This plan was helped by company stock CLB which has double digit 15yr, 10yr, 5yr, 3yr and 1yr total returns according to Morningstar. The Balanced portfolio invested 11.2% of the portfolio in the stock and the employee portfolio has 29.0% in the stock. The plan investment options are well diversified and small in number. The only negative is stock volatility which is very high in the oil & gas industry. The 3D scan image shows the employee portfolio assets > 5% of plan.
The Corning 401k plan Balanced portfolio has very stable 5yr returns; 2008 4.22%, 2009 4.59% and 2010 4.73% but company stock GLW 5yr returns have been all over the charts. That volatility continues. Last year it was in the Balanced portfolio this year it is not. That can make a retiree anxious. This is a good retirement plan but when you retire you may want to make a few adjustments.
The CONSOL Energy 401k plan Balanced portfolio improved slightly over last year. Company stock CNX helped a little but the 3 largest holdings are still very conservative; the stable value fund SVF.hpx in the scan, and 2 bond funds PTTRX and VBMFX. The portfolio 5yr performance is good APR = 5.84% with a Sharpe ratio of 1.50. The employee portfolio is also conservative with 53.8% of their portfolio in the stable value fund but they invested 14.2% of the portfolio in company stock and that raised their volatility risk but not their 5yr return. This plan is sound but it could use a few more good equity funds with for example commodity exposure.
The Cerner Corp. 401k plan scan caused me to change my point of view literally. I will describe the reasons later in a White Paper. The Balanced portfolio for the Cerner plan continues to be helped by company stock CERN but not as much as last year. The employee portfolio invested 51.3% of their money in company stock which has double digit positve returns for the last 15, 10, 5, 3 and 1 year periods. Surprisinly Morningstar rates the stock at only 1 star most probably because it is very volatile. The employee portfolio has a 5yr APR = 9.83% with a positive Sharpe ratio of 0.254. The Balanced portfolio's largest holding is the stable value fund SVF.hpx in the scan at 28.2% of the portfolio versus 58.3% last year and has a 5yr APR= 5.79% with a Sharpe ratio of 1.13.
This plan's company stock ABC and Balanced portfolio have improved over last year with most of the plans investment options in the Balanced portfolio. The portfolio's 5yr perfomance APR = 6.36% and Sharpe ratio of 1.24 are above average. The employee's portfolio top 3 holdings are the stable value fund (20.9%) FMIP2 in the scan, company stock ABC (11.5%) and the growth fund FDGRX (7.8%). One of the funds in the employee portfolio had a significantly negative 5yr APR and it has over 5% of the portfolio's assets. Some need to take the time to rebalance more often than once in 5 years would be my suggestion.
Since the last scan of the Wal-Mart 401k plan in 2008 several changes were made and the plan has a few more investment options. The Balanced portfolio improved performance to a 5yr APR = 6.29% and invested 3.5% of that portfolio in company stock WMT. The largest holdings are the stable value fund at 23.0% SVF.hpx in the scan, the PIMCO bond fund PTTRX at 20.4% and a Prudential core bond fund trust at 22.0% PCPBT in the scan. The employee portfolio invested 31.0% of their portfolio in company stock as shown in the 3D scan image. A bit too much for a retiree in my opinion. All in all a good plan now with above average 5yr annualized performance.
The Phillip Morris International Company is part of the Altria Group with their own stock PM. They file a seperate SEC 11-k report for their 401k plan which is similar to the Altria Group plan. PM stock does not yet have 5yr data and in the scan is represented by MO as a proxy. As the 3D scan image shows the employee portfolio is remakably well diversified with assets greater than 5% of plan consisting of 7 of the 10 investment options in the plan. That rarely happens in 401k plans of late. This is a good plan and company stock PM is out performing the proxy MO year-to-date in 2011. It could be a future addition to the Sharpe stock portfolio.
