Best Performing Stocks Year to Date

Since we have a break in the action here, instead of doing our normal best performing stocks of the week (not many made the list this week due to a poor market), this is a good time to look at what is performing best so far this year. Further, due the composition of the list and with many of these stocks due for a correction it's probably worthwhile to take a look now, as things might change relatively soon. We looked at a similar list in early November [Nov 4: How to Make 75% in 3 Months] when the list was dominated by large cap Chinese stocks, a few big cap tech stocks, Indian stocks, and fertilizer. Except for fertilizer most of those groups stunk for the better part of the following 5 months, and hence "returned to the mean". However, the list did turn out a few gems we jumped on, so looking at such lists helps us to identify what has been working and what other people are interested in that we might be missing.

Frankly, as I look through this list I feel very content with our stock selections over the past 5 months - we own 3 of the top 12. I've also said a few times coal would be the next fertilizer (as the next "big investing theme") but you never can time these things exactly and while I thought it would play out in latter 2008 or early 2009, the trend is already here - 4 of the top 5 names year to date are coal stocks.

A few other key sectors have been ... well, anything energy related, especially natural gas and land drillers (who had been previously missing out on the entire energy rally due to overcapacity)... Brazil also dominated, as did steel (iron ore and metallurgical coal being offshoots of steel). Lower in this entry, I've highlighted some posts on some of the individual companies or sectors at the top of the list, as we've been talking about them for quite a while.

As always the criteria for this list are

• Market capitalization $2 Billion+
• Average trading volume 100K+
• Stock price $10+

And added to those criteria I've listed every stock returning 25%+ year to date - the list is 122 stocks long. We own 17 of them; considering we generally only hold 50-55 long positions, this means roughly a third of our positions made the list. I'll take that all year, every year. (please note some stocks we bought during calender 2008 so we have not enjoyed the full gain listed below - however many we bought during the panic of March 2008 - i.e. the "Bear Stearns bottom" so we might have gotten even better prices than if we had bought on Jan 1, 2008)

Green shaded are names we've owned during calendar 2008, and blue are names we've discussed, or in some cases readers have mentioned (i.e. hey TraderMark you fertilizer lover - why don't you buy SQM!). Keep in mind I don't discuss every stock in every sector i.e. there are a good 9-10 coal stocks out there, I tend to discuss 4-5 on a normal basis; same for natural gas or energy/exploration companies. Same with the countless "energy" names.

What' missing? Despite all the hubbub about the "bottom is in financials - if you don't buy you're going to miss the huge move!!" - not one single financial made the list (unless you consider Mastercard a "financial") - only 3 retailers made the list - two of which that thrive on the pooring of America - Big Lots & Dollar Tree, and most homebuilders at this point have lost so much market capitalization (size) they no longer even qualify for such a list. So "bottom fishing" is not in fashion despite all the cries from the pundits that you should be doing it. A lot of fingers have been sliced off trying to "catch knives".

Also to the surprise of many I am sure will be the lack of solar stocks and dry bulk shipping stocks. These stocks have had an immense run of late, but took staggering losses in the first quarter of the year, so are just making up lost ground. Due to their extreme volatility I have a hard time putting these type of positions at the top of our portfolio as opposed to say a fertilizer or coal exposure. But they do make excellent trading vehicles to help us turbocharge returns - but timing is everything; it is very easy to lose 30% in 2 weeks with these names due to the nature of (ahem) "investors" who likes these stocks. But hopefully over time more stable institutional money will move into these sectors creating at least some basic form of stability.

Here are some highlights if you are new to the blog and did not see when we discussed some specific names at the top of the list. I just picked a representative sample for each - most aside from WLT, and CMP have been discussed numerous times. Again, I still like all these groups for the LONG run; but think they are very overdue for a correction in the near term. If you are ever interested in reading up on all posts on a topic/stock, on the right margin of the blog is a "label cloud" - I label each entry with a specific topic - so if you click on said label you will pull up all historical posts for that company, sector, or theme (i.e. inflation, economy) etc.

1. Walter Industries (WLT) [May 1: Walter Industries - the Most Amazing Company]
2. Alpha Natural Resources (ANR) [Apr 8: Changing Coal Allocation - Peabody Energy Out, Alpha Natural Resources In]
3. Cleveland Cliffs (CLF) & Vale (RIO) [Mar 7: Starting 2 Mining Positions Emphasizing Iron Ore]
4. Compass Minerals Int'l (CMP) [Mar 3: Who Knew? Salt?]
5. Natural Gas [Feb 11: An Interesting Development in Natural Gas]
6. Mechel (MTL) [Nov 5: Two New Foreign Positions Added Today]
7. Sohu.com (SOHU) [Dec 5: Sohu.com Raises Guidance]
8. Brazil [May 16: Brazil is Sexy]
   

