It was yet another rough month for Plan 5, but we’re marching ahead with two new sets of picks. Let’s start with a look at how Plan 5 Monthly performed in April:
Plan 5 Monthly: April 2014 Results
| Apr 1 Open | Apr 30 Close | % Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| CaesarStone Sdot-Yam (CSTE) | 54.56 | 51.79 | -5.08% |
| Illumina (ILMN) | 150.67 | 134.18 | -10.94% |
| Tesla Motors (TSLA) | 209.02 | 206.85 | -1.04% |
| Under Armour (UA) | 57.50 | 48.85 | -15.04% |
| WhiteWave Foods Company (WWAV) | 28.48 | 27.66 | -2.88% |
| Plan 5 Monthly: April 2014 | -7% | ||
| S&P 500 | 1882.22 | 1883.95 | +0.09% |
It was another disappointing performance in April, and another reminder to keep our sights on the long term. All five picks fell last month, with Under Armor leading with a loss of 15%.
With May’s new set of picks, we’ll be holding on to three companies and replacing two, Under Armor and WhiteWave Foods, with Air Methods and Sierra Wireless. Here’s the latest set of picks:
Plan 5 Monthly: May 2014 Picks
| Company | Symbol |
|---|---|
| Air Methods | AIRM |
| Caesarstone | CSTE |
| Illumina | ILMN |
| Sierra Wireless | SWIR |
| Tesla Motors | TSLA |
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: February 2014 – April 2014 Results
| Feb 3 Open | Apr 30 Close | % Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cognex (CGNX) | 39.40 | 34.11 | -13.43% |
| Illumina (ILMN) | 151.53 | 134.18 | -11.45% |
| Netflix (NFLX) | 411.90 | 317.43 | -22.94% |
| Sierra Wireless (SWIR) | 20.83 | 21.54 | +3.41% |
| Tesla Motors (TSLA) | 182.89 | 206.85 | +13.1% |
| Plan 5 Quarterly: Feb 2014 – Apr 2014 | -6.26% | ||
| S&P 500 | 1741.89 | 1883.95 | +8.16% |
This is easily Plan 5 Quarterly’s worst quarter yet, but it’s worth pointing out how much worse it could have been if not for balance and diversification. Three of the quarter’s five picks dropped, and they each dropped by double digit percentages. But nonetheless, the modest gains of the remaining two managed to limit our losses to “only” 6.26%. Not great, but it could have been a lot worse.
Here’s the new set of Plan 5 Quarterly picks:
Plan 5 Quarterly: February 2014 Picks
| Company | Symbol |
|---|---|
| Corning | GLW |
| Generac Holdings | GNRC |
| Illumina | ILMN |
| Mobile Mini | MINI |
| Sierra Wireless | SWIR |
There are a lot of changes this time around, with mainstays Netflix and Tesla being given the boot. In all there are three substitution; only Illumina and Sierra Wireless are staying with us from last quarter.
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:
There have been definite ups and downs, and right now we’re certainly in a “down”. But on the plus side, Plan 5 continues to decisively outperform the S&P 500. Now the trick is to keep our attention on our long term goals, rather than the bumpy bits of road on the way there.
That’s all for this month. I’ll be back at the end of May with the latest picks. Until then…
Thrive!
Mike Ferrier