2013 Watchlist

Having a watchlist of your favorite stocks is key to successful investing. Not only does it help you keep track of which stocks to buy, it also shows you the most opportune time to buy in. Last year I kept an updated watchlist for myself to keep tabs on some stocks that perked my interest. It was a lot of work manually entering the data each week and after I started my new job, I just couldn’t find the time to keep it updated. I’m sorry to disappoint the 6 people who actually looked at it, but I’m going to change things up a bit.


Instead of updating a spreadsheet each week, I’m going to keep a static list of stocks I want to buy under the 2013 watchlist tab with the prices and 52 weeks highs and lows of January 2013. Using that static list I can compare the high prices we have now to when there is a correction down the road. Currently my portfolio is at an all time high so I’m in no rush to be adding any positions at this time. I never like paying full price for retail, so why would I invest any differently?

Here is my 2013 watchlist in no particular order:

ENB
CNR
RY
TRP
TD
BCE
EMA
BNS
FTS
SAP
ENF
MRU
EMP

Yep, nothing too fancy at all. Just a bunch of boring utilities, banks and consumer goods companies that I’ve had my eye on. These boring stocks have an excellent dividend growth history within the last decade and I hope they all keep it up. I may add more stocks to this list in the near future but for now this is a good lot to keep an eye on.

I was researching some REITs to add to my list but I wasn’t happy with the dividend growth history. In order to make my dividend investing machine run smoothly, I need dependable dividend growth year after year.

 The one that got away

There was one stock that I had my eye on for some time in the last few years and thought it would make a great addition to my portfolio. High Liner Foods (HLF), the makers of tasty fish products would have made a great addition to my consumer staples, but something didn’t sit right with me. It might have been the 30 million gallons of oil from the BP spill in 2010, or radiated water leaked into the pacific from Fukushima in 2011 that made me think eating fish in North America would hit an all time low. Turns out I was wrong, because the stock that floated around $10 for years has more than doubled since the meltdown at Fukushima! Personally, my seafood consumption has dropped to nil but I guess everyone else just can’t get enough. HLF will forever be the one that got away.

Now what?

Right now I see a lot of high stock prices out there so I’m in no rush to buy right now. I’ll be waiting for a correction so when everyone is selling in a panic, I’ll be buying in at a way better price. I remember almost a year ago RBC dropped to $42 a share and I managed to buy in through the mid forties. Now that same stock is trading close to $62 which goes to show you there always will be good times to buy, you just have to be watching for them.

What are your thoughts on my 2013 watchlist? Care to share your personal picks with everyone else?

This article was written by The Loonie Bin. If you enjoyed this article, please consider subscribing to his feed.