Investing megathread extravaganza

[DaFace]

A place to talk about investing stuff.

[Cornstock]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

On a completely different note, I'd like to report something that chafes me and see if anyone has a solution.

I'd like to know the total return on a stock when I hold it, but if the stock pays a dividend it seems like this is impossible.

For example, if I buy and hold a non-dividend stock at a cost of (for example) $1,000, I can look a year later and if it's at $1,100 then I got a 10% return.

But let's say I hold a dividend stock that pays 3%, and it also goes up 10% in that year. If I'm reinvesting dividends, I now have $1,130 in stock, but the cost basis is now $1,030 because it counts the purchase of the re-invested dividends as a cost. So it says my return is 1130/1030 = 9.7% when it's really 1130/1000 = 13.0%. If I don't reinvest dividends I have a different problem because then I have to chase down the cash and manually add it back in to calculate returns.

This really bugs me, because essentially it undercounts my returns on dividend stocks pretty notably. I can't think of a workaround unless there's some setting on the various brokerage sites that can adjust for it. Anyone else ever address this?

I've had this exact issue, spent hours on Google to try to figure it out without having to manually calculate. That's just messy and time consuming. You'd think with as many people who DRIP this would be a common request. Let me know if you find anything

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by ChiliConCarnage

For a single position, you can look at anyone who shows Total Returns but for multiple lots I don't know. Some people create custom spreadsheets and scrape end of day data from Yahoo finance but it's not perfect. If you google it, you'll likely find info.

Morningstar and even Yahoo will show Total Return data if you just bought once, you should be able to scale the chart to reflect the total return since your purchase date. My broker has a 5 year chart of this kind under Total Return but it's not literal numbers from any of my purchase/lots. Both of those have portfolio features where you can add your stock/lots but I don't know if that'd help.. I don't use either in that fashion.

Yeah, the challenge is that those total return figures include the purchases of new stock through dividend reinvestment. All I can think of to do is scrape the data from every purchase and then work backwards, but that becomes a completely unreasonable task if I've held the stock for a while.

Originally Posted by Cornstock

I've had this exact issue, spent hours on Google to try to figure it out without having to manually calculate. That's just messy and time consuming. You'd think with as many people who DRIP this would be a common request. Let me know if you find anything

You'd also think that the brokerage would want to present themselves in the best light. The current system of including the DRIP purchases underestimates the total return significantly. I'm mystified why they don't give us an option to only count investments made from external funds. It seems like it wouldn't be hard to do.

[Cornstock]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

You'd also think that the brokerage would want to present themselves in the best light. The current system of including the DRIP purchases underestimates the total return significantly. I'm mystified why they don't give us an option to only count investments made from external funds. It seems like it wouldn't be hard to do.

Exactly, it would behoove them to show your returns in the best possible light. I have a bunch of academic textbook stuff that shows what Dripping can do over long term which is second in significance only to compound returns themselves.

This is particularly true during market downturns where your dollar cost average is reduced. If you have something that pays strong dividends it is quite significant.

I've hedged my portfolio with a good amount of VYM for this reason. Its S&P indexed and tracks that very well, but emphasizes stocks that pay higher dividends than the rest of the index. With a buy and hold strategy through a downturn you'll make out like a bandit vs a straight indexed fund

[Munson]

Here's a little piece of IQ news from yesterday, which may or may not have contributed to today's gains...


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/iqiyi...113900738.html

iQIYI Enters Fortune China 500 List, Marking Milestone for Innovative Online Entertainment Platform

BEIJING, July 11, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- iQIYI, Inc. (IQ) ("iQIYI" or the "Company"), an innovative market-leading online entertainment service in China, today announced that it has ranked for the first time on the prestigious Fortune China 500 list, ranking 419th place. iQIYI's inclusion on the list, which features leading Chinese company such as CNPC and China Mobile, is a reflection of the rapid development of the company over the past couple of years. The company has expanded its services into all areas of the entertainment industry, far beyond its beginnings as an online streaming platform. iQIYI's revenue in 2017 was RMB 17.378 billion, and the company received a revenue of RMB 4.9 billion in in the first quarter of 2018, representing a year-on-year increase of 57%.

The Fortune China 500, is the China-focused affiliate list of the authoritative Global Fortune 500 list and is generated in cooperation with China International Capital Corp's Wealth Management Department. Like the Global Fortune 500, the Fortune China 500 is ranked by revenue, and is a review of all Chinese companies listed on both domestic and overseas markets, based on officially disclosed information from listed companies on various stock exchanges. This year, Fortune China raised the threshold of entry for the list from RMB 11.323 billion to RMB 13.864 billion.

The Fortune China 500 list also shows clear indications that the strength of the Chinese internet industry is continuing to grow. This year, 7 internet companies are listed on the Fortune China 500 list, with a total market value of RMB 7 trillion.

