The Ups and Downs

A great example of market ups and downs happened today. GameStop (GME) shared their Q1 reports today with lots of things to be happy about. They saw new hardware sales up by 25%, new software sales up 8%, digital sales up 3%, collectibles up 39%, and posted that they expect full-year EPS of 3.10-3.32 points. One would think with all of these positive earning results that they would see a massive price increase but instead Mr. Market decided to rear its ugly head and slam the stock in after hours for a total of -6.3%.

It's time like these that remind me that as much as one may try to predict the market, they can only do so much. And when that happens it's incredibly important for each investor to return to the books, blogs, and teachings that can reassure us that we are still moving forward with whatever certainty we can obtain through financial reports, investor sentiment, and general good-luck guessing. After all, we all have had or will have a day on Wall Street where this kind of shenanigans hits.

It's not for lack of trying to time or beat the market. It's just that investing is hard. There is a science to picking stocks but there is also a lot of luck and for those that believe in the efficient market theory, days like today prove that you really can't predict everything. The market will do what it wants to do and in the fashion that it wishes to do it. That being said, Bloomberg machine or not, we are all a little more humbled when we get taken for a brain-melting and head spinning trading day like GameStop (GME) saw today.

Wealth: March Dividend Income

March 2017 Dividend Income

GME - $30.40

ARII - $6.80

QCOM - $15.37

STAG - $1.75

TGT - $9.00

EMR - $7.68

LB - $4.80

WFC - $8.36

Total March 2017 Dividend Income: $84.16

Total March 2016 Dividend Income: $20.40

Percent Increase: 312% increase

Now that March has come and gone, it's evident that the Dividend Scythe has been hard at work. If we're only looking at the change from the previous year to the current year, the percent increase has been phenomenal! It's enough for me to even wish for a positive increase year over year but an over 300% increase from last year is exactly what I want to see and more! Moving forward, I'm sure that I probably won't see these high percentages as it will be harder to see huge jumps as the portfolio grows but it's incredibly pleasing on the eyes as I get to look at it now. 

Wealth: Stock Purchase

At first glance, the Dividend Reaper monthly budget was looking pretty terrible. First, the Christmas trip back to my home town took a nice deep cut into the vacation fund. Second, I purchased a new rifle for Christmas. Third, we had to decided to get my wife her first pair of designer jeans.

That last one was definitely a splurge. Honestly though, it seems like a good investment. Mrs. Dividend Reaper takes extremely good care of her things and we hardly ever have to replace any of her things. Pair that with the fact that she deals with me and you have a recipe for deserving a nice pair of jeans (for the first time in her life). If we're being extremely honest however, my purchase of a new rifle took the cake as far as large line items.

I digress. We're here to talk about what we did with the remaining balance after all was said and done in December and the beginning half of January. That I am happy to admit is not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Admittedly, it was much less than normal. However, both the wife and I worked both the Christmas and New Years shift so we obtained even more than usual through the nice boost that overtime pay provides.

Recent Buy: GameStop Corp Com

There are going to be a lot of folks who ask me immediately after posting this as to why I finally cracked and grabbed up a piece of Game Stop Corp Com (GME). Quite simply put, I could no longer continue wasting time continuously doubting myself as to whether or not the company was a good use of my money. Where the core business I feel is moving out the door a little (selling used games), I feel that the board is moving the business in other directions that so far have proven to be excellent for income.

Where there is excellent income, there is seldom much reason for worry. There are few of life's troubles that cannot be purchased by good old fashioned cash. As you all know, I like to aim for companies that have very little debt or at least enough capital to pay off that debt if the worst were to come. GME is not unlike these past picks. Their current debt is 350.40M and they have a working cash flow of 450.40M - more than enough to cover if they needed to use it.

A lot of their new income comes from their telephonic branch off. Where GME game stores have taken a hit as of late and slowed sales, their telephonic business is booming. This should help to buffer their game stores while they move those to a more merchandise based model. With this being said, I will summarize my purchase below:

Purchased GameStop Corp Com - 20 shares @ 28.81 points - total investment: $586.19

Weekly Wrap Up

What a week it has been. I managed to acquire two great companies, post quite a few paid articles on Seeking Alpha, and I also managed to come in above budget to provide that much more steam into the portfolio. That means that it's ultimately time to look back and see how I feel about it all now that it's all said and done. Let's first look at the articles that were posted on Seeking Alpha:

Hold GameStop - Unclaimed Future Opportunities

AT&T: The Future Is Here

Home Depot: The DIY Dividend King

All in all, I'm happy with the articles that I've posted this last week on Seeking Alpha. I was able to have the chance to have articles on three big companies that I really enjoyed taking a look at. GameStop (GME) was ultimately a hold while AT&T (T) and Home Depot (HD) were buys. At this time, if you've already looked at my portfolio, I only own AT&T but in the future I plan to pick up HD if I can get in on a great price for it. The company has such strong fundamentals and it's ingrained so perfectly into the American household that it would be hard to topple it. As for GameStop (GME), I'll be holding off for awhile. Their core business in gaming stores is definitely threatened with the growing digital game market and I want to see where that business model ends. Also, I fear what the economy taking a fall off the side would do to the business profits. If there are only a few dollars left on the table for an American consumer, I somehow doubt that it would go to used video games at GameStop (however much I'd prefer it to).

As for the budget, paying off the student loans for the wife has freed up a lot of cash flow in our household. Instead of having to spend half of our left over funds at the end of the month on student loans, we can now have that cash as free spending for more investing or for grabbing a few things that are needed. I'm excited to see where future prospects take these funds. I'd like to say that it would go towards paying off the last car loan that we have but quite honestly, the interest rate is so low that it's hard to justify it. I think the money would be a better use in the market where I can make more than what the interest rate charges me in capital gains and dividend payments. This is obviously where the Dave Ramsey school of thinking goes off the deep end in my mind. Why would anyone want to pay off a loan that has an interest rate of less than two percent when they can make three percent or more on the market at any given time.

Anyways, that's all I've got.