Stock Market Devil Poll: These 3 stocks are February's favorites

UCB, D'Ieteren and Melexis top buy lists this month, according to the Beursduivel poll. 217 investors participated in the survey.

The outlook for the Bel 20 is somewhat lower in the short term, while rising over the next six months. For next month, 47.9% of investors expect an increase in the Bel20 index. Last month, the percentage was 57.3%. In the long term, 75.6% expected an increase of more than 2%. Last month it was 69.5%. Only 6.5% of investors expect a decline in the next six months, and the rest are neutral.

In January, 69.8% of investors indicated that they were (very) optimistic about the stock market. This percentage has now decreased slightly to 65.9% for February. Investors are also slightly less positive about economic developments in the coming months. The percentage of pessimists increased from 4.6% to 6%. However, 56.2% remain (very) optimistic. Last month it was still 61.2%.

Full results

Here's the full result of the Beursdeuivel poll, followed by last month's results:

What is your outlook on economic developments in the coming months?

• Very optimistic: 7.8% (was 5.4%)
• Optimists: 48.4% (was 55.8%)
• Neutral: 37.8% (was 34.2%)
• Pessimists: 5.5% (was 4.0%)
• Very pessimistic: 0.5% (was 0.6%)

What do you think about the stock markets right now?

• Very optimistic: 7.8% (was 6.8%)
• Optimists: 58.1% (was 63.0%)
• Neutral: 28.1% (was 27.1%)
• Pessimists: 5.5% (was 2.3%)
• Very pessimistic: 0.5% (was 0.8%)

What do you think Bill 20 will do this month?

• Increase of 2% or more: 47.9% (from 57.3%)
• Neutral (between -2% and +2%): 46.1% (was 38.5%)
• Down 2% or more: 6.0% (was 4.2%)

What do you think Bel 20 will do in the next six months?

• Increase of 2% or more: 75.6% (from 69.5%)
• Neutral (between -2% and +2%): 18.0% (was 23.4%)
• Down 2% or more: 6.4% (was 7.1%)

Toppers gain narrowly thanks to UCB

Then take a look at the stocks picked last month. How did they perform? Stocks on the buy list achieved a positive average return (+0.4%). The Bel 20 index fell 1.8%.

Three flounders just did what they were supposed to do: fall. The flops managed to achieve an average return of -1.9%. Among the top players, UCB, D'Ieteren and Ageas were responsible for the superior performance compared to the Bel 20.

February Stocks: Favorite UCB, forecast lower than Galapagos

Finally, we look at our most and least favorite stocks for next month. We canceled votes for and against each other. The buy-in list is led by UCB with a score of +32. Runners-up are D'Ieteren and Melexis.

Investors are once again looking very gloomy for the Galapagos Islands. They expect that the bottom has not been reached yet.

*The balance represents the number of positive answers minus the number of negative answers.

This time, 217 investors participated in our survey. Thank you very much for that!

Yuri van Heumen is editor-in-chief. The information in this article is not intended to provide professional investment advice or a recommendation to make particular investments.