83 Stocks That Doubled Your Money in the First Half of 2009

It's been a wild and volatile first half of 2009. We followed one of the worst periods in history (Jan-Feb) with one of the best (Mar-Apr), and topped it off with a stagnant market (May-Jun) to finish off the quarter. For all this, the S&P is up a staggering 1.5% for the year to date.

But if you bought some of the stocks below on Dec 31st, 2008 - went off on the long planned tripped to Tahiti (hence, not panicking in the dark days of February through early March) and just showed up today - congrats! I've pulled a group of stocks with the following criteria:

Criteria

1. Market capitalization $500M+
2. Average trading volume 200K+
3. Stock price $10+
4. Return year to date 100%+

With the market capitalization requirement, I mostly pulled in the larger "small caps", mid cap, and large cap stocks; this generated 83 ways for you to have doubled your money. At the very bottom of the post I pulled another 23 namesof the smaller cap variety - that group includes names smaller than $500M in market cap but larger than $200M. Below that $200M level, it really starts to get speculative.

These names are not sorted by return but by market capitalization, from largest to smallest. As always, it is easier to make big bucks (or lose them) in the smaller names. Of course, some of these stocks will continue to do great things in the 2nd half of 2009, others will "revert to the mean" and be major underperformers. If you can tell which goes in which of those 2 categories, you will have a very enjoyable second half of the year. I asked my trusty Magic 8 Ball, and unfortunately this is what she said.

Blog readers will find many familiar names.... I've highlighted names we own, have once owned, or have talked about in the blog.

Symbol	Company Name	% Price	Mkt Cap
BCS	Barclays ADR	109.5	38,496
FCX	Freeport McMoRan Copper/Gold	117.5	20,724
WFT	Weatherford International Ltd	100.3	13,986
BIDU	Baidu Inc	144.7	10,303
SLT	Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd	144.8	9,330
TCK	Teck Resources Ltd	240.3	7,820
WDC	Western Digital Corp	141.0	5,904
STX	Seagate Technology	151.6	5,057
MDR	McDermott International Inc	131.5	4,692
EXPE	Expedia Inc (Del)	112.3	4,589
XL	XL Capital Ltd	238.9	3,931
TX	Ternium SA	123.8	3,508
CE	Celanese Corp	112.3	3,424
NAV	Navistar International Corp	144.5	3,252
AN	Autonation Inc	104.8	3,108
CTRP	Ctrip.com	108.4	3,001
RS	Reliance Steel & Aluminum	101.3	2,826
GT	Goodyear Tire & Rubber	110.3	2,757
WFMI	Whole Foods Market Inc	107.9	2,639
CREE	Cree Inc	100.5	2,624
DNDN	Dendreon Corp	457.8	2,571
ARO	Aeropostale Inc	119.7	2,313
WYN	Wyndham Worldwide Corp	104.5	2,210
PALM	Palm Inc	402.2	2,210
GMCR	Green Mountain Coffee Roasters	128.9	2,200
AKS	AK Steel Holding Corp	125.6	2,118
ASH	Ashland Inc	194.1	2,076
BGC	General Cable Corp	136.4	1,976
WLT	Walter Energy Inc	129.5	1,948
CTCM	CTC Media Inc	154.1	1,879
VPRT	VistaPrint Ltd	161.7	1,821
ACF	AmeriCredit Corp	110.3	1,798
SIG	Signet Jewelers Ord Shs	146.7	1,776
STAR	Starent Networks Corp	133.1	1,737
RAX	Rackspace Hosting Inc	152.2	1,717
YGE	Yingli Green Energy Holding	146.4	1,677
JCG	J Crew Group Inc	136.4	1,666
RVBD	Riverbed Technology Inc	132.9	1,623
PAG	Penske Automotive Group	151.7	1,569
DRQ	Dril-Quip Inc	102.3	1,498
BEAV	BE Aerospace Inc	123.3	1,433
TIN	Temple-Inland Inc	204.8	1,366
LCAPA	Liberty Media Corp	229.2	1,351
SYNA	Synaptics Inc	156.6	1,314
TC	Thompson Creek Metals Co Inc	157.9	1,301
EJ	E House China Holdings Ltd	112.3	1,288
FCL	Foundation Coal Holdings Inc	123.6	1,281
TSRA	Tessera Technologies Inc	126.0	1,233
TRW	TRW Automotive Holdings Corp	279.6	1,151
STEC	STEC Inc	484.9	1,142
ASCA	Ameristar Casinos Inc	154.6	1,124
GFA	Gafisa ADR	100.5	1,073
IOC	InterOil Corp	169.0	1,072
MWE	MarkWest Energy Partners L P	137.1	1,041
BWEN	Broadwind Energy Inc	128.1	1,035
NEU	NewMarket Corp	103.5	1,032
TNDM	Neutral Tandem Inc	108.3	1,024
TPX	Tempur Pedic International Inc	104.2	1,014
WXS	Wright Express Corp	113.8	962
PEGA	Pegasystems Inc	128.5	947
GRA	W.R. Grace & Co	162.4	937
JNY	Jones Apparel Group Inc	132.5	904
SVNT	Savient Pharmaceuticals Inc	194.3	881
CAB	Cabela's Inc	146.0	820
BRY	Berry Petroleum Co	185.1	820
SNX	SYNNEX Corp	128.1	808
TSL	Trina Solar Ltd	206.4	710
BCSI	Blue Coat Systems Inc	106.2	673
NTG	NATCO Group Inc	140.1	667
DIOD	Diodes Inc	186.6	662
NGLS	Targa Resources Partners LP	110.2	661
SVVS	SAVVIS Inc	100.9	633
GPI	Group 1 Automotive, Inc	156.7	618
MTH	Meritage Homes Corp	100.4	604
TLEO	Taleo Corp	176.1	581
APKT	Acme Packet Inc	123.4	580
VIT	VanceInfo Technologies Inc	221.0	579
ARST	ArcSight Inc	164.9	574
DIN	DineEquity Inc	211.7	535
OVTI	OmniVision Technologies Inc	121.8	534
PBY	Pep Boys-Manny Moe & Jack	176.9	527
HGG	hhgregg Inc	107.2	519
TEN	Tenneco Inc	308.4	507

