ValueClick (VCLK) takeover speculation allows booking significant short-term profit

We sold our ValueClick (VCLK) holdings Friday at $28.28. We were fortunate to rake in a short-term profit of over 45% in exactly one month. Our entry into ValueClick was right before the takeover speculation started and coincidentally it was also the time the market turned for the better.

The list of stock sales during the year and the gain/losses are listed below:

Stock	Buy Date	Buy Price	Sell Date	Sell Price	% Gain (Loss)	% Portfolio Return*
Harrah’s (HET)	10/2/2006	75.61	8/7/2007	83.68	10.66	0.62
St. Joe (JOE)	8/7/2007	39.4	8/8/2007	41.8	6.23	0.47
Google (GOOG)	3/14/2007	441	8/10/2007	515.99	16.86	1.14
LOCM (LOCM)	8/10/2007	5.47	9/17/2007	6.094	11.31	0.71
PetroChina (PTR)	9/12/2006	106	10/1/2007	188.5	78.14	2.85
PetroChina (PTR)	9/12/2006	106	10/3/2007	178.05	68.39	2.22
ValueClick (VCLK)	9/12/2007	19.4	10/12/2007	28.28	45.79	3.4
Realized Gain/(Loss) YTD	-	-	-	-	-	11.41

• *% Gain/Loss Relative to Portfolio Value at Beginning of Year + Deposits

While it is true that we did come ahead, there was another way to bell the cat - write covered call options against the shares we held and use put options to insure against the downside. Selling March 30 calls at around $5 would have reduced our cost basis while also allowing us to bypass the immediate short-term taxable event. The fact that we had never ventured into options made us shy away from this strategy. Going forward we will definitely be considering the option of writing covered calls and puts.

Here is a link to our analysis of ValueClick: Value Click (VCLK) – Part 1 – Accretive Acquisitions Driving Growth.