Although investing can be an incredibly rewarding venture, it can be also be hard to decide where to deploy funds into the market at any one time. With so many companies (not to mention exchange traded funds) out there, finding the cheapest stocks or the best growers (depending on your investing philosophy) can be overwhelming – stocks have opportunity costs after all.
So, here are my suggestions for where you could throw 10 grand on the ASX 200 today.
Appen Ltd (ASX: APX)
Appen shares are looking like they're in the bargain bin right now after a mildly disappointing FY19 earnings report released last week. Investors seemed to have had a tantrum after Appen failed to increase its dividend for FY20, and sent the stock down 11% – APX shares are now 20% off the all-time high of $32 reached in July. But I expect Appen's core product of human-annotated datasets will remain a hot commodity for many years, and Appen did post a 60% increase in revenue in its results, making this company a solid place to invest today (in my opinion).
Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL)
If you'd rather a solid income stock with a defensive earnings base, Coles might be your answer. This grocery giant just gave us a pretty good idea of the kind of dividend you might expect for the new financial year, and it's around a 3.8–4% yield, by my estimations. On top of this, groceries are one of the most 'recession-proof' industries you can be in, so I wouldn't be too worried about Coles shares if tough times did hit.
CSL Limited (ASX: CSL)
CSL is the largest health company on the ASX and also (in my opinion) the best by a long shot. CSL specialises in vaccine and blood plasma research and development and has been one of the best growth companies on the ASX for many years – you could have picked up CSL shares for $73 five years ago, but today you'll be paying $236.41 (at the time of writing). With a massive R&D budget, I expect that CSL will remain at the forefront of its industry for many years, making it a great place to put some cash today.
Foolish takeaway
I think any of these three ASX companies is worthy of an investment consideration today. Both Coles and CSL are rather expensive (in my view) at current prices, so Appen might be the best buy today. But all three are quality companies and would serve well in a portfolio.
