We admit, we were a little worried about our dozen investments in Where to Invest 2009. We grouped them into three categories: Safe Harbors, A Little More Volatile and Higher Risk, Higher Return. But there were no safe harbors in the first two months of the year at one point, the portfolio was down almost 22%. Even worse, our designated Safe Harbors were anything but, as investors ran from traditionally defensive utility stocks. Now, six months after we picked those stocks, the portfolio is up 2.9%, just edging out the S&P 500's 2.7% return, thanks to the furious market rally. The leaders are Apple (AAPL), pharmacy benefits manager Medco Health Solutions (MHS) and network computing firm Cisco (CSCO); the laggards were utilities Southern Co (SO) and General Electric (GE).

A few highlights:

Its iPhones, iMacs and iPods keep flying off the shelves, but what really has propelled the iconic tech company has been its ability to keep its expenses down, particularly on the microchips it uses, says Chris Armbruster, senior research analyst at Al Frank Funds, which owns the stock. That cost controlling excellence has allowed the firm to have "surprisingly" high profit margins. The company continues to excel though CEO Steve Jobs has taken time off for health reasons. The share price, however, is no longer cheap. Don t buy the stock now, and if it rises past $135, consider taking some profits.

Medco Health Solutions (+16.3%)

The premise of buying Medco was that its prescription-delivery business would be relatively unaffected by the economic recession. That appears to be the case, at least so far. The pharmacy benefits manager filled more than 226 million prescriptions in the first three months of 2009, a more than 9% increase from the same period in 2008. Joe Milano, manager of the T. Rowe Price New America Growth fund (PRWAX), which owns the stock, says Medco will continue to benefit from any health-care reform that pushes the use of generic drugs. As long as the stock price is in the mid-$40s it s worth buying, he says.

Southern Co. (-18.4%)

Southern (SO), theGeorgia-based utility, was supposed to be a safe haven for investor money during the financial crisis, since electricity use doesn t often go down in a recession. But the economy has caught up with them, says Brian Youngberg, a utilities analyst at Edward Jones. The once-booming Southeast has slowed to a crawl, and investors question whether Southern can regain its heady profit growth even if the economy recovers. Meanwhile, all utility stocks have lagged the market as investors have chased more economically sensitive names. Hold the stock for now, since utilities will still hold more of their value if there s a market pullback.