Making money in stocks amid an uncertain market (see our 2019 outlook) will require careful choices. It will be difficult to top the revenue and earnings growth rates in 2019, for instance, and economic growth is expected to slow. That kind of environment requires investors to be discerning when it comes to their stock picks.

Investors looking for the best stocks to buy for 2019 should start with these 19 companies. These firms, ranging from a money-center bank to a bargain-basement retailer, have solid prospects in 2019. We've also listed five stocks you should consider parting ways with.

Check them out.

Alibaba

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Alibaba (BABA) is best-known for running China's most popular online marketplaces. However, like America's Amazon.com, it has expanded into additional busineses, such as electronic payments, cloud computing and media.

Because of worries about the Chinese economy, shares are down more than 30% since June despite the company's sharply rising revenues, presenting what looks like a good buying opportunity. Since its market is largely domestic, it's also unlikely to be affected by trade troubles.

It's the top holding (10% of assets) of Matthews China (MCHFX), a fund that knows the region well.

Amazon.com

Courtesy Amazon.com

Amazon.com (AMZN) started out as an online bookseller, and now it's America's largest e-commerce company that even sells its own generic-brand products. It also boasts other revenue streams, such as its Amazon Web Services cloud offerings, Echo smart speakers and Amazon Prime streaming content.

Amazon also is the top holding of well-known Fidelity Contrafund (), helmed by