In hindsight, many stock investors could have outperformed the market if they had successfully timed it. However, accurately predicting the market’s next move—whether for short- or long-term investments—remains a significant challenge.  Applying the right strategies can help mitigate the risk of losing money and foster portfolio growth. As an investor, I can not stress enough how valuable it is to reflect on what strategies worked, which ones didn’t, and how to adjust moving forward to improve returns. This leads me to a retrospective review of my 2024 stock investment strategy—how I selected stocks for my portfolio, evaluated the missed opportunities, and identified areas for improvement to outperform past performance.

List of Stock Picks for 2024

To kick off 2024, I created a watchlist titled “Buy Watch,” which includes a selection of stocks to monitor throughout the year. This list serves as a pool of potential investments from which I can choose individual stocks to add to my portfolio, based on further analyses discussed below. The stock picks for 2024 are represented by the following ticker symbols:

PSTG, DHI, SNPS, LEN, NVO, DOL.TO, TSM, NOW, MSFT, TSLA, ISRG, NET, BA, RIO, NVDA, ADSK, ASTS, BYDDY, NFLX, AXON, LILY, BTK-B, FUTU, META, BSX, L.TO, MSI, TTD, CRWD, AVGO, PANW, MMM, SNOW and SPG

The rationale behind maintaining a focused list of ticker symbols is to filter out the noise from the thousands of other stocks available and concentrate on a smaller, more manageable set across diverse sectors. This approach will allow me to make more informed, strategic investment decisions.

How I picked the stock

My stock picks for this year, as of the time of writing, will surprise you. I kept things simple, relying on fewer performance tools to analyze individual stocks. While this approach has worked out well for me, outperforming last year, it does come with its caveats. I narrowed down my selections based on the following criteria:

• Trend: I focused on short-term and long-term trends for individual stocks, opting for those in an uptrend. The rationale was simple; stocks in an uptrend are more likely to continue rising, while downtrends are often akin to a ‘falling knife,’ which I prefer to avoid. However, I also considered stocks with strong fundamentals, even if they were near a 52-week low, as they might still present investment opportunities.

• Revenue and Earnings: I ensured that all picks had consistent revenue and earnings, with a particular focus on those demonstrating steady year-over-year growth in both metrics.

Most of my stock picks for 2024 have shown decent performance year-to-date, with some outperforming major market averages. The highest performers saw significant gains of up to 256%, while the lowest performers had a low return of about -31 % making up less than 5% of the total watchlist still a huge win.

Areas of improvement

For my investment strategy in 2025, I plan to use a similar approach by selecting a basket of stocks to track, focusing on trends, revenue, and earnings growth. In addition, I will apply a broader set of fundamental analyses for each stock, incorporating performance tools, technical analysis, Artificial intelligence (AI), interest rates, regulatory factors, and overall economic dynamics. The goal is to maximize the potential for selecting top-performing stocks while mitigating risks, compensating for areas 2024 misses and learning from those mistakes.

Overall, by following these straightforward analyses or investing in well-known businesses or organizations with strong earnings, you can significantly outperform high-yield savings accounts by a wide margin

The content of this post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. It should not be considered a substitute for professional guidance from a qualified financial advisor.

• Finance