Saturday, December 3, 2016

Stocks Of The Month: NVDA, UNH

We will end 2016 with 27 stocks held. This means in two years, the number of stocks owned has gone from 49, to 35, to 27. At least one of my investing goals was met this year...though this number will jump to 30 fairly quickly in 2017, as I already have 3 great stocks chosen for addition :-)

The last sell of 2016 is Veolia Environnement (VEOEY). I like the underlying asset (water), but it has performed poorly to say the least.

VEOEY - 5 YR
VEOEY - 6 MO

Added for this month are one oldie, and one brand new to the portfolio: NVIDIA (NVDA), and UnitedHealth Group (UNH).

NVIDIA was bought all the way back in 2007, and (foolishly) sold in 2008. It was strictly a PC graphics chip business back then; now they are the leader in two critical technologies: deep learning and autonomous driving.

UnitedHealth Group is, in one word, monstrous. They are growing $181B in revenues at 12% a year, have $16B in free cash flow, and have consistently increased their dividend for 26 years and counting (currently yielding 1.6%).

Here's my current portfolio (buy, hold, and sell...wait, there are no sells...). As always, I believe in all of these stocks - until I sell them.

Apple (AAPL) 12.29%
3D Systems (DDD) 9.72%
Amazon (AMZN) 9.36%
Alphabet (GOOGL) 8.92%
Tesla Motors (TSLA) 8.91%
Facebook (FB) 5.61%
Twitter (TWTR) 5.58%
Stratasys (SSYS) 4.04%
Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) 3.72%
Under Armour (UAA) 3.56%
Nike (NKE) 3.24%
Starbucks (SBUX) 2.95%
Chubb Limited (CB) 2.67%
Microsoft (MSFT) 2.36%
Salesforce.com (CRM) 2.33%
Adobe Systems (ADBE) 2.33%
Costco Wholesale (COST) 1.92%
BlackRock (BLK) 1.44%
NVIDIA (NVDA) 1.33%
UnitedHealth Group (UNH) 1.33%
Intel (INTC) 1.20%
Autodesk (ADSK) 1.03%
ExOne (XONE) 0.92%
American Water Works (AWK) 0.92%
Waste Management (WM) 0.78%
Aqua America (WTR) 0.75%
Canadian National Railway (CNI) 0.72%

Saturday, November 12, 2016

Stocks Of The Month: AMZN, FB, GOOGL, TSLA

We're down to 26* stocks owned!

*about 4(?) less(?!) than where I think I will end up? 30 seems like the right number...

The final(?) sell of this sell-filled year is Ansys (ANSS). It is not a bad stock, but it is not great either.

ANSS - 5 YR

ANSS - 1 YR 

ANSS - 6 MO

The proceeds of this sale went to the "Big 4" of Amazon (AMZN), Facebook (FB), Alphabet (GOOGL), and Tesla Motors (TSLA).

Here's my current portfolio (buy, hold, and sell...wait, there are no sells...). As always, I believe in all of these stocks - until I sell them.

Apple (AAPL) 12.04%
3D Systems (DDD) 10.48%
Amazon (AMZN) 9.27%
Tesla Motors (TSLA) 9.19%
Alphabet (GOOGL) 8.94%
Facebook (FB) 5.74%
Twitter (TWTR) 5.73%
Stratasys (SSYS) 4.72%
Under Armour (UAA) 3.75%
Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) 3.60%
Nike (NKE) 3.23%
Starbucks (SBUX) 2.76%
Chubb Limited (CB) 2.63%
Salesforce.com (CRM) 2.52%
Adobe Systems (ADBE) 2.40%
Microsoft (MSFT) 2.34%
Costco Wholesale (COST) 1.87%
BlackRock (BLK) 1.43%
Intel (INTC) 1.20%
Autodesk (ADSK) 1.07%
ExOne (XONE) 1.04%
American Water Works (AWK) 0.89%
Veolia Environnement (VEOEY) 0.87%
Waste Management (WM) 0.75%
Aqua America (WTR) 0.73%
Canadian National Railway (CNI) 0.67%

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Stocks Of The Month: DDD, TWTR, XONE

We're down to 27* stocks owned!

*about 3(?) less(?!) than where I think I will end up? 30 seems like the right number...

Sold are two industrial titans of gluttony: McDonald's (MCD) and Coca-Cola (KO). Although they both pay greater than 3% dividends, they also both have negative revenue growth (-4% and -5% respectively) and some underperforming charts as well.


