2016 Trading Picks

2015 turned out to be a very interesting year. There was money to be made and I feel 2016 could also be a money-making year even if the main indices go down.

While the FTSE ended up being a whole lot of nothing there was money to be made if you picked the right stocks.

Indeed, those of you who avoided commodity stocks could have had a good year.

Those of you who tried to play oil, gas, energy,  metals etc could have lost quite a lot.

And indeed judged from my mailbag that is exactly what happened.

I've heard from a few who blew up their spreadbetting accounts because they tried to catch falling knives such as trying to play the fall in Glencore.

But I have heard from others who had a decent year by simply buying good stocks and hanging onto them.

The ones I made most from in 2015 were Aga - which got bid for. And a surprisingly boring one Pets At Home but that was a nice ride from 171 to 311p.

Optimal Payments, now called Paysafe, has pretty much doubled for me now and more to come there, and I feel a bid on that could happen next year with Worldpay a potential buyer. (Obviously total supposition from me).

So what's ahead for 2016?  I think again it will be the year of the stockpicker, get the right one, you'll do well.

My picks for 2016 include Softcat which looks to be in a lovely niche area.

Then there is NCC which is in the hot area of security.

Packaging costs are coming down with the oil price so the two I like are Robinson and RPC. Robinson being the smaller company could see quicker gains.

My high risk pick is Cyprotex (nice too that it is involved in trying to obliterate testing on animals) - profits expected to exceed expectations here.

Food groups are in the money - I like Finsbury and Total Produce.

My recovery play is Entertainment One, which I think has 50% upside or more in 2016 after being oversold way too heavily and remains a bid target.

And Dignity should be a core holding in any portfolio. Given it is a chain of funeral parlours, it will never run out of business. Unless they come up with a pill for eternal life. In which case get out quick!

I wish you all a happy, peaceful and prosperous new year.