Since its founding eight years ago, iQIYI has continued on expanding its innovative monetization models, growing the business in all areas including advertising, paid membership, publishing, content production and distribution, and IP licensing. The company has risen to become China's leading online entertainment platform, based on the strength of its selection of high quality content and the use of advanced technology which ensures an unmatched user experience.

"iQIYI is committed to bringing our audiences an even greater online entertainment experience," said Gong Yu, Founder & CEO of iQIYI. "With our investment for the future in innovative technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, I am confident that we will continue to surpass the expectations of our users and secure our place as a world-leading technology-based entertainment giant."

About iQIYI, Inc.

iQIYI, Inc. (IQ) ("iQIYI" or the "Company") is an innovative market-leading online entertainment service in China. Its corporate DNA combines creative talent with technology, fostering an environment for continuous innovation and the production of blockbuster content. iQIYI's platform features highly popular original content, as well as a comprehensive library of other professionally-produced content, partner-generated content and user-generated content. The Company distinguishes itself in the online entertainment industry by its leading technology platform powered by advanced AI, big data analytics and other core proprietary technologies. iQIYI attracts a massive user base with tremendous user engagement, and has developed diversified monetization models, including membership services, online advertising services, content distribution, live broadcasting, online games, IP licensing, online literature and e-commerce etc. For more information on iQIYI, please visit http://ir.iqiyi.com.

[lewdog]

Yea IQ is a very volatile stock. I plan on swing trading this through the peaks and valley if the situation looks good similar to what I recently did.

Sold a Put back in June that expired worthless. Made $200.
Sold a Put in July that got exercised. I bought 100 shares for $30.17 cost adjusted.
Just sold a covered call on those shares for July 27th @$33 that paid $197.
If it's exercised by July 27th I will make $250 on the sale.

About $650 of profit for not a ton of risk. I'll take it. If it looks like I can do it again, I'll start the cycle of selling a Put again as the premium payouts for options on IQ are high given the volatility.


And thank you Scho. I learned mostly about these options from you and have been using them at times with success.

[Hammock Parties]

HELL YEAH

[Hammock Parties]

By the way, I ****ing hate this. As soon as IQ hits $42 I'm selling it and going back to my cozy, safe ETF.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Hammock Parties

By the way, I ****ing hate this. As soon as IQ hits $42 I'm selling it and going back to my cozy, safe ETF.

In my experience, stocks are more fun when you make money on them, and less fun when you lose money. I've seen that consistently over the years.

[wutamess]

Who's still long in IQ? BEen waiting for you guys to post the next best thing. WTF is HF when you need him?

[BWillie]

What do I have to gain by investing stocks on my own? My 401k has been humming along by Vanguard. I don't do anything. I think they would know more than me. Buying, selling, paying fees, staying up to date on news sounds like a pain in the ass.

[Iowanian]

IQ sounds like Prestige....world wide.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by BWillie

What do I have to gain by investing stocks on my own? My 401k has been humming along by Vanguard. I don't do anything. I think they would know more than me. Buying, selling, paying fees, staying up to date on news sounds like a pain in the ass.

For most people, very little. If you have the time and interest to invest in individual stocks, it can be an interesting way of earning some cash, but there obviously no guarantees, and a vast majority of average Joe's are better off with broader mutual funds or ETFs.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by Iowanian

IQ sounds like Prestige....world wide.

Boats & Hoes ICO FTW

[Hammock Parties]

There are some people who think IQ stock will be worth 10x what it is now in five years.

I'm holding.

[ChiliConCarnage]

Originally Posted by wutamess

Who's still long in IQ? BEen waiting for you guys to post the next best thing. WTF is HF when you need him?

The next hype stock IPO was UXIN. Right before it was set to IPO Huya, IQ, etc. started tanking a bit amid trade war fears and just general hey if you go up 100% in a month or whatever you're probably going back down.

The kids were saying Carmax of China! Which doesn't sound that exciting to be honest lol

I spent a couple of hours reading through their F1. They're taking on debt like crazy. I think they spent 96 and 102% of revenue in marketing alone the last two years. They'd gained market share from it. Can't remember exactly but they went from 34 or so to 42% of used car sales.

Apparently, in China car loans work like homes here. New cars you can only get a loan for 80% of the value. Used cars 70%. Electrics can get more

If I invest in China, I like companies where some other company I trust has invested in them. Then I know they've done their DD and it's a real company and not a scam. Unlike many of the other stocks we talked about this isn't the case AFAIK with Uxin. I consider this pretty risky and only looked into it in the hopes of riding the new china stock hype wave. It died a bit right before this IPO'd and this stock has gone down a bit since IPO like all of China stocks.

All that said, if their numbers are real their revenue growth is huge. 130+% annually. It is sort of intriguing. I'm worried about chinese scams, I imagine so are Chinese people right? A good reason to go to the Carmax of China?
If I remember right they allow returns for 30 days. They pointed out a lot of stats that showed Chinese consumers have way less cars than in the US. Makes sense.. many of them haven't have the money. I sort of suspect some of that is China building out more public transportation than we have too.