July 2015 Picks

Welcome to the July update of Plan 5 Picks. After rising fairly steadily over the course of June, the market faltered in the past few days because of the situation in Greece. While the market is overall down a bit for the month, Plan 5 has seen a small gain. We’ll start with the Plan 5 Monthly results for June:

Plan 5 Monthly: June 2015 Results

Jun 1 Open Jun 30 Close % Change
Interactive Brokers Group (IBKR) 35.79 41.56 +16.12%
Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance (ULTA) 153.05 154.45 +0.91%
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International (VRX) 239.65 222.15 -7.3%
WisdomTree Investments (WETF) 21.47 21.97 +2.33%
XPO Logistics (XPO) 49.89 45.22 -9.36%
Plan 5 Monthly: June 2015 +0.54%
S&P 500 2108.64 2063.11 -2.16%

Three of this month’s five picks saw a gain, just enough to offset losses by Valeant Pharmaceuticals and XPO Logistics. The small overall gain of 0.54% was still enough to beat the S&P 500’s 2.16% loss.

There are two substitutions this month, with II-VI (pronounced “two six”, this company produces lasers and other electronic components) and Post Holdings (which produces foods) replacing Ulta Salon and XPO Logistics. Here are the July Plan 5 Monthly picks:

Plan 5 Monthly: July 2015 Picks

Company Symbol
II-VI IIVI
Interactive Brokers Group IBKR
Post Holdings POST
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International VRX
WisdomTree Investments WETF

If you’re following along with Plan 5 Monthly, you’ll want to rebalance your portfolio at this point. You can find a refresher on how to do that right here. Or, even easier, you can try out the Balance Calculator tool that will do the math for you.

If instead you’re following Plan 5 Quarterly, it’s not time to make any trades this month, but let’s take a look at how the current picks are doing two months in. Here are the results so far:

Plan 5 Quarterly: June 2015 Progress Report

May 1 Open Jun 30 Close % Change
Interactive Brokers Group (IBKR) 34.04 41.56 +22.09%
Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance (ULTA) 150.41 154.45 +2.69%
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International (VRX) 217.33 222.15 +2.22%
WisdomTree Investments (WETF) 18.83 21.97 +16.68%
XPO Logistics (XPO) 48.74 45.22 -7.22%
Plan 5 Quarterly: May-June 2015 +7.29%
S&P 500 2087.38 2063.11 -1.16%

Plan 5 Quarterly fared as well as Plan 5 Monthly over the past month (all five of their picks matched), slightly improving its overall results for the current period to 7.29%. This is well ahead of the S&P 500’s -1.16% over the same two months. We have one more month to go until the current Plan 5 Quarterly period will be over, and it will be time for a new set of picks.

Finally, here’s a look at Plan 5’s overall progress from the beginning:



That’s all for this month. I’ll be back at the end of July with the next update.

Thrive!

Mike Ferrier