Welcome to week 130 of my stock-picking throwdown with Mr. Market. Let's get right to the numbers.
Company |
Starting Price* |
Recent Price |
Total Return |
---|---|---|---|
Akamai | $22.23 | $41.57 | 86.9% |
Harris & Harris | $6.22 | $5.95 | (4.3%) |
IBM |
$122.97** | $164.84 | 34.0% |
Oracle | $22.37** | $33.68 | 50.6% |
Taiwan Semiconductor | $9.35** | $12.81 | 37.0% |
AVERAGE RETURN | -- | -- | 40.84% |
S&P 500 SPDR | $120.57** | $134.25 | 11.35% |
DIFFERENCE | -- | -- | 29.49 |
Source: Yahoo! Finance.
*Tracking began on Aug. 7, 2008.
**Adjusted for dividends and other returns of capital.
Score another one for Mr. Market. Thanks to more tech turbulence, my portfolio gave back another 102 basis points in this content, for a total of 676 in two weeks. Ugh.
All four major indices rallied, but those with big interests in little stocks did best this week. The small-cap Russell 2000 set the pace, up 1.44% versus 1.04% for the S&P 500. The Dow 30, up 0.96%, rallied for the third consecutive week, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lagged at up 0.87%, CNBC reports.
Among industries, small-cap biotech offered the week's biggest winner. KV Pharmaceuticals
But even though KV and other small caps dominated the week's headlines, blue chips have been the story year-to-date. The Dow 30 is up 7.03% in 2011, 17 basis points better than the Nasdaq. Seven components have posted double-digit returns in that time. Walt Disney
The week in tech
You can include blue-chip techies in that list. IBM is up 12.4% year-to-date, and peer Hewlett-Packard
Dell
NVIDIA
WiMAX network operator Clearwire
If they're right, Friday’s 8% rally will look like chump change in a year or two.
That's how disruptive innovation works. Remake an industry -- in Clearwire's case, telecom -- and you unleash billions in market value.
But don't take my word for it. Look at David Gardner. He produced a decade of 20% returns in the real-money Rule Breaker portfolio by betting on a collection of innovators and then holding them for the long term. Tom Gardner's "simpleton portfolio" was also a 10-year winner. I believe that with my tech portfolio, I will achieve similar success.
Checkup time!
Now let's move on to the rest of today's update.
- IBM took the first step toward putting a machine on Hollywood's Walk of Fame when its "Watson" supercomputer beat former Jeopardy! champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter in a televised showdown. It wasn't a close contest. Watson amassed $77,157 in winnings over three days and two shows, versus $24,000 for Jennings and $21,600 for Rutter, Network World reports.
There's your checkup. See you back here next week for more tech-stock talk.
Get your clicks with more techie Foolishness:
- How do two losers equal one winner? Beats me.
- Why the iPhone and iPad don't have to be the Model T of their time.
- Is this cable company being left behind? It sure looks like it.
The Motley Fool has created a brand-new free report called " The Motley Fool's Top Stock for 2011 ." In it, we reveal the little company set to profit from the broadband Internet expansion. Get instant access by clicking here – it's free .