The rally's secret leadersSure, some famous names have helped lead the charge this year. But so has Pactiv, the maker of Hefty trash bags, and Hercules, a champ in the world of chemicals.NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Thank you, Hercules. Also, a big thanks to Big Lots (Charts), Pactiv (Charts), Paccar (Charts), OfficeMax (Charts) and Allied Waste (Charts).
You can have Yahoo! (Charts), Advanced Micro Devices (Charts) and eBay (Charts). I'll take Allegheny Technologies (Charts), Phelps Dodge (Charts) and Nucor (Charts) any day. Well, not any day, but certainly in 2006. Sure, there are a lot of famous names in the S&P 500 that have led the 2006 stock market rally. As of Thursday: BellSouth (Charts) is No. 8, with a gain of 71.7 percent; Cisco (Charts) is No. 15, up 59.2 percent; and GM (Charts) holds the No. 23 spot, thanks to a gain of 51.6 percent. But there are plenty of companies that don't get much press among the best-performing stocks of the year, including Pactiv, the maker of Hefty trash bags, up 60 percent year-to-date and the 14th best performer among the 500 largest publicly traded companies. And that's nothing to turn your nose up at -- it's better than what 29 out of 30 Dow components have done this year, even with the Dow at an all-time high. Not interested in garbage bags? How about chemicals? Chemical maker Hercules (Charts) has risen 65.9 percent this year and is the No. 10 biggest S&P 500 stock gainer. Steel company Nucor has rallied 79.2 percent this year, while the S&P 500's biggest winner is rival Allegheny Technologies, up a whopping 152.8 percent. That's pretty good considering the broad S&P 500 index is up 13.2 percent year-to-date. Meanwhile, a number of widely held stocks have had a cringe-worthy year. Advanced Micro Devices is loser No. 4, down 34.1 percent in 2006. Yahoo! is the seventh biggest loser this year, down 32.1 percent. With a decline of 24.5 percent this year, eBay is loser No. 13. And with the collapse in the housing market, is anyone surprised that three of the bottom 20 biggest losers this year are homebuilders? Apollo Group (Charts) is down 35.4 percent year-to-date. Why? The for-profit education company found errors as part of a probe into how it accounted for stock options. As a result, Apollo's chief financial and chief accounting officers quit and the company said it will have to restate past earnings. High-brow health food chain Whole Foods Market (Charts) is down 37.5 percent this year, having lost most of that in November after the company warned that 2007 sales and earnings growth will slow due to competitors like Wal-Mart Stores (Charts). Wal-Mart Stores is down about 2 percent this year. But with the holiday season upon us, why not focus on the positives? Here's a look at some of the surprising standouts to the upside. The conquerors Allegheny Tech and Nucor. Allegheny and larger rival Nucor are just two of the steelmakers to benefit from recent strength in the sector, fueled by bets of improving steel prices and earnings in the coming quarters as well as lots of merger talk. Some of the merger talk has proven to be more than just speculation. In November, Oregon Steel (Charts) agreed to a $2.3 billion buyout from a Russian steelmaker. Nucor shares shot up in October on strong earnings and talk that it might be a buyout candidate. In the third quarter, Allegheny reported sharply higher quarterly sales and earnings that topped estimates, in strength in a variety of its businesses. The company also said it received a $2.5 billion contract from Boeing (Charts) to provide titanium materials. OfficeMax. As part of its broad turnaround plan, the No. 3 office supply retailer has been revamping stores, cutting costs and trying to boost operating margins. So far, the results have been encouraging, as reflected by the run up in the stock this year. Office Max has reported improved quarterly results all year that have topped expectations. The company reported a narrower-than-expected loss in its first quarter and then higher-than-expected earnings in its second- and -third quarters, versus losses in all three quarters in the previous year. In September, Standard & Poor's boosted its outlook on the company to "stable" from "negative," while a variety of analysts have issued cautiously optimistic commentary on the company's outlook. Big Lots. Like OfficeMax, the stock of closeout retailer Big Lots has surged this year as the company has attempted to ship up. Big Lots closed more than 170 underperforming stores in 2005, and began to see the benefits of that in 2006. The company got rid of excess inventory this year by marking down slow to sell products, and also put through a $150 million stock buyback program. Big Lots also posted improved earnings this year. Most recently, Big Lots posted a third-quarter profit, versus a loss in the same quarter a year earlier. Analysts were expecting a loss, according to Thomson Financial estimates. The company also boosted its fourth quarter and full year earnings and sales guidance. Hercules. The stock of larger rival Dow Chemical is down for the year, while competitors DuPont and Eastman Chemical have posted small double-digit gains. But it's the stock of Hercules that has made the biggest gains of the chemical makers. It's been a mixed year for the sector. On one hand, the companies have been helped by lower prices for crude oil and natural gas - the main raw ingredients for many of their products. However, weakening demand amid the slowing global economy has been a looming threat. Since bottoming in October 2005, Hercules stock has been on a tear. The company swung to a loss in its second quarter, due to a lawsuit, but recently reported improved third-quarter earnings and issued a bullish 2007 outlook. - This is an update of a story that originally ran on Nov. 22, 2006. |
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