The 187 Portfolio

The 187 Portfolio was developed in the year 2006. Prior to this date I relied on analyst reports and publicly available news to guide my stock investment decisions. I felt there must be a better way for me to assess, on a comparative basis, one stock choice over another. In designing a set of analytical tools, I focused on operating margins, cash flow growth, enterprise value as a function of EBITDA, Debt levels, Dividend levels, Net Cash, mid and long-term business forecasts, interest rates and the cost of capital. I blended these metrics together to weight one stock against the other and to weigh each stock against the market I had created of 187 stocks. Why 187 stocks? Very simple really. I began by selecting the companies I knew about, then I expanded into industry sectors, then I added diversity to try and represent the macro-market, and I eventually felt I had what I was looking for. At that point I had selected 187 stocks, a number without rhyme or reason, but a stopping point that became the foundation of comparisons and selections for the next 14 years. It is important to note that I track the 187 stocks on a daily basis. I do NOT however own an interest in all 187 stocks within the 187 Portfolio. Presently, I own 29 of the 187 companies.

I hope you learn some beneficial things by reading and digesting the thoughts I share about this portfolio of stocks.

May 7, 2020 Best Y-T-D performers within the 187 Portfolio

Strong performers are so important to our returns on investment. Unfortunately, there are too few with positive returns since 12/31/2019, as the listing above shows.

Keeping an eye on the important metric of price to cash-flow, I find I am not comforted by the expensive state of equities.