Hewlett-Packard (HPQ)

Company

"HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and institutions globally. The company's offerings span IT infrastructure, global services, business and home computing, and imaging and printing. For the four fiscal quarters ended Jan. 31, 2005, HP revenue totaled $81.8 billion." (company website)

Buy

In an earlier lifetime. I've been sitting on a pile of HPQ shares since retiring from HP. Average share price of these shares: $10.76.

Sell

5-Apr-05. HP shares have been rising slowly — very slowly and erratically — since last August, but it is still lower than it was a year ago. When Carly Fiorina was forced out as CEO, the stock spiked but soon fell back. It spiked again when a new CEO was named, but I doubt it will last. Soon people will realize it's still the same company. I decided to sell off a fraction of my shares. Since the average price of the shares sold was $10.76, the sale represents a nice tidy long-term gain.