At the end of the 2018 Melbourne's Herald Sun asked myself and a number of other share market experts to name around five shares that could perform well over 2019. The final article being published in its January 12 2019 print edition.
As we're now all but three-quarters of the way through the calendar year I thought it worth checking in on how the picks had performed. And how the picks of a number of other experts had fared.
Here are my five picks from January 12 with returns excluding dividends. For comparison the S&P/ ASX200 (ASX: XJO) is up around 20% over the period.
Xero Limited (ASX: XRO) is the online only accounting business that has climbed from $41.95 to $63.25 today to return 51% year to date. I remain bullish on the group's outlook thanks to its attractive economics, strong growth rates and compound profit growth potential.
CSL Limited (ASX: CSL) is up from $185.38 to $234.20 to return around 26% for investors thanks to a strong fiscal 2019 of sales, profit, and dividend growth. At the same time it continues to invest heavily in research and development for the profit-spinning products of tomorrow. I remain bullish on this business.
Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX: APT) has climbed from $12 to $36.49 to deliver a 204% return. At the start of 2019 Afterpay was reporting some incredibly customer growth in the US and it was not a stretch to see the share price had room to move way higher.
Sydney Airport Holdings Ltd (ASX: SYD) has climbed from $6.65 to $8.07 to return 17%. It has been a beneficiary of the yield hunt as cash rates fall. The airport is also a monopoly with defensive revenue streams and an impressive track record of dividend growth.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: APPLE) is up from US$157.92 to US$219.89 for a return around 40%. The stock traded cheap back in January after the company delivered its first profit downgrade in a decade on the back of slowing iPhone sales in China. However, the incredible strength of the business has seen it recover since.
Conclusion
That's an average return close to 68% which of course will be almost impossible to keep up, but shows how if you buy high-quality businesses when sentiment around them is not so strong you should do well as an investor.
Notably, all of these businesses are also solid long-term options in my opinion, rather than cyclical type picks or small caps that may end up falling faster than they rise.
Unsurprisingly these returns thump those of the other experts some of whom would be delivering a negative total return from what I can see. Still, 9 months is a short timeframe over which to judge investment success or failure. If anyone does want a scanned copy of all the original article I am happy to send on.
