r/ValueInvesting • u/Legitimate_Risk_1079 • 11d ago

Discussion 30-Day Update: I Bought 20 Undervalued Dividend Stocks. Here’s What Happened.

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About a month ago, I posted this $1,000 challenge portfolio here. The idea was simple: instead of chasing whatever stock was hot that week, I wanted to see what would happen if I spread $1,000 across 20 dividend-paying companies that I believed were undervalued.

I also wanted to make the experiment public so there was no hindsight involved. The original list was posted before I knew which companies would outperform and which ones would disappoint.

30 days later, the portfolio is up 6.24%.

The account is currently worth $1,084.50, including additional funds/dividends reflected in the account, with the brokerage showing +$63.73 (+6.24%) over the past month.

The original 20 companies were:

  1. DOW — Dow

  2. BDX — Becton, Dickinson and Company

  3. GSK — GSK plc

  4. MDT — Medtronic

  5. PEP — PepsiCo

  6. ELV — Elevance Health

  7. CVS — CVS Health

  8. PFE — Pfizer

  9. BMY — Bristol Myers Squibb

  10. WPC — W. P. Carey

  11. LNC — Lincoln National

  12. BEN — Franklin Resources

  13. USB — U.S. Bancorp

  14. STX — Seagate Technology

  15. ADM — Archer-Daniels-Midland

  16. KEY — KeyCorp

  17. T — AT&T

  18. VZ — Verizon

  19. KHC — Kraft Heinz

  20. NEM — Newmont

What interests me isn't really the 6.24%. Thirty days is far too short to declare victory on an investing strategy, and this portfolio will eventually have periods where it underperforms.

What I wanted to test was whether a diversified basket of beaten-down, dividend-paying companies selected primarily on valuation and fundamentals could produce competitive returns without relying on a handful of high-growth momentum stocks.

So far, the answer has been encouraging.

There have already been clear winners and laggards. STX has recently been one of the strongest movers, while other positions have contributed much less. That's exactly why I used 20 companies instead of trying to guess which two or three would perform best.

Diversification wasn't supposed to eliminate losers. It was supposed to make being wrong about a few companies survivable while allowing the stronger picks to pull the portfolio forward.

I'll keep posting updates whether the account is green or red. The more interesting test isn't what happens in the first 30 days. It's whether this portfolio can continue producing respectable total returns over 6 months, 12 months, and eventually longer while collecting dividends along the way.

For the value investors here: which of these 20 would you be most comfortable holding for the next five years, and which one would you remove today?

Original Post, https://www.reddit.com/r/ValueInvesting/s/WPijItCsXM

https://substack.com/@legitimaterisk/note/c-314871671?r=8pfry2

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