Stocks Of The Month: NLY, ISRG

I was able to choose two stocks this month, because one that I had owned has some potentially serious issues. The cliffsnotes story on Great Northern Iron (GNI) is that it is a trust which will dissolve in 2015, and the sum of its projected dividend payments and final payout per share, from the present until that time, is significantly less than the current price of the stock. This is openly disclosed in the trust's 10-K filings, and the increasing knowledge of its circumstances has resulted in some recent large losses. I don't feel too terribly bad for owning the stock, as I sold for a slight capital gain and collected a few dividends along the way. But I do have to double-guess myself when I can wonder aloud why it was behaving strangely.

This month's stocks are ones I already own, and wanted to add more...one a dividend stock, and one a growth stock...

Annaly Capital Management (NLY)

Positives:

Huge profit and operating margins (86% and 88% respectively).

+11% spread between ROE and ROA.

Positive operating cash flow ($11B).

Trailing P/E of 8, forward P/E of 7.

Whopping 14.4% dividend yield.

Negatives:

Huge debt ($67B)...of course, debt is their business.

Low insider holding (0.44%).

Intuitive Surgical (ISRG)

Positives:

Super-cool surgical robots.

Solid revenue (21%) and earnings (56%) growth.

No debt.

Positive cash flow.

Negatives:

Low insider ownership (1.2%).

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

Apple (AAPL) 11.71%

Southern Copper (SCCO) 8.58%

Baidu (BIDU) 7.85%

Google (GOOG) 6.39%

Dominion Resources Black Warrior Trust (DOM) 5.62%

Annaly Capital Management (NLY) 5.37%

Ace Limited (ACE) 4.52%

Apache (APA) 4.26%

Hugoton Royalty Trust (HGT) 3.87%

BP Prudhoe Bay Royalty Trust (BPT) 3.80%

Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) 3.44%

Blackstone (BX) 3.33%

Cherokee (CHKE) 3.18%

American Software (AMSWA) 3.18%

Prospect Capital (PSEC) 2.91%

The Distressed (C, ERTS, ESI, JSDA, LZB, MMI, MSI, NPD, PCS, RVR, SKX, STEC, WFC) 2.85%

Vodafone (VOD) 2.70%

DuPont (DD) 2.64%

Frontline (FRO) 2.60%

McDonald's (MCD) 2.31%

Intel (INTC) 2.26%

BreitBurn Energy Partners (BBEP) 2.26%

Nokia (NOK) 1.94%

F5 Networks (FFIV) 1.84%