Intel Corporation (INTC), Ford Motor Company (F), Select Medical Holdings Corporation (SEM): The Basic Needs Portfolio

Water utility provider American Water Works Co., Inc. (NYSE:AWK) also delivered solid second-quarter results this week. For the quarter, American Water Works delivered a 3% decrease in revenue to $724 million as EPS declined to $0.57 from $0.66 in the year-ago period. This may not seem like great news, but the decline in revenue and profit primarily relates to abnormally hot weather that led to drought conditions throughout much of the U.S. at this time last year. If it’s any consolation, American Water Works stood by its full-year EPS forecast of $2.15 to $2.25 and plans to pay out a $0.28 per share dividend to shareholders on Sept. 3.

Other news

Finally, according to a Bloomberg report, residential-REIT AvalonBay Communities Inc (NYSE:AVB) and Equity Residential could be looking to sell off or spin into an IPO its DeWAG Management German properties that were acquired when the two combined to purchase Archstone last year. DeWAG represents a non-core asset for both companies and a sale or IPO would help generate cash that both companies can use to pay down debt or accelerate the opening or building of new communities. Neither company would comment on these rumors, but it would be a logical next step.

Back to basics

Having completed our first week of trading, I have to say I’m quite impressed with the performance of this portfolio so far. Sure, it lost value this week on a nominal basis, but it lost a bit less than the S&P 500 did, thus outperforming the index for the week. The premise of this portfolio is that it’ll outperform in pretty much any economic environment, and this past week could be the beginning of what I suspect will be a three-year trend of outperformance.

Check back next week for the latest update on this portfolio and its 10 components.

The article The Basic Needs Portfolio originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Sean Williams.

Fool contributor Sean Williams has no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name TMFUltraLong, track every pick he makes under the screen name TrackUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle @TMFUltraLong.The Motley Fool owns shares of, and recommends, Ford, Intel, MasterCard, and Waste Management. It also recommends Chevron and Procter & Gamble.

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