Year in review: 2009 stock picks

At the beginning of the year, I selected five stocks as safe bets for 2009, places to park your money with a reasonable expectation of capital preservation and, hopefully, a little growth to boot. At that time, the stock market still had not bottomed out – that was to come in March – and there was great uncertainty about the market in general. Admittedly, I did not foresee such a huge rebound in stocks in 2009, and my primary concern in January was merely maintaining the value of my investments. So, as one might expect with such a conservative investment philosophy, my basket of five stocks underperformed the S&P in 2009, which is up nearly 25% YTD. But by and large, the stocks in my basket met or exceeded my targets, with the exception of Procter & Gamble. Here’s the final tally, exclusive of dividend income:

1. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)
2008 Close: $59.83 Target Range: $65-$70
12/26/09 Close: $64.70 (+8.14%)

2. Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG)
2008 Close: $61.82 Target Range: $65-$70
12/26/09 Close: $61.28 (-0.87%)

3. Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM)
2008 Close: $43.51 Target: $45-50
12/26/09 Close: $48.90 (+12.39%)

4. Laboratory Corporation of America (NYSE:LH)
2008 Close: $64.41 Target: $67-$75
12/26/09 Close: $76.09 (+18.13%)

5. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (NASDAQ:TEVA)
2008 Close: $42.57 Target: $46-$52
12/26/09 Close: $55.94 (+31.41%)