Thursday, January 01, 2015

IBD Top 50 Stocks Strategy – 2014 Final!

Here is the IBD 50 stocks investing strategies vs. $SPY. We have a winner!  The SP500 beat all of the IBD 50 stock investing strategies.  I long suspected that chasing the hot stocks could lead to underperformance over time.  This analysis is from 2/8/2014 through  12/31/2014, and is too small of a sample size to base a long term decision on.  But it is interesting.  I will continue to monitor for 2015.

image 2014 is over, and the SP500 beat the IBD 50 investing strategies.   For the week, there were 9 stocks up and 41 stocks down for the IBD 50.

AFSI led the IBD 50, up 3.59% for the week.  The biggest loser for the IBD 50 was AMBA, down 9.33%.

The IBD 50 portfolios total return since 2/8/2014 underperformed the SP500.  None of the strategies are beat the simple SP500.

The portfolio is sold at the closing price Friday night, and rebalanced into the make-up of the IBD top 50.  Dividends are excluded from total returns.

Trading costs $1,960.15.

image The IBD monthly strategy also underperformed  the SP500.

The more diversified portfolios were closer to the return of the SP500.

The IBD 50 has 17 gainers and 33 losers in December.

CMPR is the top performer for the IBD 50, returning 11.55%.  The weakest stock in the IBD 50 is ATHM, losing 15.87%.

Trading costs $189.05

I will assume a $9.95 trading cost to sell last week’s or last month’s portfolio, and $9.95 to buy the new weekly or monthly portfolio.  (Imagine the costs of doing this with individual stocks, compared to using Motif.  Note that Motif limits the size of portfolios to 30 stocks).

The Top 25 holdings are listed at at Motif Investing.  (A check as of 3/31/2014 shows that the ability to view all holdings is limited to Motif members and IBD subscribers).

None of the above strategies are a recommendation to buy or sell stocks.  These are model portfolios constructed for entertainment only.

This is the IBD portfolio performance since 2/8/2014.  Each portfolio begins with $10,000 and then invests an equal amount in the top 5, 10, 25 and 50 IBD stocks at the closing prices on Friday for the weekly model, and at the closing prices on the last trading day of the month for the monthly model.  Since IBD changes the make up of their top stocks daily, this will only rebalance on Fridays or end of month.  It is assumed that trading costs are $9.95 to “buy” a model portfolio, and $9.95 to “sell” a model portfolio.  Thus, each weekly or monthly rebalance out of the previous portfolio and into the new portfolio costs $19.90.  Daily changes in the IBD 50 or stock rankings are not considered.  Changes in IBD’s overall market views are not considered.  Stop loss orders or other market timing strategies are not considered.  The value for SPY is based on buying 2/8/2014.

Based on a blog entry from Paladin Money.  See Investors Business Daily for more information on the IBD 50.  See Motif Investing for their IBD Top 25 portfolio, and the ability to construct your own portfolio of stocks.

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