Investing is a game of big wins and big losses: what stocks should you invest in for 2024?
That’s the question we’re answering today with a discussion of some under-priced stocks on the AAA Trading platform. This is one of the best trading platforms for starting your portfolio, and today we’re going to outline where we think you should start investing in February and March 2024.
Disclaimer: this is not financial advice. We are discussing essential information for educational purposes and helping you to build a stronger, better-researched stock position. Always do your own research.
Making stock choices
Making single stock choices is a risky way of conducting your trading activity. It is crucial that you take the time to perform your own stock research and understand what you’re looking for in a stock pick.
Your capital is at risk and over-exposing yourself to a single stock can cause large swings in your portfolio value. Here’s what you should do to secure a safe foundation of patiently growing funds before you invest in single picks…
Beginner’s picks: building a safe foundation
For most new traders, the most important place to start is not to make money, but to avoid losing money when trading. “Protecting your capital” is the priority because there’s very little real risk to not making money, but there are huge implications to losing money if you need it.
This is why most experienced professionals in the field recommend that beginners build their stable, long-term investments around products like index funds. These expose you to – for example – the entire S&P 500 to reduce individual risk and provide a consistent source of growth.
The S&P 500 – tracked by stocks like Vanguard S&P 500 ($VOO) – typically go up when you look at the long term. These are reputable funds that can offer cheap access to the world’s most stable and established stocks. You may not make a lot, but you’re very unlikely to lose money here.
This is the best choice for most long-term investments (e.g. if you want to save for retirement and beat inflation). Once you’ve built a strong portfolio of reliable stocks, you can use AAA Trading’s CFD broker service for more advanced financial products, but this foundation is essential to smart investing.
Selecting a stock
Choosing a security to invest in is a personal process – and it’s common to have your own favourite way of evaluating a company.
Good! A personal market approach reflects a personal goal for investments and the level of risk you’re comfortable with. Whatever your approach, keep in mind that a good investment should include:
- A fundamentally valuable company with good operations and robust financials.
- A price that you believe is low relative to the “true” value of the stock.
- A clear ‘reason’ that you believe the company and its sector will perform well.
- An understanding of the risk and reward, as well as best- and worst-case scenarios for a stock.
- Clear goals for the performance you would like to see if you intend to sell at a certain price.
These simple stock picking habits help reduce your total risk and improve your stock-picking and stock-handling discipline. A large part of the fight is picking the right stocks, on the right information, and making data-driven decisions instead of getting emotionally involved in your choices.
Here’s a simple rule you can use to improve your buying habits: take your time and learn everything you need to be able to explain what you’re buying – and why – to someone who knows nothing about the company!
What Stocks Should You Invest in 2024? 8 Of Our Favourite Investments
These are some of the most popular picks on the market for February 2024, with picks for popularity, market sentiment, price point, financial information, and others.
The stock market can change rapidly, so check in with the current prices, news, and financial information before parking your money in a security.
- Microsoft ($MSFT)
Microsoft continues to be the giant of the software industry with an incredible long-term history of growth and a diversified, lucrative business model. The world runs on Microsoft infrastructure with incredible market tools, professional services, and home computing leading incomes.
Microsoft has continued to trend up, and almost all projections in the industry suggest this trend will continue for decades to come. The role of Microsoft as a foundation for so much of the world’s personal and business computing makes it an incredible, ever-underpriced company.
Because of the institutional role Microsoft plays and the consistent development of their ‘fundamental value’ over time, this stock feels like it’s usually a good choice for savvy investors.
- Nvidia ($NVDA)
Nvidia is the world’s foremost beneficiary of the AI boom, with a massive demand placed on the computing power that Nvidia provides. With market optimism about AI, Nvidia has seen an incredible quarter to-date, on top of existing strength in a robust business model.
With the changes seen in macroeconomic trends towards higher computing needs, Nvidia stands at the front of a number of high-demand tech sectors that are looking strong in the 2020s and beyond.
This optimism is driving strong valuations for Nvidia and the recent earning report prompted a 33% quarterly improvement. With a 765% YoY growth, it’s clear that the market likes Nvidia. This high volatility isn’t for everyone – it could be hype – but the company has strong fundamentals.
If you’re looking to speculate on a popular stock with a very high ceiling, and you want exposure to tech, Nvidia is one of the safer bets for the long-term.
- Micron Technology ($MU)
Micron Technology has become an industry darling for many investors through 2023 as a strong force in the automative industry, with a focus on memory and storage, advancing the industry’s cutting edge.
