It’s also worth noting that we have five — yes, five! — companies that are currently ex-div, so the losses you see now are going to abate a bit once we hit Aug. 30 through Sept. 10, when those five dividends become payable.
Other news
Resurgent automaker Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) received some potentially promising news on Friday in Europe, where its operations have struggled. According to German auto industry association VDA, registrations of new cars in Europe rose by 4.8% to 1.02 million from the year-ago period. Austerity measures have constrained consumer buying in Europe and sent Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) looking elsewhere for growth opportunities. I’m not sure this is the sign of a change in Europe’s trend, but it’s a welcome abatement to the weakness we’ve become accustomed to.
Consumer-products maker The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) was also in the news thanks to a big position swap from hedge fund activist Bill Ackman and his fund, Pershing Square Capital Management. In SEC filings released this week, we discovered that Ackman’s fund sold off 19 million of its The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) shares during the quarter but purchased an even greater amount of options that would give Ackman’s hedge fund the right to purchase up to 25 million shares. Ackman was a big proponent of replacing now former CEO Bob McDonald, and with A.G. Lafley once again at the helm, I believe Ackman is making a bet on steady long-term growth in P&G shares.
Back to basics
As I said, it was a pretty bad week overall. Every stock in the fund was down, and cumulatively these 10 companies underperformed the S&P 500 by 1.7% on the week. However, we’re two weeks into what will be a 150-plus-week investing adventure, and there’s nothing to signify that the fundamental outlook that brought me to these companies has changed in any way. These companies are built to survive over the long term and through any economic environment, and I fully expect this group of stocks to outperform by double-digits three years from now.
Check back next week for the latest update on this portfolio and its 10 components.
The article The Basic Needs Portfolio originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Sean Williams.
Fool contributor Sean Williams has no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name TMFUltraLong, track every pick he makes under the screen name TrackUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle @TMFUltraLong.The Motley Fool owns shares of, and recommends, Ford, Intel, MasterCard, and Waste Management. It also recommends Chevron and Procter & Gamble.
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