Today marks the one-year anniversary of Motley Fool Inside Value. To celebrate, lead analyst Philip Durell is devoting today's issue (released after market close) entirely to a review of the past year's recommendations. It should be a good one.
In its first year, Inside Value has accomplished what pundits have claimed impossible: it beat the market (as measured against the S&P 500). Newsletter subscribers have scored total average returns of 13.25%, vs. a 5.6% gain for the S&P 500 index and tracking stocks like the Spyders (AMEX:SPY).
What to look for
Philip boasts only 22 outstanding picks because two of the original 24 were such good values that others bought them out of the market. Kohlberg Kravis Roberts bought Inside Value selection Masonite, and after a lengthy bidding war with Qwest (NYSE:Q), Verizon (NYSE:VZ) won the rights to long-distance giant MCI (NASDAQ:MCIP). Both recommendations were acquired at hefty premiums.
The good news for value investors is: Not all of the picks are up. That may sound counterintuitive, but if the market hasn't recognized their potential yet, these stocks continue to represent substantial margins of safety for subscribers. As investing luminary Ben Graham noted, those margins are what bring home the bacon for value investors.
Oooh
... patience
The key, of course, is patience. ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) and General Electric (NYSE:GE) didn't grow into the behemoths they are today overnight. But along the way, both stocks presented investors with multiple opportunities to buy great firms at discount prices. As a cyclical commodity company, ExxonMobil is particularly vulnerable to the very market swings we wait for and exploit at Inside Value.
Those same market swings left Omnicare (NYSE:OCR) right on Philip's Inside Value doorstep. Rough negotiations with takeover target NeighborCare had depressed the shares, but Philip saw the long-term potential of the firm. Once the deal closed and the dust settled, Inside Value subscribers realized some 65% gains.
Foolish final thoughts
So that's a quick year in review for what has been a great year for us value investors. But rest assured, Philip isn't sitting on his haunches. He's looking forward to the coming year, where he hopes to find 24 new companies that will help patient investors find the value in the market's hidden corners. If you want to join us on our value hunt for the next year, start with a 30-day free trial. There's no obligation to subscribe, and you'll immediately enjoy access to everything we've learned in the past year. Click here to learn more.
At the time of publication, Fool contributor and Inside Value team member Chuck Saletta owned shares in Omnicare and General Electric. The Fool has a disclosure policy .
