May

17

2006

Focus Media Holdings (FMCN) Update

Several weeks ago I began following FMCN as part of a new category of posts which aims to follow a particular stock through a holding period (the stock may or may not be held in my SelfInvestors Model Portfolio or me personally).  I will try and be good about disclosing this info.  FMCN does happen to be a stock I have held in the SelfInvestors Model Portfolio as well as personally.  Similar to what the overall market did while I was away, FMCN pushed higher with uninspiring volume and appeared to be finding resistance at around 70.  This was never a position I was going to hold through its earnings report (which is tomorrow), so I was looking for exit point.  Exiting a position is always a much more difficult decision than buying, but in this case it was really a no brainer.  With some resistance near 70, earnings fast approaching and the market beginning to deteriorate it made sense to unload the position, which I did on May 12th at 67.79.  This locked in a gain of 11.68% on my original $20K position and a 5.5% gain on the add on position of $7500.  Not spectacular gains, but I’ll take it and watch the volatility after earings are reported from the sidelines.

Today’s Market Action ~

This is the kind of action that can set up a capitulation move and mark a bottom, but we’re going to do need some fast and furious buying in the last hour.  Should be interesting.  Note that the Nasdaq has tested that support level I discussed yesterday, but the S&P and Dow are now in trouble as well.  I’ll take a look at the Dow and S&P tomorrow.