The best and worst stock picks from Donald Trump, newly revealed
By Jason Abbruzzese From Mashable
Would you let Donald Trump pick stocks for you?
The answer is: maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea.
That’s what we gathered, at least after delving into the financial documents he filed with the Federal Election Commission as a part of the necessary paperwork for his presidential run.
Trump’s documents detail many millions of investments in a wide variety of companies, including some weird income streams.
But what about his stock investments, specifically? Trump is no Warren Buffett, but it’s always interesting to see
Based on these documents we do not know exactly how much Trump made on many of his investments, particularly those that he still holds. We do, however, get a look at some of the profits he’s made recently by selling his stock.
First, a few definitions: If a stock is sold for more than it is bought, that profit is known as a “capital gain.” These kinds of profits have to be disclosed to the Federal Election Committee. Loses are not disclosed, but we can take a look at some of the stocks he still holds and how they have performed in the past year.
Without further ado: The Donald’s stock picks.
The payday
Bank of America stands as the lone stock that netted Trump more than $5 million in capital gains.
We can’t tell from the filing exactly when he owned the shares, but it appears among his other investments that are listed as capital gains with a value of “none or less than $1,001.”
It’s conceivable that Trump earned this kind of return by buying BofA shares at the depths of the financial recession, when the bank’s future was in legitimate doubt and shares dropped to below $6. It now trades above $18.
The blue chips
A few companies made Trump somewhere between $1,000,001 and $5,000,000 including Apple, aircraft manufacturer Boeing, Best Buy, and Facebook.
All those companies have enjoyed a good last 12 months, especially Facebook, which is up almost 39% in that time.
The losers
The Donald hates nothing more than a loser, but it looks like he’s had a few in his portfolio.
Trump technically doesn’t have to disclose investments that he has sold and lost money. Still, we can take a look at the stocks he still owns and see how they’ve done in the last year.
Of companies that Trump has a sizable holding (more than $250,000), there are plenty of decent investments. There are also plenty of duds.
He’s not doing great with telecommunications companies. Trump lists between $500,001 and $1,000,000 positions in Verizon and AT&T, down 9.3% and 5% respectively in the past year.
Trump has some techier investments that also haven’t been doing so great, including IBM (down 17% in the past year) and
Gas companies have taken a hit as oil prices have declined steadily in the past year, leading some of Trump’s weakest positions. ConocoPhilips has been among the worst performers of any of Trump’s major stakes, down 35% in the last 12 months. Chevron is down 29% in that time.
Some classic American companies are also among the struggling companies Trump has invested in. In the past year, Construction equipment company Caterpillar has fallen 27% in the past year. Ford Motors is down 19%.
One big non-stock investment that has been performing badly — gold. Trump disclosed that he has between $100,001 and $250,000 in the yellow metal, which recently hit a five-year low.
IMAGES:
Trump-speaking Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at FreedomFest, Saturday, July 11, 2015, in Las Vegas. IMAGE: JOHN LOCHER/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Screen Shot 2015-07-22 at 2.09.54 PM IMAGE: GOOGLE FINANCE
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