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%

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%

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%