2012 Stock Picks

[james7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelB Hi james7. According to iShares, this ETF paid $0.915 since its inception in 03/11 and made two distributions in December, one for $0.01, so that was probably some additional income. Feel free to stop by and introduce yourself here Hi, I am... - Early Retirement & Financial Independence Community

Sorry, I apologize if my information is wrong. I got my stats at Marketwatch.com. I have used many other websites for quotes and I find that Marketwatch is most accurate, but it seems that funds are a whole different ball game when it comes to providing dividend and yield information. I guess that is why sites such as www.finance.yahoo.com will give no dividend or yield information for many funds; better to give no info than to be misinterpreted.

[utrecht]

I like AAPL, PM, HD, FAST, MA and GWW

[Hamlet]

Fastenal has become my largest holding (outside of index funds).

I am developing serious valuation concerns at these levels though. It's a great company, but at 40 times earnings I'm starting to think about trimming back my position some.

Quote:

Originally Posted by utrecht I like AAPL, PM, HD, FAST, MA and GWW

[caninelover]

I have (I have owned these for awhile and plan to hold them):
MCD
PG
VZ

I added a couple of days ago, betting that the financials won't have a terrible year like they did last year:
C
BAC

Am considering buying some NFLX here but haven't decided yet. May just watch it for awhile before I decide.

[utrecht]

Quote:

Originally Posted by utrecht I like AAPL, PM, HD, FAST, MA and GWW

1st quarter results for my picks:

AAPL...+48%
PM......+12.9%
HD......+19.7%
FAST...+24%
MA......+12.8%

AVG...+23.5%

SP500...+12.2%

I'd say I'm kicking some butt so far.....

[Surewhitey]

I've recently sold FDO and AMZN. Still holding NLY, T, EXC, CTL, GMCR and PGH.

We've sold the following in the past year... BMY, ABT, TGT, INTC, CMG, PNRA, TOT, PBI, NLY, DUK and CHK. Many of these were range trades made multiple times for quick 5-20% gains.

[SRyan]

Looking at a new portfolio allocation of: CAT(15%), CSX(15%), F(15%), KSS(15%), SI(15%), TOT(15%), and WPRT(10%).

[utrecht]

Quote:

Originally Posted by utrecht 1st quarter results for my picks: AAPL...+48% PM......+12.9% HD......+19.7% FAST...+24% MA......+12.8% AVG...+23.5% SP500...+12.2% I'd say I'm kicking some butt so far.....

Oops...I forgot to calculate GWW into my average returns. As of 3/30/12 GWW is +14.8% which brings my 6 stock portfolio to an avg return of 22%. BTW, this is not a real portfolio. Just my response to my top stock picks for 2012.

[urn2bfree]

Quote:

Originally Posted by utrecht 1st quarter results for my picks: AAPL...+48% PM......+12.9% HD......+19.7% FAST...+24% MA......+12.8% AVG...+23.5% SP500...+12.2% I'd say I'm kicking some butt so far.....

And if you sold now - after commissions and short term cap gains taxes - what would the return be?

[utrecht]

Quote:

Originally Posted by urn2bfree And if you sold now - after commissions and short term cap gains taxes - what would the return be?

Almost double what my return would be if I had bought an SP500 index fund and sold it now and subtracted my short term capital gains.

[urn2bfree]

Quote:

Originally Posted by utrecht Almost double what my return would be if I had bought an SP500 index fund and sold it now and subtracted my short term capital gains.

But the point is not about comparing to an index...the point is that looking at short term gains is meaningless unless you look at net returns less taxes and commissions.

[urn2bfree]

Also the cost of selling multiple stocks is higher than selling one index....and of course, just looking at the returns for one quarter is worth nothing if you don't sell now. It is all meaningless until you sell.

[utrecht]

Quote:

Originally Posted by urn2bfree But the point is not about comparing to an index...the point is that looking at short term gains is meaningless unless you look at net returns less taxes and commissions.

This is a thread about what stocks people like for 2012. Nothing more, nothing less. The stocks I picked are doing well so far. The only way to know they are doing well is to compare them to the overall market results.

If this were a real portfolio that I was talking about, the $5 stock commission I pay would not make any difference in a large portfolio.

[clifp]

Here is my Q1 performance for my picks.
My safe picks
ABT 9.0% + .9% dividend
KMI 20.14% +1% dividend

My speculative picks
RBCAA 4.4% + .67% dividend
AWX 93.2%

In case anybody is interested I think ABT is still modestly undervalued, KMI is fairly valued.
I think RBCAA is good buy they make a lot of money from refund anticipation loans (although they entered an agreement not to abuse them) so Q2 revenue will get a spike.

AWX is currently trading around 5 and I'll be selling at 8-10 and took some money off the table after I got a double.

My average is 32.3% (or a mere 300% on annualized basis LOL) but to be fair KMI, ABT positions are couple times larger than AWX and RBCCA.

[urn2bfree]

Corey Hart has three home runs and is on pace to hit 162 home runs this year!

[clifp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by urn2bfree Corey Hart has three home runs and is on pace to hit 162 home runs this year!

Yup and at the rate my portfolio is performing in a April I should be broke by July.

[obgyn65]

I have zero investment in stocks but if I wanted to invest I would put 50% in IT (i.e. Apple) and 50% in the financial sector.

[BUM]

The older I get the more I watch dividend payers. I'm mostly out of the market now but I still hold a bunch of PCRIX and NCT

[Coolius]

A bad week.

Fortunately, the majority of my portfolio is in Preferred Issues, so I took only about a 1.5% hit. Now at about 2% gain YTD - not a good performance.

Just sold a corporate bond for a little bit of Capital Gain, so am looking for a new home for the proceeds. Hoping to get a high-rated Preferred Stock yielding about 6.4%, but there are few around now.

[james7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BUM The older I get the more I watch dividend payers. I'm mostly out of the market now but I still hold a bunch of PCRIX and NCT

NCT??!! You really like to gamble don't you?