Holiday Portfolio: Digging In to Year-End

Not only should the portfolio serve as a forum for more in-depth discussion of investment decisions and company strategy, it should also serve to reinforce the importance of ongoing portfolio analysis. In addition, through occasional comments on the stocks in the RealMoney Columnist Conversation, it provides an opportunity to look at both short-term trading strategies and longer-term investment strategies with the same stocks.

This year's twist is the readers' selection. On New Year's Day, I asked you to review the stocks you routinely follow and send me your best idea for the portfolio. This year's reader's choice was Microsoft(MSFT Quote).

One thing this portfolio is not is a "swing for the fences" attempt to beat the markets hand over fist with a high-risk strategy. Rather, for more "core equity" forced investors, this portfolio is truly "buy and hold" with no way to exorcise a stock from the list during the year.

With that in mind, let's take a look at what has happened to date.

Drugged

This year, Pfizer was simply a wrong pick. However, it was wrong for interesting reasons. I continue to believe that Pfizer is a solid company with one of the premier pipelines of new pharma offerings and one of the top consumer over-the-counter lineups. However, this has little to do with the company and everything to do with the stock. Pfizer is a broken stock. As Jim Cramer said this week, Pfizer is in the "House of Pain, and there is no reason to buy or own a stock that goes down almost every day."

Don't get me wrong: Pfizer will live to play another day, and very patient investors are likely to be rewarded from current levels. However, until the investing environment for Big Pharma improves, Pfizer will be the the poster child for broken stocks. Nothing more, nothing less.