10 hottest ISA shares, funds and trusts: week ended 15 November 2024

We look at the investments ii customers have been buying within their ISAs during the previous week. The data includes only real-time trades, not regular investing instructions, and combines the use of both existing funds and new money 

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Top 10 shares in ISAs

MicroStrategy Inc Class A (NASDAQ:MSTR) gained nine places last week, racing from 10th position to the top of the table for the first time.

Because Microstrategy owns more bitcoin than any other public company, its stock price is closely correlated with the fortunes of the cryptocurrency. And that’s good news for shareholders right now as bitcoin has risen by more than a third since the US election.

Trump’s new administration will likely be packed with pro-crypto appointments, and policy will be to promote the currency. Anticipating favourable regulation and government support, bitcoin has been tipped to hit $100,000 for the first time by the end of 2024.

Microstrategy shares are up almost 50% to $340 since Trump’s victory. At the start of 2023 they were worth just $15 and $68 a year later.  

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GSK (LSE:GSK) is also in demand among bargain hunters, leaping seven places to the second spot. Shares were worth over £18 in May, but fell below £13 briefly last week, a two-year low.

That price slump comes despite settling claims against its Zantac heartburn medication and links to cancer. There was a poor response to recent third-quarter results, with disappointing sales of key vaccines Shingrix and Arexvy.

Trump’s election victory also has possible negative repercussions for drugmakers. Nominating vaccine sceptic Robert Kennedy to lead the US Department of Health and Human Services is not what the sector wanted to hear.

Analysts at Deutsche Bank have just downgraded GSK to “hold” from “buy”, with a price target down to 1,350p from 1,700p.  

There are three new entries this time.

Vodafone Group (LSE:VOD) hasn’t featured in this top 10 list since mid-May but is straight in at number four. That follows half-year results that sent shares to their lowest since April. They’re now in the middle of a 60-80p range where they’ve been stuck since May 2023.

Vodafone is addressing years of underperformance with a major transformation of its business, but it’s a slow process and in a highly competitive industry. Any positive reaction to potential catalysts has been short-lived.

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NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) is back in the charts after a two-week break. Shares recently hit a record just below $150, taking gains for 2024 to $100 a share, or more than 200%.

The next major catalyst will be Nvidia’s third-quarter results on Wednesday. Investors will be interested in any news about demand for its Blackwell AI chips.

Finally, Rio Tinto Registered Shares (LSE:RIO) makes the list for the first time in a month. Its shares have failed to impress post-election as a stronger dollar is typically unhelpful for global miners. However, the share price is not far off technical support at the £44-45 level.

Top 10 funds and trusts in ISAs

There is change at the top, with Greencoat UK Wind (LSE:UKW) moving into pole position at the expense of L&G Global Technology Index I Acc.

Greencoat UK Wind is favoured by income-seeking investors, due to its eye-catching yield of 8% and its track record over the past decade of achieving its aim of growing income in line with RPI inflation.  

L&G Global Technology Index Trust is the favoured option for exposure to the technology sector. It tracks the up and down fortunes of 255 shares, but bear in mind that it is highly concentrated, with Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) and NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) accounting for around 45% of assets.  

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Other tracker funds, which aim to provide the return of a particular index, in the table are: Vanguard LifeStrategy 80% Equity, Vanguard US Equity Idx, Fidelity Index World and HSBC FTSE All-World Index.

The other four funds in the table are managed by professional investors, who aim to gain an edge over the wider market.

One is a new entry – Baillie Gifford American. This fund has given investors a wild ride. It is down -23.1% over three years versus a gain of 28.1% for the average North America fund. However, over one year its performance is ahead of the sector average, with a gain of 42.2% versus 28.1%.  

The fund seeks to identify “exceptional growth businesses in America and own them for long enough that the advantages of their business models and cultural strengths become the dominant drivers of their stock prices”.  

It is in the top 10 alongside another Baillie Gifford-managed trust, Scottish Mortgage Ord (LSE:SMT), which is in fifth place. In sixth and seventh place are Royal London Short Term Money Mkt and JPMorgan Global Growth & Income Ord (LSE:JGGI).   

Funds and trusts section written by ii’s funds and investment education editor Kyle Caldwell.