My Top 10 Stock Picks for 2022

STREET SMART

- James K. Glassman

Last December, after beating the S&P 500 index five years in a row, I wrote, “This kind of streak isn’t supposed to happen, and readers should be warned that there’s no guarantee it will continue.”

Well, it’s over. My annual selections for 2021 performed just fine, with an average return of 17.4%, but the S&P did much better, gaining 35.8%. (Returns and data throughout the story are through November 5.)

Since 1993, I have offered a list of 10 stocks for the year ahead. Nine are culled from the choices of experts I trust, and I include one of my own. For 2021, I’m happy to say, my pick was the biggest winner: ONEOK, the 115-year-old natural gas pipeline company, which benefited from the rise in petroleum prices and was up 139.9%.

I’ll get to my choice for 2022 at the end. Let’s start with one from the Value Line Investment Survey, a font of succinct research that has a strong forecasting record as well. My strategy is to pick from stocks that Value Line rates tops (“1”) for both timeliness and safety. That list right now is short: nine companies, including obvious ones like Apple and Visa. The outlier is T. ROWE PRICE GROUP, the Baltimore-based asset manager, whose earnings have risen each year since 2009 despite the growing popularity of low-cost index funds. Value Line notes that “shares have staged a dramatic advance over the past year. However, our projections suggest … worthwhile appreciation potential for the next 3 to 5 years.”