Pelosi has been a fixture of American politics for decades. Most notably, she made history in 2007 when she was elected as the first female Speaker of the House of Representatives, a role she returned to in 2019 and held until 2023.

During her tenure as Speaker, Pelosi shepherded through some of the most consequential legislation in American history, including the Affordable Care Act (also known as ObamaCare), the Dodd-Frank reforms to the US financial system and (more recently) the Chips and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.

As momentous as these achievements are, Pelosi has attracted fame for another aspect of her public life, particularly amongst the investing community: Her stock-picking prowess.

Together with her husband Paul, Nancy Pelosi's stock-picking decisions have begun to raise some eyebrows over the past few years, thanks to their roaring success. American politicians aren't prohibited from investing in stocks, although they (and their spouses) are required to disclose their trades with haste. Hence our awareness of their success in the Pelosi case.

According to a report in the Australian Financial Review (AFR) this week, the Pelosi portfolio has had a rough 2024 to date, but remains up by around 700% over the past decade.

But the report names a local parliamentary rival to Pelosi, one that ASX investors can directly relate to. That Nancy Pelosi-like stock picker is none other than Ted O'Brien, Shadow Energy Minister and Liberal National Party member for the House of Representatives seat of Fairfax, Queensland.

Our very own Nancy Pelosi stock picker?

According to the report, O'Brien has the highest-performing stock portfolio in the Australian Parliament, with an average return of 64.7% between the May 2022 election and 30 June 2024.

Australian parliamentary regulations aren't as aggressive as they are in the US. Here, members and senators are only required to disclose their holdings, not every time they buy or sell ASX shares.

But even so, this means we get a glimpse into the ASX (and international) shares that O'Brien currently holds positions in.

According to the Parliament's Register of Members' Interests, O'Brien held the following stocks as of May 2022:

• Aurizon Holdings Ltd (ASX: AZJ)
• Fortescue Ltd (ASX: FMG)
• JB Hi-Fi Ltd (ASX: JBH)
• Newcrest Mining Ltd (now delisted)
• One Market Ltd (now delisted)
• Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX: RIO)
• Super Retail Group Ltd (ASX: SUL)
• Suncorp Group Ltd (ASX: SUN)
• Tabcorp Holdings Ltd (ASX: TAH)
• Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS)
• Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW)
• News Corporation (ASX: NWS)
• Lottery Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLC)
• Endeavour Group Ltd (ASX: EDV)
• Walt Disney Co (NYSE: DIS)
• Fox Corporation (NASDAQ: FOXA)(NASDAQ: FOX)

In November of 2022, O'Brien disclosed that his spouse initiated a position in Findi Ltd (ASX: FND),  a position that has probably resulted in a windfall.

Just yesterday, O'Brien reported a major portfolio update. He revealed that he has completely exited his positions in the following companies:

• Fortescue
• Rio Tinto
• Tabcorp
• Telstra
• News Corp
• Walt Disney
• Fox Corp
• Endeavour

It seems O'Brien still counts Aurizon, Woolworths, JB Hi-Fi, Lottery Corp, Super Retail and Suncorp shares in his portfolio though.

With a two-year return of 64.7%, many ASX investors will no doubt find O'Brien's holdings insightful, to say the least. Let's see if he can match Pelosi's 700% return over a decade.

The post Who is Australia's Nancy Pelosi stock-picking equal? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The stock market moved lower at midday on Monday, pulling back from some of its gains over the past week. As of 12:45 p.m. ET, the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) was down 146 points, or almost 1%.

Passive investing is a big part of what drives the stock market, and when it comes to Nasdaq stocks, the Nasdaq-100 index is among the most widely followed. Nasdaq made its announcement regarding the annual changes to the Nasdaq-100 over the weekend, and the implications for the stocks it added and the ones that it replaced are huge heading into 2022.

The Nasdaq-100's annual reconstitution is based entirely on the market capitalization of the companies involved. Therefore, with some notable exceptions, stocks that have done well tend to replace stocks that haven't been able to keep pace. Below, we'll look at what happened and what to expect from the 12 Nasdaq stocks that got affected by the changes to the index.

Who's in

As you'd expect with the Nasdaq, tech stocks were well represented among the additions. Fortinet (NASDAQ: FTNT), Datadog (NASDAQ: DDOG), Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW), and Zscaler (NASDAQ: ZS) all got invitations to join the Nasdaq-100, with market caps between $40 billion and $60 billion. It was particularly interesting to see three companies so closely tied to cybersecurity and threat protection get the nod all at the same time, but that highlights just how important those services have become in light of the acceleration in digital adoption in the past year. Datadog's data monitoring and analytics have also played a key role in helping businesses adapt to the changing environment.

By far the largest of the stocks to join the index was Airbnb (NASDAQ: ABNB), which went public right around the time last year's reconstitution happened. With a market cap above $110 billion, the disruptive accommodations provider has held up reasonably well even amid ongoing challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Finally, electric vehicle start-up Lucid Group (NASDAQ: LCID) also made the cut. Lucid boasts a $60 billion market cap and has also gone public recently, leading a group of companies looking to stake their claim in the fast-growing EV market.

Who's out

Making room for these newcomers were six stocks that had seen mixed performance over the past year. In tech, perhaps the most surprising company headed out the door is IT services provider CDW (NASDAQ: CDW), whose stock has risen nearly 50% over the past 12 months. Nevertheless, with a market cap of just $26 billion, that just wasn't enough to keep the company in. Check Point Software Technologies (NASDAQ: CHKP), meanwhile, had seen its stock fall 8%, failing to keep pace with its fellow cybersecurity peers.

The other four companies getting the boot were diversely spaced across industries. Cerner (NASDAQ: CERN) is technically a healthcare company, although its information management systems show its tech-heavy nature. Media giant Fox (NASDAQ: FOXA) (NASDAQ: FOX) was removed, as was online travel services provider Trip.com Group (NASDAQ: TCOM) and biotech company Incyte (NASDAQ: INCY).

What to watch

The interesting thing to consider about these 12 stocks is the extent to which the Nasdaq's decision reflects past wins rather than future promise. For instance, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) is notorious for dropping companies that go on to outperform the stocks that they choose. This is often because the companies that get kicked out of the Dow tend to be solid value plays, with depressed share prices but blue-chip status to provide a foundation for a recovery. Meanwhile, companies that get added to the Dow are on high notes that leave them open for disappointment later.

In 2022, the Nasdaq-100 will look a lot different, and it'll be counting on its six new additions to outperform the stocks it left behind. Shareholders might have a different perspective, though, and that should have you watching all 12 of these stocks over the next year. 

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

The post 12 Nasdaq stocks to watch in 2022 appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.