What I Own: AAPL, GOOG, & ORCL

I get asked pretty often what stocks I like, what stocks I buy, and what stocks I own, and for the last couple years the answer has been easy: none of them. I was fortunate enough to move into cash in 2008 (the writing was was on the wall for anyone who was looking) and then I went all in during 2009 when everything was just too cheap not to. I moved back into cash in 2010 when the rally seemed overblown. My biggest winner at the time was Brunswick (NYSE:BC), which I was able to load up on between $2.75-$3 and sell off between $15-$18. Since then I've been in cash.

That changed last month when I started buying stocks again, and I figured it would be a good idea to let you guys know what I bought and at what price in the interest of full disclosure. The following are by no means recommendations, as I could be way off base with these buys. To make matters worse, I'm buying and holding - which I've always considered a sucker's bet.

Be that as it may, here's what I bought, at what price, and why:

• Apple (AAPL) - $575: There are as many reasons to buy Apple as there are blockbuster Apple products on the market, but I'll tell you mine. Never in my life (or anyone else's for that matter) has there been a company with such a staggering cash position. You put that together with their culture of innovation and the stuff they already have in their pipeline, and it was a no-brainer for me. I have a lot of faith in Tim Cook and I think Apple will eventually become the world's first trillion-dollar company. Yes, I just predicted a $1,070 stock price.
  
  
• Google (GOOG) - $575: I bought Google and Apple at the same price for a reason: I'm entertained by the foot race to $1,000. The two could not be more alike and more different at the same time. Speaking of pipelines, Google's is like something out of science fiction. If you doubt me for one minute, just look at
  and THIS. Incredible. Their numbers for the quarter come out today, and after an earlier downward revision they should be pretty good. But I don't care because I bought it for the long term. Just as an aside, I've always considered those who buy a stock pre-split in hopes of making money post-split to be mildly retarded. If that's your thing, however, the stock will be splitting later this year.
  
  
• Oracle (ORCL) - $29.26: Ellison is just the master. When he ran out of great ideas himself, he just went to the market and bought more. Their acquisition strategy has been aggressive and mostly spot on. I thought the Sun acquisition was a dumb move at the time - shows what I know. Oracle is the 800-pound gorilla in the Enterprise space, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. That said, I'm not looking for a huge move on ORCL. But I think the stock goes to $40 in the next couple years.

Now, I realize there is nothing particularly Earth shattering or ballsy about these bets. Some of you probably expect me to be heavy into Internet start-ups and high fliers. For what it's worth, I did have an order in to buy RENN a few weeks ago but it didn't fill. The fact is I'm not interested in trying to figure out the next big penny stock winner. I just think it's the right time to buy some blue chip tech stocks.

I also happen to think Microsoft (MSFT) could get interesting for the first time in a decade. Note that I didn't say it was a good buy here, just that it could get interesting. By announcing that they're getting into the tablet space, they risk pissing off their entire network of big-name resellers who've been working on the same thing. I've heard from my developer geek pals that Windows 8 is pretty sweet, and the company seems to be betting at least the back 40 of the ranch on the new Office 365 - a direct response to the ass whipping they've been taking from Google Apps.

Anyway, that's what I own and where I own it. If I happen to write about these companies in the future, trust me, I'm not talking my book. I just think disclosure is important when this is your "job", for lack of a better word.

You may now proceed to tell me why I'm a moron for buying these stocks.