Best Shares to Buy in 2024

If you’re interested in discovering what some of the best shares to buy in 2024 could be, then you are in the right place. 2023 was full of wild market movements not seen for many years due to high inflation and interest rates.

With analysts predicting more economic and fundamental changes across the globe and with the U.S. and UK 2024 elections, there are some very interesting themes developing this year.  

Keep on reading to learn more about the best shares to watch in 2024, as well as how to buy the best shares from all around the world with competitive commissions. 

Global List of Best Shares to Buy

Below is a quickfire list of what some of the best shares to buy in 2024 could be. Of course, no one can ever know what the best is beforehand as we can't predict the future. As always, make sure you understand that investing is about winning and losing. Investors aim to put the probabilities in their favour by following themes and trends within the market but risk management is even more important.

Of course, this list is not exhaustive and it’s worthwhile remembering that stock prices go up and down. Be sure to exercise good risk management and only invest what you can afford to lose and be sure to build the right emotional discipline when dealing with winning and losing trades.  

The list of best shares to buy are stocks that have gathered the attention of analysts and larger institutional managers. The list serves as a great starting point to build upon using your own research or using the Premium Analytical tools in the Admiral Markets Dashboard.   

So, let’s take a look at the list before we explain the reasoning in more detail further down.  

1. ASML Holdings (ASML) - A Little Known Dutch Chip Maker Supplying the World
2. LVMH (LVMH) - A Luxury Fashion Stock Overcoming Macro Headwinds
3. UnitedHealth Group (UNH) - Largest Health Insurance Company in the US 
4. Amazon (AMZN) - A Potential Growth to Value-Based Stock

In the next sections, we dig a little deeper into each one of these companies and see what makes them worthy of being on the best shares to buy now list! 

Best Shares to Buy UK and Europe

There are a variety of factors that could influence European stock markets this year. Challenges around inflation, energy prices and a possible recession will be watched throughout the year. Actions from central banks will also play a part in the trend of European and UK equities, as well as the UK election. 

Let’s take a look at a few potential stocks for this year.  

1. ASML Holdings (ASML) - A Little Known Dutch Chip Maker Supplying the World

ASML last five-year performance:

• 2023 +35.31%
• 2022 -28.71%
• 2021 +77.76%
• 2020 +50.76%
• 2019 +92.26% 

While many investors may be familiar with semiconductor companies such as Intel and Nvidia, not many will have heard of the Dutch firm ASML Holdings. According to semiconductor analysts at Bain & Co, "ASML is absolutely critical to the entire semiconductor ecosystem." 

The company was founded in 1984 and has more than 37,500 employees and a EUR 220 billion market cap. ASML Holdings is the only firm in the world that can make the complex machines that are needed to produce the world's most advanced chips. Each machine costs nearly $140 million, has more than 100,000 components and takes four jumbo jets to ship. 

ASML's machines can create small shapes on silicon shapes. How small are we talking about? Down to 13.5 nanometres! The world's largest chipmaker TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company), have used ASML's EUV machines in Apple iPhones which have more than 10 billion transistors on each chip.

The importance of ASML is undeniable. As chips are in everything nowadays, there could be more long-term growth. ASML's EUV (extreme ultraviolet) lithography technology is critical to new technologies in artificial intelligence (AI).  The growth in AI may help to offset a weaker-than-expected demand for advanced chips due to the inventory glut from the pandemic and weaker consumer spending on smartphones.

ASML 2024 12-Month Analyst Forecast

2. LVMH (LVMH) - A Luxury Fashion Stock Overcoming Macro Headwinds 

LVMH last five-year performance:

• 2023 +7.90%
• 2022 -6.48%
• 2021 +42.30%
• 2020 +23.35%
• 2019 +60.42% 

While many stock sectors collapsed in 2023, some sectors managed to deal with the macro headwinds of higher inflation and interest rates better. The luxury goods sector has historically bucked some economic downturns as the very wealthy in China and the Middle East continue to prop the sector up. However, after falling in 2023, this year could be an interesting time for long-term investors.

The largest luxury goods company is Paris-based LVMH (Louis-Vuitton Moet Hennessey). Its 75 brands include Louis Vuitton, Bulgari, Fendi, Hublot, Tiffany and others. As LVMH generate revenues from five different categories (clothing, watches and jewellery, wines and spirits, perfumes and cosmetics) they are considered to be well diversified.

Luxury fashion houses performed very well over the pandemic period. Not only did supply chain issues hike the prices of their goods but higher wage growth in developed nations saw an increase in luxury fashion purchases. While LVMH's revenues declined in 2020, they recovered well in 2021 with net profits increasing and have so far performed well in 2022 which recorded double-digit growth in all five of its divisions. 

However, in the last quarter of 2023, LVMH showed a lower revenue growth of 9% year on year. While revenue was up 14% for the year, it was lower than the prior year. According to Jean-Jacques Guiony, LVMH's chief financial officer growth is now converging to numbers that are more in line with historical averages. 

LVMH 2024 12-Month Analyst Forecast

With the Admiral Markets Invest.MT5 account you can invest in thousands of stocks from 15 of the world's largest stock exchanges. You can open an account with as little as €1 and invest with fees on European stocks from just 0.10% of the trade value and a low minimum transaction fee of just 1 EUR.

This account also allows you to invest in fractional shares. This means you can buy 1/100th of a share on selected companies. 

Best Shares to Buy US Stock Market

The US stock market entered into a bear market in 2022 but rallied strongly to the end of 2023 in the positive. However, some analysts are forecasting a much higher level of volatility in the stock market this year due to the ongoing concerns regarding inflation, global economic tensions and the U.S. Presidential election. Using a combination of value investing and growth investing strategies may act as an important hedge as the year unfolds.  