MCD - 5 YR
MCD - 6 MO
KO - 5 YR
KO - 6 MO


For the first time in 8 months, there is a new addition to the portfolio...sort of. ExOne (XONE) was first bought and sold in 2013-2014. I was wrong early; as I said then: "it would be quite arrogant, and very likely incorrect, if I were to act under the assumption that DDD (and/or SSYS) will the only winner(s) in the red-hot 3D printing industry."

I also added to my positions in 3D Systems (DDD) and Twitter (TWTR); rewarding the former for further rising from the abyss of earlier this year, and the latter for what is now a certain buyout offer by one of Disney, Google, Microsoft, or Salesforce.

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

3D Systems (DDD) 11.78%
Apple (AAPL) 11.61%
Tesla Motors (TSLA) 9.07%
Amazon (AMZN) 8.94%
Alphabet (GOOGL) 7.89%
Twitter (TWTR) 6.72%
Facebook (FB) 5.27%
Stratasys (SSYS) 4.94%
Under Armour (UAA) 4.20%
Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) 3.84%
Nike (NKE) 3.07%
Starbucks (SBUX) 2.53%
Chubb Limited (CB) 2.36%
Adobe Systems (ADBE) 2.32%
Salesforce.com (CRM) 2.27%
Microsoft (MSFT) 2.10%
Costco Wholesale (COST) 1.75%
ExOne (XONE) 1.34%
BlackRock (BLK) 1.27%
Intel (INTC) 1.21%
Veolia Environnement (VEOEY) 0.99%
Autodesk (ADSK) 0.96%
American Water Works (AWK) 0.84%
Ansys (ANSS) 0.70%
Aqua America (WTR) 0.69%
Canadian National Railway (CNI) 0.65%
Waste Management (WM) 0.64%

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Stocks Of The Month: AAPL, COST, MSFT, NKE, SBUX

We're down to 28* stocks owned!

*about 4(?) more than where I think I will end up?

The most recent departure is a boring one: Wells Fargo (WFC). Sure, it pays a steady dividend, and Warren Buffett likes it, and it's the best bank in America...but that will get you less than one might think:

10 YR

2 YR

6 MO

This month's buys are what I (now) consider to be my staple dividend stocks: Apple (AAPL), Costco Wholesale (COST), Microsoft (MSFT), Nike (NKE), and Starbucks (SBUX).

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

Apple (AAPL) 11.70%
3D Systems (DDD) 9.89%
Tesla Motors (TSLA) 9.09%
Amazon (AMZN) 8.84%
Alphabet (GOOGL) 8.34%
Facebook (FB) 5.66%
Twitter (TWTR) 5.19%
Stratasys (SSYS) 4.81%
Under Armour (UAA) 4.57%
Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) 3.89%
Nike (NKE) 3.58%
Starbucks (SBUX) 2.80%
Chubb Limited (CB) 2.57%
Salesforce.com (CRM) 2.46%
Adobe Systems (ADBE) 2.32%
Microsoft (MSFT) 2.22%
Costco Wholesale (COST) 1.90%
BlackRock (BLK) 1.40%
Intel (INTC) 1.23%
Veolia Environnement (VEOEY) 1.07%
McDonald's (MCD) 1.04%
Autodesk (ADSK) 0.97%
American Water Works (AWK) 0.93%
Aqua America (WTR) 0.76%
Ansys (ANSS) 0.76%
Waste Management (WM) 0.69%
Canadian National Railway (CNI) 0.67%
Coca-Cola (KO) 0.61%

Thursday, August 4, 2016

Stocks Of The Month: ADBE, CRM, GOOGL, ISRG

We're down to 29* stocks owned!

*about 5(?) more than where I think I will end up?

The most recent departure is one that kind of snuck up on me: Baidu (BIDU). Once upon a time, I bought and sold this stock for 193% gain (288% annualized!). Then the stock fell down, but rebounded even higher, and I felt compelled to buy the same amount I once had, all over again. From there on, BIDU was always in the black for me...until one day, I woke up and realized that its been quietly yet consistently underperforming for half a decade:

5 YR 
2 YR
YTD
3 MO
This month's buys are 4 growth stocks that I feel that I've been ignoring: Alphabet (GOOGL), Intuitive Surgical (ISRG), Salesforce.com (CRM) and Adobe Systems (ADBE).

