Holiday Portfolio: Lagging on Labor Day
09/01/08 - 08:57 AM EDT
Christopher Edmonds
Labor Day is a celebration of the traditional end of summer for most folks, but, for investors, it's simply a short reprieve from the daily labor of watching a churning market and trying to determine which way it will move on any given day.
To say that this has been a difficult market is an understatement. Concerns over the direction of the economy, the price of energy and the future of finance have dominated the investment landscape, causing individual company fundamentals to take a back seat to much larger concerns over liquidity and, in some cases, solvency of entire sectors. Moreover, with fall approaching, another exogenous variable creeps into the mix -- namely, the 2008 Presidential election. Talk of tax hikes, especially adjustments to the capital gains rate, is likely to impact market psychology with each new poll and pontification regarding the next resident at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. One constant in this market, however, is that, for every long weekend, you can count on a revisit of the TheStreet.com Holiday Portfolio. Like the broader market, the holiday portfolio has hit its share of bumps in recent weeks.Good, Bad or Ugly
The concept behind the holiday portfolio is simple: I select a group of five stocks that I believe bear watching over the next 12 months, and I follow them (regardless of their performance) throughout the year. I'll revisit the portfolio on each market holiday and, at times, make comments about the stocks in RealMoney's Columnist Conversation. The only way a stock is removed from the portfolio is if it merges with another company or ceases to trade on a major exchange.| Holiday 2008: Labor Day A Lot of Work Ahead in a Laborious Market |
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| Recent | 12/31/2007 | Change | Current | Current | ||
| Price | Price | Dividend | Yield | |||
| Advanced Micro Devices (AMD:NYSE) | $6.25 | $7.35 | -14.97% | -- | -- | |
| Altria (MO:NYSE)** | $21.04 | $22.20 | -5.23% | $1.16 | 5.51% | |
| Philip Morris International (PM:NYSE)*** | $53.92 | $49.40 | 9.15% | $1.84 | 3.41% | |
| Bank of America (BAC:NYSE) | $31.43 | $41.42 | -24.12% | $2.56 | 8.15% | |
| Cheniere Energy Partners (CQP:AMEX) | $10.21 | $15.80 | -35.38% | $1.70 | 16.65% | |
| Equity Residential Properties (EQR:NYSE) | $42.95 | $37.04 | 15.96% | $1.93 | 4.49% | |
| Unweighted Average | -10.92% | |||||
| Source: Company Reports, Bloomberg, TSC Research ** Represents Altria Absent the Philip Morris International Spin-off. Does not include Altria Dividend ***Philip Morris International Spun from Altria - Included Here for Comparison Sake |
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