Today is the last trading day of May and Exxon Mobil (XOM) is no longer the top stock of the S&P 100. On May 2nd, I bought twelve XOM shares for $86.40 each totaling $1,036.80 and had $56.39 in cash leftover.
I just sold the XOM shares for $98.16 for a total proceeds of $1,177.92. Along with the leftover cash balance, I now have a grand total of $1,234.31 in cash. I started testing with $1,001.66 so this strategy has returned 23.2 percent over the last thirteen months.
For comparison, the S&P 500 exchange traded fund SPY has returned 0.5 percent over the the same time, including dividends. Market volatility continued in May as the SPY hit a year-to-date closing low of $389.46 on the 19th. The SPY ETF has been less volatile but has returned far less than the stock picks provided by the strategy. This is illustrated by the following graph.
For a recap of this trading/stock picking strategy, please see Tweaking, Trading and Testing Tim’s Strategy.
The New Top Stock for the Second Month of the Second Year
ConocoPhililps, our stock pick in both February and March, returns to the top replacing Exxon Mobil, another large integrated oil company. Currently, the top three stocks in the S&P 100 are oil companies. They produce commodities (oil, natural gas, and gasoline) which are red hot right now given their strong demand and tight supply.
Tomorrow, I will buy ten or eleven shares of ConocoPhillips (COP) which closed today at $112.43. Check back in a month for an update of this strategy’s results.