***************************

Now for the names in the small(er) cap category: $200M to <$500M; I've sorted these names from highest return to lowest.

Symbol	Company Name	% Price	Mkt Cap
VNDA	Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc	2,244.2	325
DTG	Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group	1,201.0	293
ISLE	Isle of Capri Casinos Inc	370.4	429
KIRK	Kirklands Inc	360.5	234
KONG	KongZhong Corp	239.9	394
FUQI	Fuqi International Inc	222.8	435
SAH	Sonic Automotive Inc	195.9	405
COMV	Comverge Inc	187.2	282
MXWL	Maxwell Technologies Inc	185.9	348
SPAR	Spartan Motors Inc	154.3	371
FIRE	Sourcefire Inc	150.3	333
CLMS	Calamos Asset Management Inc	149.6	278
ABG	Asbury Automotive Group Inc	148.1	353
DM	Dolan Media Co	137.9	393
LXU	LSB Industries Inc	127.1	343
BGFV	Big 5 Sporting Goods Corp	120.7	236
TNS	TNS Inc	117.2	473
ORN	Orion Marine Group Inc	114.4	428
SFLY	Shutterfly Inc	112.0	364
MYRG	MYR Group Inc (Delaware)	110.2	414
SAIA	Saia Inc	109.3	252
CHIC	Charlotte Russe Holding Inc	108.0	267
CSIQ	Canadian Solar Inc	104.6	444

Comments

[John Galt:]

Fake green shoots or not, that's a pretty impressive list. For you to own 24 of the 83 names I tip my hat to you.

