FSI International (FSII)

Company. FSI International is "a global supplier of semiconductor processing equipment, technology and support services for microelectronics manufacturers." (company website) That is, optical subsystems and components.

Buy. I bought FSI last October when the price started to move above $6 on respectable volume. It turns out that I could have gotten FSII for 50¢ less on really heavy volume about a month later after the pullback.

However, from mid-November onward, FSII climbed steadily to mark an intraday high over $8 last week. That made for a pretty impressive gain, if I didn't blow it.

Sell. Although FSII opened higher this morning, I decided to sell:

• The price started to drift lower from the opening
• There was a down-day last Thurday that wiped out the previous day's gains
• Although the ADX line is rising (about to cross 20 again), the +DI line (buying pressure) is falling, and the average daily volume has been dropping for the past month

All those things added up to potential weakness that could cause FSII to come unglued on a hint of bad news. The stock is at a new high, and earnings are not due until March, but a bad report from one of its peers could take the whole optical group down.

In short: Bird in the hand.

I did keep an odd lot that I bought in late December as a result of reallocating funds from a less strongly performing stock. The current price is safely above that buying price, and if this was a case of premature bailout, I will at least have a few more shares to sell.