May Model Portfolios Review – All Value Strategies Outperformed

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May 27, 2011
The stock market is at about where it was at the beginning of the second quarter. The S&P500 is almost flat so far in the second quarter and it is up 5.8% year-to-date. It is time to check the performances of GuruFocus Model Portfolios.


All GuruFocus value strategies extended their gains. The portfolios that underperformed S&P500 until the end of the first quarter extended their gains, even as the market is almost flat. As a result, all GuruFocus value strategies outperformed the market.


These are the details of the performances of the four value strategies:


Value Strategies (Long):

All numbers do not include dividends.


Year

S&P 500

Buffett-Munger Screener top 25

Top 25 Undervalued Predictable Companies

Top 25 Historical Low P/S Ratio Companies

Top 25 Historical Low P/B Ratio Companies

2009

23.5%

27%

54%

2010

12.8%

21.1%

21.5%

19%

16.4%

Q12011

5.4%

9.6%

5.3%

4.3%

4.9%

May2011

13.4%

6.3%

6.7%

7.2%




We can see that among the four model portfolios, the portfolio of Buffett-Munger Screener outperformed the S&P500 by 7.5% in the first quarter. All other three model portfolios now outperformed the S&P500 slightly.


The Buffett-Munger Screener can be used to find companies with high-quality business at undervalued or fair-valued prices:


  1. Companies that have high Predictability Rank, that is, companies that can consistently grow their revenue and earnings.
  2. Companies that have competitive advantages. They can maintain or even expand their profit margin while growing their businesses.
  3. Companies that incur little debt while growing business.
  4. Companies that are fair valued or under-valued. We use PEPG as indicator. PEPG is the P/E ratio divided by the average growth rate of EBITDA over the past 5 years.
From the back testing study from 1998-2008 we have found strong correlations between the predictability of businesses and the long-term return of stocks. The group of undervalued highly predictable companies performed the best. This group had an annualized gain of 20%, while the market just averaged 2.7% a year.


For details, go to: What Worked In The Market From 1998-2008? Part II. Under-Valued Predictable Companies And Buffett-Munger Screener.


Both of the portfolios of Buffett-Munger Screener Top 25 and Top 25 Undervalued Predictable Companieswere started in January 2009. Since inception, the Buffett-Munger portfolio gained more than 73.6%, while the S&P500 gained 46.8%. Although it slightly underperformed for the first quarter of this year, the portfolio of Top 25 Undervalued Predictable Companies has since gained back. It did even better since 2009. The portfolio gained 97.48% since Jan. 2009, more than doubling the returns of the S&P500 in the same period.


This is the 12-month performance chart of the portfolio of the Buffett-Munger Screener:


Both the Buffett-Munger Screener and Top 25 Undervalued Predictable Companies select stocks from the companies that have the highest predictability rank. Top 25 Undervalued Predictable Companies Portfolio selects the stocks that are undervalued from DCF calculations. For the current list of undervalued predictable companies, go to the screener.


The other two model portfolios are for predictable companies that are traded at historical low P/S and historical low P/B ratios, respectively. Both of these two portfolios outperformed the market average in 2010, but both lag slightly so far in the year.


Please read Stocks Traded at Historical Low Price/Book Ratios: RGLD, AZN, ABT, JNJ, WMT for some of the stocks in the list. Go to historical low P/B ratios for the complete list.


All the portfolios are rebalanced once a year; therefore, no portfolio changes will be made at this time.


This is the summary of the four value strategies mentioned above:


1. Buffett-Munger screener: Invests in predictable companies that have low debt, consistent profit margin, and traded at low PE to growth ratios.


2. Undervalued Predictable Companies: Invests in predictable companies that are undervalued based on DCF model.


3. Historical low P/S: Companies that have high predictability rank, but traded at historical low P/S ratios.


4. Historical low P/B: Companies that have high predictability rank, but traded at historical low P/B ratios.


GuruFocus premium membership is needed to access the details of the portfolios and screeners. We also publish a monthly Buffett-Munger newsletter which features the picks from the Buffett-Munger Screener. If you are a premium member, you can download this for free. If you are not a Premium Member, we invite you for a 7-day Free Trial.