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. $184.92 $144.03 28.39% $164.30 12.55% $188.15 -1.72% $188.84 -2.08%
ABMD ABIOMED, Inc. $427.29 $144.49 195.72% $283.99 50.46% $394.46 8.32% $443.58 -3.67%
ADBE Adobe Systems Incorporated $243.63 $145.41 67.55% $215.02 13.31% $245.15 -0.62% $251.82 -3.25%
ADS Alliance Data Systems Corporation $236.62 $258.73 -8.54% $214.42 10.35% $213.90 10.62% $232.33 1.85%
ALGN Align Technology, Inc. $353.27 $153.50 130.14% $250.92 40.79% $317.04 11.43% $362.66 -2.59%
ALXN Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $127.57 $126.07 1.19% $110.79 15.15% $117.14 8.90% $121.52 4.98%
AMAT Applied Materials, Inc. $47.96 $43.66 9.84% $55.16 -13.05% $50.77 -5.53% $49.31 -2.74%
AMZN Amazon.com, Inc. $1,715.67 $1,003.74 70.93% $1,495.56 14.72% $1,603.07 7.02% $1,715.97 -0.02%
ANET Arista Networks Inc $272.65 $161.62 68.70% $264.21 3.19% $252.61 7.93% $286.62 -4.87%
BABA Alibaba Group Holding Ltd $202.01 $143.01 41.26% $181.20 11.48% $197.37 2.35% $208.00 -2.88%
BKNG Booking Holdings $2,102.85 $1,874.28 12.20% $2,087.01 0.76% $2,088.28 0.70% $2,141.45 -1.80%
CBPO China Biologic Products Holdings, Inc. $100.99 $111.84 -9.70% $81.00 24.68% $79.12 27.64% $82.04 23.10%
CRTO Criteo SA (ADR) $33.86 $50.17 -32.51% $28.51 18.77% $25.39 33.36% $29.29 15.60%
CRUS Cirrus Logic, Inc. $37.60 $66.01 -43.04% $40.70 -7.62% $38.30 -1.83% $39.32 -4.37%
DPZ Domino’s Pizza, Inc. $292.39 $215.03 35.98% $226.20 29.26% $251.73 16.15% $277.34 5.43%
FB Facebook Inc $201.74 $155.07 30.10% $159.39 26.57% $185.93 8.50% $195.85 3.01%
GOOGL Alphabet Inc $1,169.29 $986.09 18.58% $1,026.55 13.90% $1,085.45 7.72% $1,159.27 0.86%
GTN Gray Television, Inc. $12.80 $13.35 -4.12% $12.25 4.49% $11.40 12.28% $12.10 5.79%
HSKA Heska Corp $102.03 $97.50 4.65% $77.96 30.87% $102.11 -0.08% $106.51 -4.21%
HZO MarineMax Inc $22.10 $18.65 18.50% $19.30 14.51% $23.50 -5.96% $23.95 -7.72%
IBP Installed Building Products Inc $58.65 $54.00 8.61% $58.70 -0.09% $60.80 -3.54% $60.90 -3.69%
ILMN Illumina, Inc. $283.99 $185.28 53.28% $235.36 20.66% $270.83 4.86% $288.75 -1.65%
LGIH LGI Homes Inc $56.71 $38.01 49.20% $68.21 -16.86% $59.61 -4.86% $58.67 -3.34%
LRCX Lam Research Corporation $175.56 $149.79 17.21% $201.53 -12.89% $203.26 -13.63% $178.41 -1.60%
LULU Lululemon Athletica inc. $126.70 $55.37 128.82% $79.51 59.35% $106.41 19.07% $128.37 -1.30%
MCK McKesson Corporation $148.54 $165.42 -10.20% $138.71 7.09% $143.69 3.38% $150.00 -0.97%
MEI Methode Electronics Inc. $40.65 $40.11 1.35% $38.59 5.34% $41.30 -1.57% $41.85 -2.87%
MIDD Middleby Corp $105.80 $121.56 -12.96% $122.63 -13.72% $103.75 1.98% $106.62 -0.77%
MKTX MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $211.44 $199.83 5.81% $219.09 -3.49% $211.83 -0.18% $215.11 -1.71%
MRK Merck & Co., Inc. $61.55 $64.07 -3.94% $53.00 16.13% $58.67 4.90% $62.03 -0.78%
MU Micron Technology, Inc. $57.49 $31.73 81.17% $54.21 6.04% $61.49 -6.51% $58.23 -1.28%
NFLX Netflix, Inc. $412.41 $158.02 160.99% $300.94 37.04% $349.29 18.07% $391.98 5.21%
NVDA NVIDIA Corporation $252.43 $153.40 64.56% $232.83 8.42% $247.69 1.92% $265.26 -4.84%
REGN Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc $332.17 $517.33 -35.79% $321.29 3.39% $294.61 12.75% $315.30 5.35%
SBUX Starbucks Corporation $51.63 $58.59 -11.87% $56.02 -7.82% $57.68 -10.48% $57.11 -9.59%
SCHW Charles Schwab Corp $55.10 $41.31 33.38% $51.23 7.55% $58.14 -5.23% $56.09 -1.77%
STZ Constellation Brands, Inc. $231.91 $182.57 27.02% $220.19 5.32% $216.96 6.89% $233.02 -0.48%
SUI Sun Communities Inc $96.80 $87.19 11.03% $87.96 10.04% $92.91 4.19% $96.50 0.31%
SWKS Skyworks Solutions Inc $98.86 $103.09 -4.10% $101.08 -2.20% $99.58 -0.72% $102.70 -3.74%
TGS Transportadora de Gas del Sur SA (ADR) $15.65 $16.77 -6.68% $19.05 -17.85% $17.51 -10.62% $14.85 5.39%
THRM Gentherm Inc $38.15 $38.85 -1.80% $33.35 14.39% $34.70 9.94% $36.65 4.09%
TMO Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. $208.81 $173.89 20.08% $204.49 2.11% $215.80 -3.24% $215.80 -3.24%
TMUS T-Mobile US Inc $60.79 $63.40 -4.12% $59.74 1.76% $56.98 6.69% $60.01 1.30%
TNET TriNet Group Inc $54.63 $32.44 68.40% $46.37 17.81% $53.08 2.92% $56.10 -2.62%
UNH United HealthGroup Inc $254.36 $182.69 39.23% $211.81 20.09% $241.88 5.16% $255.98 -0.63%
ULTA Ulta Beauty Inc $249.71 $284.71 -12.29% $202.29 23.44% $251.72 -0.80% $247.88 0.74%

