The 2019 Buy List

Here are the 25 stocks for the 2019 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 2018. 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 $45.56 877.96313 $40,000.00
Becton, Dickinson BDX $225.32 177.52530 $40,000.00
Broadridge Financial Solutions BR $96.25 415.58442 $40,000.00
Cerner CERN $52.44 762.77651 $40,000.00
Check Point Software CHKP $102.65 389.67365 $40,000.00
Church & Dwight CHD $65.76 608.27251 $40,000.00
Cognizant Technology Solutions CTSH $63.48 630.11972 $40,000.00
Continental Building Products CBPX $25.45 1571.70923 $40,000.00
Danaher DHR $103.12 387.89760 $40,000.00
Disney DIS $109.65 364.79708 $40,000.00
Eagle Bancorp EGBN $48.71 821.18661 $40,000.00
FactSet Research Systems FDS $200.13 199.87008 $40,000.00
Fiserv FISV $73.49 544.29174 $40,000.00
Hershey HSY $107.18 373.20396 $40,000.00
Hormel Foods HRL $42.68 937.20712 $40,000.00
Intercontinental Exchange ICE $75.33 530.99695 $40,000.00
JM Smucker SJM $93.49 427.85325 $40,000.00
Moody’s MCO $140.04 285.63268 $40,000.00
Raytheon RTN $153.35 260.84121 $40,000.00
Ross Stores ROST $83.20 480.76923 $40,000.00
RPM International RPM $58.78 680.50357 $40,000.00
Sherwin-Williams SHW $393.46 101.66218 $40,000.00
Singnature Bank SBNY $102.81 389.06721 $40,000.00
Stryker SYK $156.75 255.18341 $40,000.00
Torchmark TMK $74.53 536.69663 $40,000.00
Total $1,000,000.00

The five new stocks are Broadridge Financial Solutions, Disney, Eagle Bancorp, Hershey and Raytheon. We’ll also gain a 26th stock when Danaher spins off its dental business.

The five sells are Alliance Data Systems, Carriage Services, Ingredion, Snap-on and Wabtec.

Disney is now our largest stock, with a market cap of $163 billion. The Buy List is mostly large- and mid-cap stocks. Only two are smaller than $5 billion. Eagle Bancorp is $1.7 billion, and Continental Building Products is about $937 million

Only AFLAC and Fiserv have been on the Buy List all 14 years. This is Stryker’s 12th year.

Here’s a brief description (via Hoovers) of our five new stocks:

Broadridge Financial Solutions (BR) does business by proxy. The company provides technology-based investor communications, trade processing, and related services – the back-office infrastructure that facilitates operations – to financial services companies around the world. Clients include banks, broker-dealers, mutual funds, and institutional investors. Through its proprietary ProxyEdge system, Broadridge processes and distributes proxy materials, voting instructions, and other information to investors, processing more than 2 billion investor communications per year. It also offers related services, such as marketing communications and online shareholder meetings. Broadridge operates offices in more than a dozen countries in North America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.

The monarch of this magic kingdom is no man but a mouse: Mickey Mouse. The Walt Disney Company (DIS) is the world’s largest media conglomerate, with assets encompassing movies, television, publishing, and theme parks. Its Disney/ABC Television Group includes the ABC television network and 10 broadcast stations, as well as a portfolio of cable networks including ABC Family, Disney Channel, and ESPN (80%-owned). Walt Disney Studios produces films through imprints Walt Disney Pictures, Disney Animation, and Pixar. It also owns Marvel Entertainment and Lucasfilm, two extremely successful film producers. In addition, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts runs its popular theme parks including Walt Disney World and Disneyland.

For those nest eggs that need a little help hatching, holding company Eagle Bancorp (EGBN) would recommend its community-oriented EagleBank subsidiary. The bank serves businesses and individuals through more than 20 branches in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC, and its suburbs. Deposit products include checking, savings, and money market accounts; certificates of deposit; and IRAs. Commercial real estate loans represent more than 70% of its loan portfolio, while construction loans make up another more than 20%. The bank, which has significant expertise as a Small Business Administration lender, also writes business, consumer, and home equity loans. EagleBank offers insurance products through an agreement with The Meltzer Group.

The Hershey Company (HSY) works to spread Almond Joy and lots of Kisses. With its portfolio of more than 80 global brands, the #1 chocolate producer in North America has built a big business manufacturing such well-known chocolate and candy brands as Hershey’s, Kisses, Reese’s peanut butter cups, Twizzlers, Mounds and Almond Joy candy bars (under a license), York peppermint patties, and Kit Kat wafer bars. Hershey also makes grocery goods, including baking chocolate, chocolate syrup, cocoa mix, cookies, snack nuts, breath mints, and bubble gum. Beyond candy, Hershey’s has expanded into the snacks category. Products from the chocolate king are sold to a variety of wholesale distributors and retailers throughout North America and exported overseas.

Raytheon (RTN), “light of the gods,” shines in the upper pantheon of US military contractors; the company regularly places among the Pentagon’s top 10 prime contractors. Its air/land/sea/space/cyber defense offerings include reconnaissance, targeting, and navigation systems, as well as missile systems (Patriot, Sidewinder, and Tomahawk), unmanned ground and aerial systems, sensing technologies, and radars. Additionally, Raytheon makes systems for communications (satellite) and intelligence, radios, cybersecurity, and air traffic control. It also offers commercial electronics products and services, as well as food safety processing technologies. The US government accounts for a large portion of sales.

Posted by on December 31st, 2018 at 8:53 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.