What do you do with your stocks after a great year in the market? Shrewd investors often take some profits and look for stocks that were left out of the rally—and thus may have more remaining upside than the winners.

It's part of what's known as rebalancing, and the start of the year is a good time to do it. A popular way to find quality stocks with potential is through the Dogs of the Dow strategy.

The Dogs of the Dow are the 10 highest yielding Dow Jones Industrial stocks as of the end of the year. Since yield equals dividend relative to price, the Dogs not only pay a high amount of income, but they're cheap, which means they might appreciate significantly.

Last year, a handful of Dow names like Boeing, Caterpillar and Apple did the heavy lifting as the index rose nearly 26%. Expect lesser performing companies to drive returns this year.

Just buying a group of stocks based on two simple criteria—being in the Dow index and having the highest yields in that index—isn't enough to ensure that you'll beat the market, of course. But the Dogs of the Dow has a pretty good track record.

In 2017, the Dogs fell short, returning 19%. But before that, they had beaten the Dow in six of the seven previous years. By being more selective, investors might increase their odds of success. For instance, the cheapest five stocks in the Dogs of the Dow have tended to do better over time than the group as a whole.

An experienced advisor can cherry-pick the best opportunities based not just on price and dividend yield, but on underlying data about a company's strengths and weaknesses, their leadership, their market opportunities and more.

Exxon Mobil is an example of a promising company that had a forgettable 2017. There are a couple of factors that could give this stock a real bounce, first, natural gas development has been coming back after years of stagnation. Exxon also plans to merge its refining and marketing businesses, potentially leading to a significant cost cut.

While it's largely dependent on what fuel prices do this year, Exxon's stock could see a real snapback. And that could add a little extra return to an investment portfolio that takes into account your personalized goals and risk tolerance.

Remember that no investment is guaranteed to make money, and any investment can lose money. We encourage you to contact your investment advisor to identify the investments that are best for you.