One month performance - 0.5%

Well after one month, the performance of this test portfolio has been pretty lack luster.  It's up about half on one percent (before commissions).  Two weeks ago, the portfolio had reached almost 2%, but has since given back those gains.  The $10 cash in the last table row indicates the dividend received from Linamar (LNR) and Equitable Group (EQB) during the past month. Click on any of the images to expand them.

The drag on the portfolio is attributed to West Fraser Timber (WFT) which is down almost 7% since portfolio inception.  Otherwise, the portfolio would be making a return of about 2-3% as you can see from the average returns of most of the stocks in this basket.  I would have expected West Fraser to have benefited from the continued housing gains in the U.S. meh.

Portfolio profit is $108.

It looks like the steam has run out for Linamar.  I mean 3% for the last month is nothing to sneeze at but it pales in comparison to the returns that Linamar was getting in 2013. The chart below shows a one month comparison of Linamar vs. Magna (MG).  As you can see Linamar is pretty much flat.  Magna which is up almost 8% on the month, is the another auto parts manufacturer.  Both Linamar and Magna did well during 2013 as the U.S. auto industry continues it's recovery.

The best performing stock in the portfolio is Great Canadian Gaming (GC), up over 9%, but I think this is attributable to the recent purchase of Poker Stars by Amaya Gaming group (AYA) for 4.9 billion dollars, yes billions.  The one month return on Amaya's stock is 173%.

Check back in next month to see if the portfolio has gained any footing, but I expect that the markets will go sideways over the summer months, unless something spectacular happens. Have a great day.

A selection of seven stocks

I anticipated that manufacturing would be a growth sector for 2013 as evidenced by stocks such as CN Rail, CP Rail and Magna, all which have done tremendously well over the past year.  I decided to buy LNR Linamar  for my wife's portfolio last year.  At that time, the stock was about $35.  The price today is 62.58, with a return of about 81%.  It is the best performing stock in her portfolio.  On a YTD basis, since Jan 2 2014, the stock is up 41%.

LNR - Linamar Key stats and ratios Q4 (Dec '13) 2013 Net profit margin 7.42% 6.39% Operating margin 9.16% 8.90% EBITD margin 15.03% Return on average assets 10.48% 9.12% Return on average equity 21.26% 19.13%

Anyways, google finance has a stock screening feature that looks at stocks with similar attributes.  It selected 30 stocks and I picked 6 of them.   They all have a PE ratio of between 10 and 20 and double digit ROE. The companies are what you might consider mid-cap type stocks.  

Here is a list of the stocks I have chosen to watch.
GIB.A - CGI Group - Technology
GIL - Gildan Activewear - Consumer Discretionary
STN - Stantec - Industrial
EQB - Equitable Group - Financial Services
WFT - West Fraser Timber - Industrial
GC - Great Canadian Gaming - Consumer Discretionary

All of the info below I pulled from google finance, this morning.

GC - Great Canadian Gaming Key stats and ratios Q4 (Dec '13) 2013 Net profit margin 7.09% 15.49% Operating margin 16.63% 29.00% EBITD margin 34.40% Return on average assets 3.18% 7.10% Return on average equity 9.37% 21.47%	GIB.A - CGI Group Key stats and ratios Q1 (Mar '14) 2013 Net profit margin 8.54% 4.52% Operating margin 10.74% 6.22% EBITD margin 14.86% Return on average assets 7.93% 4.23% Return on average equity 20.61% 12.19%
EQB - Equitable Group Key stats and ratios Q4 (Dec '13) 2013 Net profit margin 51.86% 49.51% Operating margin 68.57% 65.99% EBITD margin 160.44% Return on average assets 0.90% 0.80% Return on average equity 19.42% 18.11%	GIL - Gildan Activewear Key stats and ratios Q4 (Dec '13) 2013 Net profit margin 9.24% 14.66% Operating margin 9.82% 15.69% EBITD margin 20.45% Return on average assets 8.02% 16.25% Return on average equity 9.66% 20.36%
STN - Stantec Key stats and ratios Q4 (Dec '13) 2013 Net profit margin 7.90% 7.98% Operating margin 10.43% 10.86% EBITD margin 14.13% Return on average assets 8.68% 9.32% Return on average equity 16.49% 18.05%	WFT - West Fraser Timber Key stats and ratios Q4 (Dec '13) 2013 Net profit margin 14.17% 10.05% Operating margin 3.60% 9.93% EBITD margin 15.98% Return on average assets 15.70% 12.17% Return on average equity 25.48% 20.30%

And here are the portfolio details.  In this hypothetical portfolio, I bought 100 shares of each company for a total outlay of about $35,262.  I built this portfolio pre-market Friday morning and have not factored in any commissions at this time.  As you can see the portfolio is down about 1% from yesterdays prices.

I will take screen shots in mid June to see how the portfolio progresses.  You can use google finance and create this same portfolio if you want to monitor the status on a more frequent basis or play around with the stock picks and amounts.