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

Apple (AAPL) 11.18%
Tesla Motors (TSLA) 10.78%
3D Systems (DDD) 9.46%
Amazon (AMZN) 8.89%
Alphabet (GOOGL) 8.54%
Facebook (FB) 5.57%
Twitter (TWTR) 4.91%
Under Armour (UAA) 4.63%
Stratasys (SSYS) 4.44%
Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) 4.05%
Nike (NKE) 2.93%
Salesforce.com (CRM) 2.75%
Chubb Limited (CB) 2.63%
Adobe Systems (ADBE) 2.27%
Starbucks (SBUX) 2.21%
Microsoft (MSFT) 1.62%
BlackRock (BLK) 1.43%
Costco Wholesale (COST) 1.38%
Wells Fargo (WFC) 1.23%
Intel (INTC) 1.21%
McDonald's (MCD) 1.09%
Veolia Environnement (VEOEY) 1.05%
American Water Works (AWK) 1.01%
Aqua America (WTR) 0.85%
Autodesk (ADSK) 0.85%
Ansys (ANSS) 0.77%
Waste Management (WM) 0.74%
Canadian National Railway (CNI) 0.66%
Coca-Cola (KO) 0.64%

Monday, July 11, 2016

Stocks Of The Month: AMZN, FB, TSLA

We're down to 30* stocks owned!

*about 5(?) more than where I think I will end up?

The most recent departure is Boeing (BA). I sold for a loss of -4% actual/-3% annualized, and has a history of underperforming the market (which is now a point of emphasis for the stocks that I own).

This month's buys are Tesla Motors (TSLA), Amazon (AMZN), and for the fourth consecutive (and probably final) month in a row, Facebook (FB). Elon Musk believes that the combined Tesla/SolarCity will be worth $1 trillion someday...and doubting Elon Musk is not a wise idea. (Even if he comes up half-way short, $500 billion is still a 15x increase.) Amazon was recently cited as having the ability to "snuff out competition", which can only be a good thing in an investing sense. And Facebook is a competition-snuffing monster in its own right.

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

Tesla Motors (TSLA) 10.88%
Apple (AAPL) 10.61%
3D Systems (DDD) 9.41%
Amazon (AMZN) 9.12%
Alphabet (GOOGL) 6.60%
Facebook (FB) 5.47%
Stratasys (SSYS) 5.30%
Twitter (TWTR) 4.96%
Under Armour (UAA) 4.96%
Baidu (BIDU) 4.21%
Nike (NKE) 3.15%
Chubb Limited (CB) 2.82%
Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) 2.72%
Starbucks (SBUX) 2.33%
Microsoft (MSFT) 1.54%
Salesforce.com (CRM) 1.48%
Costco Wholesale (COST) 1.43%
BlackRock (BLK) 1.40%
Wells Fargo (WFC) 1.28%
Intel (INTC) 1.25%
McDonald's (MCD) 1.17%
American Water Works (AWK) 1.08%
Veolia Environnement (VEOEY) 1.05%
Adobe Systems (ADBE) 0.98%
Aqua America (WTR) 0.90%
Autodesk (ADSK) 0.84%
Waste Management (WM) 0.79%
Ansys (ANSS) 0.78%
Coca-Cola (KO) 0.69%
Canadian National Railway (CNI) 0.66%

Saturday, July 9, 2016

Searching With My Good Eye Closed: 124 Stocks That I Don't Own, And Wish I Could

If I took you for a ride, would you take it wrong?
Or would you make it right, make it right?
Looking for a pedestal that I can put you on
And be on my way, on my way

Fun fact:  I have 12 "watchlists", broken out by sector, which in total contain 656 stocks.  These watchlists mostly consist of stocks that at some point in time made me say "wow, that is interesting", followed by me forgetting about them entirely, followed by me looking at them and saying "what is this, and why is it here?"

I also have a 13th watchlist entitled "Short List" consisting of the stocks that I actually pay attention to, and have varying degrees of intent for addition to my portfolio in the future.

I recently made the effort to update the "Short List" by combing through all 13 watchlists, looking for one particular characteristic:  the stock must have consistently outperformed the market (more on that in a post TBD), across several historical time horizons.

The following 124 stocks made the cut.  They may have questionable valuation/financials, or lack upside due to shear size, or participate in a boring business, or represent additional risks going forward; but if the point of investing in individual stocks is to beat the broader market, all of these stocks have a history of doing exactly just that...which may be the most fundamental characteristic of all.

I will track these and post a yearly update going forward.

