My best and worst stocks in 2010

My best and worst stocks in 2010

Below are the top 5 stocks that I owned for the entire year in 2010 and their performance during the entire calendar year

Netflix (NFLX) +218%
Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) + 141%
Under Armor (UA) + 101%
IPG Photonics Corporation (IPGP) + 89%
Whole Foods Market (WFMI) + 84%

Obviously Netflix had a tremendous year, but I had three stocks that at least doubled in 2010 and two others that were really close. I actually had another handful of stocks that were up 60-70% – like I’ve mentioned before the stock market returns were really remarkable this year and last year. Of the 5 stocks above I sold 25% of my shares in Netflix and the other 4 I have not sold and do not plan no selling anytime within the next 5+ years.

and now my worst 3 for 2010

Headwaters (HW) -29%
Mindray Medical (MR) -22%
Otter Tail Corporation (OTTR) -9%

I would have included 5 for my worst but those were the only three that I could find that were in the red for the year. Ironically Headwaters and Mindray were already my two smallest holdings going into the year. I only bought $100 worth of Mindray during the big downturn and am still up 65% on it. Headwaters was one of my first individual stock picks that I found on my own and am down 85% on it and just keep it around to remind me to do research on my stocks before investing in them 🙂

Otter Tail is a diversified holding company that does have a renewable energy unit and those stocks have been hit harder this year I am not worried about its long term prospects and the -9% doesn’t include the 5.24% it paid out in dividends this year.

What a fluky year I really expected to be able to find more stocks that were down for the year – must have missed one or two but couldn’t find any others on my list. I doubt I will ever have to many years like this again.