2012 has been a pretty amazing year for investors so far.
I'll let you in on a little secret, though: The next 11 months won't all go as well as January has so far. If they did, we'd be looking at a 60% return on the S&P for the year. That ain't going to happen.
But the fact remains that predicting the future and timing the market are nearly impossible. The best way to mitigate this fact is to adhere to a regular schedule of investing in your retirement accounts, especially a Roth IRA.
Since late August of last year, I've been making decisions about how I'll invest in a very public manner: letting you know what stocks I'm thinking of buying for my Roth IRA -- and why -- on a regular schedule.
I'm a long-term investor, so short-term results aren't all that important, but had you invested alongside me when I made my recommendations, you'd already have a return of more than 15%, and be beating the market by about 6 percentage points.
Here are the five stocks I'm considering buying this month. Add them to your watchlist to stay abreast of all the latest news, and at the end I'll offer you access to a special free report on the next great growth stock of our time.
SodaStream (Nasdaq: SODA )
SodaStream has had a great start to 2012, but there are still tons of doubters out there. The recent announcement of a partnership with Kraft is a huge win for SodaStream.
I'm willing to throw my hat in there with fellow Fool Rick Munarriz and say that come 2015, SodaStream will have partnered with some, allowed an open-source format for others, and benefited from the patents it has on carbonator refills to explode in popularity.
Travelzoo (Nasdaq: TZOO )
Yes, this travel and local deals specialist may have missed revenue estimates in yesterday's earnings release, but let's remember: The company doesn't offer guidance -- this is just what analysts think will happen. And I believe those analysts overlooked the fact that the fourth quarter is historically Travelzoo's slowest.
As it is, earnings grew 75%. And if that seems good, consider the numbers from local deals, the segment of the company that has investors most excited. In North America, revenue grew by 67% year over year; in Europe, local deals did even better, growing by an astounding 600%.
Intuitive Surgical (Nasdaq: ISRG )
This company is the definition of innovation. While some thought robotic surgery would never become plausible, the management at Intuitive was prescient enough to push forward with their da Vinci robot. Over a decade and 590 moat-providing patents later, it's benefiting from one of the greatest benefits of all: few if any real competitors.
Recent earnings were pretty good as well, though some investors clearly disagree. That's fine by me; it'll allow us to scoop up shares on the cheap(er).
Lumber Liquidators (NYSE: LL )
I've already written about this company once this week. But a commenter suggested to me that there's no way this hardwood specialist could compete with Home Depot or Lowe's. I'll restate what I told said commenter: LL offers quality flooring at a much lower price point than Lowe's or HD. Much of this is due to efficiencies within its supply chain, and even more so to its low overhead: Stores only require a limited number of employees, and they are located in areas with very low rent.
Google (Nasdaq: GOOG )
As with Travelzoo and Intuitive, I think investors are being pretty shortsighted with Google. Yes, they may have missed their mark in the most recent earnings call. While analysts couldn't stop asking about the decline in the cost-per-click metric, they're ignoring the fact that there was a 34% increase in ad volume from the Big G.
More important, Larry Page is making Google a leaner, meaner machine moving forward. He's making concentrated bets on the future, and he's putting the company's money behind those bets. Though it may take time for those bets to play out, I'm confident this is the right long-term move.
Our next great growth stock
If you're familiar with different Fool styles of investing, you may note that my five picks have a very Rule Breakers feel to them. That's because I'm a big fan of founding Fool David Gardner's style of investing.
His team has just come out with a new special free report about the next rule-breaking multibagger. To get the name of the ticker and the details about this revolutionary company, get your copy of the report today, absolutely free!
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