One of the biggest challenges in investing in the stock market is picking the best stocks. In my book, “The Confident Investor” I teach my readers how to pick Good Companies. This page is designed to show the raw performance of these companies. It is not designed to show my personal portfolio, which may or may not exceed the performance stated here. Since I use the trading system described in my book, you can assume that I beat the performance recorded here.

I must caution you, I do not actually propose that you “buy and hold” any given stock, but rather you should “buy to hold” the stock. My investing technique teaches you to efficiently move your money to the stocks that are currently increasing in value the most. I use my Watch List for this work, these are Good Companies that I wait for great buying opportunities. This strategy is well described in my book, “The Confident Investor” and tends to be a very safe strategy in bear markets while typically still providing above market returns in a bull or flat market.

My Short Term Watch List are 15 companies that are hot right now. I select this list every quarter. I evenly divide a portion of my portfolio among these 15 companies. The next quarter, I add or delete companies as necessary and then re-balance the portfolio. This tends to be a more risky strategy because I don’t bail out on bad stock movement (at least until the end of the quarter). In a bull market or a flat market, these very well-run and high-performing companies tend to beat the general market by a significant margin.

BL-TCI-cover

You can purchase my book wherever books are sold such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Books A Million. It is available in paperback as well as e-book formats for Nook, Kindle, and iPad.

WATCH LIST STOCK RESULTS

 

