November 2015 Picks

Welcome to the November update of Plan 5 Picks. The market recouped a lot of its recent losses over the past month, and Plan 5 has had both ups and downs. Here’s how Plan 5 Monthly performed in October:

Plan 5 Monthly: October 2015 Results

Oct 1 Open Oct 30 Close % Change
Activision Blizzard (ATVI) 31.39 34.76 +10.74%
Amazon.com (AMZN) 511.00 625.90 +22.49%
Netflix (NFLX) 102.91 108.38 +5.32%
Under Armour (UA) 97.06 95.11 -2.01%
Xoom (XOOM) 24.87 24.94 +0.28%
Plan 5 Monthly: October 2015 +7.36%
S&P 500 1919.65 2079.36 +8.32%

Very good results this month, with the highest growth coming from Amazon (22.49%), and the greatest loss being only Under Armor’s -2.01%. The overall results of 7.36% are great, though not quite enough to match the S&P 500’s outstanding growth of 8.32% during the same period.

Only one new pick this month, with Under Armor being replaced by graphics chip manufacturer NVidia. Here’s the latest set of picks:

Plan 5 Monthly: November 2015 Picks

Company Symbol
Activision Blizzard ATVI
Amazon.com AMZN
NVidia NVDA
Netflix NFLX
Xoom XOOM

If you’re following along with Plan 5 Monthly, it’s time to rebalance your portfolio. An easy way to do that is to use the online Balance Calculator. If you’re new to Plan 5 or would like to read more about rebalancing a Plan 5 portfolio, check out this comprehensive guide to the process.

If you’re following Plan 5 Quarterly, it will also be time to rebalance your portfolio this month. But first let’s take a look at how Plan 5 Quarterly has performed with its last set of picks over the past three months.

Plan 5 Quarterly: August 2015 – October 2015 Results

Aug 3 Open Oct 30 Close % Change
Amazon.com (AMZN) 537.45 625.90 +16.46%
Netflix (NFLX) 114.60 108.38 -5.43%
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International (VRX) 258.00 93.81 -63.64%
WisdomTree Investments (WETF) 25.00 19.23 -23.08%
Xoom (XOOM) 24.82 24.94 +0.48%
Plan 5 Quarterly: August – October 2015 -15.04%
S&P 500 2104.49 2079.36 -1.19%

While Plan 5 Quarterly did show a small gain over the past month, it’s been a punishing quarter overall. It’s lost 15.04%, a result that’s dominated by Valeant Pharmaceuticals’ collapse of -63.64%, as well as poor performance by WisdomTree Investments. These results are significantly worse than the S&P 500’s -1.19% loss over the same period.

Here’s the new set of Plan 5 Quarterly picks:

Plan 5 Quarterly: November 2015 Picks

Company Symbol
Activision Blizzard ATVI
Amazon.com AMZN
Netflix NFLX
Pegasystems PEGA
Xoom XOOM

Only two replacements for the new quarter, with the poorest performers Valeant Pharmaceuticals and WisdomTree Investments being substituted by Activision Blizzard and Pegasystems, both software companies.

Again, followers of Plan 5 Quarterly will want to rebalance your portfolios. The online Balance Calculator and the step-by-step guide are useful resources for helping with this.

Finally, here’s a look at overall Plan 5 performance so far, since its inception:



That’s all for this month. I’ll be back at the end of November with the latest picks.

Thrive!

Mike Ferrier