Zacks In The News
Media Contact
Terry Ruffolo
Director of Media Relations
312-265-9213
Zacks Ranks Model Portfolios for the First Half of 2010
Chicago, IL- August 4, 2010- After rallying last year, the stock market has been on a wild ride this year and we’re only at the halfway point. Volatility and choppiness seem to be the watchwords for the foreseeable future. Trying to pick winning stocks is always challenging. But, amid all of the headwinds and uncertainty currently pressuring the market, choosing winning stocks to include in portfolios can be an even more daunting task to be sure.
Rank
Brokerage Firm
Total Return
Excess Return vs. S&P 500
1.
Wedbush Securities
11.84%
18.50%
2.
New Constructs
0.01%
6.67%
3.
MSSB/Smith Barney*
-2.15%
4.51%
4.
Morgan Keegan
-3.82%
2.83%
5.
Charles Schwab
-6.02%
0.64%
6.
Bank Of America Merrill Lynch
-6.46%
0.19%
7.
McAdams Wright
-7.46%
-0.81%
8.
Credit Suisse
-8.23%
-1.58%
9.
Edward Jones
-8.90%
-2.24%
10.
MSSB/Morgan Stanley
-9.32%
-2.67%
11.
Raymond James
-11.36%
-4.70%
12.
Goldman Sachs
-12.19%
-5.53%
13.
Wells Fargo (Wachovia/AG Edwards)
-13.34%
-6.69%
*Morgan Stanley, which also has a separate portfolio, merged its brokerage operations with Smith Barney. Zacks complete one-, three-, five- and seven-year rankings are available to the media upon request. Zacks calculates the performance of the brokerage "model portfolios" it tracks, on an equal-weighted basis. Total return performance figures include stock price changes, dividends and hypothetical trading commissions of 1% for each addition and deletion to the model portfolios.
The S&P 500 Index is a well-known, unmanaged index of the prices of 500 large-company common stocks, mainly blue-chip stocks, selected by Standard & Poor's. The S&P 500 Index assumes reinvestment of dividends but does not reflect advisory fees. An investor cannot invest directly in an index.
Zacks Investment Research, Inc., developed the concept of the EPS Surprise and created the first quantitative model to predict stock prices based on patterns, estimate revisions and surprises, called the Zacks Rank. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities.
The first half of 2010 was almost a reversal of the trends that occurred in 2009 as the financial and retail sectors, which had been driving returns in 2009, weakened considerably in 2010. “Firms with large retail exposure in their portfolios underperformed for the first six months as the retail rally ended in 2Q on fears of a consumer spending pullback, says Tracey Ryniec, equity strategist at Zacks’ online unit Zacks.com. “Those that made bets on the technology sector and the medical sector, including big drug and medical device manufacturers, were rewarded. Technology spending, especially on the corporate side, has climbed in 2010 which has boosted earnings for the large tech companies. Medical stocks, while not necessarily hot, also hadn’t seen as sharp of a downturn in Q2 as other sectors.“
The mid-year 2010 update of Zacks Broker Model Portfolio rankings shows a couple of positive performers, as well as portfolios with returns better than the S&P 500, which lost 6.65% in the first six months of this year.
The top 13 ranked brokerages for Mid-Year 2010 (12-31-09 to 6-30-10) are as follows…
The leading brokerage firms employ analysts who produce recommendations for hundreds of stocks, which can not all be bought for a client portfolio. These brokerage firms then create model portfolios from all of the stocks each firm is following. These can be used as a starting point in the stock selection process to meet a specific client's risk & return needs. The process to create these lists range from a bottom up quantitative methodology, to a top down fundamental process. The model portfolios in the Zacks survey include U.S. traded equities including ADRs.