Stock
Ticker
Company
name
Current
price
Year
ago
Year ago
change
Quarter
ago
Quarter ago
change
Month
ago
Month ago
change
Week
ago
Week ago
change
AAPL Apple Inc. $190.15 $188.81 0.71% $172.24 10.40% $199.94 -4.90% $175.07 8.61%
ABMD ABIOMED, Inc. $267.87 $409.77 -34.63% $314.21 -14.75% $261.94 2.26% $261.92 2.27%
ADBE Adobe Systems Incorporated $278.16 $251.21 10.73% $254.74 9.19% $275.79 0.86% $270.90 2.68%
ALGN Align Technology, Inc. $307.66 $346.67 -11.25% $230.84 33.28% $323.25 -4.82% $284.35 8.20%
ALXN Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $118.40 $118.33 0.06% $128.68 -7.99% $131.77 -10.15% $113.68 4.15%
AMAT Applied Materials, Inc. $41.51 $50.11 -17.16% $37.55 10.56% $40.73 1.92% $38.69 7.29%
AMN AMN Healthcare Services, Inc. $51.49 $56.45 -8.79% $46.26 11.31% $51.69 -0.39% $48.44 6.30%
AMZN Amazon.com, Inc. $1,804.03 $1,683.99 7.13% $1,620.80 11.30% $1,899.87 -5.04% $1,775.07 1.63%
ANET Arista Networks Inc $246.44 $273.75 -9.98% $274.55 -10.24% $267.43 -7.85% $244.59 0.76%
AVGO Broadcom Inc $274.87 $249.45 10.19% $261.81 4.99% $304.06 -9.60% $251.64 9.23%
BABA Alibaba Group Holding Ltd $154.23 $205.07 -24.79% $175.03 -11.88% $179.04 -13.86% $149.26 3.33%
BKNG Booking Holdings Inc $1,778.29 $2,136.54 -16.77% $1,715.82 3.64% $1,736.03 2.43% $1,656.22 7.37%
CBPO China Biologic Products Holdings Inc $88.70 $84.36 5.14% $82.83 7.09% $92.70 -4.31% $89.81 -1.24%
COHR Coherent, Inc. $119.66 $170.52 -29.83% $133.86 -10.61% $136.27 -12.19% $110.03 8.75%
CRUS Cirrus Logic, Inc. $40.71 $37.53 8.47% $40.07 1.60% $48.68 -16.37% $37.37 8.94%
CVGW Calavo Growers, Inc. $92.00 $84.23 9.23% $82.70 11.25% $95.77 -3.94% $87.45 5.20%
DPZ Domino’s Pizza, Inc. $287.00 $267.69 7.22% $249.86 14.86% $282.16 1.72% $279.50 2.68%
EA Electronic Arts Inc. $96.99 $137.87 -29.65% $98.36 -1.39% $93.32 3.93% $93.08 4.20%
FB Facebook, Inc. Common Stock $173.35 $189.10 -8.33% $169.60 2.21% $188.65 -8.11% $177.47 -2.32%
GOOGL Alphabet Inc Class A $1,068.37 $1,132.71 -5.68% $1,149.97 -7.10% $1,167.97 -8.53% $1,106.50 -3.45%
GTN Gray Television, Inc. $16.47 $11.40 44.47% $21.64 -23.89% $20.11 -18.10% $17.23 -4.41%
HZO MarineMax Inc $16.52 $24.65 -32.98% $18.50 -10.70% $16.51 0.06% $15.58 6.03%
ILMN Illumina, Inc. $335.49 $282.03 18.96% $294.53 13.91% $317.37 5.71% $306.91 9.31%
JAZZ Jazz Pharmaceuticals PLC $130.97 $176.79 -25.92% $132.52 -1.17% $139.88 -6.37% $125.55 4.32%
KNX Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc $30.17 $40.21 -24.97% $32.39 -6.85% $31.27 -3.52% $27.64 9.15%
LGIH LGI Homes Inc $74.43 $62.28 19.51% $58.03 28.26% $69.35 7.33% $68.20 9.13%
LRCX Lam Research Corporation $186.68 $184.22 1.34% $167.80 11.25% $198.63 -6.02% $174.61 6.91%
LULU Lululemon Athletica inc. $172.49 $122.02 41.36% $142.51 21.04% $173.71 -0.70% $165.59 4.17%
MA Mastercard Inc $265.80 $198.94 33.61% $221.56 19.97% $245.31 8.35% $251.49 5.69%
MEI Methode Electronics Inc. $25.57 $41.15 -37.86% $29.53 -13.41% $28.46 -10.15% $24.63 3.82%
MKSI MKS Instruments, Inc. $73.76 $102.13 -27.78% $78.24 -5.72% $84.50 -12.71% $71.46 3.22%
MKTX MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $334.61 $213.10 57.02% $225.26 48.54% $278.00 20.36% $297.82 12.35%
MTZ MasTec, Inc. $49.65 $50.30 -1.29% $46.02 7.89% $51.06 -2.76% $46.49 6.80%
MU Micron Technology, Inc. $33.99 $61.39 -44.63% $38.65 -12.06% $39.27 -13.45% $32.61 4.23%
NFLX Netflix, Inc. $360.87 $360.57 0.08% $349.60 3.22% $362.75 -0.52% $343.28 5.12%
NSP Insperity Inc $119.43 $96.56 23.69% $120.98 -1.28% $116.67 2.37% $113.61 5.12%
NVDA NVIDIA Corporation $145.50 $261.30 -44.32% $150.47 -3.30% $169.99 -14.41% $135.46 7.41%
NXST Nexstar Media Group Inc $98.47 $69.27 42.15% $102.57 -4.00% $110.41 -10.81% $100.15 -1.68%
PATK Patrick Industries, Inc. $43.83 $62.00 -29.31% $45.11 -2.84% $47.05 -6.84% $40.79 7.45%
PYPL Paypal Holdings Inc $114.02 $84.34 35.19% $95.69 19.16% $109.73 3.91% $109.75 3.89%
REGN Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc $306.72 $308.10 -0.45% $402.64 -23.82% $324.17 -5.38% $301.72 1.66%
SBUX Starbucks Corporation $82.48 $55.36 48.99% $69.04 19.46% $77.90 5.88% $76.06 8.44%
STZ Constellation Brands, Inc. Class A $188.40 $223.87 -15.84% $165.57 13.79% $201.89 -6.68% $176.45 6.77%
SUI Sun Communities Inc $129.78 $94.25 37.70% $115.25 12.61% $122.06 6.32% $126.27 2.78%
SWKS Skyworks Solutions Inc $70.15 $97.88 -28.33% $79.68 -11.97% $83.18 -15.66% $66.63 5.28%
TGS Transportadora de Gas del Sur SA (ADR) $13.16 $14.99 -12.21% $12.62 4.25% $11.56 13.84% $13.09 0.53%
THRM Gentherm Inc $39.75 $37.15 7.00% $38.43 3.43% $40.74 -2.43% $37.38 6.34%
TMUS T-Mobile Us Inc $77.03 $57.80 33.27% $70.65 9.03% $74.25 3.74% $73.44 4.89%
TNET TriNet Group Inc $65.05 $55.92 16.33% $59.76 8.85% $62.70 3.75% $63.38 2.63%
ULTA Ulta Beauty Inc $338.16 $253.06 33.63% $306.39 10.37% $348.05 -2.84% $333.38 1.43%
UNH UnitedHealth Group Inc $246.77 $247.24 -0.19% $237.29 4.00% $237.97 3.70% $241.80 2.06%
V Visa Inc $170.05 $133.87 27.03% $147.13 15.58% $159.57 6.57% $161.33 5.41%
WCG WellCare Health Plans, Inc. $288.33 $233.99 23.22% $239.71 20.28% $266.29 8.28% $276.19 4.40%

