The US stocks you’ve been buying in 2024
Another bumper year for Wall Street has fired up the interest of interactive investor customers during 2024. Here are the most popular US stocks of the year.
31st December 2024 09:00
by Graeme Evans from interactive investor
The largest corporate holder of bitcoin broke up the Magnificent Seven’s dominance by ranking alongside NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) as the most-popular US stocks on our platform during 2024.
As well as its AI-powered enterprise analytics software, MicroStrategy Inc Class A (NASDAQ:MSTR) holds more than 250,000 bitcoins equivalent to 1.2% of the existing supply as part of its corporate treasury.
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Its Nasdaq-listed shares soared 400% in 2024 after the price of the cryptocurrency surged above $100,000, fuelled in recent weeks by the prospect of crypto-friendly regulations under a Trump administration.
Interest in the Virginia-based company picked up from March before it became the year’s third most-in-demand stock on our platform behind Nvidia in first place and Tesla in second.
US stocks retained their popularity on our platform as the S&P 500 index posted record closing levels on more than 50 occasions to trade above 6,000 for the first time in December.
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It is the first time since 1997-98 that the benchmark has registered back-to-back annual gains above 20% and only the third time in 100 years. The Magnificent Seven, which also includes Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN), Alphabet Inc Class A (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Meta Platforms Inc Class A (NASDAQ:META) and Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT), jumped another 70%.
There was less appetite for traditional “old economy” stocks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) or Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT), meaning investors missed out on year-to-date growth of 40% and 70% respectively.
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc Class B (NYSE:BRK.B), which offers exposure to companies including American Express Co (NYSE:AXP) and Coca-Cola Company, was our 18th most-popular stock in a year when its valuation topped $1 trillion thanks to a share price rise of more than 20%.
Nvidia ended 2024 as Wall Street’s second-most valuable business with a price tag of $3.4 trillion, behind a resurgent Apple at $3.8 trillion and just ahead of Microsoft.
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Demand for the chip giant has been sustained by the launch of its new and more powerful Blackwell platform, which unlocks generative AI for the likes of Microsoft, Meta Platforms and other firms building AI data centres.
Having continued its record of beating Wall Street earnings forecasts, Nvidia rose by another 190% as shares overcame worries that tariffs under a Trump administration will disrupt the supply of Taiwan-made chips.
The performance has been in contrast to Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD), which began the year by downgrading guidance due to a weaker PC market and ended about 10% lower.
Hopes for recovery drew the interest of ii customers as our sixth-most bought US stock, ahead of ARM Holdings ADR (NASDAQ:ARM) and Super Micro Computer Inc (NASDAQ:SMCI). Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC), whose shares fell more than 50% after a year in which it downgraded revenues guidance, was the 16th most popular.
One of the hottest stocks in the semiconductor space has been Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ:AVGO), which doubled in value to more than $1 trillion following a series of AI-fuelled earnings upgrades.
Broadcom is closing in on Magnificent Seven territory, with Tesla in its sights at $1.4 trillion.
The Elon Musk-run electric car maker added 70% in the year, most of which took place after the US election as one of the leading beneficiaries of the Trump trade.
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Tesla’s bullish estimate for vehicle delivery growth of between 20% and 30% next year also fired up interest as our second-most bought stock.
Microsoft and Amazon were the next most popular among the Magnificent Seven, delivering upsides for investors of about 17% and 50% respectively across the year.
Pro-growth policies and the anticipation of tax cuts and deregulation under a Trump administration reignited interest across Wall Street, despite expectations that the Federal Reserve may end up keeping interest rates higher for longer.
Meta Platforms rose by 70% in the year and Apple and Alphabet Inc in the region of 40%, although these stocks were further down the rankings in terms of ii interest.
Software specialist Palantir Technologies Inc Ordinary Shares - Class A (NASDAQ:PLTR) was another strong performer in the post-election period, aided by strong AI-related demand in its most recent trading update.
These articles are provided for information purposes only. Occasionally, an opinion about whether to buy or sell a specific investment may be provided by third parties. The content is not intended to be a personal recommendation to buy or sell any financial instrument or product, or to adopt any investment strategy as it is not provided based on an assessment of your investing knowledge and experience, your financial situation or your investment objectives. The value of your investments, and the income derived from them, may go down as well as up. You may not get back all the money that you invest. The investments referred to in this article may not be suitable for all investors, and if in doubt, an investor should seek advice from a qualified investment adviser.
Full performance can be found on the company or index summary page on the interactive investor website. Simply click on the company's or index name highlighted in the article.