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What a traditional lot we all are! Marks & Spencer (LSE: MKS) takes top billing, with Vodafone AirTouch (LSE: VOD) nipping at its heels. We have to go down to number 5 before we run into the first "hot" stock, in the form of ARM Holdings (LSE: ARM). Baltimore Technologies (LSE: BLM) and Psion (LSE: PON), both recent departees from the FTSE 100, are still extremely popular.
Top Twenty Foolish Holdings
The high positions of Lastminute.com (LSE: LMC) and interactive investor international (LSE: IIN) are probably somewhat misleading. Although many people have these stocks in their portfolios, in terms of value their position would probably be a lot lower. It is also worth noting that this league table includes all portfolios. Therefore it is also going to include any phantom portfolios or watch lists that we have set up.
Some top 20 entries surprised us a great deal. For example, Centrica (LSE: CAN) appears to a lot more popular than BG Group (LSE: BGY), the old British Gas. The traditional bellwether of the UK economy, ICI (LSE: ICI), still appears to popular coming in at number 14. Perhaps the biggest surprise of all was British Airways (LSE: BAY) which swoops in at the surprisingly lofty position of number 7.
There are also some big stocks that are notable by their absence from the top 20. The UK's second largest company, BP Amoco (LSE: BPA), is probably the most striking example. It claims the number 30 spot. Shell Transport & Trading (LSE: SHEL) fares even worse, it is number 50. SmithKline Beecham (LSE: SB.), at number 37, is also surprisingly low down the list. However once its merger with Glaxo Wellcome (LSE: GLXO) is completed it may scrape into the top 5. With the exception of Lloyds TSB (LSE: LLOY) the traditional big banking stocks are also pretty unpopular. Barclays (LSE: BARC) may think it is big, but we disagree. It comes in at a lowly 56. Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBOS), now the proud owner of NatWest, is even more unpopular, scraping in at 65.
A lot of discussion board favourites sit just outside the top twenty. Scoot (LSE: SCO) is number 23 and NXT (LSE: NTX) sits at 26. Geo Interactive Media (LSE: GIM) takes its position in the number 32 slot. There are certainly a lot of GEOrges and GEOrginas out there. Trafficmaster (LSE: TFC) bustles in at 34 with Imagination Technologies (LSE: IMG) one behind at 35. Market new boy, Egg (LSE: EGG) just creeps into the top 100, at number 99.
Most heartening, for us anyway, was the distinct lack of penny stocks and other speculative-type investments. But we were a little concerned that many people still seem to have Norwich Union and Orange in their portfolios. The former is now part of CGNU (LSE: CGNU) whilst Orange is currently owned by Vodafone, although it won't be for much longer. Time to update those portfolios, Fools!
Foolish disclaimer: No portfolios were harmed during the production of this article. These figures are aggregated totals; we don't know who has what in their portfolio.
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