McDermott International Inc. (MCDIF)

[jugs]

A week and a half ago I unloaded some MDR at a nice enough profit. Last week I repurchased 500 shares at $4.64. I just sold 500 at $5.01. This rinse-and-repeat segment nets me a gain of $185 less $12 in commission fees. Equally important is that I've "repatriated" some seed capital in addition to the profits for application elsewhere---or just to hold for the moment as I await the next pricing downturn so I can repurchase. And I will!

I did the same thing with HLX---yesterday, reeling in a $1,500 gain after having held the stock since only July. It annualizes at a 75% gainer.

One thing I'm seeing for certain: we energy folks might recognize that nothing earth-shaking has hit the oil market for a couple of years. And---need I say it?---Nothing is likely to happen to shake the ground on which we stand. That said, it behooves at least some of us to take advantage of gains whenever they appear---knowing that most likely identical opportunities will surface soon enough.

MDR will probably drop back to sub-$5. I'll be a buyer, most probably. And HLX will surely fall back as, once again, there's really little to prop it up due to oil and gas stagnation.

This is pretty easy money for sure. Annualized it works out to a hefty amount of money with far less risk than would be the case had I elected to put the same cash into an MLP only to hope there'd be no distribution cut next time around. Remember---the same forces providing volatility sufficient to enable my gains? Those forces create the need for distribution cuts and those, as we all know, drag valuations down quick as a wink---and invariably too suddenly to escape the wrath of the she-devil.

This is fast becoming a large profit-making week by doing just a few work-overs not involving a huge amount of cash. Doing this repeatedly enables the active trader to prosper where others sit in sweat and hopes and dreams.