Partial Sells: IntriCon (IIN), AxoGen (AXGN) and Altair Engineering (ALTR)
Our portfolio includes a few stocks that we took partial gains on a while back and which haven’t been able to get going in the right direction since. And one that never got going in the first place.
At the top of the list is IntriCon (IIN), a small-cap medical device manufacturer that makes components for Medtronic’s (MDT) blood glucose monitors. It also makes hearing aids, which it supplies to major brands, companies that sell direct-to-consumer (DTC), and for sale through its own DTC channel, Hearing Health Express.
The stock’s potential is huge, but it’s also a microcap and a lot of the potential relates to the emergence of a viable DTC hearing aid sales channel. We’ve known this won’t develop overnight, and that there will be some ups and downs as management tries to figure out its go-to-market strategy.
The stock’s been trending down for months now and while we’ve booked some profits along the way we now have a modest loss on our remaining position. That’s not something I like to see, so it’s time to reduce our position a little more. Sell another quarter. This should leave you with just one quarter of your initial position. SELL A QUARTER, HOLD A QUARTER.
AxoGen (AXGN) is another stock that’s been trending down since we sold half our position in October. Shares have made a series of lower lows and lower highs since they peaked in mid-summer. While there hasn’t been a lower low since mid-November, I’d still like to reduce our position size a little more right now, just in case. Sell a quarter to lock in an 80% gain, and hold the remaining quarter of your initial position. SELL A QUARTER, HOLD A QUARTER.
Altair Engineering (ALTR) is a stock we stepped into in early October, right before the broad market fell apart. The timing was awful, and that’s reflected in our current return. I don’t think the growth story is broken but we can’t ignore the evidence right in front of us. Shares are trading near the low they reached a month ago. Let’s reduce our position size by selling a half. We’ll hold the other half for a little while in case this is the bottom. SELL HALF, HOLD HALF.
That’s it for today. I’ll be sending you an update on all our positions tomorrow, as well as some thoughts on the state of the market.