Over the last year, my Watch List returned 27.61%
Over the last quarter, my Watch List returned 11.67%
Over the last month, my Watch List returned 4.93%
Over the last week, my Watch List returned -0.46%

 

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
ABMD ABIOMED, Inc. $427.29 $144.49 195.72% $283.99 50.46% $394.46 8.32% $443.58 -3.67%
ADBE Adobe Systems Incorporated $243.63 $145.41 67.55% $215.02 13.31% $245.15 -0.62% $251.82 -3.25%
ALGN Align Technology, Inc. $353.27 $153.50 130.14% $250.92 40.79% $317.04 11.43% $362.66 -2.59%
AMZN Amazon.com, Inc. $1,715.67 $1,003.74 70.93% $1,495.56 14.72% $1,603.07 7.02% $1,715.97 -0.02%
ANET Arista Networks Inc $272.65 $161.62 68.70% $264.21 3.19% $252.61 7.93% $286.62 -4.87%
BABA Alibaba Group Holding Ltd $202.01 $143.01 41.26% $181.20 11.48% $197.37 2.35% $208.00 -2.88%
DPZ Domino’s Pizza, Inc. $292.39 $215.03 35.98% $226.20 29.26% $251.73 16.15% $277.34 5.43%
LGIH LGI Homes Inc $56.71 $38.01 49.20% $68.21 -16.86% $59.61 -4.86% $58.67 -3.34%
LULU Lululemon Athletica inc. $126.70 $55.37 128.82% $79.51 59.35% $106.41 19.07% $128.37 -1.30%
MU Micron Technology, Inc. $57.49 $31.73 81.17% $54.21 6.04% $61.49 -6.51% $58.23 -1.28%
NFLX Netflix, Inc. $412.41 $158.02 160.99% $300.94 37.04% $349.29 18.07% $391.98 5.21%
NVDA NVIDIA Corporation $252.43 $153.40 64.56% $232.83 8.42% $247.69 1.92% $265.26 -4.84%
SCHW Charles Schwab Corp $55.10 $41.31 33.38% $51.23 7.55% $58.14 -5.23% $56.09 -1.77%
TNET TriNet Group Inc $54.63 $32.44 68.40% $46.37 17.81% $53.08 2.92% $56.10 -2.62%

