10 Best Performing S&P 500 Stocks Of 2020

The S&P 500 delivered one of its surprising years in recent history in 2020, gaining more than 15%. Most U.S. investors had a lot of winners in their portfolios this year, but some stocks certainly performed better than others.

Here’s a look at the 10 best-performing stocks in the entire S&P 500 in 2019 as of the Dec. 29 closing price.

Tesla Inc TSLA

The S&P 500’s controversial new addition that joined the index in December gained 693.2% in 2020, more than triple the return of any stock that spent the entire year in the index.

Etsy Inc ETSY

Americans stuck at home with nothing to do turned to Etsy in 2020. The stock joined the S&P 500 in September and is up 302% year-to-date.

Carrier Global Corp CARR

The social distancing environment and a red-hot housing market triggered a surge in North American HVAC sales and a corresponding 214.6% gain from Carrier global shares in 2020.

10 Worst Performing S&P 500 Stocks Of 2020

NVIDIA Corporation NVDA

Semiconductor giant Nvidia has been one of the top-performing stocks in the market over the last decade, and that momentum continued with another 119.2% gain in 2020.

Paypal Holdings Inc PYPL

Continuing with the theme of social distancing beneficiaries, PayPal shares jumped 117.9% in 2020 thanks to a surge in online transactions.

L Brands Inc LB

The parent company of Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works was a rare winner in a struggling retail sector in 2020, and the stock gained 114.2% on the year.

Albemarle Corporation ALB

Irrational or not, exuberance for electric vehicle stocks skyrocketed in 2020, and lithium producer Albemarle shares gained 104.9% on the year.

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. AMD

AMD was the top-performing stock in the S&P 500 in 2019 and nearly generated a repeat performance in 2020, gaining 104.9% on the strength of investor optimism related to online gaming, cloud computing and other tech themes.

Cadence Design Systems Inc CDNS

Cadence Design provides integrated circuit and electronic device design services, and the stock rallied 94.2% this year as investors piled into high-tech investments.

ServiceNow Inc NOW

Not only is ServiceNow’s business immune from pandemic fallout, more customers are pushing to digitize their businesses as a result of the disruption. ServiceNow shares gained 92.6% in 2020.

Photo courtesy of Etsy.