The elephant in the room to recognise this month is African Barrick Gold. I rue the day I discovered this stock, which is a majority owned subsidiary of Barrick Gold Corp. Since I came across these guys and bought in, then bought some more after the price drop post-Chinese pull out, my shares have lost 50% of their value. Add in that costs are going up at their operations and it looks like the dividend might be history (although Barrick Gold Corp can't really afford to not have the cash flow). Contrarian as I am, I think I might have three months off these guys before I consider getting back in.
So, what are the highlights for the last three months? The gain has ticked up to 1.34% since the start of 2012 - although the market has zoomed up recently and is up 18.29%. Not great really.
However, I am not the only manager who has had a bit of a crappy three months - I have moved from the 90th percentile up to the 83rd percentile of managers as listed by Trustnet. And importantly, that's for the funds that haven't been cancelled or merged due to poor performance (a great trick I learned that happens with our friends in the City).
My dividend yield is on the uptick - very important given that dividends have been the primary contributor to wealth growth via the stock market over the last 100 years. It's up to 1.29%; as time goes on I would hope this would head towards the market average - which is 3.3% today.
The absolute best is saved to last this quarter - and that is the likely output of my current strategy, which will deliver 59% of today's income when I retire at 65 should everything else remain equal. I can live with that idea!
What else? The lunacy in the markets will probably continue for some time as free money juices stocks upwards. I am going to stick to doing what seems to make sense - which other than African Barrick Gold - is my current stock selection strategy.
Thanks readers!
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