June 1, 2005...As a technology journalist for over thirty years, championing truly "advanced" technologies, I can be rightfully accused of having too much passion for real innovators. It's a curse shared with many readers of The McDonald Report. Some of the most gratifying letters to the editor I receive start with praises and phrases such as "I love how you write" which translates to... casual, informal, conversational. Another favorite is "I enjoy your refreshing viewpoint"... which translates to irreverent, libertarian, candid, overly superfluous. Best of all is when someone takes the time to personally thank me/us for making LIGHTimes and CompoundSemi News "The Good News Channels". It seems that lots of people are tired of having the negative shoved down their throats. I've found good news goes down more smoothly and its often more interesting, and relevant, than bad news.

Over the years, I've watched while hundreds of companies started from scratch, which you can see for yourself from the five years worth of columns archived on this site. I've reported their rollouts with VC backing, their highs and lows, their fame or demise. Out of journalistic zeal and attempts to remain impartial, I've never held stock in any of them and in the last twenty years, but that doesn't mean I don't have my favorites. As a columnist and commentator, if I like a company I tend to say so. If I don't, I tend to stay quiet about them.

I've watched the rise of some from their IPOs at $10 per share soar to $150 at the height of the telecom boom, only to plunge back down to single digits, which is where many of them still remain. While we'll probably never see those triple digits again, I really can't see the current stock prices getting much lower, which is why I announced in early May that in the twilight years of my career, I finally elected to enter the stock game myself. I'm not at all wealthy and don't expect to be. Ranching in Texas is all the wealth a person needs. However, I do have a modest investment portfolio that, until now, has never included any of the companies we cover in these pages... other than some of the really big companies, like Cisco and Intel, and you can bet any references in these pages to those giants won't cause any soaring of stock prices. Consequently, and as previously disclosed, my broker and I have put together a modest, model portfolio of CS and SSL industry-related stocks, just for the heck of it, and to give me something fresh to write about.

The stocks in the portfolio are held in my name and the whole experiment is mine, and mine only. As previously described, and in plenty of time to keep them from soaring simply because I bought a few shares (dream on), I've kept the investment discretely modest, for a number of reasons. Mainly, I can't afford to gamble much and I'm not a gambler at heart. Also, it's merely an experiment. My intent is to hold the shares for a few years, not months. That way I can report on how the portfolio is going, as a whole, which will hopefully serve as an interesting barometer of the overall industry. The selected stocks are all traded on the USA's Nasdaq exchange. They include: Emcore (EMKR), Cree (CREE), TriQuint (TQNT), Color Kinetics (CLRK), Anadigics (ANAD), JDS Uniphase (JDSU), Spire (SPIR), RF Micro Devices (RFMD), Kopin (KOPN), WJ Communications (WJCI), and Vitesse (VTSS).

Why those initial eleven? Here's my reasoning. First and foremost, and from my pocketbook's viewpoint, the current pricetag for that batch is amazingly low and has stayed low for some time now, especially compared to prices a few years ago. That means I can actually afford them. 100 shares of something priced at around $1.50 per share is about my limit for such an experimental project. Except for Cree and Color Kinetics, the above eleven trade in single digits. From what I see, the only reason Cree and CK are in double digits is that they're heavy hitters in the solid state lighting (SSL) industry, which is doing comparatively well compared to the other compound semi sectors. As other SSL-related companies go public on the USA exchanges, I might add them to the portfolio. And if my broker and I figure it to be worth the challenge to invest in "foreign stocks" we might add some of those. I'll keep you informed in plenty of time prior to my purchase in case something weird happens, like the action picks up just because I'm going to buy a few shares (again, dream on).

Please keep in mind that I am not encouraging readers to follow suit and mirror my investments. This portfolio project is simply something for column fodder. I certainly don't mind making a bundle off them, but more importantly, I expect the investments to entice me into following the companies more closely. We source our news from fully public sources, such as off the wires, press releases, and news reports and take it from there. That means we won't know anything that you wouldn't know anyway if you were in a due diligence mode prior to investing in a company. You can read what I write about the field, but don't hold me responsible for stock performance, I'm not that influential! However, in the interest of journalistic integrity, disclaimers, full disclosure and all that, and mostly because so many people like to fuss about such things, with regard to this portfolio, I'll let you know what I'm going to do before I do it as a matter of policy.

Here's my official description of what I'm doing: Matching with the intention shared earlier in May, I now own some stock in some of the companies I will comment on in this column. To make sure that there is no opportunity for me to profit on moves with those stocks based on what I write here, (like I really believe my comments are going to swing a market... but hey, why not think big?) I will tell you about my intention to buy or sell a stock in advance, allowing time for any resulting fluctuations to settle out before I make my transaction. CompoundSemi Online will also publish a full list of CS/SSL stocks that I hold, which I'll link to at the end of each column, so that you can not only take that into account when I offer my opinions, but you can participate in the observation and commenting process. We don't ever intend to use the news to influence the value of those stocks, and we keep the regular news reporting separate from The McDonald Report commentary. We are sharing this with you so that there aren't concerns over any "secret holdings" and so that you may correctly filter any biases we might knowingly or unknowingly have.

So, let's hope things are indeed picking up. We'll see.