Last financial year the S&P/ASX 200 Index (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) returned 12.4%, and while hopefully your portfolio did just as well – if not better – the key now is to position your portfolio to outperform over the next twelve months.
With many market pundits forecasting sub-par growth in Australia, companies which provide investors with exposure to foreign markets appear a better bet.
For investors with a higher level of risk tolerance there are a number of exciting smaller companies to consider, however it needs to be acknowledged that these firms need to grow exponentially to justify their current valuations. Two stocks which stand out in this space are iCar Asia Ltd (ASX: ICQ) and iProperty Group Ltd (ASX: IPP). In many ways iCar Asia and iProperty are early stage Asian-focused versions of Carsales.Com Ltd (ASX: CRZ) and REA Group Limited (ASX: REA). As investors in Carsales.Com and REA know, buying these stocks early and hanging on as their businesses experienced a positive feedback loop has proved incredibly profitable.
Meanwhile, more risk averse investors are able to stick to 'blue-chips', but still tap into faster growing international economies through companies such as ResMed Inc. (CHESS) (ASX: RMD) and Amcor Limited (ASX: AMC). ResMed and Amcor both operate in a number of higher growth overseas markets compared with the lower growth, more mature domestic economy.