Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
NYSE
The S&P 500 ended 2020 with an annual gain of 16.26% and closed at an all-time high on Thursday, a remarkable achievement after a dramatic sell-off in February and March.
Some names in the broad market index had particularly strong years, with six stocks gaining more than 100%.
Top S&P 500 stocks of 2020
| Ticker | Company | Price return 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| TSLA | Tesla | 743.1% |
| ETSY | Etsy | 301.6% |
| NVDA | Nvidia | 121.9% |
| PYPL | PayPal | 116.5% |
| LB | L brands | 105.5% |
| WHITE | Albermarle Corp. | 102.1% |
| AMD | Advanced micro-devices | 99.8% |
| FCX | Freeport-McMoRan | 98.6% |
The climb of the S&P 500 would have been even more dramatic if the top two names on the list had started the year in the index. Both electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla and e-commerce company Etsy were added to the S&P 500 during the last four months of the year.
Those stocks also represent two of the main themes in the market this year, as stocks tied to green energy had strong years, as did those like Etsy that were well-equipped for a stay-at-home world.
The top eight performers also include two semiconductor stocks in Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices. Overall, it was a strong year for the industry, with the PHLX Semiconductor Index up 51%, even faster than the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite.
The S&P 500 is a market-weighted group of large-cap stocks in the US and is the benchmark by which many professional investors measure themselves. According to S&P Dow Jones Indices, many popular exchange-traded funds and mutual insurance companies are compared to the S&P 500, with more than $ 11 trillion pegged to or compared to the index as of December 2019.
The components in the index are often shuffled by a committee of S&P Dow Jones Indices throughout the year. The organization announced on Wednesday that Enphase Energy would join the index on January 7, replacing Tiffany & Co., which will be acquired by LVMH.