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Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

3 Buy-Now Stocks From the "World's Greatest Retirement Portfolio"

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By Brian Stoffel, The Motley Fool

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A full 23 months ago, I started identifying 10 companies that I would be putting $40,000 of my own retirement money behind. This was, has been, and will continue to be my way of helping the world to invest better.

Since then, that sum of money has grown to $50,960 — a 27.4% increase and $1,320 better than if I had just invested the money in the S&P 500.

Every month, I look over these stocks to see which three are tempting. I call these my “Buy Now” stocks because I think they’re pretty good deals. Read the chart below to see how the whole portfolio has performed, check out my best buys, and at the end I’ll offer up access to a special premium report on one of the 10 stocks that’s been floundering lately.

Company

Publication Date

Change

Vs. S&P 500

Google 

6/26/11

64.4%

38

Pricesmart 

6/28/11

56.7%

31

Baidu *

9/15/12

-20.8%

(44)

Intuitive Surgical

7/25/11

22.4%

1

National Oilwell Varco

7/28/11

-11.8%

(37)

Coca-Cola 

6/21/11

28.1%

3

Whole Foods

7/5/11

40.3%

19

Amazon 

7/12/11

26.1%

3

Apple 

6/30/11

33.8%

11

Johnson & Johnson 

8/1/11

34.7%

8
       

Source: Fool.com. All numbers accurate as of market close March 31, 2013. *Returns are for position in ATVI held from July 15, 2011, to Sept. 9, 2012, and transferred over to BIDU on Sept. 15, 2012.

Baidu
First on my list of best buys is a company that’s been a mainstay on here: Chinese search engine giant Baidu. To be honest, anyone following this portfolio is probably tired of hearing my reasoning for thinking Baidu is such a great stock at this price, so — at the risk of exposing myself to big-time confirmation bias — here’s a sampling of other Fool analysts who have been singling the stock out.

  • Just this week, Fool Daniel Sparks called Baidu out as one of two stocks to buy this month, saying: “Baidu’s substantial investments in research and infrastructure promise to create more opportunities.” 
  • Fool Dan Caplinger called Baidu his one stock to buy in April, reminding investors: “Baidu has expansion plans beyond China, and its prospects for picking up market share in other lucrative emerging Internet markets look bright.” 
  • And technology guru Andrew Tonner called Baidu the best value in all of technology, saying: “Every so often the stock market does investors a real favor and that’s the case with Baidu.”  

I don’t point these three out to say, “See? I’m right!” Rather, as I myself am running out of new reasons to say the stock‘s a buy, I’m offering some other opinions, all voiced within the past two weeks.

National Oilwell Varco
In a perfect world, we’d be able to use the energy the sun gives us to meet our wants — that’s the way it worked …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

The "World's Greatest Retirement Portfolio" Continues to Outperform

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By Brian Stoffel, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

It’s been almost 23 months since I introduced the World’s Greatest Retirement Portfolio to Foolish readers. This was, has been, and will continue to be my way of helping the world to invest better. Putting my money where my mouth is, I pledged to put at least $4,000 behind each stock and attempt to hold each one for at least three years — though I’ve already broken that promise. 

Since I began, the market has returned 24.1%, which is pretty darn good by historical measures. Though this portfolio has been outperforming the market by double digits for well over a year now, it is currently ahead by just 3.3 percentage points.

Read below to see why the margin between the two is narrowing, and at the end, I’ll offer up access to a special premium report on one of these 10 companies.

Company

Publication Date

Change

Vs. S&P 500

Google 

6/26/11

64.4%

38

PriceSmart

6/28/11

56.7%

31

Baidu 

9/15/12

(20.8%)

(44)

Intuitive Surgical

7/25/11

22.4%

1

National Oilwell Varco 

7/28/11

(11.8%)

(37)

Coca-Cola

6/21/11

28.1%

3

Whole Foods 

7/5/11

40.3%

19

Amazon.com 

7/12/11

26.1%

3

Apple 

6/30/11

33.8%

11

Johnson & Johnson

8/1/11

34.7%

8
       

Source: Fool.com. All numbers accurate as of market close March 31, 2013. *Returns are for position in ATVI held from July 15, 2011, to Sept. 9, 2012, and transferred over to BIDU on Sept. 15, 2012.

One company that can’t catch a break
More or less, the companies in this portfolio didn’t perform terribly during the month of March, they just weren’t able to keep pace with the S&P 500, which climbed over 3% during the month. That wasn’t the case, however, for Intuitive Surgical , maker of the da Vinci surgical robot.

I’ve covered the stock’s dive already, but there are three simple events that caused the stock to drop. First, the Journal of the American Medical Association questioned the need for robotic hysterectomies. Second, the FDA announced it was investigating a rise in the company’s incidents reports. Finally, the president of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists publicly echoed the concerns raised in the JAMA article.

Three companies having a good month
Even though the portfolio as a whole isn’t leading the market by quite as much, three stocks had a relatively good March.

Shares of Latin American club wholesaler PriceSmart  were up 5%. This came on the heels of the announcement that the company’s net sales increased 7.8% during the month of February, which included an impressive 8.9% increase in same-store sales. PriceSmart also announced it has acquired land in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, to open up its third store in the country. 

The total return from my investments in Coca-Cola and Johnson & Johnson also increased markedly during March. Part of this was due to the fact that Coke issued its quarterly dividend …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance