent review of your portfolio as always . Your comments and incites are as instructive in portfolio management as an MBA class. You present a logical and methodical approach to all of your holdings. I look forward to your quarterly reviews as much as some of the highly touted shareholder letters that we all consider as wisdom from the mount. I share your affection for insurance companies and actually worked as a portfolio manager for a large insurance company. One of my largest holdings is Aflac, that I bought back in the 09 selloff. Surprised not one of your favorites as you seem to like niche players, with a true advantage. Again thanks for the review and keep up the fantastic reporting.

  2. steveflick says:

    I recently changed my Auto insurance from a big 5 “captive agent” company to GSHD Goosehead agent; she is one of the “green” agents coming online. Saved me $396 annually 27.4% on my two older 2011 & 2013 vehicles including doubling my liability coverage. I compared it to METRO Metromile, which saved me approx. 45% savings, but i liked the company Goosehead recommended with their App compared to Metromile’s plug in to OBD II to measure mileage. Although I like to deal locally, this agent is 110 miles away ; GSHD expanding into Pacific Northwest. Thanks to Travis first articles on GSHD and METRO, where I learned about them and bought some stock; in meantime i sold my METRO and added to GSHD. Also bought changed over Homeowners and Umbrella to GSHD. With my savings, perhaps I will buy some more GSHD!!

  3. armin says:

    You do such an great Job, Travis. But my wife doesn’t allow me to read via Internet on weekends anymore. Can you please write a book?

  4. winsleyman says:

    Not related to this but could someone who watched the latest Stansberry promotion with its ‘final surge portfolio’ (no doubt to be followed by a Melt Down portfolio) tell me what the two tips were. I sat through almost all but got so fed up with the relentless hustling I had to give up. The time was not completely wasted as I was able to do some outstanding filing.

  5. poladom says:

    What is the Final Meltup that Steve Suggerud is going on about?

  6. selvagate says:

    …and the 5 Stocks Purchased were…?

  7. Cabron says:

    Aw, man, I thought my homework days were over when I left school. I couldn’t watch the Berkshire annual meeting live but I will find it on Youtube.

    Excellent quarterly review by you, Travis. I updated my buy list. I have to admit that after watching the stocks go up and down, I have been doing some trading . . . selling when they exit the buy under zone, and buying them back when they go back down into it. It seems to me that one of the big reasons to hold in the past (at least for small potatoes investors like me) was that the commissions could eat you up. Since there are no commissions for trading anymore, that reason no longer applies.

    I remember reading horror stories about investors finding out their portfolios were depleted by their brokers’ constantly churning them for commissions.

    I love reading about financial mismanagement by supposed professionals, like the guy in Orange County, CA who traded them into bankruptcy a couple decades ago. Then there are the bubbles. Reading about the tulip bulb bubble is just as fun as reading a good novel . . . . but now I am rambling.

  8. 4lllls says:

    I like being able to buy into a stock, sell when it goes up and capture the dividend as well. ATAX DID ME GOOD!!

  9. abhinavsukumar says:

    Travis,
    Any thoughts on Portofino? (POR.V). They have filed an Environmental Impact Report, with drilling to commence soon. Lithium and gold space. Thanks

  10. Travis Johnson, Stock Gumshoe says:

    Trade Note: A couple Stop Losses

    A couple of the speculative positions in my Real Money Portfolio hit stop loss levels in recent days, though I had a trading embargo on both names and was not able to act on those stops immediately. Today that lifts, so I have now sold out of Intrusion (INTZ) and Teladoc (TDOC).

    I’m a little torn on both of those names, to be clear — I still think Teladoc has a chance at a very bright future in telemedicine… but their guidance was weak, the high price they paid for Livongo means they don’t have as much of a capital advantage over competitors, and there’s a lot unknown about the post-COVID world and telemedicine. But I have not had a good handle on this stock over the years, despite my feeling that they are well situated, so my experiment with the shares ends here in a second stop loss — overall, I’ve bought and sold Teladoc a bunch of times since 2018 and I come out of the whole experience almost flat (with a 1% loss, I think, I’ll have to tally the totals).

    And Intrusion (INTZ) has not changed in its outlook, in my opinion, it’s still a “show me” stock that I’ll believe once they establish some kind of sales momentum… if they do. Their first couple sales were a good sign, but the commentary on the call was also quite wishy-washy about the time it will take to ramp up to meaningful sales. My inclination would actually be to hold on and see how it plays out over time, since this is a very small position, but given the uncertainty I’ll take the loss for now and consider re-entering if the visibility improves meaningfully in the next couple quarters.

    Much more detailed thoughts coming tomorrow, but I’ve promised to share trades of meaningful size on the same day so that’s your quick update. The two positioned combined were about 1% of my portfolio, and the sales were close to $150 and $10 per share, respectively, both well below the stop-loss levels they hit earlier in the week, the details will be in the Real Money Update on Friday.

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