“Entrepreneurs are never satisfied. They want to do things better. They strive for perfection and use all the ingenuity to their command to achieve it.” – J.W. Marriott
| Company Name | Symbol | YTD % | Outperform? |
| Apple | AAPL | 7.84 | Y |
| Alibaba | BABA | -18.37 | N |
| Altria | MO | 18.75 | Y |
| Cisco | CSCO | -1.2 | N |
| eBay | EBAY | 24.26 | Y |
| Financial Select SPDR | XLF | 1.52 | N |
| General Electric | GE | 20.66 | Y |
| Gilead Sciences | GILD | 10.41 | Y |
| Google (now Alphabet) | GOOG | 46.07 | Y |
| Google (now Alphabet) | GOOGL | 46.84 | Y |
| Health Care ETF | XLV | 6.02 | Y |
| Intel | INTC | -3.73 | N |
| SPDR S&P Bank ETF | KBE | 9.25 | Y |
| Republic Services | RSG | 10.09 | Y |
| Rio Tinto | RIO | -31.07 | N |
| Teva Pharma | TEVA | 16.12 | Y |
| Union Pacific | UNP | -32.46 | N |
| Utilities Select SPDR | XLU | -7.66 | N |
| Visa | V | 22.65 | Y |
| Average | 7.68 | 4.20 | |
| Median | 9.25 | 5.77 | |
| Incidence of Outperformance | 63.2% | 13.2 pts | |
| S&P 500 Select SPDR | SPY | 3.48 | |
| Source: Bloomberg | |||
| Data as of December 6, 2015 | |||
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We say this time and time again: “We’re never satisfied, and we’re always looking to get better.” But how have the ideas we delivered to members performed in 2015?
In short, pretty darn good.
The average and median returns of the best ideas included in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio at the beginning of 2015 were in the high single digits, more than doubling the performance of the S&P 500 index. Nearly two thirds of the ideas in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio outperformed the index, a hit rate (“batting average”) that we believe is hard to find anywhere else.
Remember, we put our members first, so only when you do well can we do well.
Powering the strong performance was Google, now Alphabet, eBay, which spun off PayPal, General Electric, Visa, and Teva Pharma. Apple performed well, while Gilead Sciences and Republic Services were honorable mentions. Union Pacific and Rio Tinto, two of the smallest weightings in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio, were the biggest losers, while Alibaba has yet to fully recover from investor worries earlier in the year.
There will always be companies that underperform in any given year, as we take a multi-year view in some cases on new ideas, but for the most part, the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio has continued its enviable reputation in 2015. The market can humble most any investor at any time, but we believe we continue to deliver on our goals to members (which can never be guaranteed).
Even though we know perfection is unattainable, we’ll keep striving for it. Our best wishes this holiday season.