S&P 500 watch: The year's 10 biggest winners
Posted
Jun 29 2009, 01:05 PM
by
Minyanville
Rating:
The S&P 500 has gained about 2% this year, but a handful of winners have more than doubled in value.
The downside: Some of the stocks were beaten down and benefited from a dead cat bounce, while six of the 10 winners recently traded at less than $10 a share -- often the cutoff for long-term investors. Others benefited from rising commodity prices -- perhaps an indication that the recession is easing.
Success in the current market may be written in water, but these stocks have recently made waves:
1, 2. The "Ugh” Factor
Sprint Nextel (S) and Tenet Healthcare (THC) recently fetched less than $5 a share, so they doubled off a narrow base. This doesn’t inspire confidence or suggest a strong run ahead. Still, it would be unkind to call their recent move higher a statistical quirk: Tenet is up about 151% this year; Sprint is up about 173%.
3, 4. Pass the Financials
XL Capital (XL) and Genworth (GNW) are from the mashed, bashed and stomped-upon financial sector. The sector appears to be regaining its footing, but sending flowers to a former sweetie may have less risk right about now. Still, Genworth is up about 141% and XL Capital is up about 193%.
5. Wheeling and Dealing
Ford (F) avoided the worst of the General Motors (GMGMQ) and Chrysler bailout follies, and appears positioned to grab market share -- assuming consumers start buying big-ticket items again. Ford refinanced some debt and the company is building a solid reputation for reliability. Imagine: an American automaker!
Ford is up about 145% this year.
6. Commodities Rising
Copper is up about 72% this year and rising prices boosted the shares of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX). The company has about 100 billion pounds of proved and probable reserves in copper, 40 million ounces of gold, and 2.5 billion pounds of molybdenum. Hardly exciting, but in this market, dull is good. The company’s stock is up about 107%.
7. Yuppies, Unite
Whole Foods Market (WFMI), purveyor of natural foods -- and (apparently) self-esteem to upscale buyers -- hasn’t been pounded by the recession. The company is shrewdly moving into less-snooty markets in an effort to broaden its base. Better than alfalfa sprouts, Whole Foods’ stock is up about 103%.
8. No Tech Sunshine
Sun Microsystems (JAVA) agreed to acquisition by enterprise software developer Oracle (ORCL) for about $7.4 billion. The deal will help Oracle to slug it out with International Business Machines (IBM) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) in the services market. Alas, most of the boost of Sun’s stock came from Oracle’s bid, not from panting investors tossing dollars at a suddenly revived tech sector. Sun Microsystems stock climbed about 136%.
9. Location, Location, Location
CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) is active in the commercial real estate market in about 30 countries. The company handles management, investment and property development for major corporations. Diversification helps, but keep in mind that the stock recently traded below $10 a share although it’s up about 117%.
10. More Than Cars
AK Steel Holding (AKS) is perhaps best known for supplying automakers, but the company has diversified into steel for construction, distributors and industrial machinery. It also makes steel for power transmission and distribution equipment plus carbon and stainless-steel tubular products. Back to basics, anyone? The company’s stock is up about 109%.
Top Stocks blogging partner Todd Harrison is founder & CEO of Minyanville.com. This post was written by Minyanville Contributor Scott Reeves.
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