Yesterday was the last trading day of March and ConocoPhillips (COP) is no longer the top stock of the S&P 100 going into April. On February 1st, I bought eleven shares for $90.63 each, totaling $996.92. I had $8.96 in cash leftover. On March 1st, the shares paid $5.06 in dividends increasing my cash balance to $14.02.
Yesterday, I sold the eleven shares for $101.86 each for a total of $1,120.45. Along with the cash balance, I now have a grand total of $1,134.47 in cash. I started testing with $1,001.66 so this strategy has yielded 13.3 percent over the last eleven months. This is good considering market volatility continued in March due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, rising inflation, and Federal Reserve tightening. See the table below for a summary of each month’s ending balance and return.
For comparison, the S&P 500 benchmark index fund (SPY) has returned 9.4% over these same eleven months including dividends. The war in Ukraine rages on but yesterday President Biden announced measures to bring oil and gasoline prices down. We’ll see if they work.
The New Top Stock for April
Not surprisingly, ConocoPhillips, an integrated oil company, has been replaced by another (and larger) integrated oil company, Chevron Corp. Currently, three of the top five stocks in the S&P 100 are oil companies. They produce commodities which are smoking hot right now, given high inflation.
Today, I will buy six or seven shares of Chevron (CVX) which closed yesterday at $162.83. Check back in a month to find out if Chevron is still the top stock in the S&P 100.
