Best Performing Stocks Year to Date

Below we highlight the 25 best performing stocks in the Russell 3,000 year to date.  While energy-related names led the way for much of the first half of the year, the top three spots are now made up of two consumer stocks and one financial.  Star Scientific (STSI) is currently the best performing stock in the index, up 401.26% year to date.  STSI is a technology-oriented tobacco company seeking to develop, license, and implement technology to reduce the carcinogenic toxins in tobacco and tobacco smoke.  A chart of the stock shows that the majority of its gains have come in the last few weeks. 

Retailer Finish Line (FINL) ranks second with a gain of 353% in 2008, followed by Crawford & Co (CRD.B), which provides claim management solutions to insurance companies around the world.  Rounding out the top five best performers are two alternative-energy firms, FSYS and QTWW.

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In our second table, we highlight the two best performing stocks in each of the ten major sectors that make up the Russell 3,000.  As shown, the second best consumer staples stock behind STSI is up just 61% (SYUT).  The difference between performance of the top two stocks in the consumer staples sector is by far the most extreme.  And as you may have noticed in the table above, there were no Telecom or Utilities stocks in the top 25.  The best performing Telecom stock year to date is only up 19.77% (GNCMA), while the best Utilities stock is up 26% (LG).

Comments

[investor88:]

Just goes to show that for alert and nimble there is money to be made in the stocks listed in the article, even in a equity bear market. By the same token, those alert to the bear market made big money going short. The challenge as always is what to do going forward? Currently the bear appears to in charge in the equity markets but this has to be reviewed on a monthly basis.

2008 Sep 07 05:37 AM

[notsosmart:]

the bear goes to sleep in the winter.lucky for us.

2008 Sep 07 10:22 AM

[Carolyn:]

investor88 makes a good point, however, I suggest WEEKLY review; I found a great source on weeklystockwatch.com - they list top performers, not just for the week, but the ones that make their list are those that have consistently performed at >100% for the past YEAR. Almost all the stocks mentioned above are listed (plus about 15 more!); and there are links provided on the page to find details and more info for each on the list.

2008 Sep 27 11:06 AM