Thursday, September 17, 2009

Stock Of The Month: DD

If things go according to plan, this month's pick will start a new personal philosophy that "big and boring" is OK.

I've had a bit of a bias against large-cap stocks, because of the diseconomies of scale for mature companies in mature markets. But while the opportunities for capital gains are limited, large-caps are a great source for stable dividend payments - the kind of stock that can be bought and held for a long time.

DuPont (DD), or more properly, E. I. du Pont de Nemours, is a $31 billion, 207-year-old, diversified chemicals company, serving any and all industries with its vast portfolio of products. As the economy improves, DuPont will be a beneficiary. DD also has a dividend yield of 5%, and a dependable, positive cash flow to back it up.

Here's my current portfolio. As always, I believe in all of these stocks - until I sell them.

Southern Copper (PCU) 11.30%
Apple (AAPL) 10.33%
Google (GOOG) 8.83%
Terra Nitrogen (TNH) 7.51%
Dominion Resources Black Warrior Trust (DOM) 6.96%
Tesoro (TSO) 6.57%
Ace Limited (ACE) 5.76%
Atlas Energy Resources (ATN) 4.89%
American Software 4.52%
Blackstone (BX) 4.36%
Frontline (FRO) 4.31%
The Distressed (AIG, C, F, FNM, GM, JSDA, MOT, WFC, YRCW) 4.12%
Cherokee (CHKE) 3.11%
Tidewater (TDW) 3.31%
Biovail (BVF) 3.30%
PDL BioPharma (PDLI) 3.11%
Apache (APA) 2.93%
DuPont (DD) 2.71%