Best and Worst Performing Stocks Seven Months Into 2008

We're now well into the back half of 2008, and below we highlight the stocks that have managed to buck the market downtrend this year and see big gains.  Twenty-six stocks in the Russell 3,000 are up more than 100% this year, with Finish Line (FINL) leading the gains at 348%.  FINL is followed by James River Coal (JRCC) at 246%, Idenix Pharma (IDIX) at 217%, and Alpha Natural Resources (ANR) at 210%.  JRCC had been the top performer, but it has come in significantly since we posted on it in June. 

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Sixty-five percent of the stocks in the Russell 3,000 are down year to date, but the ones below are down the most.  RH Donnelley (RHD) leads the way at -96%, followed by GHS, IAR, DSL, LNG and CROX.  As the year comes to a close, the questions for these companies will not be how much they're down, but if they're still around. 

Comments

[Ishortyou:]

Banks and Broker firms wrapped toxic waste i.e.: subprime, credit card debt, car loans, etc. into structured finance vehicles i.e.: CDO-ABS-MBS-SIVs and misled the market into buying them and bond insurers into insure them and now they have to clear their books from this toxic waste which is going to take time quarter after quarter but without a doubt will improve their book value.

2008 Aug 04 01:30 PM

[helsi:]

Nice article, but more informative would be using the same criteria for the last 6 - 7 weeks.

2008 Aug 05 10:39 AM

[Autocadmstr:]

I agree with helsi. The last seven months for RDN was looking pretty bad, but all it took was a little legislation to be passed for it to soar. This stock deserves to be on the other chart now. Who would have guessed an 80 cent stock would hit $5 in such a short time period?! Timing is everything.

2008 Aug 18 11:08 PM

[Andy Singh:]

It will be intersting to see how these finished up. I looked at the various indexes and there was a minor end of year rally, but only one stockmarket (Tunisia) finished in positive territory for the year!

Jan 02 12:27 AM