Every December, the financial media publishes and broadcasts the predictions of Wall Street analysts and money managers who offer their top stock picks for the year to come.
When people ask me what I think about the predictions or what the markets will do, I tell them bluntly, “I have no idea! Your guess is as good as mine.”
To evaluate these predictions, I highly recommend doing the following easy and educational exercise, which I’ve been doing for over a decade:
Step 1: Create a file – either physical or virtual – to capture these predictions.
Step 2: Fill the file with all the financial predictions you see and hear about in magazines and on TV and web sites.
Step 3: Review those predictions in December and ask, “How correct were they?”
To make it easy for you, here are some links to articles featuring money managers and their Top Stock Picks for 2015:
CNN Money – Top 7 Stock Picks for 2015
Kilpinger - 10 Stock Picks for 2015
MarketWatch - 10 Great Stocks for 2015 From 3 Market Wizards
Barron's - Our 10 Favorite Stocks for 2015
The Street.com - Bank of America's 10 Top S&P 500 Stocks to Buy for 2015
Forbes - 15 Great Stocks for 2015
Money Magazine - 12 Great Stocks for 2015
I plan to do a quick write up at midyear and at yearend on the following picks to see how the analysts and managers have done overall.
| Barron's - Our 10 Favorite Stocks for 2015 | |||
Company |
Ticker |
Price on 12-31-14 |
|
| General Motors | GM | $34.91 | |
| Bank of America | BAC | $17.89 | |
| Boeing | BA | $129.98 | |
| Micron Technology | MU | $35.01 | |
| American Airlines | AAL | $53.63 | |
| GOOGL | $530.66 | ||
| Royal Caribbean Cruises | RCL | $82.43 | |
| Fluor | FLR | $60.63 | |
| Macy’s | M | $65.75 | |
| Gilead Sciences | GILD | $94.26 | |
| Forbes - 15 Great Stocks For 2015 | |||
| Rogers Communications | RCI | $38.86 | |
| FirstMerit Corp. | FMER | $18.89 | |
| Kellogg | K | $65.44 | |
| SpartanNash | SPTN | $26.14 | |
| Merge Healthcare | MRGE | $3.56 | |
| American Vanguard | AVD | $11.62 | |
| Blackstone/GSO Senior Floating Rate Term Fund | BSL | $16.74 | |
| Yamana Gold | AUY | $4.02 | |
| Coach | COH | $37.56 | |
| Diplomat Pharmacy | DPLO | $27.37 | |
| Zeltiq Aesthetics | ZLTQ | $27.91 | |
| Denny's | DENN | $10.31 | |
| Concurrent Computer | CCUR | $7.09 | |
| Foot Locker | FL | $56.18 | |
| Credit Acceptance Corp. | CACC | $136.41 | |
| Money Magazine - 12 Great Stocks for 2015: | |||
| Bank of America | BAC | $17.89 | |
| Oracle | ORCL | $44.97 | |
| Apache | APA | $62.67 | |
| Marriott Vacations Worldwide | VAC | $74.54 | |
| Brinker International | EAT | $58.69 | |
| Toro | TTC | $63.81 | |
| Hospira | HSP | $61.25 | |
| Akamamai Technologies | AKAM | $62.96 | |
| Inogen | INGN | $31.37 | |
| West Marine | WMAR | $12.92 | |
| Identiv | INVE | $13.89 | |
| RTI International Metals | RTI | $25.26 | |
Here’s to 2015.
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