Stock Smash Performance Review & Outlook 2016

Since the launch of Stock Smash in September 2014 a lot of stocks have been discussed, but how well is our advise? The Stock Smash portfolio gained a return of 5.93% since our start, whereas the S&P500 realized a return of -2.93%, which means we outperformed the market by 8.86%.

Top 5 trades*:

1. Short Imtech:   +84.62%
2. Short GoPro:    +84.26%
3. Long Huawei:   +53.34%
4. Short Twitter:   +53.26%
5. Long Nike:       +37.82%

Worst 5 trades*:

1. Short Amazon:       -92.65%
2. Long Alcoa:           -50.65%
3. Long Tata Motors:  -40.40%
4. Long Shell:            -36.22%
5. Short Facebook:     -35.28%

Our short positions on Imtech and GoPro have been a particular highlight. On the other hand, going short on Amazon cost us dearly. Yet, as we gained a positive overall return and outperformed the market, we are fairly satisfied with our stock advices.

Outlook 2016
We become more conservative concerning stocks for 2016. Higher volatility in the markets and growing concerns about global economic growth can severely harm stocks in 2016. Yet, we also believe that this might also create golden opportunities for stock picking, so we won't write off stocks as a whole. Furthermore, we believe Europe still creates enough opportunities to keep investing in this region due to economic recovery and expected stimuli by the ECB. Due to the recent downfall in stocks in Emerging Markets we keep an eye on entry moments, because economic indicators in for example India are still on point. We also continue to look for other investment opportunities such as sugar and real estate. 
 
*Based on 12 January 2016.