Bull market. Image Source: Flickr
There’s never really a bad time to invest, but the stock market is in a constant state of fluctuation and if you actually want to make money through your investments you have to be familiar with that.
You need to base your decisions about which companies you invest in on a couple of factors, and you also need to recognize what factors will contribute to stock increasing or decreasing and how to incorporate that into your decisions.
There are things like government shifts and technological advancements which can result in changes but there are also natural causes. There’s no better example of that than what happened in 2020 with the pandemic.
COVID-19 sent many companies spiraling and many others saw unexpected growth. The market is a very different place in 2021 because of that. And that allows for an opportunity if you make some smart choices.
Here are 8 excellent investment options for 2021:
1. Hilton Worldwide Holdings (HLT)
Investing in Hilton or any other hotel company in 2020 would have been a bad move for obvious reasons. There were global travel bans in place which meant that tourism was almost nonexistent in the summer.
As a result, the majority of hotels took a massive hit. Now that the pandemic is starting to fade, the summer of 2021 is looking like it will be much more lucrative for the hotel industry and people are already going to be making bookings.
Hilton has been too profitable for too long for it to be ever in any danger of going out of business as some other hotel companies have, and so it will be one that a lot of people will be flocking to now in preparation for their vacations.
I would expect to see HLT’s stock increase dramatically as the summer progresses so now would be a good time to invest.
2. AT&T (T)
AT&T is probably the largest communication company in the world and it operates in a couple of different sectors, chief among them being the cell phone and broadband industries which are of course always going to be prominent in 2021.
Though AT&T has always been a huge company, they’ve never really been a fast-growing stock, but there are a couple of changes this year that will make them a worthwhile investment.
The first of which is a merger with Discovery (DISCA), which has injected over $40 billion in cash and securities into AT&T and then there is also the fact that they are expanding 5G to even more cities in America, which is a big growth catalyst.
AT&T is one of the companies that pay out high-yielding dividends and they appear on the 2021 Dividend Aristocrat List, so you can be guaranteed some level of income if you invest in them.
3. Gevo (GEVO)
Gevo is a little bit of a strange case because it would be difficult to describe the company as being profitable. In fact, it’s not really profitable at all, and yet in 2021, the company’s stock has risen by over 100%.
The goal of this company is to produce clean and renewable fuels, and the pandemic may be a part of the reason for the growth. In 2020 when fewer people were driving and flying, the amount of carbon dioxide in the air reduced to a less dangerous level.
This may have been proved to a lot of people that we can actually reverse the effects of climate change if we try, and so they’ve decided to invest in it. Hopefully, this trend will continue, and if it does, Gevo will see even more growth. Making now the perfect time to invest.
4. Castle Biosciences (CSTL)
Medical science is always a reliable place to invest because it’s still advancing at a dramatic rate. It can be hard to know where to focus your attention though because the bigger companies will already have high numbers without much room for growth.
You need to look to more specific, more niche areas of medical science, and a great place to invest right now is in Castle Biosciences. A company focusing on a less talked about an area which is screening for skin and eye cancer, but who have seen quite a bit of growth in the last year.
They only started trading a year and a half ago but are still on the rise so you should strike when the iron is hot.
5. United Airlines (UAL)
Much like we talked about earlier with HLT, the airline industry is one that suffered an awful lot during the pandemic. The risk of catching the virus on a plane wasn’t as high as people thought, but it was still a deterrent.
United lost billions of dollars in 2020 and their share prices plummeted, but that’s all about to change over the summer when people are going to be traveling a lot more, even just domestic travel within the country.
United is one of, if not the most widely used airline in the country, and so when people are flying again you can expect shares to skyrocket.
6. Upland Software (UPLD)
Now this company is not a very well-known one and right now their profits aren’t exactly through the roof, but there appears to be some promise in their recent earnings which could make them a dark horse investment right now.
They are a relatively new company that offers software that helps businesses to manage their customer base, and their most recent quarterly revenues were up by 35% from the same quarter last year.
If you invest now and things continue the way they’re going, you could see huge returns as early as the end of 2021.
7. Carnival Corporation (CCL)
Carnival Corporation is a cruise operator which is one of the largest leisure companies in the world. You may remember one of the biggest stories in the early days of the pandemic was the unfortunate spread of the virus on the Diamond Princess.
Naturally, this put an awful lot of people off going on cruises during the pandemic, but like all other forms of tourism, cruise ships are once again resurfacing in popularity and with CCL having just announced the start of its cruise season in the Mediterranean, expect this stock to rise over the next few months too.
8. iRobot Corp.
Don’t worry, this has nothing to do with Isaac Asimov’s vision of a future overrun by advanced androids, and everything to do with the rise of useful AI. iRobot specializes in home cleaning products such as the Roomba and the Braava.
The company saw a rise in profits of about 55% in the last quarter when compared to 2020 and I hate to sound like a broken record here, but it probably has a lot to do with the pandemic leading people to prioritize the cleanliness of their surroundings.
We’ve all been stuck at home more than ever and many people have discovered the benefits of automated vacuum cleaners and mops. I would expect that trend to continue as iRobot introduces even more of these products.
Though the pandemic has had devastating effects on the world, you can see how it has opened up quite a bit of opportunity in terms of investing. Many industries have seen an increase in interest, and a lot of the ones that suffered during the pandemic are now poised for a big return.
If you know how to utilize those trends to your advantage you can expect to see some big returns on your investments in 2021.
References and Credits
1. Featured images in this article are used under creative commons license and sourced from the following websites: Sam valadi and Equipe Integrada.
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