Go Figure: Worst Performers in 2008 Outperform in 2009

For the first half of 2009, the best strategy was to buy the 50 stocks in the S&P 500 that did the worst in 2008. This group returned 35% on average.

“It is interesting to note that the better a stock did in 2008 the worse it has done in 2009,” Jeff Rubin of Birinyi Associates said in a note.

The current bull market, which began on March 9, is perhaps best characterized as being lead by those stocks with the worst trailing fundamentals (in six of the nine categories Birinyi tracked), which produced the highest return for that category.