Fat Pitch Financials Portfolio October 2009 Update

It has been quite a while since I’ve updated folks on the status of my Fat Pitch Financials Value Portfolio.  I launched this paper portfolio back in September of 2004 on Marketocracy with a virtual starting balance of $1 million and a per share value of $10. I created this paper portfolio shortly after I started the Fat Pitch Financials blog as a way my readers could track my stock picks. Now over five years later, I think it paints a pretty good picture of how my long term value stock picks have performed.

Since I last reported at the end of  May on the Fat Pitch Financials Portfolio, the portfolio has recovered from a balance of $946,732.78 to its closing value on October 30, 2009 of $1,146,935.59. That’s up over 21% in five months. Year-to-date the FPF Value Port is up 32.45% versus just 17.05% for the S&P 500. The orange line in the graph below shows how the Fat Pitch Financials Port has done over the past year.

12 Month Price History for the Fat Pitch Financials Port (as of October 31, 2009)

As you can see, the strongest recovery occurred from March through May. Since the beginning of August, the portfolio has been rather flat, except for the rally that occurred in mid-October.

Returns as of October 31, 2009

As you can see in the table above, the FPF Value Port gained 2.66% in October, whereas the S&P 500 lost 1.86%. Over the past 12 months, the Fat Pitch Financials Port gained 25.27%, outpacing the 11.49% total return for the S&P 500 over that same period. Since inception in September of 2004, the FPF Value Port produced an annualized return of 2.66% versus the 0.38% return of the S&P 500. I’m proud that I’m beating the S&P 500 by 2%, but I hope to increase this margin substantially over the coming years.

For the six month period ending September 30, 2009 Fat Pitch Financials Portfolio outperformed 84.3% of the other funds on Marketocracy. My goal now is to get into the top 5% of funds tracked at that site. I hope to do that by deploying the remaining $155,814.29 in cash in my fund in some great fat pitch opportunities as the current market recovery falters.

Current Positions as of October 31, 2009

My best performing position is currently Microsoft (MSFT). At one point it seemed like I was the only value investor talking about Microsoft. However, lately I’m starting to read that many other investors are starting to get interested in this industry giant. The roll out of the new Windows 7 operating system will be a major milestone for this company. I’ll have to watch closely at how it turns out.

Disclosure: I own shares of Western Sizzlin (WEST), Broadridge Financial Solutions (BR), Microsoft (MSFT), Western Union (WU), Kraft Foods (KFT), eBay (EBAY), Concord Camera (LENS), McGraw-Hill (MHP), Destination Maternity (DEST), Sotheby’s (BID), Pfizer (PFE), US Bancorp (USB), Wells Fargo (WFC), USG (USG), and Premier Exhibitions (PRXI).