One Year Portfolio Performance Update

Now that the subscriber newsletter is available on a free trial basis, I no longer see the need to detail some of the content that is available in the newsletter. The format is essentially unchanged from the beginning of the year, but since I have had several requests to provide quarterly updates of the performance of the VIX and More model portfolios, I will use this space to do just that.

Technically, the first quarter does not end for one more day, but since today is the one year anniversary of the launch of the newsletter, I thought it would be an ideal time to update the portfolio performance data.

The graphic below shows the 2008 and 2009 performance data for the three VIX and More portfolios. These are long-only portfolios of individual stocks that do not invest in ETFs or options and are rebalanced only on weekends. I call the top two portfolios Focus portfolios because each portfolio is limited to only five stocks. The Focus Growth 2 Model Portfolio was launched on August 31, 2008 and utilizes the S&P 500 index as a benchmark. The Focus Growth 2 portfolio was actually beating the benchmark until last week, when the top holding, DRDGOLD (DROOY), suffered a sharp decline.

The second Focus portfolio, Focus Foreign Growth, has been a standout performer, particularly in 2009. Launched on March 30, 2008 in the initial newsletter, this portfolio has been heavily invested in China in recent weeks, where top holding Shanda Interactive Entertainment (SNDA) has helped propel the portfolio to an 8.8% advantage over the benchmark EAFE (Europe, Australasia and the Far East) Index ETF (EFA).

The big success story has been what I call the Stock of the Week ‘Sequential Portfolio,’ whose name reflects the fact that the ‘portfolio’ consists of only one stock. Each selection is retained in the portfolio for one week only and is automatically replaced the following week, regardless of performance. Also launched on March 30, 2008 in the initial newsletter, the SOTW has gained a remarkable 101.6% during a period in which the benchmark S&P 500 index has declined more than 41%. Some of the top performers in the SOTW have been JDAS (+18.5%), WTI (+15.5%), MAXY (+14.5%), CCOI (+12.3%) and SQM (+11.0).

For those who may be interested, I will update the EVALS performance data tomorrow after the close and then update both these three portfolios and EVALS at the end of each subsequent quarter going forward.