Tuesday, January 01, 2008

The Cohan Letter up 28% in 2007

My investment newsletter, The Cohan Letter, outperformed the S&P 500 in 2007. Specifically, the average stock mentioned in The Cohan Letter rose 28% in 2007. This compares favorably to the performance of the S&P 500 which rose 3.5% in 2007.

The three top performing stocks mentioned in The Cohan Letter were:
  • New Oriental (EDU) which rose 84% from $43.75 in April 2007 to $80.59 at year end;
  • CVRD (RIO) which climbed 77% from $18.50 in March 2007 to $32.67 at year end; and
  • Transocean (RIG) increased 66% from $86.20 in April 2007 to $143.15 at year end.

Each month The Cohan Letter mentions three stocks. If a stock mentioned declines 2% after it's mentioned, the stock is "sold" from the portfolio. This 2% stop loss rule contributes to the relatively high average return of The Cohan Letter.

Now in its sixth year of publication, The Cohan Letter's average annual return of 22% since its inception compares favorably to the 11.8% average return of the S&P 500 during that period.