Symbol	Company Name	% Price YTD
WLT	Walter Industry Ord Shs	147.1
CLR	Continental Resources Ord Shs	128.2
PCX	Patriot Coal Corp	126.4
ANR	Alpha Natural Resources Inc	125.6
FDG	FORDING INC	104.7
SATS	EchoStar Corp	101.8
EAC	Encore Acquisition Co	98.9
SQM	Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile	90.0
CLF	Cleveland Cliffs Ord Shs	86.0
WTI	W&T Offshore Inc	81.2
PDS	Precision Drilling Trust	75.1
MEE	Massey Energy Co	73.4
CMP	Compass Minerals International Inc	72.9
GGB	Gerdau SA Depository Receipt	69.6
BIG	Big Lots Inc	68.3
MLNM	Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc	66.7
OIS	Oil States International Inc	66.0
SID	Companhia Siderurgica Nacional	65.7
ENER	Energy Conversion Devices Inc	64.4
WLL	Whiting Petroleum Corp	63.0
XEC	Cimarex Energy Co	62.7
SWN	Southwestern Energy Co	61.7
CPX	Complete Production Services Inc	61.3
PTEN	Patterson-UTI Energy Inc	60.3
UNT	Unit Corp	59.9
CRK	Comstock Resources Inc	57.5
CXO	Concho Resources Inc	56.8
SPN	Superior Energy Services Inc	52.7
MTL	Mechel ADR Rep 3 Ord Shs	51.9
CSX	CSX Corp	51.7
HK	Petrohawk Energy Corp	51.4
NBR	Nabors Industries Ltd	51.2
EOG	EOG Resources Inc	51.2
GDI	Gardner Denver Inc	51.0
HP	Helmerich & Payne Inc	49.8
R	Ryder System Inc	49.6
COG	Cabot Oil & Gas Corp	49.0
WHQ	W-H Energy Services Inc	48.9
BAY	Bayer ADR Rep 1 Ord Shs	48.9
XCO	EXCO Resources Inc	48.3
ME	Mariner Energy Ord Shs	48.3
HERO	Hercules Offshore Inc	47.1
TTWO	Take-Two Interactive Software Inc	45.9
AKS	AK Steel Holding Corp	45.5
DRS	DRS Technologies Inc	44.6
PXD	Pioneer Natural Resources Co	44.6
X	United States Steel Corp	42.4
SD	SandRidge Energy Ord Shs	41.5
GTI	GrafTech International Ltd	41.4
TCK	Teck Cominco Ord Shs Class B	40.8
SOHU	Sohu.com Inc	40.7
ACI	Arch Coal Ord Shs	40.0
CENX	Century Aluminum Co	39.6
CNQ	CDN Natural Resource Ord Shs	39.1
SCHN	Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc	38.8
ROST	Ross Stores Inc	38.3
PEGFF	Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp	37.9
ECA	ENCANA CORP	37.3
SDA	Sadia ADR Rep 3 Pref Shs	37.1
STO	StatoilHydro ADR Rep 1 Ord Shs	36.6
POT	Potash Corp	36.4
TRN	Trinity Industries Inc	36.1
PXP	Plains Exploration & Production Co	36.1
TS	Tenaris ADR	35.8
ATN	Atlas Energy Resources LLC	35.3
FLS	Flowserve Corp	35.3
UMBF	UMB Financial Corp	35.2
EQT	Equitable Resources Inc	35.0
DBD	Diebold Inc	34.9
KSU	Kansas City Sthn Ord Shs	34.9
CXG	CNX Gas Ord Shs	34.6
FRO	Frontline Ord Shs	34.3
HAS	Hasbro Inc	34.1
CNX	CONSOL Energy Inc	34.1
CHK	Chesapeake Energy Ord Shs	34.1
RRC	Range Resources Corp	33.8
DVN	Devon Energy Ord Shs	33.5
WRC	Warnaco Group Inc	33.3
FTI	FMC Technologies Inc	33.3
CPS	ChoicePoint Inc	33.0
BUCY	Bucyrus International Inc	33.0
COSWF	Canadian Oil Sands Trust	32.8
PDE	Pride International Inc	32.5
WWY	WM Wrigley Jr Ord Shs	32.0
AEM	Agnico Eagle Ord Shs	31.9
BBL	BHP Billiton ADR	31.7
NAVZ	Navistar International Ord Shs	31.5
WAB	Wabtec Corp	31.2
CFFN	Capitol Federal Financial	31.0
PWE	Penn West Energy Trust Units	30.8
SU	SUNCOR ENERGY INC	30.8
LEAP	Leap Wireless International Inc	30.6
SSL	Sasol Level II ADR	30.2
SM	St Mary Land & Exploration Co	29.9
HXM	Desarrolladora Homex DR	29.9
APA	Apache Corp Ord Shs	29.6
MT	ArcelorMittal ADR	29.1
NFG	National Fuel Gas Co	28.9
BBG	Bill Barrett Corp	28.6
FST	Forest Oil Corp	28.6
OC	Owens Corning	28.5
GMT	GATX Corp Ord Shs	28.3
FLR	Fluor Corp	28.2
SYMC	Symantec Corp	28.0
BHP	BHP Billiton ADR	27.8
DLTR	Dollar Tree Inc	27.6
BNI	Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp	27.5
CELG	Celgene Corp	27.4
MOS	Mosaic Co	27.1
TNE	Tele Norte Leste ADR Reptg 1 Pref Shs	27.0
MA	MasterCard Inc	27.0
FMC	FMC Corp	26.6
TLM	Talisman Energy Ord Shs	26.6
TER	Teradyne Inc	26.5
WW	Watson Wyatt Worldwide Inc	26.4
HAL	Halliburton Ord Shs	26.0
VMI	Valmont Industries Inc	25.6
PBR	Petroleo Brasileiro ADR Reptg 2 Ord Shs	25.6
MSM	MSC Industrial Direct Co Inc	25.5
KWK	Quicksilver Resources Inc	25.5
RIO	Companhia Vale Do Rio Docea	25.5
CPO	Corn Products International Inc	25.4