A Darwinian approach to investing

The Sustained Momentum portfolio has been on the Covestor platform for two and one-half years now.

Little changed during May. I continue to monitor approximately fifty stocks, and I believe that I have picked the top 10 to 12 performing stocks to create the Covestor investment portfolio.

This thus becomes a form of Darwinian investing–survival of the fittest model!  At the edges are the 11th or 12th positions in terms of performance, where a holding is most vulnerable to be passed by another stock in the wings.

In May, Apple (AAPL) and Morningstar (MORN) competed for a place in the portfolio. Needless to say, Apple (AAPL) won out and returned to the portfolio where it had been some months previously.

Since this strategy remains relatively immune to emotional trading, Amazon (AMZN) remained in the portfolio. Even though its share performance lagged, the stock never fell below the 12th position in the lineup.

Since its inception in December 26, 2011, the Sustained Momentum portfolio has returned about 14.6% annually.  That return has lagged the 21.8% performance of the S&P 500 Index over the same period.

DISCLAIMER: The investments discussed are held in client accounts as of May 31, 2013. These investments may or may not be currently held in client accounts. The reader should not assume that any investments identified were or will be profitable or that any investment recommendations or investment decisions we make in the future will be profitable. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.