Jeffrey P. Cornell and Michael S. Jordan are Portfolio Managers and Principals of Johnson Investment Counsel. In their exclusive interview with the Wall Street Transcript, the two highly experienced asset managers develop their philosophy and top picks for their growth portfolio.
Mr. Jordan puts it succinctly: “First and foremost, we are looking for a 10% earnings growth hurdle as we look to find new names.”
The two investors discuss their top picks in the interview: “I think most folks are expecting iPhone 8 to be a fairly substantial improvement over iPhone 7. It should be more revolutionary versus evolutionary. So we’re holding Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) primarily in anticipation of the new phone release. Apple is our largest position right now.”
Technology stocks dominate the portfolio weighting at the current time. “Our second-biggest holding is Google/Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG)…they’re working on that a lot of people don’t even know about. They have a large opportunity in the long-term development of the driverless car. They have a gigantic database of data that can be used for many applications. They are also sitting on a lot of cash.”
Other sectors are not in favor by the team. “Currently, we have no weight in utilities, telecom, REITs or materials…Certainly, in telecommunications and utilities, the growth requirement is difficult to meet. At times, we’ve owned materials; we just don’t have any exposure today.”
For more top picks from Cornell and Jordan read the entire interview at the Wall Street Transcript.