The Kroger 401k scan this year does not have the emerging market fund EEM that was in the scan last year. I could not find in the latest SEC 11-k report an investment option other than MALOX that was international. Company stock KR and the other options continue to recover from the recession and have made incremental improvement over last year but without an emerging market option the Balanced portfolio did not. As the 3D scan image shows it has become a lifeboat portfolio with the GIC holding 65.5% of the portfolio. The employee portfolio has company stock as it's largest holding followed by the GIC. It is still a good plan but needs an investment option like EEM, GLD, etc. to deliver returns like last years Balanced portfolio.
The Monsanto 401k plan investment fund options are described in Note 1. of the SEC 11-k report and shown here as they appeared in the portfolio design scan. Northern is the plan trustee but the plan has funds from Capital Group (American Funds) and others. I thought it prudent this year to link the options to funds in the scan. There were few changes from last year.
DeVry stock did not have a good year in 2010 and the Balanced portolio only invested 4.6% in the stock this year and the employee portfolio only 8.8%. The 401k plan has good bond and income investment options but very average equity options (see the correlation chart) aside from company stock. On a positive note company stock DV is up over 14% YTD and that should help a bit next year. My suggestion for better equity options would be ones with 5yr Sharpe ratios of 1.0 or better and there are lots of them in scans of other 401k plans posted here.
The Oracle 401k plan continues to be helped by company stock ORCL and the Balanced portfolio invested 10.9% of the portfolio in the stock this year. The employee portfolio has 13.8% in the stock which is their largest holding. The plan has other investment options like LZEMX with double digit 5yr returns and positive Sharpe ratios raising the 5yr Balanced portfolio return to 8.0% with a Sharpe ratio 0f 1.45. This plan should be among the top 401k plans this year. 
The Alliant Energy plan continues to be helped by company stock LNT and it is now 5.3% of the Balanced portfolio and 13.6% of the employee portfolio. There were a few changes to the investment options in the scan and the addition of the money market fund VMVXX made the Balanced portfolio a little more conservative compared to last year. All in all a good plan with a good company stock.
This plan was one of the Top 401k plans for 2010 (number 6) and will probably be there in 2011 based on these results. The Balanced portfolio was NOT helped by company stock AES but still has a 5yr APR = 7.80% with a Sharpe ratio of 1.24. The top 3 holdings of that portfolio are the stable value fund VRST in the scan, a total return fund LTRYX and a bond fund HLGAX. The gold fund OPGSX is the fourth largest holding and gives the portfolio APR return a big lift instead of comapny stock. Several of the funds in my retirement porfolio (PRPFX, SGENX,etc) have gold among their top holdings and others have commodities like food and specialty chemicals. The employee portfolio invested 18.6% of the portfolio in company stock which did not help as volatility again kills compounding as it always will.
The PerkinElmer 401k plan Balanced portfolio 5yr performance has improved each of the last 3 years. Is has a very small amount invested in company stock PKI for the first time and all but one of the plan investment options are in that portfolio. This year the employee portfolio and the Balanced portfolio are very close in the 2D scan image but with significant differences in asset allocation as shown in the 3D scan image. The Balanced portfolio has 11.9% in FFFAX and the emoloyee portfolio has very little in that fund for example. A clear indication there are lots of portfolios with high risk adjusted returns this year as the market continues to recover from the recession. Thats one definition of a good 401k plan in my opinion.
I am late getting the Top 2010 401k plans posted and have not had time to write a TechNote. The process was the same as always; the plans were sorted by APR first and then the Top plans resorted by Sharpe ratio. All 5 Top plans had 5yr PSRs > 1.0. I also like to point out that all 249 401k plans scanned last year had Balanced portfolios with positive 5yr APR returns and positive Sharpe ratios.
The McKesson 401k plan did not improve perfomance over last year. Several Target Date Retirement funds are in the Balanced portfolio this year. It is a lifeboat portfolio with 56.2% of the portfolio in the Mellon stable value fund SVF.mel in the scan and only 1.6% of the portfolio is in company stock MCK. An employee asset allocation that I don't often see in an SEC 11-k report is a Brokerage account link (Fidelity in this plan) that has more than 5% of the plan invested in it. There is not much more to say.
