Five More Winners

We will not buy these in the portfolio but these five companies are all great companies worthy of your consideration. All of them meet the Better Investing guidelines of our investment club community. We are looking for growth opportunities.

So here we go:




This bank is a major winner. Growing at great rates. With interest rates increasing this year the banking industry will be growing.



Maximus is a software company that caters to government portals and security. Will all the talk about secure email use among government leaders companies like Maximus are going to be attractive. It is already a successful company but will be on the grow.



Trex you have seen and it is not the dinosaur. No, they make non-wood decking materials sold at your local building and supply store. It is a system with lots of plans for your do-it-yourself project. They are growing a good rates. Buy this for long term.

Visa needs no explanation. I was surprised that the price of this stock was not in the Hold or Sell zone in the better investing scale. It is a buy and perhaps an opportunity to get in at a good time.
Try this and see what happens. Brand is hard to mimic. This one is here to stay. Buy. Buy. Buy.



You don't know this company officially but you really do know it. They make North Face, Wrangler, Lees and sell both in stores and online. They also have nautilus contracts with the NFL MLB and Harley Davidson. It is the oldest textile company in North Carolina dating back to the 1890's. Really. They are a winner except they pay too much of a dividend for the BI investment tolerance but I am fine with too much dividend for a company this old. They are still putting a lot of money into new product lines and research so it is still a growth play even though the dividend is awesome. It is a win/win to me. Just my opinion. Buy it.

Where we stand in our portfolio:


DRQ cost basis $6,547.00 value is $6,495

DNKN cost basis $5,273.00 value is $5,469.00 

CGI cost basis $769.00 value is $810.00 

SRCL cost basis $7,719 value is $8,293.00 

LULU cost basis $6,855.00 value is $6,532.00

GNTX cost $1,856.00 current $2,088.00 

BNS paid $5,408.00 value $6,129.00 

TSCO paid $6,667 value $7,117.00

KMX paid $5,444 value $6,583.00

LCI paid $3,238 value $2,290.00 

JLL paid $9,699 value $11,393.00

Three losers are DRQ, LULU, and LCI.

We are positive on the others with total gains of $3,731.00 or 6.27% since September. We will wait to buy any others for a little while although I am tempted to buy Visa now. We will wait for a pull back in the market and snatch these stocks. It is always good to study so you are ready when it is time to invest new dollars. 

Oil Will Be Back

Dril-Quip is like its name an equipment company for off shore drilling. It has weathered the oil downturn and is in less of a funk than its peers. I like this company long term. It is a good place to jump back into this industry.

The website www.dril-quip.comdescribes the company as:

"... one of the world’s leading manufacturers of offshore drilling and production equipment that is well suited for use in deepwater applications. 

The Company designs and manufactures subsea, surface and offshore rig equipment for use by oil and gas companies and drilling contractors in offshore areas throughout the world. Dril-Quip also provides technical advisory services, reconditioning services and running tools for use in connection with the installation and retrieval of its products. 

Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Dril-Quip has manufacturing facilities in the United States, Brazil, Scotland and Singapore. The Company also has sales and service offices in numerous locations throughout the world. Dril-Quip’s manufacturing operations are vertically integrated, with the Company performing essentially all of its forging, heat treating, machining, fabrication, inspection, assembly and testing at its own facilities. The Company has developed its broad line of subsea, surface and offshore rig equipment primarily through internal product development efforts. 

Dril-Quip is recognized for its full range of innovative drilling and production products that can be utilized to provide total solutions for offshore field developments."

This is a great investment opportunity. Here are the reasons:

1. It's rate of growth is the least reason for buying this company but an 8.6% growth in a low oil environment does not concern most. Most small capitalization companies Better Investing seeks a 12% growth rate. This is a small cap with $840 million in sales last year. It has no that is $0 in debt something remarkable for this industry. I made this a yes.

2. This company knocks it out of the park in pre-tax profit in comparison to its peers. That rate is 25.8% compared to 9% for the industry.

3. This company also is a winner in earnings on stockholders equity with a 13.29% exceeding by 1/4 th the industry that is at 8.4%. Impressive.

4. Earnings per share rate of growth is almost the same as sales which is ideal. The rate is 9.4%. A YES.

5. It is a true growth company that pays no dividend. A YES.

6. The upside-down side ratio is at a whopping 45. A BOLD YES.

7. Then to top it off the company is available in the low end of the buy scale at $65.20. The buy zone is between $59.80 - $92.70 so has great upside opportunity. Its 52 week high is $69.40 and that reflects the oil environment. The price was $121.10 the all time high with the low of $73.70 in the same year; 2013.

DRQ cost basis $6,547.00 value is $6,540 = - $7.00

DNKN cost basis $5,273.00 value is $5,543.00 = $270.00

CGI cost basis $769.00 value is $910.00 = +141.00 

SRCL cost basis $7,719 value is $7,783.00 = +$64.00 

LULU cost basis $6,855.00 value is $6,755.00 = -$100.00

GNTX cost $1,856.00 current $2,053.00 .... +197.00

BNS paid $5,408.00 value $6,192.00 = +$784.00

TSCO paid $6,667 value $7,354.00. = + $687.00

KMX paid $5,444 value $6,807.00 = + $1363.00

LCI paid $3,238 value $2,155 = - $1,083.00

JLL paid $9,699 value $11,329.00 = + $1,630.00

Looks like we now have a gain of $3,946 in our portfolio. That is almost a 7% return since September. Not bad. You can begin to see how this works. You just have to open a brokerage account and deposit funds. It can be an IRA traditional or roth. There are limits to what you can deposit in a retirement account so see your accountant or financial advisor to know your options. 

Martin Marietta an infrastructure stake

The Trump Administration is doing something Democrats have been seeking for 8 years and the republican congress has blocked it, namely infrastructure investment. This is one of the few things of which they can agree. Therefore stocks like Martin Marietta are an opportunity.

Martin Marietta, an American-based company and a member of the S&P 500 Index, is a leading supplier of aggregates and heavy building materials, with operations spanning 26 states, Canada, the Bahamas and the Caribbean Islands. Dedicated teams at Martin Marietta supply the resources for the roads, sidewalks and foundations on which we live. From their website. 

www.martinmarietta.com

It meets most of the Better Investing Criteria. Here we go:

1. Its sales have increased the last five years by 20% on just over 1 billion in sales making it a mid-capitalization company.
2. Pretax profit on sales is 8% which is above the industry average of 3%.
3. Earned on equity is 6% which is also above the average of 5%.
4. Earnings per share logs in at 25% for five years, very close to sales growth. That is healthy.
5. The upside/downside ratio is 2.8 to 1 which is low by .2 but probably acceptable considering the political climate.
6. The dividend is less than 1% so it is a true growth play making it a yes in BI standards.
7. The price is barely too high. It was at 230.91 per share yesterday. $141 - $237 is the buy range. So I would and we will wait for a correction befor buying this cream puff.

I would like to invest at the $200 spot. It may never get there.