americanportfolioservices.com
Home
Investment
Services
Executive
Summary
Investment
Management
Focus 50 List
Year-End Report
December 31, 2003
The markets ended 2003 on an up trend in overall prices of securities. However, the general overall economy still remains suspect. The real problem is (1) another devastating terror attack on our country, and (2) the real possibility of a breakdown in our political system. The Democrats are hurling falsehoods and slanders at President Bush and the Republicans. A difference of opinion on policy is stimulating and helpful, but to stand before throngs of Middle Americans and tell strident lies is not good for American Democracy. Personally, I have very serious reservations on how President bush has led our country over the 3 ½ years. In many ways he has failed, but I do feel the strident refrain from Democrats can only cause long-term problems for the U.S. political system.
Most of you came to this sight to learn about how we invest our clients’ money. In a word “Carefully Aggressive in Quality”. Simple. We don’t use terms such as “Balanced”, “Growth”, “Value”, “Speculative”, etc. We use all of those superlatives for our motto of “Focus Portfolio Management”. That’s what we do – achieve exceptional results.
There has been a lot of movement of late in comparing Investment Advisors against a “Grid” of Performance. Frankly, we are still a small “boutique” firm and clients come to us mostly by referrals. We see no reason, therefore, to pay thousands of dollars to go with some published “grid” of portfolio managers. We will say however, that back in the 1990’s when we managed accounts for Savings Banks in Massachusetts, we ranked at 96%, i.e. we outperformed 96% of all Bank Equity Portfolios.
Where do we go from here? You saw our Focus List. I change it frequently. But the thrust should be obvious, Quality, Growth, and Industry leadership. After decades of endeavor, we know it works for our clients.
Back on October 1st, we gave you 5 stocks that we felt would treat you well over the next quarter. These are quality companies that we had confidence in. This is how they performed:
Symbol Company Business Date Added Price Price Close % Change Annual% Change
|
AFL |
Aflac |
Insurance– A&H |
10/01/03 |
32.30 |
36.18 |
+12.01% |
+47.66% |
|
IBM |
International Business Machines |
Computers |
10/01/03 |
88.33 |
92.68 |
+4.92% |
+19.54% |
|
INTC |
Intel |
Semiconductor |
10/01/03 |
27.52 |
32.05 |
+16.46% |
+65.31% |
|
STT |
State Street Corp. |
Banking |
10/01/03 |
45.00 |
52.08 |
+15.73% |
+62.42% |
|
WWY |
William Wrigley Jr., Co. |
Confectioners |
10/01/03 |
55.30 |
56.21 |
+1.65% |
+6.53% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
+10.16% |
+40.29% |
