Saturday, September 6, 2008, 4:25PM ET - U.S. Markets Closed.

Fortune 40: Stocks to Retire On

by David Stires
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
provided by

Will the Dow and the S&P 500 go back to their record-setting ways? Is the recent weakness the start of something much worse? With the fate of the bull market hanging in the balance, this is a perfect time to revisit the Fortune 40, the portfolio we've designed - and recalibrated annually - to help you thrive in markets both rocky and calm, and build for retirement.

Our 40 favorites turned in a banner year, trouncing even the S&P's glitzy performance. From June 2, 2006 to June 1, 2007, our diversified group returned 27.4%, compared with 21.5% for the S&P. Since its inception in 2002, the Fortune 40 has delivered an 18.3% annualized return, easily besting the S&P's 14.7%.

More from Fortune on CNNMoney.com:

Fortune 40: In-Depth Slideshow

Six Supertrends ... and Six Superstocks

Ben Stein's Perfect Portfolio
This year, we've created five mini-portfolios: Growth and income; bargain growth; deep value; small wonders; and foreign value. Together they comprise a diversified portfolio.

We started with virtually the entire market and narrowed the field by running a grueling series of screens based on each experts' methods. We focused on companies whose shares appear cheapest relative to their long-term growth prospects. We combed through SEC filings, scoured analyst reports, and grilled large shareholders. We favored stocks that are also owned by fund managers with demonstrated records of success.

The tables below list all 40.

Growth and Income

Company
(Ticker symbol)
Current
price
52-wk
high
52-wk
low
Market
Cap (mill)
Div
Yield
P/E
Ratio
Earnings
growth
Abbott Labs (ABT) $54.53 $59.50 $41.44 $83,995.83 2.4% 21.8 11%
Altria (MO) $70.32 $72.20 $52.64 $147,900.26 3.9% 13.8 8%
Coca-Cola (KO) $51.81 $53.65 $42.27 $119,674.36 2.6% 21.2 9%
Colgate-Palmolive (CL) $66.37 $69.00 $58.01 $33,947.72 2.2% 22.4 11%
General Mills (GIS) $59.99 $61.52 $49.27 $20,778.32 2.5% 18.8 8%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $62.33 $69.41 $58.97 $180,542.46 2.7% 15.8 9%
Procter & Gamble (PG) $61.82 $66.30 $54.70 $194,666.48 2.3% 21.6 11%
Wyeth (WYE) $58.20 $59.00 $41.91 $78,288.31 1.8% 17.6 8%
Current price, 52-week high/low and market cap as of Jun 18 16:00
P/E based on earnings for the last 12 months.
Earnings growth based on analyst projections for the next five years, according to Baseline.

Bargain Growth

Company
(Ticker symbol)
Current
price
52-wk
high
52-wk
low
Market
Cap (mill)
P/E PEG
Ratio
Earnings
growth
Debt/
Equity
Ratio
3M (MMM) $87.67 $89.03 $67.05 $63,140.37 18.5 1.6 11% 0.18
AIG (AIG) $72.47 $72.97 $57.52 $188,004.36 11.4 1.0 11% 0.2
Accenture (ACN) $41.34 $41.84 $25.68 $32,182.98 21.7 1.4 14% 0
Chubb (CB) $54.05 $55.99 $46.94 $21,699.99 9.5 1.0 10% 0.24
Conoco-
Phillips (COP)
$80.80 $80.76 $54.90 $132,057.89 8.4 1.2 8% 0.28
McKesson (MCK) $59.91 $63.90 $44.60 $17,790.57 20.9 1.4 14% 0.29
Microsoft (MSFT) $30.54 $31.48 $21.79 $292,122.48 21.3 1.6 13% 0
United Health (UNH) $52.96 $57.10 $42.90 $70,969.00 17.7 1.0 15% 0.26
Current price, 52-week high/low and market cap as of Jun 18 16:00
P/E based on earnings for the last 12 months.
Earnings growth based on analyst projections for the next five years, according to Baseline.