Over the last year, my Watch List returned -2.16%
Over the last quarter, my Watch List returned 4.92%
Over the last month, my Watch List returned -2.20%
Over the last week, my Watch List returned 3.92%

 

SHORT TERM WATCH LIST STOCK RESULTS

 

Stock
Ticker
Company
name
Current
price
Year
ago
Year ago
change
Quarter
ago
Quarter ago
change
Month
ago
Month ago
change
Week
ago
Week ago
change
ADBE Adobe Systems Incorporated $278.16 $251.21 10.73% $254.74 9.19% $275.79 0.86% $270.90 2.68%
ALGN Align Technology, Inc. $307.66 $346.67 -11.25% $230.84 33.28% $323.25 -4.82% $284.35 8.20%
AMZN Amazon.com, Inc. $1,804.03 $1,683.99 7.13% $1,620.80 11.30% $1,899.87 -5.04% $1,775.07 1.63%
ANET Arista Networks Inc $246.44 $273.75 -9.98% $274.55 -10.24% $267.43 -7.85% $244.59 0.76%
AVGO Broadcom Inc $274.87 $249.45 10.19% $261.81 4.99% $304.06 -9.60% $251.64 9.23%
GTN Gray Television, Inc. $16.47 $11.40 44.47% $21.64 -23.89% $20.11 -18.10% $17.23 -4.41%
ILMN Illumina, Inc. $335.49 $282.03 18.96% $294.53 13.91% $317.37 5.71% $306.91 9.31%
LULU Lululemon Athletica inc. $172.49 $122.02 41.36% $142.51 21.04% $173.71 -0.70% $165.59 4.17%
MA Mastercard Inc $265.80 $198.94 33.61% $221.56 19.97% $245.31 8.35% $251.49 5.69%
MKTX MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $334.61 $213.10 57.02% $225.26 48.54% $278.00 20.36% $297.82 12.35%
NSP Insperity Inc $119.43 $96.56 23.69% $120.98 -1.28% $116.67 2.37% $113.61 5.12%
NXST Nexstar Media Group Inc $98.47 $69.27 42.15% $102.57 -4.00% $110.41 -10.81% $100.15 -1.68%
PYPL Paypal Holdings Inc $114.02 $84.34 35.19% $95.69 19.16% $109.73 3.91% $109.75 3.89%
TNET TriNet Group Inc $65.05 $55.92 16.33% $59.76 8.85% $62.70 3.75% $63.38 2.63%
ULTA Ulta Beauty Inc $338.16 $253.06 33.63% $306.39 10.37% $348.05 -2.84% $333.38 1.43%

Over the last year, my Short Term Watch List returned 13.82%
Over the last quarter, my Short Term Watch List returned 12.70%
Over the last month, my Short Term Watch List returned -1.68%
Over the last week, my Short Term Watch List returned 4.04%

Short Term List returned 14%
High growth stock: MarketAxess Holdings Inc. ($MKTX) at 57%
Total Execution Time: 0.77072501182556 Sec

 

Company name MarketAxess Holdings Inc.
Stock ticker MKTX
Live stock price [stckqut]MKTX[/stckqut]
P/E compared to competitors Fair

MANAGEMENT EXECUTION

Employee productivity Good
Sales growth Good
EPS growth Good
P/E growth Poor
EBIT growth Good

ANALYSIS

Confident Investor Rating Good
Target stock price (TWCA growth scenario) $517.1
Target stock price (averages with growth) $445.77
Target stock price (averages with no growth) $445.77
Target stock price (manual assumptions) $434.27

The following company description is from Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/company-profile/mktx

