Growth and Income

Abstract

N several occasions in the past I have presented to the Trustees of the University of Rochester the performance record of individual particularly those held by the University, over a period of time. Since the portfolio of the University includes a very large proportion of so-called stocks, the performance of these stocks has been compared with the performance of a few stocks held in the account at one time or another, and it has been quite clear that the stocks in this account have been better holdings than the stocks. In a theoretical sense, at any given time it would seem difficult to defend the indiscriminate purchase of stocks because, while definitions of vary, the companies selected usually possess a strong increase in unit demand for the company's products, a high cash flow, a low current return, and the investor in usually adopts a long-term view. Since many of the stocks purchased for the University of Rochester's endowment fund have been held for only a few years, it is difficult to prove anything by citing the performance of these particular stocks in the short time they have been held. We have, therefore, selected ten stocks which can be termed growth stocks (all of which, incidentally, are held in the University account) and ten stocks which can be termed as income stocks (all held by the University at one time; only one of them is now held). The two groups selected are as follows: