35 out of my 36 companies are trailing the market...

[Owner]

Hi Guys, just wondering if anyone cared to comment on my portfolio. I own 36 companies, most are big solid names that most everyone in DG investing owns. Looking at my portfolio on seeking alpha, I noticed that only ONE company out of the 36 has beat the market over the past 52 weeks. I know you are not supposed to focus on what your portfolio is doing relative to the market, but having 35 out of 36 companies trailing the average is giving me the heebie jeebies, not the "sleep well at night" feeling that DGI is supposed to provide. Any advice or comments?


SYMBOL 52WK
VS MKT
WFC 8%
AVA 0%
PEP 0%
RDS.B-1%
KO -2%
JPM -2%
OHI -4%
BAX -5%
CSCO-6%
PG -6%
XOM -7%
KMI -7%
SO -8%
COP -8%
WAG -9%
VZ -9%
GE -9%
WMT -10%
GIS -10%
BP -11%
T -11%
K -11%
IBM -12%
O -12%
HCP -13%
CVX -13%
MCD -14%
DE -15%
TGT -15%
EMR -16%
WTR -17%
PM -18%
BBL -19%
ARCP -19%
GSK -21%
AFL -22%

[ChadR]

I own 19 of the ones that you listed. I don't track any of my stocks' performance against the market. Of the ones that we both have, none of them in my opinion will cut their dividend. Over short term time periods, you will have times that you do trail the market. Chasing the market beaters will cause you to lose money.

[Dividend Watcher]

I too have 19 of them. That's quite a list and like them all except RDS-B. That's only because I'm ignorant of anything about them. I've got COP and CVX in our portfolios.

The question would be, how are the companies doing? Are they growing earnings? Is the dividend increasing? Are you reinvesting the dividends? I follow what the market is doing but don't compare my portfolio with it. Does it really matter? Is your income and share count growing? That, to me, is the essence of it.

One year seems to be a pretty short period to measure performance unless you're trading in and out. Large corporations can take several years to work out problems. Sometimes it takes a few years for Mr. Market to recognize the potential or earnings to catch up with the price. 1/4 of my portfolio is in the red right now because they were the later purchases but I don't care -- I'm waiting to see where I'm at in 10 years when I'm getting ready to start thinking about retiring. I adjust where I need to based on company performance, not Mr. Market, and then sit and watch.

I'd suggest perusing through Tim McAleenan's blog here or read some of Chuck Carnevale's articles and chowder's blog over at Seeking Alpha.

Patience can win the race. Hang in there.

[EricL]

At first glance you are heavy consumer staples, energy, utilities and REIT's all of which have struggled with fears of the Fed raising rates, oil dropping to $90 and a weak consumer. Some of your others like like AFL and PM are sensitive to currency fluctuations. Others like MCD, TGT, BP have had their own hiccups and DE is struggling with a down farm economy.

I own 20 on the list and am not worried about them.

You will find that the blue chips lag the market during big up cycles but lead the market when things get tough and people flock to safety. My advice is to enjoy the lower prices where you can continue to build positions and reinvest dividends and let the compounding do its work.

[Jimbo]

My opinion is, what goes up will probably at one point come down, probably not too much if they are solid companies.

With a solid company, downturn is a good pickup opportunity.

The solids will come back and be stronger.

The dividends are a good source of income, especially if dripped.

Dont worry what your neighbor is driving or living in,(dont compare to market).

Dont stress, Sleep well at night, If you have time you will be fine.

It has taken me some time to not worry about the "being behind or the downturns"

Dont worry be happy.

Jim

[Roadmap2Retire]

Its already been said before by other, but hang onto those. Those are solid names and great long term investments. Dont worry too much about the performance over one quarter or one year.
Chasing performance and trying to beat the market will simply cause you to lose out over the long run. My philosophy is that I never try to beat the market - best I can do is simply buy and perform @ the market (by buying index funds). With DGI, I am simply focused on increasing the income stream year after year.

Hope that helps
ps: I own 7 of those companies in that list.

[DividendDragon]

I'm down too but it's important to think of it this way;

You liked these companies enough to invest in them and believe in their performance.

You should like it when the stock price drops so you can buy the company at an even cheaper price.

I try to buy companies with not too high P/E to rest assured that the company I invested in is not over-valued. That's where you'll lose real money (In my opinion)

[Robandcindy2]

If they haven't cut their dividends and you bought them because you "wanted" them then to quote Mr. Cra-merica "BUY, BUY, BUY!"

(Which hopefully you are doing with reinvested dividends)

When the market tap is squirting lemonade rather than single malt I step waaay back and look at the Dow in the longest terms possible:



Nothing but Up!!!! (OK...ALMOST nothing but up....

[Kerim]

Here's a pretty interesting (but not very deep) article from the LA Times today about exactly this topic. It notes the phenomenon you are discussing, but suggests that the big names that we DG investors love will likely have their day again. Which I of course agree with.

[Be Here Now]

"Only buy something that you’d be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years." - Warren Buffett

In other words, if you like the companies you own, ignore Mr Market.

[ronn38]

My portfolio (containing many of those same stocks) is down over $20,000 in unrealized loss. And yet my dividend payout is up from about $12,000 annual to well over $14,000. Since I'm not planning on selling any--I'm money ahead. The "loss" for me--and indeed all of us-- only exists as an academic discussion.

Ronn

[Dividend Watcher]

Bravo, ron! The longer I do this, the more convinced I am to watch the dividend stream and the earnings behind it.