MarketAxess Holdings Inc., incorporated on April 11, 2000, operates an electronic trading platform that enables fixed-income market participants to trade corporate bonds and other types of fixed-income instruments using its trading technology. Institutional investor and broker-dealer firms are the users of its trading platform, accessing global liquidity in the United States corporate bonds, emerging markets and high-yield bonds, European bonds, the United States agency bonds, municipal bonds, credit default swaps and other fixed-income securities. Through its Open Trading protocols, the Company executes trades in certain bonds between and among institutional investor and broker-dealer clients in an all-to-all trading environment on a matched principal basis. The Company also offers trading-related products and services, including market data to assist clients with trading decisions; connectivity solutions that facilitate straight-through processing; technology services to optimize trading environments, and execution services for exchange-traded fund managers and other clients. Through its Trax division, the Company also offers a range of pre- and post-trade services, including trade matching, regulatory transaction reporting, and market and reference data across a range of fixed-income and other products.

Confident Investor comments: At this price and at this time, I think that a Confident Investor can confidently invest in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. as long as the indicators that I describe in my book The Confident Investor are favorable.

If you would like to understand how to evaluate companies like I do on this site, please read my book, The Confident Investor. You can review the best companies that I have found (and I probably invest my own money in most of these companies) in my Watch List.

How was this analysis of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. calculated?

For owners of my book, “The Confident Investor” I offer the following analysis (you must be logged in to this site as a book owner in order to see the following analysis). If you have registered and cannot see the balance of this article, make sure you are logged in and refresh your browser.
[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level1)]

In order to assist you in using the techniques of this book, the values that I used when calculating the Manual pricing above were:

  • Stock price at the time of the calculation: $334.61
  • Growth: 0.16
  • Current EPS (TTM): $4.69
  • P/E: 71
  • Future EPS Calc: $9.85
  • Future Stock Price Calc: $699.39
  • Target stock price: $434.26

[/s2If]
I hope that this makes you a Confident Investor.

 

Company name MKS Instruments, Inc.
Stock ticker MKSI
Live stock price [stckqut]MKSI[/stckqut]
P/E compared to competitors Good

MANAGEMENT EXECUTION

Employee productivity Poor
Sales growth Good
EPS growth Good
P/E growth Poor
EBIT growth Good

ANALYSIS

Confident Investor Rating Good
Target stock price (TWCA growth scenario) $113.89
Target stock price (averages with growth) $82.07
Target stock price (averages with no growth) $82.07
Target stock price (manual assumptions) $88.65

The following company description is from Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/company-profile/mksi

MKS Instruments, Inc., incorporated on June 14, 1961, is a global provider of instruments, subsystems and process control solutions that measures, controls, powers, delivers, monitors and analyzes critical parameters of advanced manufacturing processes. The Company operates through two segments, including the Vacuum & Analysis segment and the Light & Motion segment. The Vacuum & Analysis segment provides a range of instruments, components, subsystems and software, which are derived from its core competencies in pressure measurement and control, flow measurement and control, gas and vapor delivery, gas composition analysis, residual gas analysis, leak detection, control and information technology, ozone generation and delivery, radio frequency (RF) and direct current (DC) power, reactive gas generation and vacuum technology. The Light & Motion segment provides a range of instruments, components and subsystems, which are derived from its core competencies in lasers, photonics and optics.

Confident Investor comments: At this price and at this time, I think that a Confident Investor can confidently invest in MKS Instruments, Inc. as long as the indicators that I describe in my book The Confident Investor are favorable.

If you would like to understand how to evaluate companies like I do on this site, please read my book, The Confident Investor. You can review the best companies that I have found (and I probably invest my own money in most of these companies) in my Watch List.

How was this analysis of MKS Instruments, Inc. calculated?

For owners of my book, “The Confident Investor” I offer the following analysis (you must be logged in to this site as a book owner in order to see the following analysis). If you have registered and cannot see the balance of this article, make sure you are logged in and refresh your browser.
[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level1)]

In order to assist you in using the techniques of this book, the values that I used when calculating the Manual pricing above were:

  • Stock price at the time of the calculation: $73.76
  • Growth: 0.15
  • Current EPS (TTM): $5.46
  • P/E: 13
  • Future EPS Calc: $10.98
  • Future Stock Price Calc: $142.76
  • Target stock price: $88.64

[/s2If]
I hope that this makes you a Confident Investor.