Over the last year, my Short Term Watch List returned 82.57%
Over the last quarter, my Short Term Watch List returned 20.58%
Over the last month, my Short Term Watch List returned 7.75%
Over the last week, my Short Term Watch List returned -0.84%

Short Term List returned 83%
High growth stock: ABIOMED, Inc. ($ABMD) at 196%
Total Execution Time: 2.6082830429077 Sec

Stock ticker Stock name Last Close Recommendation
AAPL Apple Inc. $185.4600 Very Concerned, may need to wait
ABMD ABIOMED, Inc. $438.2700 Very Concerned, may need to wait
ADBE Adobe Systems Incorporated $248.8300 Very Concerned, may need to wait
ADS Alliance Data Systems Corporation $236.5800 Strong Buy or Hold, but there are some concerns
ALGN Align Technology, Inc. $359.6000 Very Concerned, may need to wait
ALXN Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $125.8100 Strong Buy or Hold
AMAT Applied Materials, Inc. $48.9900 Very Concerned, may need to wait
AMZN Amazon.com, Inc. $1730.2200 Very Concerned, may need to wait
ANET Arista Networks Inc $279.3200 Very Concerned, may need to wait
BABA Alibaba Group Holding Ltd $202.2100 Very Concerned, may need to wait
BKNG Booking Holdings $2122.4900 Very Concerned, may need to wait
CBPO China Biologic Products Holdings, Inc. $101.0000 Strong Buy or Hold
CRTO Criteo SA (ADR) $32.9100 Strong Buy or Hold, but there are some concerns
CRUS Cirrus Logic, Inc. $37.6200 Very Concerned, may need to wait
DPZ Domino’s Pizza, Inc. $290.7600 Strong Buy or Hold, but there are some concerns
FB Facebook Inc $201.5000 Strong Buy or Hold
GOOGL Alphabet Inc $1169.4400 Concerned, but watch close as good things may happen soon
GTN Gray Television, Inc. $12.6000 Strong Buy or Hold
HSKA Heska Corp $102.1000 Very Concerned, may need to wait
HZO MarineMax Inc $22.2000 Very Concerned, may need to wait
IBP Installed Building Products Inc $59.7000 Very Concerned, may need to wait
ILMN Illumina, Inc. $286.0500 Very Concerned, may need to wait
LGIH LGI Homes Inc $56.4300 Very Concerned, may need to wait
LRCX Lam Research Corporation $176.0500 Very Concerned, may need to wait
LULU Lululemon Athletica inc. $127.7100 Concerned, but watch close as good things may happen soon
MCK McKesson Corporation $146.4600 Concerned, but watch close as good things may happen soon
MEI Methode Electronics Inc. $41.8000 Concerned, but watch close as good things may happen soon
MIDD Middleby Corp $104.8600 Very Concerned, may need to wait
MKTX MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $211.6900 Very Concerned, may need to wait
MRK Merck & Co., Inc. $61.1800 Very Concerned, may need to wait
MU Micron Technology, Inc. $59.4400 Very Concerned, may need to wait
NFLX Netflix, Inc. $415.4400 Strong Buy or Hold, but there are some concerns
NVDA NVIDIA Corporation $257.1100 Very Concerned, may need to wait
REGN Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc $329.0400 Strong Buy or Hold
SBUX Starbucks Corporation $50.6200 Very Concerned, may need to wait
SCHW Charles Schwab Corp $55.3100 Very Concerned, may need to wait
STZ Constellation Brands, Inc. $231.3600 Concerned, but watch close as good things may happen soon
SUI Sun Communities Inc $96.4100 Concerned, but watch close as good things may happen soon
SWKS Skyworks Solutions Inc $98.8600 Very Concerned, may need to wait
TGS Transportadora de Gas del Sur SA (ADR) $15.7100 Very Concerned, may need to wait
THRM Gentherm Inc $38.9000 Strong Buy or Hold
TMO Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. $206.5400 Very Concerned, may need to wait
TMUS T-Mobile US Inc $60.0000 Concerned, but watch close as good things may happen soon
TNET TriNet Group Inc $55.6200 Very Concerned, may need to wait
UNH United HealthGroup Inc $251.8900 Very Concerned, may need to wait
ULTA Ulta Beauty Inc $250.3500 Very Concerned, may need to wait

