In the four-plus years since Motley Fool co-founder David Gardner began hosting Rule Breaker Investing, he has shared quite a few of his signature five-stock samplers. Using companies culled from the hundreds that he actively recommends, he has built each of those mini-portfolios based on a multiyear time frame -- because investors (as opposed to "traders") buy and hold -- and usually centered each around a quirky theme. But if the Gardner brothers and their company are dedicated to picking great investments and being a bit Foolish, they are just as dedicated to the principle of keeping honest score. And that's why, around the anniversary of each sampler's debut, he tallies up their percentage gains or loses, talks about the factors behind each company's performance, and measures the portfolios against the benchmark of the S&P 500.
Sometimes, he can check in on sampler and fit something new in, too -- be it debuting a new one, or an interview. But this past week was the second time in the podcasts history when three of those anniversaries coincided. So for this episode, it's samplers, samplers, and more samplers. In this segment, he and his guest host, senior analyst Emily Flippen, look back two years to a sampler called "Five Great Stocks You've Never Heard Of." If you weren't listening that week, you might still not know Ultimate Software Group (NASDAQ: ULTI), Orbital ATK, NuVasive (NASDAQ: NUVA), Littelfuse (NASDAQ: LFUS), or Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB). And in two of those cases, it's even more understandable.
To catch full episodes of all The Motley Fool's free podcasts, check out our podcast center. To get started investing, check out our quick-start guide to investing in stocks. A full transcript follows the video.