Some surprising names among Covestor’s most widely held stocks

Stock market

A lot of interesting market data flows through the 185 active portfolios on our platform. Here, for example, is a list of the 20 most widely held stocks and ETFs on the platform, as of end of day 9/23/11:

Stock/ETF – number of Covestor portfolios holding it

Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) – 17
Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) – 15
Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) – 14
Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) – 13
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) – 12
SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD) – 11
Abbott Labs (NYSE: ABT) – 11
Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) – 10
Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) – 10
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (NYSE: FCX)
Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) – 9
Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) – 9
McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) – 9
Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) – 8
TESSCO Technologies (Nasdaq: TESS) – 8
Medtronic (NYSE: MDT) – 8
Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B) – 7
Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM) – 7
Pepsi (NYSE: PEP) – 7
IBM (NYSE: IBM) – 7

Compare this list to the top 3 holdings of the 50 largest actively managed mutual funds as of Q2 2011, as reported by Citigroup:

1. Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC)
2. Merck (NYSE: MRK)
3. Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL)

Citi apparently didn’t release its full list for public consumption, but Barron’s Murray Coleman does note that according to the Citi report, “tech names represented nearly a third of the 15 most broadly held positions for mutual funds, followed by energy, which comprised a fifth of the list.”

So to compare the two more closely, while acknowledging that our data is as 9/23/11 and the Citi report (though released just recently) conveys delayed Q2 2011 position reporting from the funds, we find a few interesting things:

– Loving tech stocks: Covestor managers, like mutual fund managers, hold tech stocks more than any other sector; fully 35% of the top holdings on our platform are from the tech sector. And Apple is everyone’s favorite tech stock.

– Financials – beyond the Wells wagon: While Wells Fargo is extremely popular among mutual fund managers, it doesn’t even make it to our top 20 list. Just 5 Covestor models hold WFC as of 9/23.

– Health and shopping over oil: While mutual fund managers selected energy stocks as their second most popular sector, Covestor managers currently prefer healthcare and retail over energy. Only energy provider Exxon Mobil makes it onto the top Covestor 20.

– TESSCO Technologies is a surprise member of the top Covestor 20. The company, whose stock is held by 8 Covestor models, has a market cap of just $103m as of 9/25, while the rest of the list is populated with large-caps, most of which sport market caps well north of $1 billion. (Google Finance http://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ%3ATESS).

Source:

“Fund Favorites: Apple, Merck, WFC, JPM, Most Widely Held” Murray Coleman, Barrons.com 9/6/11 http://blogs.barrons.com/focusonfunds/2011/09/06/wells-fargo-merck-top-holdings-in-mutual-funds-apple-tops-with-hedgies/?mod=BOLBlog

Image: rednuht