Jul 02 08:12 AM

[Ryu Mei Co:]

I pull out early in late April, not too bad even though I should have stay a few weeks more. In any case, I must say that this is truely one of my greatest learning experience.

Jul 02 08:35 AM

[RiskAverseA...:]

There's no doubt that in the present "rearranging the deck chairs" phase, this sort of result can be expected. However, equity is DEAD money. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

There is a mountain of debt existing higher up on the accounting food chain, and with capacity for servicing it continuing to collapse (keep your eye on that moribund real estate market), equity in all forms is at incredible risk of being indiscriminately sold simply for the sake of raising capital that's needed higher up in the financial food chain.

Jul 02 08:44 AM

[Zenfar:]

The next great companies are found during a recession...

Long RAX, PALM

Good list TraderMark!

On Jul 02 08:44 AM RiskAverseAlert wrote:

> There's no doubt that in the present "rearranging the deck chairs"
> phase, this sort of result can be expected. However, equity is DEAD
> money. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
>
> There is a mountain of debt existing higher up on the accounting
> food chain, and with capacity for servicing it continuing to collapse
> (keep your eye on that moribund real estate market), equity in all
> forms is at incredible risk of being indiscriminately sold simply
> for the sake of raising capital that's needed higher up in the financial
> food chain.

Jul 02 09:35 AM

[Moto:]

I don't recall you telling us this on January 1.

Jul 02 09:56 AM

[Ackojay:]

do you think GMGMQ will ever be up again? i own 50000 shares

Jul 02 11:42 AM

[TraderMark:]

John I wish I owned 24
the ones I highlighted were owned current or past, or discussed in blog :)


On Jul 02 08:12 AM $ John Galt wrote:

> Fake green shoots or not, that's a pretty impressive list. For you
> to own 24 of the 83 names I tip my hat to you.

Jul 02 12:08 PM

[TraderMark:]

GMGMQ is like going to a slot machine

I expect the current common to be wiped out like in just about all bankruptcies and then new common to be issued once emerged from bankruptcy

those type of stocks can jump 30% or drop 30% in 1 day if daytraders pile in but its not investing.

Dont confuse GM coming out of bankruptcy with that stock doing well - it wont be the same stock that is issued post bankruptcy.


On Jul 02 11:42 AM Ackojay wrote:

> do you think GMGMQ will ever be up again? i own 50000 shares

Jul 02 12:10 PM

[dybydx:]

GM should officially rename itself as Government Motors. It will definitely bring back consumer confidence!

Jul 02 12:57 PM

[zagrebzagreb:]

I love these lists... so interesting and enlightening.

The $10 min threshold for share price, however, removes most of my favorites!

Jul 02 02:04 PM

[TraderMark:]

Anything under $10 would signify the stock was under $5 as of Dec 31st, 2008. I find most stocks below $5 to be more for pure speculation rather than investing. Hence I put that cut off.


On Jul 02 02:04 PM zagrebzagreb wrote:

> I love these lists... so interesting and enlightening.
>
> The $10 min threshold for share price, however, removes most of my
> favorites!
>

Jul 02 07:33 PM

[cebu sun:]

Clawhammer,
Based upon 4 "facts":
1.the $BKX banking index is ready to emerge from a long time wedge formation.
2. I have many 60 Minute wedges BTFO downward e.g., afl, lnc, sgr, met, pru.
3. later july is a poor time to invest as per Traders almanac
4. i have a tight right shoulder pitching arm now. Pls note this often precedes marketmoves.
5. Oh yeah Jake's JCHP all are mostly downward trending now, especly silver.

Thus, I suggest foregoing trading for thenext three weeks or be short. I will be ready to eat crow or collect deserved laurels on 7-31-09.

Jul 02 09:22 PM

[NoLongerShort:]

you forgot to mention dendreon

Jul 03 12:23 PM

[TraderMark:]

DNDN is there, 2 slots under Whole Foods


On Jul 03 12:23 PM User 440305 wrote:

> you forgot to mention dendreon

Jul 04 08:23 PM