Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights: MicroStrategy, Palantir, Vistra, Nvidia and United Airlines

For Immediate ReleaseChicago, IL – January 3, 2025 – Today, Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights MicroStrategy MSTR, Palantir PLTR, Vistra VST, Nvidia NVDA and United Airlines UAL.Trader Post Analysis: Why It's Worth It, How to Do It“The only way you get a real education in the market is to invest cash, track your trade and study your mistakes.” ~Jesse LivermoreWhat Is a Post Analysis?What do Tom Brady, Ted Williams, and Jesse Livermore share in common? Each of these legends studied the past extensively (conducted a post analysis) to become the best in their respective fields. A deep knowledge of football strategy and off-field work allowed Tom Brady to lead his New England Patriots to a record seven Super Bowl victories. Though Brady had no unique “intangibles” (a slightly above-average arm but was very slow), his off-the-field study set him apart from his competitors. Meanwhile, baseball legend Ted Williams achieved a batting average of .400% by studying his past performance in detail. In fact, though swinging a baseball bat may seem straightforward, Williams wrote a whole book titled “The Science of Hitting.”Like the sports legends mentioned above, Jesse Livermore became the most prolific person in his field through extensive self-study and post-analysis. While most investors hyper-focus on finding the next hot stock, Livermore focused just as hard on studying himself in addition to the market.Livermore took self-analysis so seriously that during the last Friday of December, he gathered all his trades for the year and made the bank manager lock him in the vault for the entire weekend so that he could analyze every trade he made in excruciating detail. Livermore is not the only industry legend who has done an extensive post analysis. I also got to witness the importance of conducting an extensive post-analysis during my time working for legendary investor William O’Neil.Below are five steps to conduct a post analysis:1. Record your Best & Worst Trades of 2024Navigate to the “Gain/Loss” section of your brokerage account. Next, sort by “$ Gain” and “$ Loss” and record your ten best and worst trades of 2024.2. Mark Up Your TradesMark on the chart where you bought and sold each stock. Then, do your best to detail why you took the trade from a technical, fundamental, industry, or market perspective. My best trade from 2024 was a 257% gain in MicroStrategy in two months.3. Industry AnalysisAnalyze the strongest and weakest industries of the year and read about what drove each move. Strong 2024 industry groups included crypto, quantum computing, artificial intelligence, and commercial airlines. Weak 2024 industry groups included clean energy, steel, and biotech.4. Stocks MissedSort your trading universe by 2024 performance to monitor which stocks performed the best. Savvy investors understand that trends tend to persist much longer than most ordinary investors anticipate. In other words, the most straight-forward way to find the next stock to double is to monitor stocks that already have. Remember, on Wall Street, strength begets strength. A list of 2024’s top performers in the S&P 500 Index includes names like Palantir, Vistra, Nvidia and United Airlines.5. Keep a Trader Journal in the FutureIf you did not keep a journal in 2024, be sure to do so in the New Year. A trading journal does not need to be overly complex, record where you bought the stock, where you sold, and what was the idea behind the trade. You can use a spreadsheet like Microsoft Excel to record your trades. The more detail, the better, but consistency beats complexity.Bottom LineThough tedious, a post-analysis is a worthwhile endeavor for investors of all levels. Like a football player must study tape to improve their mental game and strategy, a savvy investor must do the same. Take some time during a weekend in January to conduct a 2024 post-analysis – you won’t regret it.Why Haven't You Looked at Zacks' Top Stocks?Since 2000, our top stock-picking strategies have blown away the S&P's +7.0 average gain per year. Amazingly, they soared with average gains of +44.9%, +48.4% and +55.2% per year.Today you can access their live picks without cost or obligation.See Stocks Free >>Media ContactZacks Investment Research800-767-3771 ext. 9339support@zacks.comhttps://www.zacks.comPast performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.Research Chief Names "Single Best Pick to Double"From thousands of stocks, 5 Zacks experts each have chosen their favorite to skyrocket +100% or more in months to come. From those 5, Director of Research Sheraz Mian hand-picks one to have the most explosive upside of all.This company targets millennial and Gen Z audiences, generating nearly $1 billion in revenue last quarter alone. A recent pullback makes now an ideal time to jump aboard. Of course, all our elite picks aren’t winners but this one could far surpass earlier Zacks’ Stocks Set to Double like Nano-X Imaging which shot up +129.6% in little more than 9 months.Free: See Our Top Stock And 4 Runners UpWant the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report United Airlines Holdings Inc (UAL): Free Stock Analysis Report NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA): Free Stock Analysis Report MicroStrategy Incorporated (MSTR): Free Stock Analysis Report Vistra Corp. (VST): Free Stock Analysis Report Palantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR): Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks