Performance Review
Below is the performance of the nine stocks from our March 14, 2014 Nasdaq 100 watch list compared to the performance of the Nasdaq 100 Index gain of +20.50% over the last year.
| symbol | Name | 2014 | 2015 | % chg |
| CTSH | Cognizant Technology Solutions | 50.25 | 63 | 25.37% |
| CHRW | CH Robinson Worldwide Inc. | 51.14 | 73.03 | 42.80% |
| SYMC | Symantec Corporation | 20.16 | 23.35 | 15.82% |
| SPLS | Staples, Inc. | 11.3 | 16.11 | 42.57% |
| CTRX | Catamaran Corporation | 45.87 | 48.32 | 5.34% |
| MAT | Mattel, Inc. | 37.28 | 22.61 | -39.35% |
| CSCO | Cisco Systems, Inc. | 21.35 | 27.13 | 27.07% |
| average | 17.09% |
The listed stocks only averaged gains of +17.09% in the last year. However, the top five stocks averaged gains of +26.38%. The two top performing stocks, CH Robinson Worldwide and Staples, were highlighted as being of interest to as the time (we bought shares of CHRW). Of CHRW, we said the following:
“According to Edson Gould’s Altimeter, Robinson Worldwide is trading at an equivalent price to the 2009 low.”
The Altimeter appeared to reflect the fact that the stock was reasonably valued. CHRW was up as much as +50% in the last year.
Regarding Staples (SPLS), we said:
“After bottoming in the last half of 2012, Staples increased by +52% before collapsing to the current level. Dow Theory suggests that this is a classic retest of the prior lows.”
Since the March 2014 posting, Staples (SPLS) has increased as much as +68%.
Nasdaq 100 Watch List
| Symbol | Name | Price | P/E | EPS | Yield | P/B | % from yr low |
| MAT | Mattel, Inc. | 22.61 | 15.59 | 1.45 | 6.3 | 2.61 | 0.76% |
| SNDK | SanDisk Corp. | 64.59 | 15.27 | 4.23 | 1.9 | 2.19 | 1.62% |
| GRMN | Garmin Ltd. | 47.66 | 25.35 | 1.88 | 3.9 | 2.68 | 1.88% |
| KLAC | KLA-Tencor Corporation | 59 | 23.15 | 2.55 | 3.1 | 15.78 | 2.63% |
| FOSL | Fossil Group, Inc. | 81.76 | 11.52 | 7.1 | - | 4.21 | 2.84% |
| WYNN | Wynn Resorts Ltd. | 126.25 | 17.58 | 7.18 | 4.8 | -445.11 | 3.88% |
| FAST | Fastenal Company | 41.17 | 24.8 | 1.66 | 2.6 | 6.41 | 4.33% |
| TSLA | Tesla Motors, Inc. | 185 | - | -2.36 | - | 26.25 | 4.39% |
| NTAP | NetApp, Inc. | 35.1 | 18.47 | 1.9 | 1.8 | 3.16 | 5.28% |
| NUAN | Nuance Communications | 14.04 | - | -0.46 | - | 1.78 | 6.36% |
| MSFT | Microsoft Corporation | 40.97 | 16.53 | 2.48 | 2.9 | 3.69 | 6.39% |
| QCOM | QUALCOMM Incorporated | 67.03 | 14.16 | 4.73 | 2.4 | 2.86 | 7.65% |
| FOXA | Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc. | 33.7 | 8 | 4.21 | 0.8 | 3.65 | 8.67% |
| STX | Seagate Technology | 52.76 | 8.75 | 6.03 | 4 | 4.74 | 8.81% |
| DISCA | Discovery Communications | 31.27 | 18.88 | 1.66 | - | 3.75 | 8.88% |
Watch List Summary
Stocks of interest at this time are SNDK, KLAC, QCOM and STX. Of the companies mentioned, only KLAC has a payout ratio that is above 36%.
In the chip sector, the recent announcement by Intel that they are interested in buying Altera (ALTR) suggests that further consolidation of the industry is on the way. Sandisk (SNDK) and Seagate (STX) provide reasonable dividends with low payout ratios.