Best Stocks 2024: Value, Growth, Income and More
You know how the old saw goes: New year, new stock picks.
The Tea
OK, that's not really a saying. But if you read enough financial media (or work in the business), you know that the turning of the calendar is primetime for prognosticators peddling their favorite stock picks.
With the new year comes New Year's resolutions, and one of the most popular resolutions is to get in better financial shape. For some, that means budgeting. For some, that means earning more money. But for many, that means either starting to invest or analyzing their portfolios to see if they should unload any of their positions—and of course, whether they should buy up any new stocks or funds.
So, while stock picking is very much a year-round business, you'll notice that business gets booming when Baby New Year comes out to play.
The Take
Why yes, we do have a few stocks on our mind, thank you for asking.
The thing is, one person's "best stock for 2024" might be another person's "biggest cause of anxiety for 2024." Every person reading this has a different appetite for risk, different financial goals, even different ages (which plays a huge role in what you buy).
So, rather than just fire off a bunch of random picks, we've got a little something for everyone today—and for every style of pick, we can point you in the direction of several more just like it.
In no particular order:
Growth Stocks
Growth stocks really need no introduction, but in short, growth investors want to buy companies that are expected to grow their top and bottom lines faster than their peers. Most if not all of these firms' cash is plowed right back into the business—R&D, marketing, more workers, whatever it takes to explode higher.
One example? Gen Digital (GEN)—which is the parent of Norton, LifeLock, Avast, and other digital security brands—is tailor-made for the risks of a digital age. Cybersecurity solutions are in high demand generally, but especially of late thanks to Russia's recent war with Ukraine and increased frequency of malware, viruses, adware and other online threats in the past few years. Bigger-picture, cybersecurity risk is an issue that isn't going away, and it demands constant protection regardless of the ups and downs of other market sectors.
Check out our other 2024 growth stock picks here.
Value Stocks
Who doesn't like a deal? The basic idea behind value stocks is that they're backed by great companies, they're just not appreciated the way they should be—and that if you buy them while they're undervalued, you'll share in the upside once other investors realize how good these firms really are and start buying shares themselves.
One example? MetLife (MET) is a pretty boring business—it's a financial services giant that provides insurance, annuities, employee benefits, asset management services, and more. But it's one of the largest and sturdiest names in the space, boasting solid financials, offering a healthy dividend, and generating market-beating long-term performance. Meanwhile, traditional value metrics such as a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio below 8, and a price/earnings-to-growth (PEG) ratio of 0.8 indicate that Wall Street isn't giving MET shares nearly enough love as we start 2024.
Check out our other 2024 value stock picks here.
Dividend Stocks
Yes, "stonks go up" is the primary way to get returns from stocks. But many companies also make cash payments (called "dividends") to shareholders. In fact, many dividend stocks pay regular and often increasing dividends that can add up to substantial returns, and many retirees even plan their retirement around this routine income. Dividends can come from any kind of company, but you'll typically get them more from value names than growth plays.
One example? Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), which you might know as the name behind Band-Aids and Tylenol—except those businesses were spun out last year in the Kenvue (KVUE) offering. The remaining Johnson & Johnson is a pharmaceutical and medical-devices firm that is deeply embedded in the health care system. It has an extraordinarily high credit rating that's actually better than the U.S. government's, and it has upgraded its dividend on an annual basis for more than 60 years!
Check out our other 2024 dividend stock picks here.
Tech Stocks
Some investors like to focus their search by targeting specific sectors—growth investors, for instance, typically have a heavy amount of capital plunked into tech stocks. It's no wonder why: Technology is constantly growing, evolving, and becoming a bigger part of our everyday lives—and the companies that develop and market that technology stand to benefit. Indeed, eight of the 10 largest companies right now are either in the technology sector, or have "tech-esque" businesses (think Amazon, which is technically in the consumer discretionary sector, but whose biggest businesses include internet retail, cloud infrastructure, and digital media).
One example? Creative software and services firm Adobe (ADBE) is the go-to platform for photographers, marketing directors, educators, publishers, and just about anyone who uses visuals to tell a story. Adobe has invested heavily in "Firefly" artificial intelligence tools that continue to cause a buzz about the potential for computer assisted design in the 21st century. With loyal customers and long-term certainty thanks to subscription-based revenue rather than one-off product sales, ADBE is a growth-oriented tech stock to consider for 2024 and beyond.
Check out our other 2024 tech stock picks here.
Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)
Income-focused investors tend to home in on certain sectors, too, such as real estate—which they invest in via real estate investment trusts (REITs). REITs are a special category of business that owns (and often operates) properties, and in exchange for generous federal tax breaks, they're required to pay out at least 90% of their taxable income back to investors in the form of dividends. Now, don't get me wrong—REITs can (and do) grow! But they're primarily valued for their ability to throw off much-higher-than-average dividends.
One example? American Tower (AMT). Telecommunications is a hard business—AT&T (T), Verizon (VZ), and T-Mobile (TMUS) have to constantly undercut each other on price to make a buck. But American Tower just sits back and collects a check from any telecom that wants to use its hundreds of thousands of communication sites across 25 countries, including the U.S. AMT also boasts a 3%-plus dividend yield on a payout that has grown considerably—it's $1.67 per share quarterly right now, which is up roughly eight-fold from 21 cents back in 2012.
Check out our other 2024 REIT picks here.
Of course, stocks aren't for everyone—some like the automatic diversification provided by mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), so if that's what you prefer, check out those links to see our favorite fund picks right now.
Thank you, as always, for reading! We hope you have a happy (and fruitful) new year!
Riley & Kyle
WealthUp (Young and the Invested is now WealthUp)
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.