If I were to put £25,000 into the FTSE 350 at the start of 2024, this is what I would have today!

It’s a blue-chip FTSE 100 and mid-cap FTSE 250 both are up to date. Here, I will look at what I would have now if I had invested £25k in FTSE 350 index in early January.

What’s going on?

The index in question includes the 350 largest companies listed in the London Stock Exchangeespecially the elements of FTSE 100 again FTSE 250.

It provides a broad overview of UK company operations, covering sectors as diverse as finance, healthcare, energy, and consumer goods. Therefore, it can be seen as a benchmark for the overall economic health of the UK.

How much?

Unfortunately, the UK economy has not been firing on all cylinders in recent times. Perhaps that’s why the FTSE 350 has returned just 30.7% over the past five years, including dividends.

Things have changed recently. As of September 30, the total return for the year to date has been nearly 10%. This means I would have £27,500 in my account if I had invested £25,000 in a tracker like iShares 350 UK Equity Index Fund.

With inflation and further interest rate cuts on the horizon, consumers should have more money to spend. Therefore, I would not be surprised to see the index inch higher in the coming months.

Buying individual shares

I often look S&P 500 — up 200% in 10 years in equities — and wondering if I should just buy a US tracker, exchange-traded fund (ETF). It would save me a lot of time researching and tracking each share.

Then again, I could totally miss out on a stock that could go up 10, 20, or 50 times in value over time. Personally, I would like to take more risk for greater reward, at least at this stage.

However, when it comes to FTSE trackers, low historical returns never tempt me to invest. Instead, I prefer to buy individual UK stocks that I think can outperform the market.

A true FTSE heavyweight

One stock that I think could continue to perform well is the largest component of the FTSE 350: AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN). Shares of the global pharmaceutical giant have returned 10.2% annually over the past five years, easily beating the FTSE 100’s 6.1%.

In the first half of 2024, the company’s revenue increased 18% year-on-year to $25.6bn, driven by double-digit growth in all four categories. Oncology, its largest unit, grew 22%.

Another risk I see here is the new US law that requires drug makers to negotiate prices with the government’s Medicare health insurance program (which covers 66m people). This may affect future benefits.

Still, I think the stock is set to gain more. AstraZeneca’s pipeline is large and aims to launch 20 new drugs by 2030. It targets $80bn in annual revenue by then, up from $45.8bn by 2023.

Also, I think accelerating advances in artificial intelligence (AI) can transform the industry. The company has already “to embrace the adoption of responsible AI solutions, from discovery to clinical trials, treatment delivery and beyond to bring the right medicines to the right patients, faster than ever before.”

Finally, AstraZeneca’s forward price of 15.3 earnings looks reasonable to me. I would buy a stock to hold for a long time if I didn’t already own one.