1. Amazon (AMZN) - A Potential Growth to Value-Based Stock 

AMZN last five-year performance:

• 2023 +80.88%
• 2022 -49.62%
• 2021 +2.38%
• 2020 +76.26%
• 2019 +23.03% 

Amazon was once the stock that could do no wrong. It was the leader in the growth style of investing. However, 2022 was a terrible year for Amazon. The stock price collapsed more than 50% lower from its record high in July 2021. With the stock falling below $100 in 2022 for the first time since 2020, many analysts have turned increasingly bullish on it. So much so, that in 2023, it rallied more than 80% higher. Interestingly, the stock has not yet reached its record high of $188.65.

The performance has been attributed to Amazon's investment in its cloud computing service Amazon Web Services. The shift towards e-commerce and cloud computing is growing exponentially in which Amazon is a key player in.  Currently, the Amazon Web Services division (its cloud computing business) is worth more than the total value of the company. Last year, Amazon's market cap was around $950 billion while Amazon Web Services had a value of around $1.2 trillion.

Amazon's new revenue streams in 2024 will be ones to watch. This includes the addition of ads to its Prime Video service which caused some analysts, such as those at Wedbush, to lift their price target to $210 from $180. The company's share price has experienced extreme volatility over the last few years so be sure to exercise proper risk management.

AMZN 2024 12-Month Analyst Forecast

How to Find the Best Shares to Buy

Buying shares online is quite a simple process as our step-by-step walkthrough in a later section will show. However, identifying what shares to buy does require some skill, research and preparation. Even then, there is still no guarantee of success which is why risk management is important.

Best Shares to Buy: Focus on Risk Management 

Beginner investors often put their eggs all in one basket expecting their decisions to always work in their favour. For example, an investor might have £10,000 to invest and may choose to invest it all into just one stock. This means there is no capital left if another - perhaps better - opportunity comes along.

Also, a sharp - yet temporary - fall may cause the investor to make an emotional decision and exit early, thinking about short-term fluctuations in price rather than the company’s long-term fundamentals.

One risk management technique used by many investors is to spread investments across different types of companies that operate in different sectors. When one sector is not performing well, another sector could be. This helps to build a more diversified and balanced portfolio that can help to balance out the effect of changing market conditions.

For example, an investor who has £10,000 to invest, may choose to invest £2,000 in five different companies throughout the year. Of course, the risk tolerance of each individual is different so it is worthwhile spending a bit of time building a plan on how you want to invest throughout the year.

Best Shares to Buy Analysis: Technical vs Fundamental vs Sector analysis

☑️ Fundamental analysis. This type of analysis involves analysing a company at a financial level. This includes metrics such as sales performance, earnings trends, debt levels, new product announcements, the economic environment and so on. 

☑️ Technical analysis. This type of analysis involves analysing a company’s historical trading price via a price chart. Trading patterns and technical trading indicators can often leave clues on who is the most dominant force in the market (buyers or sellers), as well as pinpoint potential turning points in a company’s share price.

☑️ Sector analysis. As discussed in the previous risk management section, having options across different sectors can help in building a diversified and balanced stock portfolio. The criteria aims to identify companies from a range of different sectors such as banks, utilities, financials, energy, retail and so on.  

How to Invest in the Best Shares in 3 Steps

Buying and selling shares online can be done in just three simple steps:

1. Create a share trading account.
2. Download your share trading platform.
3. Open a trading ticket and take your first trade.

Let’s have a look at these steps in more detail for a step-by-step walkthrough on how to buy the best shares for beginners.

Step 1: Open your Admiral Markets Invest.MT5 Account

You can open an online share trading and investing account with Admiral Markets in just a few minutes. Simply click on the Start Trading button on the homepage and fill out a simple questionnaire that is standard for regulated brokers. 

Once you’ve done this, you’ll get access to the Dashboard, where you can open demo and live trading or investing accounts, manage deposits and withdrawals and access additional investing tools. 

Step 2: Open your Investing Platform

From the Dashboard homepage, simply select Trading Platforms on the left-side menu. This will then give you access to download the MetaTrader 5 trading platform for PC and Mac but you can also use the Web Trader platform where you can trade directly from your browser.

The web trading platform has many built-in drawing tools, technical indicators, timeframes and chart types. You can search for an instrument by typing the name in the search box at the top right. 

Step 3: Place your Trade

From here you can now open up a trading ticket and input the amount of shares you wish to purchase, a stop loss, take profit price level and a comment to review your trading ideas in the future. 

Conclusion

2024 is gearing up to be a very interesting year for stock market traders. Changes in interest from central banks, and the U.S. and UK elections all take centre stage. With Admiral Markets you can:

• Trade with a well-established, regulated company which includes regulation from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority and others.
• Access the fastest and most popular online share market trading software to use on PC, Mac, Web, Android and iOS operating systems.
• Open an Invest.MT5 account with just €1 minimum deposit and:
  • Invest in US shares from just $0.02 per share with minimum transaction fees of just $1.
  • Invest in European shares from just 0.10% of the total trade value with a minimum transaction fee of just €1.
• Open a Trade.MT5 account to trade CFDs and potentially profit from both rising and falling markets while trading on margin.

Continue Reading:

• How to Trade the US Stock Market Online
• 6 Top Trading Strategies
• Day Trading Stocks Guide
• Top Financial Markets to Trade

About Admiral Markets

Admiral Markets is a multi-award winning, globally regulated Forex and CFD broker, offering trading on over 8,000 financial instruments via the world's most popular trading platforms: MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5. Start trading today!

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