Sunday, July 22, 2007

Morningstar's '07 picks

At the start in the year, Morningstar sung the praises of five stocks, and I've been tracking them.

The five are Automatic Data Processing (ADP), Checkfree Corp. (CKFR), Getty Images (GYI), Marsh & McLennan (MMC) and United Technologies (UTX). How have they done so far?

ADP > Then: $48.15. Now: $47.95. Change: -0.4%.
CKFR > Then: $36.72. Now: $40.46. Change: +10.2%.
GYI > Then: $49.43. Now: $50.50. Change: +2.1%.
MMC > Then: $28.84. Now: $30.20. Change: +4.7%.
UTX > Then: $64.26. Now: $76.03. Change: +18.3%.

Clearly, UTX was the best pick of the bunch. These are relatively conservative choices. All but CKFR have P/Es 23 and under.

Overall, on a weighted basis, Morningstar's quintet are up 7.8%. Not bad, not good, but definitely safe in a risky market. Owners of these stocks can sleep pretty well at night.

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