2012 Best Dividend Stocks Q1 Results

At the beginning of the year I was asked to be part of a friendly stock picking contest among fellow personal finance bloggers. There is little at stake other than bragging rights. With the first quarter behind us it’s time to report the results YTD.

Keep in mind that my idea of investing does not involve putting capital to work with companies for the short-term on hopes that a trade makes me money. I invest for the long-term and hope that the company I invest with continues to make money for decades on end. However, that isn’t what this is about. This is simply a friendly little contest between fellow bloggers.

On to the results. In case you don’t remember, these are my four picks and how they’ve done so far:

Philip Morris International Inc. (PM)

This is a winner long-term, in my opinion. I wasn’t real sure how it would do over the short-term, as it had already had quite a run when I picked it at the beginning of 2011. At any rate, I decided to let this winner continue winning. It’s my largest holding in my portfolio, and it’s a company I feel comfortable having a large allocation to.

First Quarter Performance: 13.9%

General Dynamics Corporation (GD)

This is no growth stock, but just a company that does its business well. I felt it was trading at a discount when I picked it for this contest, so I felt comfortable including it even if the short-term performance might not wow anyone. I feel comfortable owning this company for the long haul, and even though it’s had quite a pop since the beginning of the year, I think it’s still an attractive business to invest in.

First Quarter Performance: 11.22%

Intel Corporation (INTC)

I picked Intel because I thought the business is solid with a large economic moat, great balance sheet and was trading at a very attractive valuation. I still think it’s a great pick, even with the strong performance this stock, and the market, has had. Intel has actually been the strongest performer of the four, and for good reason. Solid business with great fundamentals. This is a good pick for the long haul.

First Quarter Performance: 16.85%

Emerson Electric (EMR)

Again, this is another business that I have personally invested in. It’s no high flier growth stock with rocket fuel behind it. I picked it because I believe in it for the long-term. This was another value pick, as I felt it was trading for an attractive valuation when I chose it. Because of the fact that it’s not a growth stock, I wasn’t sure how it would do in the short-term but it has performed relatively well.

First Quarter Performance: 12.88%

When you combine the numbers, my picks returned 13.71% for the first quarter. This is good enough to place me third out of ten bloggers.

Take a look at how the other bloggers performed:

Where Does All My Money Go   35.91%
Intelligent Speculator   16.37%
The Wild Investor   11.78%
My Traders Journal   11.17%
Beating The Index   10.87%
Million Dollar Journey   7.84%
The Passive Income Earner   4.77%
Dividend Growth Investor   4.43%
The Financial Blogger    .10%


Full Disclosure: I’m long PM, GD, INTC, EMR.

Thanks for reading.

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12 Comments

  1. 80% of the NYSE went up 30% in the last 3 months. 4/5 of every stock i have looked at the history of has done this. Glad i bought a stock 4 months ago and sold after the 30% spike. Inflation has risen 60%+ in the last 6 months. Remember those Fudge Brownies you could buy for a 12 pack for $1? Now they are a 10 pack for $1.70. Hopefully your needs are not involved with inflation, by filtering and boiling your own water and self grown vegetables, fruits, and meat pins; and if you generate your own electriciy needs via solar and wind autonomous DIY systems from thrown out electronic “waste”. A shelter to a House is the hardest to build from scratch after you earned the property, and hopefully your state laws tax deduct your property as Farm Land or such so you don’t have to pay property taxes. If this is the case, then inflation will only help your investments, and is neglible to your DIY assets. DIY assets with very high quality materials and properly maintained will have qualified Life expectenances of hundreds to thousands of years, as long as evil men don’t destroy it.

  2. FreeYourChains,

    Thanks for stopping by.

    I’m not sure where you’re going here. I don’t think your numbers are correct. 80% of the NYSE went up 30% in the past 3 months? That is incorrect, as the closest thing to an average of stocks (S&P 500) has only gone up a little over 12% over the last 3 months. Surely 80% can’t double the average.

    Your inflation numbers are also dubious. I don’t know about others, but the only thing that I’ve noticed really rise is gasoline. Most of my other costs have been pretty stable. Last I looked, inflation is somewhere around 2.5%.

    I do agree with you on having hard assets like shelter and food in case something really bad were to occur, but I’m not sure about having any of these in large quantities. People have been talking about “the end of the world” for quite some time now, but I do believe humanity/the world is a bit more adaptable than people give it credit for.

    Best wishes!

  3. I should have entered with my little old VTSAX index fund. 12.43%, so you edged me out this time. 🙂

    My sole individual stock, RAI barely registered a gain of around .05% + the div.

  4. JC,

    Well, you know most everything has been crushing it lately.

    I don’t know if I’ll even finish in the top 5. My picks are conservative slow-go steady eddie dividend growth stocks. I picked them because I like to put my money where my mouth is. There are some high fliers on this list, so we’ll see how it goes.

    Your index fund is tracking pretty close to the S&P 500. That’s not a bad place to be right now!

    Best wishes.

  5. Props to yourself and Dividend Growth Investor for having positions in all your picks.

  6. I like to idea of investing in very high quality real estate investment trusts that invest in brick ands mortar buildings. Not only do you get a dividend that increases usually ever year but you also get the benifit of the increasing value of the reits brick and mortar buildings over time. And well selected real estate could very well out perform stocks. Another possitive factor is a hedge against inflation rents generally increase over time along with the property values of the reits real estate holdings.

  7. Anonymous,

    Thanks! I think it’s fun to put your money where your mouth is. At that point, it’s more than just bragging rights and fun articles…there’s real money on the table.

    Best wishes!

  8. PSB,

    I think real estate is a great sector to be in now. I personally rent my residence, but do see the merits behind buying in such a down market. If I was interested in being a landlord (which I am not), I would be going gangbusters right now.

    REIT’s are interesting certainly, but I don’t see a lot of value there right now…which is surprising.

    Take care!

    Best wishes!

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