Deep Value

Company
(Ticker symbol)
Current
price
52-wk
high
52-wk
low
Market
Cap (mill)
Div
Yield
P/E Current
ratio
Aetna (AET) $50.48 $53.43 $30.94 $25,860.90 0.1% 17.7 2.5
Applied Industrial Tech (AIT) $29.03 $30.00 $20.75 $1,250.32 1.6% 15.6 2.6
Carpenter Technology (CRS) $133.40 $137.99 $90.11 $3,490.14 0.9% 13.4 4.0
Loews (LTR) $52.89 $53.46 $33.50 $28,403.36 0.5% 13 14.4
Lufkin Industries (LUFK) $66.08 $66.88 $49.05 $994.24 1.3% 13.2 4.0
Pfizer (PFE) $26.25 $28.60 $22.16 $184,229.40 4.4% 12.3 2.2
Tidewater (TDW) $70.24 $70.21 $40.06 $4,026.65 0.8% 12.0 4.8
VF Corp. (VFC) $93.50 $95.10 $62.16 $10,413.00 2.4% 18.6 2.5
Current price, 52-week high/low and market cap as of Jun 18 16:00
P/E based on earnings for the last 12 months.
Earnings growth based on analyst projections for the next five years, according to Baseline.

Small Wonders

Company
(Ticker symbol)
Current
price
52-wk
high
52-wk
low
Market
Cap (mill)
P/E
ratio
Return
on assets
Free
Cash
Flow
CSG Systems International (CSGS) $27.12 $28.45 $23.18 $1,176.57 19.3 9% $82 million
Grey Wolf (GW) $8.37 $8.36 $6.10 $1,547.35 7.8 20% $91 million
Hercules (HPC) $19.11 $21.40 $12.00 $2,228.07 13.6 9% $79 million
K-Swiss (KSWS) $28.01 $37.81 $22.54 $970.47 13.9 19% $62 million
Navigant Consulting (NCI) $20.11 $23.28 $17.27 $1,168.39 20.4 9% $56 million
Park Electrochemical (PKE) $31.59 $33.70 $23.05 $638.05 16.4 9% $6 million
Penn Virginia Resource (PVR) $30.78 $31.65 $23.01 $1,294.64 19.0 10% $31 million
Plexus (PLXS) $22.95 $35.37 $15.78 $1,063.34 13.4 10% $71 million
Current price, 52-week high/low and market cap as of Jun 18 16:00
P/E based on earnings for the last 12 months.
Earnings growth based on analyst projections for the next five years, according to Baseline.

Foreign Value

Company
(Ticker symbol)
Current
price
52-wk
high
52-wk
low
Market
Cap (mill)
P/E
ratio
Div
Yield
Earnings
growth
Diageo (DEO) $86.86 $86.92 $65.19 $57,648.87 23.4 2.9% 11%
Novartis (NVS) $55.65 $61.60 $51.72 $151,867.24 17.5 1.7% 12%
Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR) $122.25 $121.95 $73.78 $77,527.10 11.2 0.6% 15%
Sanofi-Aventis (SNY) $41.25 $50.05 $41.09 $112,245.38 10.9 1.7% 7%
Total (TOT) $79.17 $78.99 $59.38 $189,435.05 10.7 2.8% 8%
UBS (UBS) $62.52 $66.26 $48.34 $131,612.42 13.3 2.0% 14%
Unilever (UL) $31.29 $33.31 $21.01 $40,994.78 19.7 2.1% 12%
Vodafone Group (VOD) $32.30 $32.60 $20.07 $170,902.08 14.1 4.2% 6%
Current price, 52-week high/low and market cap as of Jun 18 16:00
P/E based on earnings for the last 12 months.
Earnings growth based on analyst projections for the next five years, according to Baseline.

Copyrighted, Fortune. All rights reserved.

Rates

See today's average rates across the country.

More from Yahoo! Sources

  • CNN Money
  • Consumer Reports
  • Kiplinger
  • The Motley Fool
  • Business Week
  • Wall Street Journal