Portfolio Checkpoint - 2006 Q2

The second quarter was not a fun one for investors, unless they were playing the short side. My portfolio took a hit along with the rest of the market, but I did manage to pick up shares in a few companies during the downturn. Hopefully, we will see that I picked them up at bargain prices. Time will tell.

Here are my current long-term holdings along with the percentage that each position makes up in the overall portfolio as of the market close on June 30, 2006.

Edited to fix erroneous Change column. Thanks for pointing out the problem, Spud.

Company	Ticker	Q2	Q1	Change
Altria Group	MO	18.2%	18.4%	-0.2%
Harrah's Entertainment	HET	9.6%	11.1%	-1.5%
Student Loan Corp.	STU	7.5%	9.1%	-1.6%
General Electric	GE	6.2%	6.9%	-0.3%
American Eagle Outfitters	AEOS	6.1%	5.7%	+0.4%
Constellation Brands	STZ	5.6%	6.0%	-0.4%
International Gaming Technology	IGT	5.2%	5.1%	+0.1%
First Marblehead Corp.	FMD	5.1%	4.1%	+1.0%
Fortune Brands	FO	4.8%	3.9%	+0.9%
Eastman Kodak	EK	4.4%	5.5%	-1.1%
Form Factor	FORM	4.0%	* * *	* * *
Capital One Financial	COF	3.6%	3.6%	0.0%
North Fork Bancorp.	NFB	3.4%	3.4%	0.0%
Linear Technology	LLTC	3.0%	3.4%	-0.4%
Amgen	AMGN	2.9%	3.5%	-0.6%
Chevron	CVX	2.8%	* * *	* * *
Equity Office Properties	EOP	1.9%	1.8%	+0.1%
Dow Chemical	DOW	1.8%	1.9%	-0.1%
Deb Shops	DEBS	1.6%	* * *	* * *
Sun Bancorp.	SNBC	1.5%	1.9%	-0.4%
Kongzhong	KONG	0.8%	1.3%	-0.5%
St. Jude Medical	STJ	0.0%	2.0%	-2.0%

Notes:

Percentages do not account for any cash held in the portfolio.

St. Jude Medical (STJ) was sold off a couple weeks ago in order to purchase more Fortune Brands (FO).

-----------------------

Some good things did happen in this painful quarter... so, it wasn't the worst quarter ever, just a bit painful.

First Marblehead (FMD) became an official 'double' at its current closing price of $57.15 (first purchased last September at $28 flat). A 1-bagger in less than a year is more than I could have hoped for. I'll cherish the moment, as these types of moves are atypical for the types of stocks I usually invest in.

Wafer probe card company, Form Factor (FORM), was a recent pick up during the market downdraft. It is up a whopping 28% in six short weeks.

The other two new additions to the portfolio during Q2 were Chevron (CVX) and Deb Shops (DEBS). CVX is currently up 7%, and DEBS is down 8%. Lucky for me, Chevron larger than DEBS by a 3 to 2 ratio. I had been eyeing DEBS for way too long, and was able to buy it cheaper than I had hoped. Unfortunately, it continued to fall further.

The smallest positions of the portfolio continued to lag. My smallest stake is in Kongzhong (KONG), which is now down a sizeable 33%. But, the position is much too small to worry about. I worry a hell of a lot more about the top five holdings (MO, HET, STU, GE, AEOS), which make up nearly 50% of the portfolio.

I guess that's the portfolio checkpoint.

Current Trading Portfolio Holdings:

Apple Computer (AAPL)
Dell Inc. (DELL)
eBay Inc. (EBAY)
Sept $16 Calls - PowerShares Water Resources (PHO) - Palisades Water Index ETF