Stock ticker Stock name Last Close Recommendation
AAPL Apple Inc. $186.5000 Very Concerned, may need to wait
ABMD ABIOMED, Inc. $446.2100 Strong Buy or Hold, but there are some concerns
ADBE Adobe Systems Incorporated $251.2400 Very Concerned, may need to wait
ADS Alliance Data Systems Corporation $236.6700 Strong Buy or Hold, but there are some concerns
ALGN Align Technology, Inc. $364.7000 Concerned, but watch close as good things may happen soon
ALXN Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $124.5200 Strong Buy or Hold
AMAT Applied Materials, Inc. $48.5800 Very Concerned, may need to wait
AMZN Amazon.com, Inc. $1750.0800 Strong Buy or Hold, but there are some concerns
ANET Arista Networks Inc $283.7400 Strong Buy or Hold
BABA Alibaba Group Holding Ltd $206.2300 Very Concerned, may need to wait
BKNG Booking Holdings $2145.7700 Strong Buy or Hold
CBPO China Biologic Products Holdings, Inc. $101.1100 Strong Buy or Hold
CRTO Criteo SA (ADR) $32.6500 Strong Buy or Hold, but there are some concerns
CRUS Cirrus Logic, Inc. $38.1400 Concerned, but watch close as good things may happen soon
DPZ Domino’s Pizza, Inc. $287.9000 Strong Buy or Hold, but there are some concerns
FB Facebook Inc $202.0600 Strong Buy or Hold, but there are some concerns
GOOGL Alphabet Inc $1184.0700 Strong Buy or Hold
GTN Gray Television, Inc. $13.2500 Strong Buy or Hold, but there are some concerns
HSKA Heska Corp $105.5800 Very Concerned, may need to wait
HZO MarineMax Inc $22.3500 Very Concerned, may need to wait
IBP Installed Building Products Inc $60.7500 Very Concerned, may need to wait
ILMN Illumina, Inc. $287.6500 Concerned, but watch close as good things may happen soon
LGIH LGI Homes Inc $57.0400 Very Concerned, may need to wait
LRCX Lam Research Corporation $174.5400 Very Concerned, may need to wait
LULU Lululemon Athletica inc. $128.2700 Concerned, but watch close as good things may happen soon
MCK McKesson Corporation $147.5000 Strong Buy or Hold
MEI Methode Electronics Inc. $45.2500 Strong Buy or Hold
MIDD Middleby Corp $104.5100 Very Concerned, may need to wait
MKTX MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $213.0400 Very Concerned, may need to wait
MRK Merck & Co., Inc. $61.2800 Very Concerned, may need to wait
MU Micron Technology, Inc. $58.9500 Very Concerned, may need to wait
NFLX Netflix, Inc. $416.7600 Strong Buy or Hold, but there are some concerns
NVDA NVIDIA Corporation $262.3100 Very Concerned, may need to wait
REGN Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc $336.9300 Strong Buy or Hold, but there are some concerns
SBUX Starbucks Corporation $52.2200 Very Concerned, may need to wait
SCHW Charles Schwab Corp $55.5400 Very Concerned, may need to wait
STZ Constellation Brands, Inc. $231.5000 Strong Buy or Hold
SUI Sun Communities Inc $96.4900 Concerned, but watch close as good things may happen soon
SWKS Skyworks Solutions Inc $100.0300 Very Concerned, may need to wait
TGS Transportadora de Gas del Sur SA (ADR) $14.6700 Very Concerned, may need to wait
THRM Gentherm Inc $39.0500 Strong Buy or Hold, but there are some concerns
TMO Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. $208.8000 Very Concerned, may need to wait
TMUS T-Mobile US Inc $60.3400 Strong Buy or Hold, but there are some concerns
TNET TriNet Group Inc $56.7900 Strong Buy or Hold
UNH United HealthGroup Inc $252.8100 Very Concerned, may need to wait
ULTA Ulta Beauty Inc $251.2800 Very Concerned, may need to wait

