GuruFocus’ most broadly held portfolio, which tracks the performance of the stocks with high guru ownership, has outperformed the Standard & Poor’s 500 index benchmark over the past 10 years. The five stocks that had the highest year-to-date returns are ConocoPhillips (COP, Financial), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT, Financial), Apple Inc. (AAPL, Financial), Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK, Financial) and Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL, Financial).
A recap of our model strategies
GuruFocus offers two types of model strategies: guru strategies, which invest in stocks with the largest guru ownership, and value strategies, which invest in stocks with the highest growth and value potential. The most broadly held portfolio is an example of the former, while the undervalued predictable portfolio is an example of the latter.
Table 1 shows the performances of the guru strategies, while Table 2 shows the performances of the value strategies as of Thursday.
| Model Portfolio | Most Broadly Held | Most Weighted | Consensus Picks | Guru Bargains | S&P 500 |
| Annualized 1-YR | 15.45% | 12.84% | 3.45% | 2.99% | 15.15% |
| Annualized 3-YR | 13.67% | 6.49% | 3.88% | 7.57% | 11.19% |
| Annualized 5-YR | 13.47% | 10.47% | 4.70% | 0.78% | 10.97% |
| Annualized 10-YR | 11.94% | 7.33% | 5.81% | 1.58% | 8.22% |
| Inception Date | 12/30/2005 | 12/30/2005 | 5/23/2006 | 6/9/2006 | Ă‚ |
| Since Inception | 203.97% | 124.15% | 72.40% | 14.98% | Ă‚ |
| S&P 500 Return | 128.93% | 128.93% | 127.42% | 128.20% | Ă‚ |
Table 1
| Model Portfolio | Buffett-Munger | Undervalued Predictable | Historical Low Price-Sales | Historical Low Price-Book | S&P 500 |
| Annualized 1-YR | 13.47% | 19.59% | 6.11% | 7.02% | 15.15% |
| Annualized 3-YR | 8.98% | 10.46% | 6.34% | 10.49% | 11.19% |
| Annualized 5-YR | 6.90% | 11.57% | 8.21% | 11.56% | 10.97% |
| Inception Date | 12/31/2008 | 12/31/2008 | 12/30/2009 | 12/30/2009 | Ă‚ |
| Since Inception | 205.84% | 287.21% | 145.34% | 178.23% | Ă‚ |
| S&P 500 Return | 216.38% | 216.38% | 153.70% | 153.70% | Ă‚ |
Table 2
Note that the returns since inception represent the total, aggregate return since the inception date, while the “Annualized n-YR” returns represent the average annual return over the past "n" years.
ConocoPhillips
The model portfolio added 212 shares of ConocoPhillips on Jan. 2, 2017 for $50.14 per share. The company has gained 31.62% year to date.
The Houston-based oil exploration and production company’s profitability ranks 5 out of 10: even though the company’s revenue declined approximately 16.70% per year over the past five years, ConocoPhillips’ operating margin of 30.06% outperforms 85% of global competitors. The company’s Piotroski F-score ranks a strong 8 out of 10 on several factors, including higher gross margins and asset turnover year over year.
Gurus with large positions in ConocoPhillips include Barrow, Hanley, Mewhinney & Strauss, First Eagle Investment (Trades, Portfolio), Yacktman Asset Management (Trades, Portfolio), Tweedy Browne (Trades, Portfolio) and the Yacktman Fund (Trades, Portfolio).
Microsoft
The most broadly held portfolio added 149 shares of Microsoft on Jan. 2, 2006 for $26.88 per share. The company founded by Bill Gates (Trades, Portfolio) has gained 28.98% year to date and 309.23% since the portfolio’s inception date of Dec. 30, 2005.
GuruFocus ranks Microsoft’s profitability 8 out of 10 as the company’s operating margin of 31.77% outperforms 93% of global competitors. The company’s business predictability ranks 4.5 stars out of five on consistent revenue and earnings growth over the past 10 years.
Gurus with large positions in Microsoft include Gates, PRIMECAP Management (Trades, Portfolio), Dodge & Cox and Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio). During the second quarter, Ken Fisher (Trades, Portfolio) added 726,904 shares of Microsoft for an average price of $96.89 per share.
Apple
The model portfolio added 84 shares of Apple on Jan. 2, 2012 for $57.86 per share. The stock, which currently trades near an all-time high of $209.57, has gained approximately 23.27% year to date.
Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio)’s top holding reached a $1 trillion market cap on Aug. 2. Several other gurus joined the celebration, including Pioneer Investments, Spiros Segalas (Trades, Portfolio), Jeremy Grantham (Trades, Portfolio), Bill Nygren (Trades, Portfolio) and Lou Simpson (Trades, Portfolio).
Merck
The model portfolio added 181 shares of Merck on Jan. 2, 2017 for $58.87 per share. The stock has gained 20.22% year to date.
Merck’s financial strength ranks a solid 6 out of 10 on good interest coverage and a strong Altman Z-score of 3.53. The company’s Piotroski F-score is 7, driven by improving financial leverage and higher gross margins and asset turnover year over year.
Alphabet
The model portfolio invested in 16 shares of Alphabet on Jan. 1, 2015 for $530.66 per share. The company has gained 19.74% year to date.
GuruFocus ranks Alphabet’s financial strength 9 out of 10 on several factors, including robust interest coverage and debt ratios that outperform over 88% of global competitors. Alphabet’s debt-to-EBITDA ratio is near a 10-year low of 0.10.
See also
Table 3 lists the value screener record as of Thursday.
| Screener Name | USA | Canada | UK / Ireland | Europe | Asia | Oceania | Latin America | Africa | India |
| Ben Graham Net-Net | 125 | 70 | 40 | 210 | 483 | 18 | 6 | 10 | 40 |
| Undervalued Predictable | 51 | 5 | 26 | 55 | 42 | 0 | 19 | 6 | 5 |
| Buffett-Munger | 23 | 5 | 13 | 39 | 62 | 1 | 9 | 3 | 19 |
| Historical Low Price-Sales | 10 | 2 | 6 | 22 | 81 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 7 |
| Historical Low Price-Book | 13 | 3 | 12 | 26 | 76 | 0 | 14 | 8 | 11 |
| Peter Lynch Growth | 30 | 2 | 16 | 53 | 72 | 3 | 28 | 6 | 11 |
| Walter Schloss | 21 | 25 | 9 | 46 | 274 | 12 | 12 | 6 | 10 |
Table 3
Premium members have access to all of our value screeners, including the All-in-one Screener and the Aggregated Portfolio of Gurus.
Disclosure: no positions.
