We even calculated these returns by assuming that any of the dividends were reinvested, but still none beat the widely owned index fund.

There is nothing wrong with these lists if you are using them as mere suggestions of what companies might be worth investigating. There were some bona fide winners on almost every list: Goldman Sachs, Kennametal, Ellie Mae, Douglas Dynamics, T-Mobile, Burlington Stores. You might not have heard of some of those companies, so it’s not a bad place to look for ideas.

But the problem with such lists is that they encourage people to approach investing the wrong way. Unsophisticated investors are being persuaded that they should own a sheaf of stocks. But as you can see, even when the stocks are recommended by professional money managers and filtered through some of the best financial journalists, they don’t do as well as the averages.

The best advice remains the same: If you have money you want to play with, go have some fun with a few stocks that you can monitor closely. If you keep it simple, it’s easier to track and respond.