NAME
SYMBOL
MKT CAP
Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
353.84B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
HDFC Bank Limited
340.50B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Johnson & Johnson
337.92B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Pfizer Inc.
219.06B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV
205.22B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Visa Inc.
V
182.25B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
The Home Depot, Inc.
167.12B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Comcast Corporation
162.89B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
The Walt Disney Company
161.63B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Cisco Systems, Inc.
147.17B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated
134.32B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company
125.67B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Medtronic plc
123.24B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Amgen Inc.
121.02B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
The Kraft Heinz Company
109.25B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
AbbVie Inc.
107.80B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
3M Company
107.43B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
CVS Health Corporation
103.90B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation
101.75B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Honeywell International Inc.
90.57B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Union Pacific Corporation
76.27B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Lowe's Companies, Inc.
72.96B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Simon Property Group Inc.
67.94B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
The Priceline Group Inc.
65.99B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Broadcom Limited
61.36B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.
60.09B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Danaher Corp.
55.69B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Kimberly-Clark Corporation
48.96B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Stryker Corporation
45.73B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Automatic Data Processing, Inc.
43.03B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Netflix, Inc.
41.57B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Becton, Dickinson and Company
37.27B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.
34.34B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
CME Group Inc.
33.49B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Constellation Brands Inc.
33.28B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Monster Beverage Corporation
32.79B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Brookfield Asset Management Inc.
32.44B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Boston Scientific Corporation
32.43B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc.
30.58B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Aflac Incorporated
30.01B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Aon plc
29.03B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Sempra Energy
28.47B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
The Sherwin-Williams Company
28.35B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
NVIDIA Corporation
27.15B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Southwest Airlines Co.
25.89B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
NetEase, Inc.
24.36B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
AutoZone, Inc.
24.34B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Electronic Arts Inc.
23.59B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Xcel Energy Inc.
22.65B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Dollar Tree, Inc.
22.41B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Edwards Lifesciences Corp.
22.18B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Paychex, Inc.
22.10B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Republic Services, Inc.
18.08B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc.
18.05B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Realty Income Corporation
O
18.01B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
The J. M. Smucker Company
17.94B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
The Clorox Company
17.90B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Vulcan Materials Company
16.46B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Expedia Inc.
16.28B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Equifax Inc.
15.74B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Genuine Parts Company
15.71B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
ULTA Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance, Inc.
15.66B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
TransDigm Group Incorporated
14.29B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Verisk Analytics, Inc.
14.03B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings
13.85B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Universal Health Services Inc.
13.31B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Markel Corp.
13.24B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Citrix Systems, Inc.
12.96B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
CMS Energy Corp.
12.70B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Cimarex Energy Co.
11.23B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Nasdaq, Inc.
10.84B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Lululemon Athletica Inc.
10.51B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Total System Services, Inc.
9.92B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc.
9.55B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
VeriSign, Inc.
9.29B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Waste Connections Inc.
8.99B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
NiSource Inc.
8.40B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Sabre Corporation
7.70B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Torchmark Corporation
7.40B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
NVR, Inc.
7.13B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Jack Henry & Associates Inc.
6.93B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Chemical & Mining Co. of Chile Inc.
6.72B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Align Technology Inc.
6.65B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Steel Dynamics Inc.
6.49B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Weibo Corporation
6.41B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Zillow Group, Inc.
Z
6.39B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
The Ultimate Software Group, Inc.
6.23B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Tyler Technologies, Inc.
6.11B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Treehouse Foods, Inc.
5.88B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Copart, Inc.
5.45B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Erie Indemnity Company
5.11B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Nordson Corporation
4.90B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Berry Plastics Group, Inc.
4.87B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
HEICO Corporation
4.44B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Columbia Sportswear Company
4.14B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Charles River Laboratories International, Inc.
4.03B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
NICE Ltd.
3.82B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Universal Display Corp.
3.31B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Ubiquiti Networks, Inc.
3.27B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
B&G Foods Inc.
3.04B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Healthcare Services Group Inc.
2.97B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Ellie Mae, Inc.
2.84B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Proofpoint, Inc.
2.82B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Jack in the Box Inc.
2.81B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Paycom Software, Inc.
2.73B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Worthington Industries, Inc.
2.69B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
EnerSys
2.67B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Papa John's International Inc.
2.55B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Drew Industries Incorporated
2.17B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Pegasystems Inc.
2.09B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
AMN Healthcare Services Inc.
2.05B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Granite Construction Incorporated
1.88B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Mueller Water Products, Inc.
1.87B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc.
1.87B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
CyberArk Software, Ltd.
1.74B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
American States Water Company
1.59B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
NIC Inc.
1.50B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
TASER International Inc.
1.44B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Callidus Software Inc.
1.16B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Green Dot Corporation
1.14B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Standex International Corporation
1.08B
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Farmer Brothers Co.
519.91M
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
The York Water Company
397.02M
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Organovo Holdings, Inc.
358.48M