A Recap of Stock Trends for 2015

In the blog post, Stock Trends for 2015, twenty-eight stocks were identified as represented by six trends over the course of the year with the following results:

The lazy man’s portfolio had a total gain of 12.79%

18 stocks ended in positive territory
10 stocks ended in negative territory

NOTE 01: by “lazy man”, I mean that the 28 stocks would have been bought and held all year without any buy and sell rules. Clearly, the exercise was for observational purposes ONLY.

Comparison to US Markets:

NASDAQ: +5.94%
S&P 500: -0.69%
DJIA: -2.29%

Comparison to All World Markets:

All Markets (Average): -10.20%

Fifteen stocks logged double digit gains.
One stock logged a triple digit gain.
Six stocks logged double digit losses.
The big winner was Amazon.com, $AMZN, with a gain of 132.47%, moving from $290.74 to $675.89
The big loser was Barracuda Networks, $CUDA, with a loss of -47.40%, moving from $35.51 to $18.68

It’s interesting to note that CUDA was actually showing a 22% gain in April 2015, running as high as $46.78 before crashing in the summer and ending the year at $18.68.

Six of the ten leading gainers started with a triple digit share price while the bottom three losers all started below $40 per share. One may argue that this outcome further confirms the observation from William O’Neil:

“What seems too high and risky to the majority generally goes higher and what seems low and cheap generally goes lower.”

Of the six trends, the groups performed as follows:

Digital Wallets (currency) & Mobile Payments, +43.53%

The group was up a collective 43.53%
Companies in group: $AMZN $GOOG $V $MA $AAPL
5 of the 6 stocks showed a gain
1 of the 6 stocks showed a loss (less than 1%)
The leading gainer was AMZN at 132.47%
The leading loser was AAPL at -0.69%

Self Driving Cars (Future of driving), +37.35%

The group was up a collective 37.35%
Companies in group: $NVDA $GOOG $TSLA $MBLY
All 4 stocks showed a gain
The leading gainer was NVDA at 65.13%
The trailing gainer was MBLY at 10.48%

Drones & Unmanned Aircraft, +9.25%

The group was up a collective 9.25%
Companies in group: $NOC $AVAV $LMT $BA $TXT $LLL
4 of the 6 stocks showed a gain
2 of the 6 stocks showed a loss (both less than 5%)
The leading gainer was NOC at 23.14%
The leading loser was LLL at -4.90%

Biotech, +5.68%

The group was up a collective 5.68%
Companies in group: $REGN $ILMN $CELG $JUNO
2 of the 4 stocks showed a gain
2 of the 4 stocks showed a loss
The leading gainer was REGN at 32.83%
The leading loser was JUNO at -12.31%

Social & Web based brands, -2.43%

The group was down a collective -2.43%
Companies in group: $FB $LNKD $BABA $TWTR
2 of the 4 stocks showed a gain
2 of the 4 stocks showed a loss
The leading gainer was FB at 39.21%
The leading loser was TWTR at -37.98%

Cyber Security, -4.86%

The group was down a collective -4.86%
Companies in group: $PANW $CYBR $CHKP $QLYS $RDWR $CUDA
3 of the 6 stocks showed a gain
3 of the 6 stocks showed a loss
The leading gainer was PANW at 40.90%
The leading loser was CUDA at -47.40%

NOTE 02: none of the figures above include dividends
NOTE 03: Google (Alphabet) $GOOG is represented in two groups when results are separated by trends

Of the twenty-eight stocks listed in 2015, I will definitely give a look and consider the following heading into 2016: AMZN, FB, GOOG, V, MA, TSLA, BABA, CYBR

Although many of these stocks have been up for one, two or even three plus years, don’t let that discourage you until the trend changes.