Waddell & Reed Hits Monthly Target and RPC Inc Awakes

Model Portfolio Daily Update:  December 21, 2010

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Of Note:

Waddell & Reed Financial Inc. (WDR) had its price target raised today by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods to $38 from $32, making this the 13th major positive sell side action to occur with our model portfolios for the month to date that we are aware of. This follows Barclay's 12/9 upgrade of the stock to Overweight and its increased target to $41 from $30.

Barron's today reported that United Continental Holdings (UAL) is the only airline cutting capacity, which according to Hudson Securities, should help boost passenger revenue per seat mile (PRASM) thereby providing a competitive advantage.

As if in response to our laments yesterday, there was a solid rally in the markets today, ranging from the silver lined stocks to the platinum lined.  While the S&P 500 was up 0.60% our theoretical long models were up 1.50% so that they are now trailing the S&P 500 by 7 basis points for the MTD.  It will make our Super Bowl marketing campaign that much easier if we can show that we have beaten the market and 99.9% of all mutual funds for every single month in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Leading our holdings was RPC, Inc. (RES), our only Energy holding, and our good friend and nemesis responsible for a significant portion of our outperformance earlier in the month and a portion of its underperformance later in the month.  It was up 7.13% today.

About this report
This daily update is a supplement to a monthly report dated November 30, 2010 that details the model portfolio strategies of Ascendere Associates LLC (“Ascendere”).  For more information, please see our list of frequently asked questions, suggested tips on using our newsletter or an interview with us on Covestor Live.  See also our long-only model based on actual trade data. Please see our disclosures and disclaimers.