What a great year 2017 turned out to be! And even tho only a week into 2018, things have not dropped off a bit.
Since my portfolio changes are relatively minimal compared to some here, I have not been posting every month, but plan on at least twice a year if not quarterly.
I don’t have as concentrated a portfolio either, but will post my top 15 and throw in a couple others that are relevant to this board, but I currently hold in smaller positions outside my top 12.
My 2017 return was 34.8%! Thank you to all on this board for helping me reach that, but more thanks for the knowledge, info, and ideas to know I can achieve that and more moving forward. I realize there will be down year(s) ahead. Maybe even this year. But I think results achieved by some on this board have proven just how successful we can be individually and collectively.
My top positions at end of 2017 were:
XXX 8.5%
WBA 6.1%
NVDA 5.5%
SHOP 5.1%
AMZN 4.2%
ANET 4.2%
AAPL 3.9%
PCLN 3.9%
ATVI 3.6%
FB 3.6%
SBUX 3.3%
GOOGL 3.1%
DIS 3.1%
MELI 2.8%
SQ 2.4%
I thought it would be interested to compare that to my top positions by cost basis. Basically looking at how much of my own $ went into a position vs how much they have grown. Some, like NVDA, I bought years ago and was to slow, added too little on its way up. I think I learned from that as I have made sure not to make same mistake with others like SHOP, ANET, SQ.
Here are the top positions with what % of portfolio is my cost basis. Note, the cost basis is for all my shares. As I am regularly adding $ to the portfolio, I try to by/add to positions so for SHOP as an example, I first bought in 2016 at around $38/share. Subsequent purchases thru 2017 at $60, $80 and a bunch as it was bouncing around between the $90 to low $100 range.
SHOP 3.6%
PCLN 3.0%
SBUX 2.9%
DIS 2.8%
ANET 2.6%
SQ 2.3%
MIDD 2.0%
GOOGL 2.0%
CELG 1.8%
FB 1.8%
MELI 1.6%
AMZN 1.6%
AAPL 1.6%
AYX 1.5%
ATVI 1.5%
You can see that most of my top positions were ones that have grown into it. I see that as good and bad.
Nice to have positions growing, but I need to be better about adding to winners. I have made that effort with SHOP, ANET, SQ and most recently my early position in AYX. These companies have been covered at depth here, so not sure I can bring much more to the board on them specifically.
My top companies is a pretty good representation of my approach to building portfolio. I tend to think of groups of stocks or a “basket” of positions making up portions of my portfolio. Since I am still building it, with regular $ going in, I have taken the approach of several “baskets” of stocks that each have their own strengths and weaknesses. For example, I am working on a basket position of dividend paying stocks. I don’t expect them to increase at the rate of some of my others, but they have their place in my portfolio. At least for now and the forseeable future.
With that said, I am still trying to get my portfolio a little more concentrated. Currently it is at 45
companies. Like I said, I view several of them as a group making up a position, but there is definitely room for trimming. An average position size would be 2.2%. With that in mind, my top 15 has several large to “over-sized” positions. I am very comfortable with where they are in relation to each other. the XXX position, my current employer, is all stock bonuses that are coming due this year and next. the stock did well in 2017, but I will be selling all that mature in Feb, about 50% of the position. I will use that to add some to winners and build my cash position.
Others that I have in smaller amounts in interest of this board are LGIH - trimmed to buy AYX at end of 2017, but hanging on to the rest. BOFI and SKX. Still hanging on to these two and both finished up the year strong. Also a still hold a small <1% position in SWKS that will probably be the first to be used to add to probably ANET or SQ.
AMZN is my biggest dilemma. I plan on trimming, but it just keeps going strong, so I just keep holding on to it, but not adding anymore.
Appreciate any thoughts, feedback or ideas. And yes Bear - you do not see CMG in there anymore!!!
Thanks to all for helping make 2017 such a great year for me and my portfolio!
Best,
Kevin