Google Inc (GOOG), Apple Inc. (AAPL) & More: Despite Positive News, ‘The World’s Greatest Retirement Portfolio’ Isn’t Getting Much Love

Two years ago, I picked 10 stocks that I’d be putting $40,000 of my own money behind and attempting to hold for at least three years. This has been, and will continue to be, the most honest and transparent way that I can try to help the world invest better: by honestly and openly discussing what I do with my own portfolio.

So far, the original $40,000 investment is worth $50,880 — or $1,520 more than if I had just invested it in the S&P 500. That’s pretty good, but it’s interesting to note that despite a week of pretty solid reports from companies in the portfolio, the needle didn’t move much overall. Here are the five companies that did the most to lead to such an effect.

Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG)
Most of the time, when a company handily beats expectations for revenue and earnings, its stock gets a pretty nice bump. Such was not the case, however, for Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG), maker of the daVinci Surgical Robotic system.

That’s because concerns over lower-than-expected guidance, and — more importantly, over the long term — possible changes in how the machine is used for hysterectomies are making investors take pause and reevaluate their investments. Read here to see why I’m taking a wait-and-see approach to the situation.

Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)
Another quarter, another solid report from the world’s leading search engine and most oft-visited website. Overall, revenue was up 31%. When you think about the size of Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), you might think that there’s not much growth left. But when the company can post that kind of revenue bump — even if its Motorola acquisition helped — it shows that this assumption could easily be wrong.

Not surprisingly, earnings were up by less (a more modest 15%) as CEO Larry Page continues to invest heavily in the future of the company. With him at the helm, I’m more than willing to take that trade-off, and so is the market, as the stock was up following the report.

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)
From one perspective, there was a lot that might make an investor worry from The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)’s latest report: Both revenue and earnings were down, and the company reported that sales of sweetened, carbonated beverages (soda) continued to trend downward in developed areas of the world.

And yet, the stock enjoyed a nice 5% pop following this announcement. That’s because the numbers exceeded what many expected, and the company announced a plan to refranchise its bottling and distribution arrangements, which should allow it to save money on overhead costs while still being able to design a universal model to improve efficiency.