Our popular article that analyses whether or not the S&P 500 index is fairly valued at this point in time is updated.
Alimentation Couche-Tard is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at $49.95. This was a great stock pick for us this year since it is up 58% since the start of 2012. It has had its share of volatility over the years but is up 187% from the $17.40 at which we rated it a (lower) Strong Buy in March 2005.
Management has been very impressive and the earnings should continue to grow over the years. At this time it looks expensive although it is possible if business remains very good in north America then the added earnings from the recent big Scandinavian acquisition could justify this share price. Personally, I will not be a buyer a this price.
Friday was another good day in the markets for our stock picks. Bank of America did well, up 5.4%, Canadian Western Bank was up 2.2%.
In 2012 to date our Stock Picks have done well. For ease of calculation we have always measured the gains from the start of each year. Our 23 Buy and higher rated stocks from January 1 are up an average of 12.6% each. That compares very well to the TSX index which is up 2.6%. In the U.S. the Dow is up 8.9% and the S&P is up 14.3%.
My own portfolio with a heavy weighting to a few of our higher-rated stocks is up 20.8% in 2012 to date.
Subscribers who have invested based on our stock ratings (at their own risk) have also presumably done well. I’d be interested in hearing about that at shawn@investorsfriend.com (If so, let me know if I can use your results as a testimonial, I publish those with just initials, not names of subscribers).