Welcome to the April update of Plan 5 Picks. After last month’s heights, we can count on this month’s results to bring us back to Earth. Let’s get started with the Plan 5 Monthly results for March:
Plan 5 Monthly: March 2014 Results
| Mar 3 Open | Mar 28 Close | % Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| CaesarStone (CSTE) | 58.49 | 54.95 | -6.05% |
| Illumina (ILMN) | 171.49 | 142.02 | -17.18% |
| Netflix (NFLX) | 441.19 | 358.87 | -18.66% |
| Tesla Motors (TSLA) | 237.26 | 212.37 | -10.49% |
| Under Armour (UA) | 111.35 | 115.22 | +3.48% |
| Plan 5 Monthly: March 2014 | -9.78% | ||
| S&P 500 | 1857.68 | 1857.62 | -0% |
Four out of five of our picks went down this month, while the S&P 500 barely budged. Here’s our challenge: rather than panicking, simply wait it out, let it pass. While it’s a lot of fun to see big gains when it comes time to rebalance our portfolio, what’s important is the results we see over years, not months.
There is only one substitution in this month’s new set of picks, with Netflix being replaced by WhiteWave Foods. Here are the April Plan 5 Monthly picks:
Plan 5 Monthly: April 2014 Picks
| Company | Symbol |
|---|---|
| CaesarStone | CSTE |
| Illumina | ILMN |
| Tesla Motors | TSLA |
| Under Armour | UA |
| WhiteWave Foods | WWAV |
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 new 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 at two months in, let’s take a look at how the current picks are doing. Here are the results so far:
Plan 5 Quarterly: March 2014 Progress Report
| Feb 3 Open | Mar 28 Close | % Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cognex (CGNX) | 39.40 | 33.02 | -16.19% |
| Illumina (ILMN) | 151.53 | 142.02 | -6.28% |
| Netflix (NFLX) | 411.90 | 358.87 | -12.87% |
| Sierra Wireless (SWIR) | 20.83 | 21.43 | +2.88% |
| Tesla Motors (TSLA) | 182.89 | 212.37 | +16.12% |
| Plan 5 Quarterly: Feb 2014 – Mar 2014 | -3.27% | ||
| S&P 500 | 1782.68 | 1857.62 | +4.2% |
Plan 5 Monthly also lost some ground this month. We’ll see what shape it’s in when it comes time to rebalance, at the end of April.
Finally, here’s a look at Plan 5’s overall progress from the beginning:
After reaching an all-time high last month, both versions of Plan 5 are down significantly this month. My goal is to just relax, and ride the bronco through both the ups and downs. I’ll be back at the end of April with the next update.
Thrive!
Mike Ferrier