Editor’s Note: Tomorrow marks the unofficial beginning of the holiday shopping season. Black Friday – the day after Thanksgiving – has become the penultimate act of consumer frenzy.

I’m not sure when this tradition started. But it grows stronger every year and has spilled over into the days that precede and follow it.

I’m not much of a shopper, so I’ll spend the day at home to avoid the crowds. But for millions of Americans, tomorrow is the day to get up early and buy as much as they can.

Window Dressing

A similar thing happens in the stock market about this time of the year. However, it has the opposite effect of motivating investors to buy what is on sale.

Instead, many professional portfolio managers feel compelled to buy what is most expensive. They believe they must show their shareholders that their portfolios include the hottest stocks.

This phenomenon is commonly referred to as “window dressing.” That’s because adding these popular stocks now does little more than improve the appearance of the portfolio, but not its performance.

It used to be that window dressing did not occur until the last two weeks of December. But just as the holiday shopping season has crept forward on the calendar, so too has the desire by portfolio managers to buy many of these stocks before everyone else does.

The entirely predictable result is that the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. Companies that have performed particularly well benefit from the added demand for their stock. Those that have performed poorly suffer as their stocks are thrown overboard at fire sale prices.

Most likely the largest beneficiary of this year’s window dressing will be NVIDIA (NSDQ: NVDA), which continued to skyrocket in value. NVDA opened this year below $50. Last week, it traded above $150.

Going Against the Grain

I’m proud to say I added NVIDIA to the Personal Finance Growth Portfolio in October 2022 when it was priced around $12 (split-adjusted). However, a lot of portfolio managers were avoiding tech stocks at that time.

The Fed was aggressively raising interest rates, driving down the present value of future profits. That dynamic is especially tough on growth stocks that are largely valued on their expected results many years into the future.

I said then, “The easiest time to buy a stock is when it is on the rise, and everyone wants to own it. From a short-term perspective, that is also the surest way to see quick gains in your portfolio.”

I further opined, “But from a longer-term perspective, the best time to buy a stock is often when the market is down, and nobody wants it. However, that is also when it is most difficult to convince yourself that it is the right thing to do.”

Therein lays the rub. If you buy a stock while it is taking a beating, that makes it easy for others to criticize you if continues to fall. But if you wait until it has already appreciated substantially to buy it, there may not be much more near-term upside potential left in it.

To be sure, the long-term growth prospects for NVIDIA are enormous. That is why I continue to hold it in my portfolio. It is also why it is likely to be a beneficiary of year-end window dressing

More of the Same

What other tech stocks will most likely be the big winners of this season’s window dressing? Certainly, Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) will be one of them. Like NVDA, it has nearly tripled in share price this year.

Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla (NSDQ: TSLA) is surging in the wake of the election. Since November 4, TSLA has risen from below $240 to above $340 and is up 38% this year.

Another likely window dressing candidate is Meta Platforms (NSDQ: META). The company formerly known as Facebook is up more than 50 percent so far this year. Also, don’t be surprised if Amazon.com (NSDQ: AMZN) makes the list. The merchandising goliath was up 3% this year as of last week.

If there is a portfolio manager who does not yet own Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), then its 20% year-to-date total return should attract some window dressers. The same holds true for Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX) and its 85% rise this year.

Finally, let’s throw in Alphabet (NSDQ: GOOGL) and its 18% return in 2024. There isn’t much risk is owning the most valuable publicly traded company in the world.

This list is starting to look a lot like the FAANG stocks that dominated the stock market last year. In fact, it is the same group of stocks plus NVIDIA, Microsoft, and Tesla.

Perhaps the real lesson here is that when going gets tough, the tough go shopping. And this December, they will probably be shopping for more of the same.

WATCH THIS VIDEO: Jim Fink Reveals the Keys to Unlocking Wealth

PS: As chief investment strategist of Velocity Trader, my colleague Jim Fink has devised a methodology that generates market-thumping gains…in up or down markets and regardless of political events.

In a new presentation, he explains the simple strategy he uses to rake in gains of 104%, 164%, and 203%…in as little as 72 hours. Can his trades really be this profitable? Click here to find out.