Cramer's Investing Club: We are making a few sales Tuesday morning to lock in big gains

Published Tue, Jan 18 20229:49 AM ESTUpdated Tue, Jan 18 202210:46 AM EST

We are making a couple moves to kick off the trading week. After you receive this email, we will be exiting our position in DuPont (DD) , selling 600 shares at roughly $83.74. In addition, we will be selling 1,750 shares of Ford (F) at roughly $24.85. Following the trades, the Charitable Trust will own 0 shares of DuPont and 8,250 shares of Ford. Ford's weighting in the portfolio will decline from about 6.00% to 5.00%. We are making a few sales this morning to lock in big gains and raise cash for future flexibility. It's not in our style to sell with the market expected to open sharply lower, but each sale is from a stock that has outperformed year to date and is trading at or near its 52-week highs. Dupont trade Although we appreciate the portfolio transformation moves management has put in motion over the past couple of months to accelerate growth and decrease the cyclicality of earnings, we think the stock's run into the mid $80s reflects the valuation uplift we expected to see after the company announced the Rogers Corp deal and plan to divest the substantial portion of the Mobility and Materials segment. With DD nicely outperforming year to date (+5% ytd vs. -2% in the S & P 500 as of Friday's close), we are taking our gains here and freeing up a spot in the portfolio as we search for new opportunities in stocks that have fallen significantly from their highs. We will realize an average gain of about 21% through this exit. Ford trade Our trim of Ford this morning is purely about right-sizing the position. Entering today, Ford represented the largest position in the charitable trust at about 6.0%. Ford got this big because it was one of the best-performing stocks in the S & P 500 last year, and the strong run has continued into 2022 with shares up roughly 20% year to date despite a down S & P 500. We admit we are feeling pretty greedy after this incredible run. How can we not be after this degree of outperformance? That's why out of prudence, we think the time has come to lock in gains and right-size the position, meaning reduce its weighting so that the portfolio is not levered to one stock. Despite today's trim, we want the investing club to know that we remain huge believers in CEO Jim Farley and how he has made Ford a much more profitable company and a leader in electric vehicles. We will realize an average gain of about 174% on the shares sold. We would have also trimmed Wells Fargo Similar to Ford, we are feeling greedy on Wells Fargo (WFC) and as a result, were we not restricted, we would be locking in some of our outsized gains. Wells Fargo was the best performing big bank last year, and the run has continued into 2022, with shares already up about 20% to date despite the decline in the S & P 500. Despite our view that the time for the trust to trim has arrived (and we will look to do so once our restriction is lifted), Wells Fargo will remain one of the largest positions in the portfolio because it is one of our favorite bank stocks for 2022. Our bullish view is based on Wells being one of the most interest-rate sensitive banks that we follow (meaning the Fed's upcoming rate hike cycle plays into its favor), plus a self-help story of expense reduction, balance sheet deployment, and progress with regulators. (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long DD, F, WFC. See here for for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.

A Ford Motor assembly worker works on a 2021 Bronco SUV on the assembly line at Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Michigan, June 14, 2021.

Rebecca Cook | Reuters

We are making a couple moves to kick off the trading week.