This is a more speculative choice for some investors, as there’s a large “knowledge premium” to this brand. However, reliable performance at the front of an industry in the public spotlight has made Micron a fantastic company to invest in.
With the advancements in a wide range of industries depending on tech – and memory/storage at the core of that industry – it’s easy to see why Micron has seen excellent growth. Market sentiment in support of the company’s innovations is driving excellent growth.
Micron has seen gains under market low conditions, which is an indicator of stock resilience, and the floor price for the stock continues to impress. These make it a strong choice in a market that many consider to be volatile, and have put it squarely on our list.
- Meta ($META)
Can you imagine a world without Meta – no facebook or Instagram?
In 2024, it feels like an impossibility. The resilience of this company over time is one of the cores of the S&P500, where the value of the social media giant continues to trend up over time.
In the information age, it feels like every change in the market and economy will occur in the context of Meta’s ways of connecting people. We love what Meta does to the world, bringing it closer together and providing a ‘common ground’ for internet users across the world, and across interests!
This is the fundamental value of Meta and it seems that – in an increasingly tech-heavy world – this value is persistent. Recent stock performance has picked up significantly after a difficult 2022-23 and the pivot away from the huge losses of the Metaverse into fractional departments is a positive sign.
Meta has been too speculative in recent years, but the core strategy of being present in almost every internet sector makes it one of the most powerful stocks of all time and a juggernaut heading into the 2024-25 financial year!
- Visa ($V)
Visa is one of the most important companies around, continuing to dominate the payment space even with the development of new technology and trends in the area. E-commerce is a clear fact of life in 2024 and the payment giant’s got fingers in many pies.
The development of Visa stock is a great long-term winner with consistent increases across almost every period of time. In a world of increased electronic banking – and the continued power of the Visa’s relationship with banks – it’s a stock that feels like it will always be underpriced.
Visa is a huge company in space with strong growth prospects, supporting the “Click and Mortar” and E-commerce sectors’ growth alike.
- Tesla ($TSLA)
While Tesla’s stock has waxed and waned over the years, it’s at the head of the electrical vehicle industry in the United States. This is a subsidised market with incredible political and social support, offering a clear rationale for the next decade of growth.
The social status of Tesla as a headliner for the market continues to make it a household name, and the business practices have shown robust performance across a range of products/sales segments.
Tesla may be a little unpredictable, but the combination of automative and tech stocks has made it an attractive choice. In February 2024, the combination of government support with the possibility of market policy change in the United States (supporting domestic manufacture) is massive.
Tesla stands to gain from its social position, policy change, market trends towards EVs, and the cumulative advantage of being the electric vehicle company.
- Alphabet ($GOOGL)
Just like Meta, Google is a pillar of the internet service world and they play a central role in the everyday function of the internet. Search engines are both user- and business-facing powerhouses with their own markets and robust, multi-channel revenue streams.
Just like Meta, it’s hard to imagine a world where Alphabet is not an essential part of everyday life. This makes it a company with a sentiment of incredible strength and stability, while the tech-based approach ensures plenty of upside for growth.
Between core services like Google and YouTube continuing to be exceptional performers, Alphabet continues to see YoY growth at 10%+, a safe and reliable company with excellent upside for cautious investors who still want to see strong returns.
- United Health Group ($UNH)
This is a darling of the industry, seeing incredible institutional support on the basis of a strong, increasing earnings-per-share (EPS) ratio over time. To put it simply, if the EPS returns to normal by increasing stock price, investor growth is likely.
There are many factors that could influence this process, but market fundamentals like these tend to shake out over time. Value investors love these kinds of stocks, buying a dollar of value for 90 cents, and building a portfolio of strong long-term investments.
United Health Group is at the head of a strong industry, with deep roots in the sector, and excellent financial fundamentals to justify growth throughout 2024.
Final Thoughts: What Stocks Should You Invest In 2024?
These 8 stocks represent a great balance of speculation and fundamentals that we recommend for most investors. While you should be very careful selecting stocks to invest in, it’s important to remember that holding these stocks improves likelihood of return, and you should already have a portfolio of lower risk investments (e.g. index funds) before making stock picks.
These companies represent a blend of risk and reward that we recommend for those seeking excellent securities in 2024, and an average risk level that strikes a balance between market alternatives.
If you’re looking for the best place to select high-performing stocks and build wealth with a strong portfolio, AAA Trading is one of the most exciting trading platforms around.
Supporting a wide range of investments to suit your needs, and plenty of educational resources to help you prosper in the market. It’s a stock trading platform, forex trading app, CFD broker, and it’s your tool for putting your money to work for you.