It’s been three months since we first published our recommended portfolios in the inaugural issue of Smart Tech Investor, dated December 16, 2013. Below is a summary of those initial recommendations including our original advice and the difference in price between then and now: 

Investments Portfolio                   Advice                     12/16 price     03/14 price

Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)                 Buy <$595                   $554.18           $524.69          

CA Tech (NSDQ: CA)                 Buy <$36                       $32.27            $31.48

Cisco (NSDQ: CSCO)                  Buy <$24                      $20.52             $21.35

Intel (NSDQ: INTC)                    Buy <$26                       $24.22            $24.50

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)        Buy <$42                       $36.62             $37.70

Oracle (NSDQ: ORCL)               Buy <$39                       $33.43             $37.60

Qualcomm (NSDQ: QCOM)     Buy <$85                         $72.45             $74.74

Seagate (NSDQ: STX)               Buy <$53                       $50.89             $50.15

Western Dig (NSDQ: WDC)     Buy <$86                       $81.36             $85.0 

Equity Trades

3D Systems (NYSE: DDD)      Sell >$80                       $81.29             $60.07

Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN)        Sell >$390                   $388.97           $373.74

EMC Corp (NYSE: EMC)        Buy <$24                       $23.61             $26.95

Facebook (NSDQ: FB)            Sell <$55                       $53.81             $67.72

Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX)             Sell >$360                   $366.31           $424.49

Ricoh (OTC: RICOY)              Buy <$55                       $56.36            $59.46

Riverbed (NSDQ: RVBD)        Buy <$18                      $17.08             $19.89

So far, 11 of the 16 original recommendations are profitable (keep in mind that a sell/short recommendation is profitable if the price of the stock has dropped since then). Over that same period of time the stock market has been mostly flat, eking out a slight 1.8% gain on the S&P500 Index. In addition, most of the stocks in our Investments Portfolio pay dividends in the 2 – 4% range that are excluded from this calculation. 

In other words, so far we are getting the type of results we would expect in a very choppy market. Right now 67% of our recommendations are at a profit, and as this year unfolds we expect over 75% of them to show gains, which is how you make money in the stock market over the long haul. Of course, it’s far too early to declare victory, so at the end of each quarter we will update you on the overall effectiveness of our portfolios.