Stock ticker Stock name Last Close Recommendation
AAPL Apple Inc. $185.6900 Very Concerned, may need to wait
ABMD ABIOMED, Inc. $439.6400 Strong Buy or Hold, but there are some concerns
ADBE Adobe Systems Incorporated $251.7400 Very Concerned, may need to wait
ADS Alliance Data Systems Corporation $234.4900 Strong Buy or Hold, but there are some concerns
ALGN Align Technology, Inc. $365.2400 Concerned, but watch close as good things may happen soon
ALXN Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $121.9100 Strong Buy or Hold
AMAT Applied Materials, Inc. $48.5500 Very Concerned, may need to wait
AMZN Amazon.com, Inc. $1734.7800 Strong Buy or Hold, but there are some concerns
ANET Arista Networks Inc $273.8000 Very Concerned, may need to wait
BABA Alibaba Group Holding Ltd $204.4300 Very Concerned, may need to wait
BKNG Booking Holdings $2139.2600 Strong Buy or Hold
CBPO China Biologic Products Holdings, Inc. $97.7500 Strong Buy or Hold
CRTO Criteo SA (ADR) $30.2000 Strong Buy or Hold
CRUS Cirrus Logic, Inc. $37.8600 Concerned, but watch close as good things may happen soon
DPZ Domino’s Pizza, Inc. $287.3900 Strong Buy or Hold, but there are some concerns
FB Facebook Inc $197.4900 Strong Buy or Hold
GOOGL Alphabet Inc $1178.6900 Strong Buy or Hold
GTN Gray Television, Inc. $12.2500 Strong Buy or Hold
HSKA Heska Corp $106.5000 Very Concerned, may need to wait
HZO MarineMax Inc $21.7000 Very Concerned, may need to wait
IBP Installed Building Products Inc $60.7000 Very Concerned, may need to wait
ILMN Illumina, Inc. $285.7400 Very Concerned, may need to wait
LGIH LGI Homes Inc $56.8100 Very Concerned, may need to wait
LRCX Lam Research Corporation $173.3500 Very Concerned, may need to wait
LULU Lululemon Athletica inc. $128.1000 Concerned, but watch close as good things may happen soon
MCK McKesson Corporation $146.7400 Concerned, but watch close as good things may happen soon
MEI Methode Electronics Inc. $43.4500 Strong Buy or Hold
MIDD Middleby Corp $104.2300 Very Concerned, may need to wait
MKTX MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $214.3300 Very Concerned, may need to wait
MRK Merck & Co., Inc. $61.0300 Very Concerned, may need to wait
MU Micron Technology, Inc. $59.2500 Very Concerned, may need to wait
NFLX Netflix, Inc. $404.9800 Strong Buy or Hold, but there are some concerns
NVDA NVIDIA Corporation $260.1700 Very Concerned, may need to wait
REGN Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc $327.0700 Strong Buy or Hold
SBUX Starbucks Corporation $57.4300 Possible Buy or Hold, but some concerns
SCHW Charles Schwab Corp $55.2700 Very Concerned, may need to wait
STZ Constellation Brands, Inc. $231.8500 Strong Buy or Hold
SUI Sun Communities Inc $95.7000 Very Concerned, may need to wait
SWKS Skyworks Solutions Inc $99.4400 Very Concerned, may need to wait
TGS Transportadora de Gas del Sur SA (ADR) $14.8800 Very Concerned, may need to wait
THRM Gentherm Inc $37.9500 Strong Buy or Hold
TMO Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. $209.9300 Very Concerned, may need to wait
TMUS T-Mobile US Inc $60.5400 Strong Buy or Hold, but there are some concerns
TNET TriNet Group Inc $56.8500 Strong Buy or Hold
UNH United HealthGroup Inc $253.0200 Very Concerned, may need to wait
ULTA Ulta Beauty Inc $246.2600 Very Concerned, may need to wait

Rule #1 Don’t lose money!

Rule #2 If you do lose money, get out fast and find a better investment.

You do not need to stay with the same investment that put you into a hole. It takes far more growth to recover from a drop in stock price than it originally took to get there.

profile12345 (Ivan Ivanoff) on StockTwits put out a great chart to show the difficulty. I have reproduced it here.

It may be easier to understand with some simple math:

You have $100 investment in a stock. It has a bad run and drops $20 to $80 (a 20% loss). You now have $80. In order for you to grow $80 back to $100, you would need to increase the value of your holding 25% (or $20). Therefore a 20% loss takes a 25% gain to recover (see the image above).

The great thing is that you do not have to go home with the girl that you brought to the dance. Dump a bad stock. The chances that this stock will be the most efficient stock to recover your portfolio is almost zero. Surely, there is a different stock out there that is growing at the same time that this dog stock is falling. Even if your dog stock is starting to recover, there is probably a stock that is already running hard while your stock is trying to reverse course. Cut your losses and ride a better horse to the finish. There is no loyalty in the stock market.