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A Top-Performing Stock

Dollar Tree (DLTR) is one of the best-performing stocks of the last six months.

By Chloe Lutts

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One Year Gone

Year in Review

One of the Best Performers of the Last Six Months

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It has been almost exactly a year since we launched my free newsletter, Investment of the Week, back on December 8, 2010.

In recognition of that anniversary, and since it’s almost the end of this year anyway, I thought it might be appropriate to take a look back at some of my (and readers’) favorite issues of the last year. If you’re a new reader, or if you’ve missed some along the way, this is a great time to catch up.

Starting from today and going backwards in time, the first issue I’d like to note is November 15’s brief exploration of natural gas prices. Very little has changed in the less-than-a-month since I wrote the issue, so I don’t have anything to add. But natural gas prices--and their divergence from oil prices--are a persistent topic of interest to investors, so I thought I’d point it out to anyone who missed it. Plus, the two stocks in it have stellar yields, an important consideration for some people.

Read the issue here.


The week before, November 8, I made some connections between consumer spending trends and the strength of two beauty supply-store stocks. Read the issue here.

On November 1, I wrote about the difference between good companies and good stocks. Beginning investors might be interested in the simple explanation of the investing concept called “the point of peak perception.” Read the issue here.

The October 25 issue was one of my favorites to write this year; I got to explore the quirks of the diamond market. A reader with some experience in the market corroborated my research, writing that, “unlike gold, which is paid per what current market price is, I found all of our diamonds we bought over the years to only be worth about 33% less when looking to sell them.” Read the issue here.

On October 11, inspired in part by all the news coverage of Steve Jobs and Apple (AAPL), I wrote my second Investment of the Week about alternatives to cable television. Having cancelled my cable years ago, and since tested many ways to watch TV on the Internet, it’s one of my pet interests, and I hope to write about it again. Read the issue here.

Our September 27 issue was probably our most popular issue to date. I conducted a phone interview with the founder of the digests, Dick Davis himself. As one reader responded, “truly words of wisdom spoken by a wise man.” Read the issue here.

Our September 6 issue was probably my absolute favorite to write this year, and the one I did the most research on. It’s long, but the issue is important enough to me that I thought it was worth our readers’ time to learn about it. It’s about the weird world of software patents. Whether you know nothing or everything about the issue, I recommend you read it. If you’ve already read it, you’ll enjoy this response to the issue, from a loyal reader named Jerry, who wrote, “Al Capone lives. His specialty was ‘protection.’” (Another reader pointed out that similar things are happening in the gene patenting area, which I hope to address someday soon.) Read the issue here.

The August 16 issue was another research-heavy one, about the railroad system in the U.S. Not much has changed in that world since August, although there’s still plenty of (politically charged) talk of both privatizing Amtrak and expanding high-speed rail (or not). Read the issue here.

The issue before that, published August 9, was about manufacturing systems, old and new. Sounds kind of boring, but it’s actually very interesting, I promise! Read the issue here.

Finally, my July 19 and July 26 issues addressed the U.S. Post Office’s strange public-private existence and the major budget issues that it has engendered. As the U.S. Postmaster General recently told the National Press Club, “We are expected to operate like a business, but do not have the flexibility to do so.” In the six months since then, bills have been introduced in Congress that would give the Post Office more flexibility to cut costs. However, the Postmaster has been critical of both bills, which he says allow too little, too late. He wants to cut Saturday delivery as soon as possible, for example, but a bill in the House would require the Post Office to wait six months before doing so, and a similar Senate bill would require a two-year wait. Read the July 19 issue here. Read the July 26 issue here.

That’s it for the last six months; next week I’ll review the topics I covered from last December through May.

As for today’s stock, I thought I’d stick with the theme and see if I could find a particularly good recommendation from the last six months that is still a good buy today. Given that the market is in pretty much at the same place today as it was six months ago, stocks that have risen in that time period are not terribly common. But I found a good one that has potential to rise even higher.

Dollar Tree (DLTR) was featured in the Investment of the Week on September 20, in an issue about dollar stores, appropriately enough. Six months ago, DLTR was trading at 63; when we featured it in September it was trading at 75, and now it is now trading at 81.

Yet Louis Navellier, editor of the Blue Chip Growth letter, one of the (multiple) analysts who recommended the stock, still thinks DLTR is a good buy here. We published his follow-up on the stock in the latest Dick Davis Investment Digest:

“This week, Dollar Tree announced that it has entered into an agreement with Wells Fargo to repurchase $300 million of its shares. The company is buying these common shares under the $1.5 billion repurchase program previously announced in the third quarter. As we all know, such a repurchase program will increase this stock’s value, and increase shareholder value. So, if you want to profit from this development, continue adding shares of this Top 5 Conservative stock for less than $81.”

I’ve also seen Dollar Tree recommended in a few other newsletters lately, as a new buy! Since DLTR has gained quite a bit of ground already lately, try to reduce your risk by buying on a pullback toward its moving average.

Click here to learn more about Dollar Tree and other top stocks recommended in Dick Davis Investment Digest!

Wishing you success in your investing and beyond,

Chloe Lutts
Editor of Investment of the Week

P.S. I was so inspired by the videos that run every Saturday in the Cabot Wealth Advisory Weekend Digest that I decided to start producing my own that I send out to my Investment of the Week readers. In this edition of What Wall Street Experts Are Saying This Week, I review analyst reaction to last week’s market leaps. I also compare the levels at which different analysts believe the market’s trading range would be broken, giving a decisive bullish or bearish signal. Stocks covered include Kirby Corp. (KEX) and The Advisory Board Company (ABCO). Click below to watch!

What Wall Street Experts Are Saying This Week

Chloe Lutts Jensen is the third generation of the Lutts family to join the family business. Prior to joining Cabot, Chloe worked as a financial reporter covering fixed income markets at Debtwire, a division of the Financial Times, and at Institutional Investor. At Cabot, she is a contributor to Cabot Wealth Daily.