Investing: the shares, funds and trusts investors have bought since lockdown

If you'd bought all 10 of the most popular stocks since lockdown your money would be worth almost double today, new research has found.

It’s certainly been an interesting time to be an investor. One of the many impacts of Covid-19 on the nation was the way that it struck the stock markets, leading to enormous falls in share prices.

For example, the value of the FTSE All-share index started the year at 4,231.66, but by 23rd March had crashed to 2,727.86, the lowest level seen since 2012.

But a stock market crash like that also presents an opportunity for investors, who see the chance to snap up undervalued shares in the hope of prices swiftly rebounding.

The most popular shares

So which stocks did investors turn to in the midst of the crash? And how have they performed since then?

Investment platform AJ Bell Youinvest has crunched the numbers, looking at how its users have invested in the six months since the All-share hit that low point. 

It’s worth noting first off that there was no shortage of activity, with trading volumes hitting record levels. In fact, the number of deals were around three times higher when compared to the same period last year. 

What’s more the vast majority were purchases ‒ around 70% of deals were buys rather than sales.

This is important as it demonstrates that these investors saw the depressed prices as an opportunity to expand their portfolios and hopefully pick up a bargain or two, rather than as a sign to sell up and move to a less volatile asset like cash savings.

First let’s take a look at the individual shares purchased by AJ Bell investors in order of purchase numbers, and how they have performed.

As you can see, there’s a significant variety in terms of returns here; half have gained in value, while half have dropped.

But the size of those changes are pretty broad too ‒ Barclays is the smallest of the gainers at 9.5% while Avacta’s return jumped by a mind-boggling 832%.

At the other end of the scale International Consolidated Airlines couldn’t reward those investors brave enough to back the firm, with returns plunging by 20.5%, perhaps not a shocking result given the troubles airlines continue to face with travel restrictions still in place across the globe.

It’s worth highlighting that five of the six most purchased shares saw returns drop over the six months since that low point.

And take out the performance of Avacta and the return from these most popular shares falls to just 12.9%, an important reminder of just how tough individual stockpicking really is.

The most popular funds and trusts

Of course, stock picking isn’t for everyone. Many investors ‒ myself included ‒ prefer to focus their activity on funds and investment trusts.

Each and every fund in that top ten list has seen its value grow since that low point in March, by a minimum of 24.6%.

The biggest gain was made by the third most popular fund among AJ Bell investors, with Baillie Gifford American enjoying a jump of 101.3%.

It’s a similar story with the investment trusts, which saw an average growth of 58.3%.

Again every single trust saw its value rise since March, with Scottish Mortgage enjoying the most significant rise at 108%.

Interestingly, it was also the most bought trust by users of the platform.

According to Ryan Hughes, head of active portfolios at AJ Bell, many of the most popular funds and investment trusts since March were also proving popular with investors before the crash.

That suggests that the thinking among investors hasn’t really shifted all that much, despite the tumultuous times.

He added that there was a “clear global emphasis” from these most popular funds and trusts, with technology a particular theme.

“This has been a good call by these investors as tech stocks have performed extremely well during the pandemic.

The question now for those investors is whether that party is over but with further lockdowns being implemented around the world, technology is still very much going to be at the forefront of people’s lives.”