Special Delivery - What to do with FedEx shares?

I have a hard time selling shares shares at a loss.  Being (an especially self-competitive) human, I hate accepting defeat.  I was mad at myself for not selling higher earlier, back when my gut told me to take some off the table.

Ever been in that spot?

I recently sold off half my position in FedEx (FDX).  I've been a shareholder for several years now, and I watched the shares make a healthy climb from sub-$100 to $120.  Then they fell back down, and then they fell even farther down.  I followed my own rules and bought some on the way down as I periodically re-evaluated the business, so where did I go wrong?

Initially I had bought into FDX as a relatively stable beneficiary of increased Internet commerce.  When people buy "stuff" over the web, they expect to receive it.  More and more people are buying more "stuff" online, so more and more "stuff" gets shipped.  I liked FDX's valuation at the time, and figured I could watch the shares rise steadily without worrying about the sometimes emotionally challenging and sharp fluctuations of the e-retailers (like Amazon).

Was my thesis wrong?  I'm not sure.  I don't think it was wrong, but I didn't foresee $130+ oil.  My macro-picture was off.  Like many folks, I have a diversified portfolio.  While I increased my weighting of energy holdings within the last year, I also bought more FDX as it descended.  Those energy holdings have seen some nice gains (and I've taken some profits in that sector), but FDX?

FDX can operate like a perfectly-oiled machine, but they can't do anything to make one of their significant input costs -- oil -- go down.  Honestly, I hope that the oil bubble will pop soon.  I don't know that it will, and so I decided to trade some FDX for cash.  Until oil gets cheaper, I don't see any catalysts to drive FDX's shares higher.

Am I accepting defeat?  I don't know, for sure, that I'm being defeated.  I hate selling for a loss -- even a small one.  I shouldn't feel too bad, because a lot of people didn't predict that oil prices would rise this high as quickly as they have.

Whatever you want to call it, I've reduced my exposure to FDX.  If the bubble pops, maybe we'll see a bounce and I can catch some upside.  In the meantime, I'm happy to have some cash on the sidelines.

Disclosure: I am long on FDX at the time of writing, but I recently cut my position in half.  I do not own any position, long or short, in AMZN.