Moving towards 2015, Australian investors need to be very careful…
Source: Google Finance
Without naming names, the above graph shows the share price performance of one of Australia's favourite supermarkets, our largest iron ore producer by volume, and our biggest bank by assets, throughout 2014.
The green line shows the S&P/ASX 200 (INDEX: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO).
As you can see, it's not pretty.
Indeed by anyone's measure, 2014 hasn't been a good year for investors stuck in any of those stocks.
Unfortunately, 2015 isn't looking any better.
A fresh start
As the new year approaches, investors should leverage off their successful stock picks, as well as their losers, and aim to go one better in 2015.
So if you've got some time off this Christmas, taking a day or two to sit down and reassess your share holdings could prove a worthwhile pastime. Populating your watchlist with some new ideas will also help.
But knowing where to start can be daunting. Here are five great stock ideas for the coming year…
- iiNet Limited (ASX: IIN). Powering over 1.8 million services nationwide, this Western Australian garage start-up has grown into our country's second-largest DSL provider. And its share price has responded, quadrupling in the past five years. Moving into 2015 however, analysts are forecasting a healthy boost in earnings per share and a juicy fully franked dividend of 3.3%.
- Slater & Gordon Limited (ASX: SGH) is Australia's largest personal injury (PI) law firm. The $1.3 billion company has recently begun its expansion into the UK and already holds over a 5% market share. It believes the larger, highly fragmented marketplace, will bear significant fruit for shareholders in FY15, expecting 45% of revenues to be derived overseas.
- Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd (ASX: CCL) is the exclusive distributor of Coca-Cola and Beam products throughout Australia. Early in 2014 its share price took a big hit, falling 14% in one day of trading, on the announcement of a profit downgrade. However the business appears poised to return to modest yet sustainable earnings growth in 2015 and its shares don't appear expensive.
- Netcomm Wireless Ltd (ASX: NTC) is a micro-cap technology company specialising in the booming machine-to-machine (M2M) communications market. Its recent shift in focus towards businesses has already proven to be very rewarding, with M2M now accounting for over 50% of revenues. Although its share price can be volatile, this little company could be at the start of a long growth runway.
- Yellow Brick Road Holdings Ltd (ASX: YBR) is small-cap diversified financial company which is not yet profitable. YBR issued a 'business update' to the ASX today and commented on the integration of its two latest acquisitions, Resi Mortgage Corporation and Vow Financial, which appeared very positive. Although the update gave no insight into the likelihood of future profitability, YBR looks to be a real long-term winner.
