We’re back! I took some time off from blogging and hunkered down during the worst financial crisis since the great depression. At our lowest point ECCP had its value drop to nearly $20,000. Now with the recovery under way we have rebounded nicely. As of Friday April 30, 2010 we were back over $43,000 in market value! I’ve decided to recommit myself to this site and to update it more frequently. Please check back for updates.

We have made numerous stock purchases over the past few years. Here they are:

11/10/2008 BOUGHT 55 SHARES OF SPN AT $19.53
11/10/2008 BOUGHT 11 SHARES OF SPY AT $92.9995
2/13/2009 BOUGHT 25 SHARES OF SJM AT $43.7598
5/13/2009 SOLD 40 SHARES OF VMW AT $26.66
5/19/2009 BOUGHT 50 SHARES OF ODFL AT $29.48
5/19/2009 BOUGHT 132 SHARES OF ERES AT $5.6075
7/22/2009 SOLD 28 SHARES OF GRMN AT $24.81
7/22/2009 BOUGHT 55 SHARES OF CRDN AT $18.1195
8/24/2009 BOUGHT 100 SHARES OF JOUT AT $7.45
12/3/2009 BOUGHT 100 SHARES OF RICK AT $7.2199
4/16/2010 BOUGHT 22 SHARES OF ADBE AT $34.12
4/16/2010 BOUGHT 14 SHARES OF SRCL AT $55.61
4/16/2010 BOUGHT 26 SHARES OF INT AT $27.11

Remember, you can view our performance on our portfolio page.

ECCP purchased 68 shares of ODFL this month:

Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. operates as a less-than-truckload multi-regional motor carrier primarily in the United States. The company offers one-to-five day service, and next-day and second-day services. It also provides container delivery services, assembly and distribution services, and expedited and logistical services.

Also, we said good bye to 4 of our members Kim Moraski, Sharon, Becky and Ron Bednarz. We welcome out newest member, Phillip G Liu.

Executed the purchase of Laboratory Corporation of America(LH) on the morning of March 18th 2008. In total 27 shares were purchased for a cost of approximately $2017.

Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings is an independent clinical laboratory company in the United States. The Company has a national network of 37 primary laboratories and over 1,600 patient service centers along with a network of branches and STAT laboratories, which are laboratories that have the ability to perform certain routine contact mes and report the results to the physician immediately.

At the March Meeting we examined the beating our portfolio took over the last two months. It wasn’t pretty. As we discussed at the meeting, the US economy is in some form of recession. Many of our holdings have fallen from their highs while others have held up fairly well(Strip Clubs and Oil). All and all we are down over $6000 from the beginning of the year.

Dennis suggested we take a look at a health care company which are traditionally more recession proof than other sectors. We decided to purchase 2000 worth of Lab Corp (LH). Furthermore, we are going to keep a close eye on COL, which has come down significantly, as well as GOOG with its current PE of 32. It now looks rather reasonable.

Since our initial purchase of Ceradyne in late August shares of the company have been beaten down seemingly for no good reason. Since we believe the underlying fundamentals of the company are solid and the growth potential is still good we voted to accumulate more shares at this lower level. On Wednesday December 26th the club purchased 25 more shares of CRDN. This gives us 63 shares total and lowers our dollar cost average to approximately $61 per share. If all goes well we should be able to recover our initial loss within a few months!

Details:

12/26/2007
Buy 25 shares CRDN
Fee: $ 7.00
Amount: $ 1,177.25

Dennis registered our club on www.covestor.com.

Covestor is a new concept originated by a group of entrepreneurs who believe salaried fund managers have no monopoly on investment talent and shouldn’t have a lock on the rewards that come with investment success. Coming from the financial services and online world we trust our networks more than our brokers. We believe in democratizing the investment management industry and helping proven self-investors around the world compete with the large institutions.

We will now be able to track our performance here against other clubs and individuals. Take some time and check it out. Here is our Link:

http://www.covestor.com/mbr/eccp

As a result of our meeting on October 4th several transactions were performed. We decided to  prune some of our under performing positions and add to our stronger holdings. The transactions are as follows:

Sold 30 shares Aqua America Inc (WTR) at 23.58 per share, 7.02 commission (743.23)

Sold 15 shares Panera Bread Co Cl A (PNRA) at 48.1727 per share, 7.02 commission (1,008.85)

Purchased 7 shares Rick’s Cabaret Intl (RICK) at 11.18 per share, 7.00 commission 85.26

Purchased 21 shares ROCKWELL COLLINS INC (COL) at 73.8 per share, 7.00 commission 1,556.80

Purchased 54 shares Rick’s Cabaret Intl (RICK) at 12.73 per share, 7.00 commission 694.42

Purchased 33 shares Activision, Inc (ATVI) at 22.72 per share, 7.00 commission 756.76

*Yes, the RICK transaction got screwed up. Limit order purchased only 7 shares initially. I had to go in and purchase the rest at market price.

On Monday ECCP took a new position in Ceradyne, Inc(CRDN).

08/27/2007
Buy 38 shares CRDN
Fee: $ 7.00
Amount: $ 2,668.90

Ceradyne, Inc. is a worldwide leader in the development and production of advanced technical ceramics. Vertically integrated manufacturing facilities produce advanced technical ceramic solutions for the most demanding applications in automotive/engine, industrial wear, medical, electronic and defense industries.

 July Treasurer’s Report

At the August 16th ECCP meeting the club approved the purchase of additional shares of BE Aerospace(BEAV) and XTO Energy(XTO). Also, a new position in Ceradyn, Inc(CRDN) will be established. Two trades have been executed as of today:

08/23/2007
Buy 47 shares XTO
Fee: $ 7.00
Amount: $ 2,521.50

08/23/2007
Buy 70 shares BEAV
Fee: $ 7.00
Amount: $ 2,583.00

The club was asked to look into some financial stocks, a sector that has been beaten down during the sub-prime mortgage mess, for the next meeting.

Yesterday ECCP purchased 40 shares of VMware (NYSE:VMW) @ $50.56. Here is an excellent article on VMware from the New York Times. Click Here to read it.