When it comes to investing there are plenty of different options open to you.
Plenty of us take the simple route of investing in an index tracker, which invests in a host of shares found within a certain index ‒ the FTSE100 for example ‒ in order to replicate the performance of the index.
Others like to put their trust in a fund manager, who decides precisely which companies to back and which to avoid.
Though after the Neil Woodford drama this year, in which the nation’s best-known fund manager was forced to shut his own funds, it’s understandable if you might be a little wary of paying a fund manager to oversee your investments.
The final option is to go it alone, and act as a stock picker yourself, buying and selling the shares that catch your eye.
So if you fancy trying your hand at it in 2020, it’s worth taking a look at precisely which firms saw the biggest rises and falls in their share price this year, and what lessons you may be able to take from their varying fortunes.
Here are the best and worst performers listed on the FTSE, as identified by the experts at The Share Centre.
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Going up
Luceco has seen its share price jump 225% over the year, with the LED lighting firm enjoying growing revenues over the first half of the year.
Nonetheless, it’s worth remembering that it has had a bit of a disaster since initially floating back in 2016.
A host of problems, including incorrectly assessing the value of its stock, led to having to issue a profit warning in December 2017, which resulted in its share price crashing from above £2.30 a share to as low as 36p last year. It has now recovered to £1.08 a share.
The publisher Future ‒ behind the likes of Techrader, PC Gamer and Gizmodo ‒ has also had a sterling 12 months, with its share price rising 169%.
The Share Centre notes the firm has seen revenues grow steadily over the last few years, and points to online access and advertising revenues on its websites as signs that this “is no longer an old economy stock”.
It will currently set you back £13.46 per share.
Also having an excellent 2019 is JD Sports.
The sports fashion firm has expanded into America and Asia, seeing its stock price grow 117% by yesterday. However, the shares have endured a minor wobble in morning trading, falling almost 9% at the time of publishing to £7.35.
Pets At Home has seen its share price jump 110% over the year, to its current valuation of £2.60 a share.
The Share Centre noted that this follows a “tough” 2018, with its rising retail sales suggesting it was right to buy out certain joint ventures and introduce a new fee structure for vet care.
Rounding up the top five is IWG ‒ formerly known as Regus ‒ a workspace provider.
As The Share Centre points out, why worry about the likes of WeWork when you can invest in a firm already making a success out of that market, without any of the crazy hype that goes with it?
Over 2019 its share price has grown 90% to £4.06 a share.
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The big losers
Metro Bank has had the roughest year of any firm listed on the FTSE, with its share price crashing over 90% to £1.76.
The bank revealed a £900 million accounting error at the start of the year ‒ as you do ‒ and has seen both its founder and CEO quit.
It isn’t helped by the fact that the massive levels of competition currently seen in the banking world, particularly on things like mortgages, have dramatically reduced the margins banks can enjoy.
Another firm to have a shocker is Sirius Minerals, which has seen its share price drop 83%. It’s no secret that it’s short on cash, particularly after it had to pull a big money bond issue in September.
The Share Centre suggests that investing in the firm should have been “just a punt for most investors, but a large number of retail investors fell for the hype and allocated too much”.
At the time of writing its shares are worth just 3.5p.
Building firm Kier Group has also seen its share price drop sharply, down 80% over the year, which was down to being “overzealous” in trying to win any old contract, ignoring whether it could deliver them at a profit.
However, The Share Centre noted that with all of the major parties promising infrastructure spending after the election, Kier Group could be in line for a more positive 2020.
Its shares are currently worth just over 83p.
Guarantor loans firm Amigo Holdings saw its share price halve back in August after a problematic trading update, while The Share Centre noted there have also been worries over how it will handle rising numbers of bad loans.
The fact that the regulator is taking a much closer look at the guarantor market has also caused concerns, with the firm’s share price falling 79% to 66.1p.
Finally, Petra Diamonds has had a bit of a nightmare year too, having piled up debt in order to expand a mine in South Africa, at a time when diamond prices are falling.
Its share price has dropped 76% to less than 8p a share.
It could be worse though ‒ the real nightmare for investors is to put your money into a firm that hits the wall entirely, like Thomas Cook or Mothercare.
It’s (not) all just a little bit of history repeating
Of course, the difficulty with investment is that past performance doesn’t necessarily mean anything. A firm could suffer a dreadful year and then have a cracking 12 months after that ‒ just look at the example of Luceco.
While it’s wonderful for investors to pick out that diamond in the rough, the stock that’s about to have a bumper time of things, the reality is that most of us should be content finding the stocks that offer slow and steady growth.
Chasing the next big thing is an easy way to lose money quickly, but if you focus on the fundamentals and firms that are well-positioned to stay the course, then over the long term you’ll end up with more winning investments than losers.