As part of the preliminary disclosure required of all presidential candidates, Donald Trump provided an interesting show of his investment portfolio. A look at Trump’s portfolio reveals he is worth somewhere in the region of $10 billion, with most of his stock picks based in America – particularly the Dow 30. So how good is America’s least favourite presidential candidate at playing the markets?

He is posting impressive returns

Trump reported selling 45 stocks throughout January 2014, and amazingly he lost money on just five of them. What’s more, just look at his top five performing stocks, ranked based on total percentage gains:

1.) Facebook
199% gain, $3.9 million profit

2.) Bank of America
135% gain, $6.7 million profit

3.) Best Buy
113% gain, $2.2 million profit

4.) Boeing
80% gain, $4 million profit

5.) Morgan Stanley
75% gain, $750,000 profit

…but he isn’t infallible

Despite this run of great investments, Trump still experiences the occasional lapse of judgment with his choices. Trump posted a loss of 20% after selling his shares in D.R. Horton (DHI), and he also lost money on Pepsi (PEP), Occidental Petroleum (OXY), Coca-Cola (KO) and Enbridge (ENB).

Nevertheless, his portfolio as a whole still boasts envious returns, with his net worth totalling around $10 billion. In fact, his mistake with D.R. Horton (DHI) led to a loss of just over $200,000; a meagre amount when we consider his total gains. Trump claims that his equity investments generated around $27 million in returns, so he probably isn’t likely to complain about a few losses here or there.

Unsurprisingly, he prefers American…

American stocks fared well during the recent bull market, but it is still surprising to see that only three of Trump’s picks were non-U.S. Noble (NBL) from the UK, Volkswagen (VLKAF) from Germany, and Canadian Enbridge (ENB) were the only stock picks from outside the United States.

With the S&P 500 flattening out in the first half of 2015 it will be interesting to see if Trump changes his tune on American stocks. Though with the VW scandal, he might choose to stay investing close to home.

Trump favours the Dow

A whopping 16 of Trump’s stock picks form part of the Dow 30. Choices such as McDonald’s (MCD), Intel (INTC, Tech30), and General Electric (GE) are all part of the Dow 30, with Trump possessing an obvious preference for bigger multinationals. Despite stocks such as these doing well throughout the bull market, those with a large amount of exposure internationally have suffered with the growing strength of the Dollar.

There is certainly something to be said for Donald Trump’s stock picking abilities, so perhaps we can all stand to learn a thing or two from his habitual pro-United States, Dow-heavy choices.

26/02/2016

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