Top Stock Picks for 2024 by Investor Dan Niles

Widely followed investor Dan Niles recently shared his top stock picks for 2024, including one of the top performers in 2023. As the founder and senior portfolio manager of the Satori Fund, Niles has selected two names from the group of megacap tech stocks known as the “Magnificent Seven” as his favored shares for the upcoming year – Amazon and Meta Platforms.

Amazon: Gaining Market Share and Profit Potential

Niles believes that Amazon tends to gain market share during recessions, and he sees potential for the e-commerce giant to continue growing its profit margin into 2024 based on the capacity it built during the pandemic. Speaking on ‘s “Squawk Box,” Niles explained his reasoning behind selecting Amazon as one of his top picks for the new year.

Meta Platforms: A Defensive Play

Niles considers Meta Platforms (formerly known as Facebook) as another top pick for 2024. Meta was Niles’ top pick last year and ended up being the second-best performing stock in the S&P 500. Compared to other popular tech companies like Apple, Niles believes that Meta is still relatively cheap, trading at 25 times forward earnings. He sees Meta as a good defensive play, especially considering Apple’s negative growth this past year.

Increased Ad Spending and AI Efforts

In addition to Meta’s artificial intelligence efforts, Niles believes that the tech company could benefit from increased ad spending during the upcoming election year. He mentioned Meta’s effective use of AI to increase ad monetization and enhance recommendations for other videos. With the expectation of a highly contested election, Niles anticipates a significant influx of money into the online ad market.

Bullish on Biotech and Chinese Internet Companies

Alongside his stock picks in the tech sector, Niles also expressed bullish sentiments towards the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI), which tracks over 120 biotech companies. He believes that the fund should start outperforming the market after lagging for the past three years. Additionally, Niles favors the KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF (KWEB), despite its recent losses due to Beijing’s crackdown on Chinese internet and tech companies. In comparison to the expensive Megacap names in the Magnificent Seven, Niles sees the top holdings in KWEB – Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent – as much cheaper options with a 13 times PE ratio compared to 34 times for the Magnificent Seven.