Knights Of The Roundtable

They came. They foresaw. And, by and large, they conquered. Last year, BE gathered up 13 stock picks from four panelists on our investment roundtable. How well did they do? The answer: fairly well–a 10.9% gain dating from July 18 of last year. Of our panelists, Rob Lamb led the pack, with a 30.9% gain. He did produce one extra pick, however, that helped cover for a major drop in another pick, Metacreations. Nathaniel Carter placed second, with a 26% gain in his portfolio. Dawna Edwards came in third, with a 3.8% gain; and last, Barbara Bowles, who provided two good picks, saw her overall portfolio slip 23.9%.

The best stocks of the pack–Kmart, Cisco Systems and Cutter & Buck–did outstandingly well, all rushing off to 56% or greater gains. And as is too often the case, there were some major problems, namely MedPartners (Barbara Bowles says it’s best to sell the stock), First Data Corp. (Wall Street analysts currently rate the stock a “hold,” a signal to stand pat for a bit), and finally Metacreations, which rates a “sell” according to Zacks Investment Research. Nathaniel Carter says that even though John Deere has lagged, it remains a good stock. And Charles Schwab currently rates a “hold,” according to Zacks. Also, says Bowles, Illinois Central, which was taken over by Canadian National Railway, can remain in your portfolio.