Today, 9/27/10, I sold 4 PDS Mar11 10 Covered Calls for a net deposit of $86.95 in an IRA account.  My basis for these PDS shares is now 23.76, excluding dividends received.  This transaction represents about a .91% simple return and an annualized return of about 1.92% on my basis.

Until last March I had been sitting on these PDS shares since my Calls expired worthless in Sep08.  I cannot even remember why I have waited so long to begin selling new Calls on PDS.  As I look at a chart of the stock I can only guess that it was so low that I just didn’t want to sell new options on it.  So this is now my second selling of options since resuming selling them on PDS.  Curiously enough, the net deposit is only 1 cent above what I deposited last March.

PDS last paid a dividend in Feb09.  It was .03 per share down from the previous .13 per share.  It was the dividend that first attracted me to PDS because it was a monthly dividend.  PDS is based in Canada.  I don’t expect that PDS will be paying monthly dividends again when and if it resumes paying them.  PDS is a Canadian Trust and the tax law changes in Canada are causing many trusts to change to standard corporations.

So, what do I do with PDS?  If it does not resume paying a dividend it will not fit my general investment goals.  On the other hand, you know how I hate to have a stock called away below my basis.  I suspect that I will continue to hold and sell or roll out Covered Calls for as long as I can do so with a positive cash flow.  If I cannot roll out with a net credit I will just let the stock go and find a better place to reinvest the funds.

On Wednesday, 4/7/10, I sold 4 PDS Sep10 10 Covered Calls for a net deposit of $86.94 in an IRA account.  My basis for these PDS shares is now 23.98, excluding dividends received.

I’ve been sitting on these PDS shares since my last Calls expired worthless in Sep08.  I cannot even remember why I have waited so long to begin selling new Calls on PDS.  As I look at a chart of the stock I can only guess that it was so low that I just didn’t want to sell new options on it.

PDS last paid a dividend in Feb09.  It was .03 per share down from the previous .13 per share.  It was the dividend that first attracted me to PDS because it was a monthly dividend.  PDS is based in Canada.  I don’t expect that PDS will be paying monthly dividends again when and if it resumes paying them.  PDS is a Canadian Trust and the tax law changes in Canada are causing many trusts to change to standard corporations.

So, what do I do with PDS?  If it does not resume paying a dividend it will not fit my general investment goals.  On the other hand, you know how I hate to have a stock called away below my basis.  I suspect that I will continue to hold and sell or roll out Covered Calls for as long as I can do so with a positive cash flow.

Many of the stocks that I own and write Covered Calls upon also pay dividends.  Dividends happen on a regular basis and add significantly to my annual investment income.

This week, I received the following dividends in various accounts for a total of $30.63:

I use my basis per share to determine the simple and annualized percentage return because I feel that it gives me a better representation of the value of the dividends as they relate to my portfolio.  Note that PDS pays a monthly dividend.