Walgreen Co. (WAG): Sell at the Market

It is now time to recommend that Walgreen Co. (WAG) be sold at the market. The stock has severely underperformed since the research recommendation was issued on September 24, 2008. It is highly recommended that anyone who bought the stock based on my research should re-read the posting. It is hoped that the stock was researched and purchased well below the initiation price.

WAG has been on a steady rise since hitting a technical double bottom on March 9th 2009. At the current rate, WAG could easily breach the $39 level in the next few weeks. WAG is up an astounding 59% from the low in March. In the pursuit of "seeking fair profits" the returns that this stock has provided within the last 338 days say that it is necessary to consider alternative opportunities.

WAG was recommended when it was trading at $31. As of August 27, 2009, WAG was quoted at $33.83. This equals a compounded return of 11.03% in 11 months. Conservatively, this would equal approximately 11.91% return. Selling this stock now also generates a return of 6.23x greater than the amount of the dividend yield if the stock was held for that extra month.

As I have indicated in the purposes and function of this site, the goal is to:

• maximize the annual yield of each trade.
• reduce time between buying and selling of each stock.
• exceed the annual yield of government guaranteed alternatives in each trade.

Sell recommendations are intended to deal with the short term reality of the market. The tracking of the Sell recommendations are the worst case scenario if you happen to have bought a stock at the time the research recommendation was made (please avoid making this mistake.) I aim for mediocrity in my returns, therefore I am happy with 9-12% annual gains. However, since codifying my approach to investing in 2005, I have had annual returns of 14% and above every year since.

It is always recommended that when selling a stock, one should not place stop orders, limit orders or orders after hours. This leaves the seller in the position of being vulnerable to the whims of the market makers. Instead, place your sell orders only as a market order during market hours. Some would complain that a market order during market hours might leave some profits on the table. However, I would rather leave some money on the table rather than have it taken away from me by the trades that are placed by institutions and market makers. Touc.