Proforma: The MHP (Magic Hat Portfolio) on Stockopedia (http://www.stockopedia.com/fantasy-funds/magic-hat-463/) is an experiment by me to see if a human can improve on a mechanical Greeblatt Magic Formula screen. I am trying to weed out "mistakes" that I feel the screening commits: unseasoned companies, scams, foreign companies (particularly Chinese), fishy accounting, and statistical quirks. Apart from that, I am agnostic as to the sector the company operates in, although I will try to avoid heavy concentration in any one sector. I will mostly apply "Strategic Ignorance", by which I mean that I wont try to be clever in my stockpicking. My picking will be mostly mechanical. A summary of transactions can be found at https://blippy.github.io/money... As of January 2020, I have adjusted my strategy a little. Instead of selecting stocks from the Greenblatt Screen, I will select them from Stockopedia's Screen Of Screens, and look for a StockRank (TM) in the 90's. I won't rule out selecting something from the Greenblatt Screen, though. You can view the portfolio by switching to the old version of the Stockopedia site. With the boilerplate now out the way, let's move on to the actual content ...
It's snowing here in Scotland. Brrr. I moved up to Scotland in April 1991. There was no house to move to, just a derelict croft. So I lived in a caravan. This turned out to be not so great, because it was snowing heavily that month and there were strong gales. It is rare for it to snow in April, mind.
Back to the topic at hand. British American Tobacco (LON:BATS) left the portfolio by rotation, to be replaced by CMC Markets (LON:CMCX). It lost 7.7% over its tenure in the portfolio. British American Tobacco (LON:BATS) still passes Stockopedia's Screen of Screens, and CMC Markets (LON:CMCX) has had a good recent run-up. So I could well end up regretting the switch. We shall see.
The portfolio plummeted in Feb 2020, along with the wider market. Its descent was more severe than the market, though. Since then it has more than recovered its losses, although the market has not yet done so. In fact, the portfolio is near its all-time high, which is of course pleasing…