 

Company name Methode Electronics Inc.
Stock ticker MEI
Live stock price [stckqut]MEI[/stckqut]
P/E compared to competitors Good

MANAGEMENT EXECUTION

Employee productivity Poor
Sales growth Fair
EPS growth Poor
P/E growth Poor
EBIT growth Good

ANALYSIS

Confident Investor Rating Fair
Target stock price (TWCA growth scenario) $18.41
Target stock price (averages with growth) $13.51
Target stock price (averages with no growth) $13.51
Target stock price (manual assumptions) $19.24

The following company description is from Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/company-profile/mei

Methode Electronics, Inc. (Methode), incorporated on April 27, 1966, is a manufacturer of component and subsystem devices. The Company designs, manufactures and markets devices employing electrical, radio remote control, electronic, wireless and sensing technologies. The Company operates through segments, including Automotive, Interface, Power Products and Other. The Company has manufacturing, design and testing facilities in China, Egypt, Germany, India, Italy, Lebanon, Malta, Mexico, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Company’s components are found in end markets of the aerospace, appliance, automotive, battery storage, construction, consumer and industrial equipment, communications (including information processing and storage, medical device, networking equipment, wireless and terrestrial voice/data systems), rail and other transportation industries.

Confident Investor comments: At this time, I think that a Confident Investor can cautiously invest in Methode Electronics Inc. as long as the price is correct and the indicators that I describe in my book The Confident Investor are favorable. Most of the fundamentals of this company are good but there are some concerns. I am going to take Methode Electronics off of my Watch List.

If you would like to understand how to evaluate companies like I do on this site, please read my book, The Confident Investor. You can review the best companies that I have found (and I probably invest my own money in most of these companies) in my Watch List.

How was this analysis of Methode Electronics Inc. calculated?

For owners of my book, “The Confident Investor” I offer the following analysis (you must be logged in to this site as a book owner in order to see the following analysis). If you have registered and cannot see the balance of this article, make sure you are logged in and refresh your browser.
[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level1)]

In order to assist you in using the techniques of this book, the values that I used when calculating the Manual pricing above were:

  • Stock price at the time of the calculation: $25.57
  • Growth: 0.03
  • Current EPS (TTM): $2.97
  • P/E: 9
  • Future EPS Calc: $3.44
  • Future Stock Price Calc: $30.98
  • Target stock price: $19.24

[/s2If]
I hope that this makes you a Confident Investor.

 

Company name Mastercard Inc
Stock ticker MA
Live stock price [stckqut]MA[/stckqut]
P/E compared to competitors Good

MANAGEMENT EXECUTION

Employee productivity Good
Sales growth Good
EPS growth Good
P/E growth Poor
EBIT growth Fair

ANALYSIS

Confident Investor Rating Good
Target stock price (TWCA growth scenario) $410.92
Target stock price (averages with growth) $397.73
Target stock price (averages with no growth) $397.73
Target stock price (manual assumptions) $407.21

The following company description is from Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/company-profile/ma

MasterCard Incorporated, incorporated on May 9, 2001, is a technology company that connects consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses across the world, enabling them to use electronic forms of payment. The Company operates through Payment Solutions segment. The Company allows user to make payments by creating a range of payment solutions and services using its brands, which include MasterCard, Maestro and Cirrus.

Confident Investor comments: At this price and at this time, I think that a Confident Investor can confidently invest in Mastercard Inc as long as the indicators that I describe in my book The Confident Investor are favorable.

If you would like to understand how to evaluate companies like I do on this site, please read my book, The Confident Investor. You can review the best companies that I have found (and I probably invest my own money in most of these companies) in my Watch List.

How was this analysis of Mastercard Inc calculated?

For owners of my book, “The Confident Investor” I offer the following analysis (you must be logged in to this site as a book owner in order to see the following analysis). If you have registered and cannot see the balance of this article, make sure you are logged in and refresh your browser.
[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level1)]

In order to assist you in using the techniques of this book, the values that I used when calculating the Manual pricing above were:

  • Stock price at the time of the calculation: $265.8
  • Growth: 0.2
  • Current EPS (TTM): $5.99
  • P/E: 44
  • Future EPS Calc: $14.9
  • Future Stock Price Calc: $655.82
  • Target stock price: $407.21

[/s2If]
I hope that this makes you a Confident Investor.