It’s been a great ride, but it’s time to say goodbye to our biggest and best current winner. I’m selling Westell Technologies (WSTL) out of the sandbox portfolio, and locking in the 47% gain we’ve grabbed on the stock’s recent advance.

Am I heading for the door on this one specifically because it’s our biggest winner? That’s a very, very small part of it.

While I like to over-protect gains once they’re in the table, I know that we have to be willing to let huge winners turn into monster winners - and you have to be willing to let a 50% gain turn into a 100% gain (or more) when the time comes. Easier said than done, however. Either way, WSTL isn’t one of those potential monster winners. We didn’t know that a few weeks ago. Now that we’re here though, we can see its best days are behind us.

The bigger reason I’m heading for the door, however, is a strategic exit that’s market-based, and the fact that Westell Technologies has stalled for two weeks now.

If the market slides lower - and I think it will - it’s going to drag most stocks with it. Add that to the reality that Westell’s strength is already being challenged, and I’m killing two birds with one stone.

For what it’s worth, I expect to part ways with a few other sandbox positions in the foreseeable future. I’ll be buying at the bottom of the dip though. And if you want to know how/why I’m making the pullback call, I covered that here on Monday.

In any case, here’s the current portfolio, with Westell Technologies still on board. It will be gone tomorrow.

Here’s the recent performance of the Micro Cap Press sandbox portfolio, compared to the S&P 500. We’re not outpacing it by gangbusters, but we’re ahead… and we’re a lot less volatile. If we lighten up now as the market pulls back, the gap should widen; half the battle of winning in this game is not losing.

You can follow along with the sandbox portfolio - all of its buys and sells - simply by subscribing to the free Micro Cap Press newsletter.