My Watch List

I’m often asked how I go about picking stocks for my Buy List. The answer is really quite simple. I don’t have a magic formula and I hate stock screeners.

Instead, I have a Watch List of about 100 stocks that I try to follow. These are what I would call “really good companies.” They’re in the top tier of Corporate America. It’s taken me years to build up this list and I change it often.

The Watch List serves as the minor leagues for my Buy List. It’s from this list that almost all candidates for the Buy List come, and it’s where they return after they’ve been deleted.

Let me make it clear that I’m not recommending any of these stocks listed below. That’s what the Buy List is for. I just wanted to show you which stocks make the first cut in the process. If a stock is a on this list, you can be pretty sure it’s a decent company (the price may not be).

My secret formula is nothing more than watching really good companies and making a move when the price looks good.

Company Symbol
Abbott Laboratories ABT
AmerisourceBergen ABC
AT&T T
AutoZone AZO
Balchem BCPC
Ball BLL
Baxter International BAX
Becton Dickinson BDX
Biogen Idec BIIB
C.H. Robinson Worldwide CHRW
Cerner CERN
Charles Schwab SCHW
Church & Dwight CHD
Clorox CLX
Coach COH
Coca-Cola KO
Cognizant Technology Solutions CTSH
Colgate-Palmolive CL
Community Health Systems CYH
Compuware CPWR
Costco Wholesale COST
Cummins CMI
CVS Caremark CVS
Danaher DHR
Darden Restaurants DRI
DaVita DVA
Deluxe DLX
Dentsply International XRAY
Dolby Laboratories DLB
Donaldson DCI
Expeditors International EXPD
Express Scripts ESRX
FactSet Research Systems FDS
Fair Isaac FICO
Fastenal FAST
FLIR Systems FLIR
Flowers Foods FLO
Flowers Foods FLO
FMC Technologies FTI
Forest Laboratories FRX
General Dynamics GD
Gilead Sciences GILD
Graco GGG
Hasbro HAS
Hormel Foods HRL
Hospira Inc HSP
Humana HUM
IBM IBM
Infosys Limited INFY
Intel INTC
IntercontinentalExchange ICE
Internationa Flavors & Fragrances IFF
Intuit INTU
Intuitive Surgical ISRG
Iron Mountain IRM
J.M. Smucker SJM
L-3 LLL
Lincare LNCR
ManTech MANT
McCormick MKC
McDonald’s MCD
Microsoft MSFT
Nike NKE
Progressive PGR
Public Storage PSA
Quest Diagnostics DGX
Raven Industries RAVN
RLI Corp. RLI
Ross Stores ROST
Seaboard SEB
SEI Investments SEIC
Seneca Foods SENEA
Sigma-Aldrich SIAL
Snap-On SNA
St. Jude Medical STJ
Starbucks SBUX
State Street STT
Stericycle SRCL
Target TGT
Teradata TDC
Thermo Fisher TMO
Tiffany TIF
TJX TJX
U.S. Bancorp USB
United Technologies UTX
V.F. Corporation VFC
Varian Medical Systems VAR
Visa V
W.W. Grainger GWW
Walgreen WAG
Waters WAT
WellPoint WLP
Wells Fargo WFC
Western Union WU
Weyco WEYS
Yum! Brands YUM
Zimmer ZMH

Posted by on January 4th, 2012 at 2:10 pm


The information in this blog post represents my own opinions and does not contain a recommendation for any particular security or investment. I or my affiliates may hold positions or other interests in securities mentioned in the Blog, please see my Disclaimer page for my full disclaimer.