It sounds too good to be true, but research from Interactive Investor, the broker, claims that it is possible to predict the winter share winners.
The firm has identified ten shares that tend to consistently perform well from November 1 to April 30.
To profit from the trend Interactive has launched the Consistent Winter Portfolio and the Aggressive Winter Portfolio. The shares in each portfolio are highlighted below.
[Charts removed]
Both cost £10 to buy, rather than £50 for buying each stock individually.
The winter winners were identified from the FTSE 350 index. Interactive looked for shares with the best and most consistent record of outperforming the wider market over the next six months.
Why do certain shares perform well in the winter?
It is claimed that as a rule Britain?s stock market delivers superior performance in the winter months, outweighing returns made in May to October.
This is an extension to the old investment adage that tells investors to "sell in May and go away; don't come back till St Leger Day".
Data from the UK Stock Market Almanac, which analyses stock market patterns and anomalies, found a saver investing £10,000 in 1995 would now have a pot worth £31,600 if they had invested in just the winter months.
Those who stayed invested the whole time would not have fared as well. The investment would have grown to £20,000. Some analysts suggest this is often a case of investors being fooled by randomness.
It is also worth pointing out that this trend does not work year in year out. Over the past 20 years the FTSE 100 has outperformed 14 times in the winter months, so therefore has a 70pc success rate.
Rebecca O?Keeffe, head of investment at Interactive Investor, said: ?There are two key reasons why seasonal investing is so attractive. Its simplicity and the fact that it comes with not just an entry point, but also an exit date.
?We do recognize that this strategy may not be popular with the wider investment industry, which relies on buy-and-hold investors, however the evidence is quite compelling. Investors who like to actively manage their holdings and have a higher
