In the spirit of today's All-Star Game, our own all-star analysts offer a glimpse at their best-performing stocks over the past few years.
As a transplanted Brit living in Canada, I'm not sure I fully comprehend the importance of all-star weekends to Americans. I'm more at home with rugby, the FIFA World Cup, or hockey's Stanley Cup Final, which is the sporting event for Canadians. However, I do understand the spirit behind baseball's special event. So when asked for my four or five all-star investments, I knew exactly who would be on my team.
Best blue chip
My wife and I first bought shares of Canada's largest bank, Royal Bank of Canada
Best mutual fund
Again, I'm back to Canada for Phillips, Hager & North's (Canadian) Dividend Income Fund. And again, I'm more impressed by the long-term returns than by those of just the past five years. The 10-year compounded annual return (about the length of time my wife has owned the fund) is 16.82%, compared with the S&P TSX 60 index return of 11.04%. In 10 years, the minimum contribution of $25,000 turned into $118,334, while the index managed $71,241. That's a staggering outperformance of more than $47,000 in a short period of time. The management expense ratio is 1.18%, which is extremely low for Canada, where most actively managed funds charge 2.3% to 3% for a similar fund.
Best from Inside Value
Inside Value
focuses on out-of-favor stocks expected to outperform the market over the long term. In the two years since the newsletter's inception, my best buy (and sell) pick has been Omnicare
Best small cap
Back when I used to help out with Motley Fool Hidden Gems, I stumbled upon funeral-home company Alderwoods
Best turnaround
In August 2004, MCI, Inside Value's first recommendation, was fresh out of bankruptcy, and investors were shunning the shares. I can't say I blame them. Many had been seriously burned when MCI -- or WorldCom, as it was then known -- plunged into bankruptcy. But that created an opportunity. With a new board, new executives, and significantly less debt, this cash-production machine was attractive at $13.84 a share. Then Verizon
Looking back, I'd say that none of my all-star investments are all that flashy. But maybe that's exactly why they're all-star investments: They simply turned out above-average performance.
Philip Durell is the advisor/analyst of Motley Fool Inside Value , the Fool newsletter service devoted to practicing the ancient art of value investing. You can see Philip's favorite value stocks for free with a 30-day, no-obligation trial. Inside Value picks are beating the S&P 500 by nearly 3 percentage points since the newsletter's inception. Click here to learn more.
Philip's wife owns units in Phillips Hager & North's (Canadian) Dividend Income Fund. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.