The 2018 Buy List

Here are the 25 stocks for the 2018 Buy List. It’s locked and sealed, and I can’t make any changes for 12 months.

For tracking purposes, I assume the Buy List is a $1 million portfolio that’s equally divided among 25 stocks. Below are all 25 positions with the number of shares for each and the closing price for 2017. Whenever I discuss how the Buy List is doing, the list below is what I’m referring to.

Company Ticker Price Shares Balance
AFLAC AFL $87.78 455.6847 $40,000.00
Alliance Data Systems ADS $253.48 157.8034 $40,000.00
Becton, Dickinson BDX $214.06 186.8635 $40,000.00
Carriage Services CSV $25.71 1,555.8149 $40,000.00
Cerner CERN $67.39 593.5599 $40,000.00
Check Point Software CHKP $103.62 386.0259 $40,000.00
Church & Dwight CHD $50.17 797.2892 $40,000.00
Cognizant Technology Solutions CTSH $71.02 563.2216 $40,000.00
Continental Building Products CBPX $28.15 1,420.9591 $40,000.00
Danaher DHR $92.82 430.9416 $40,000.00
FactSet Research Systems FDS $192.76 207.5119 $40,000.00
Fiserv FISV $131.13 305.0408 $40,000.00
Hormel Foods HRL $36.39 1,099.2031 $40,000.00
Ingredion INGR $139.80 286.1230 $40,000.00
Intercontinental Exchange ICE $70.56 566.8934 $40,000.00
JM Smucker SJM $124.24 321.9575 $40,000.00
Moody’s MCO $147.61 270.9844 $40,000.00
Ross Stores ROST $80.25 498.4424 $40,000.00
RPM International RPM $52.42 763.0675 $40,000.00
Sherwin-Williams SHW $410.04 97.5515 $40,000.00
Signature Bank SBNY $137.26 291.4177 $40,000.00
Snap-on SNA $174.30 229.4894 $40,000.00
Stryker SYK $154.84 258.3312 $40,000.00
Torchmark TMK $90.71 440.9657 $40,000.00
Wabtec WAB $81.43 491.2195 $40,000.00
Total $1,000,000.00

The five new stocks are Carriage Services, Check Point Software Technologies, Church & Dwight, FactSet Research Systems and Torchmark.

Also, thanks to the recent merger, Becton, Dickinson will take the place of CR Bard.

The five deletions are Axalta Coating Systems, Cinemark Holdings, Express Scripts, HEICO and Microsoft.

Danaher is now our largest stock, with a market cap of $65 billion. The Buy List is mostly large- and mid-cap stocks. Only two are smaller than $7 billion. Continental Building Products is about $1 billion, and Carriage Services is $410 million.

Only AFLAC and Fiserv have been on the Buy List all 13 years. This is Stryker’s 11th year. FactSet is returning for the third time to the Buy List.

Here’s a brief look at our five new stocks.

Carriage Services (CSV) is a Texas-based funeral-home operator. They currently operate 178 funeral homes in 29 states, and 32 cemeteries in 11 states. Barely anyone on Wall Street follows Carriage, but the numbers look good.

Check Point Software Technologies (CHKP) is an Israeli-based computer-security firm. It’s not cheap at 19.7 times this year’s earnings, but I think that’s not a bad price considering their growth.

Church & Dwight (CHD) is a company I’ve wanted to add for many years. They’re a consumer-products stalwart. C&D owns several well-known brands like Arm & Hammer, OxiClean and, of course, Trojan.

FactSet Research Systems (FDS) is a financial-data and software company. They help provide all the numbers that investors love to crunch. The stock was previously on the Buy List from 2006 to 2009 and again in 2013. I probably should have had them on the whole time.

Torchmark (TMK) is a stock I’ve wanted to add to the Buy List for years. This is a very well-run insurance company based in Texas. Torchmark specializes in serving the middle-income market. The company almost always grows its operating income by 7% to 10% per share each year.

Posted by on December 31st, 2017 at 6:17 pm


The information in this blog post represents my own opinions and does not contain a recommendation for any particular security or investment. I or my affiliates may hold positions or other interests in securities mentioned in the Blog, please see my Disclaimer page for my full disclaimer.