7 of 14
BACKNEXT
Wal-Mart Stores
Wal-Mart Stores
Return: +8.6%

Love it or hate it, you probably wish you owned a piece of Wal-Mart. The Bentonville, Ark.-based chain of discounters topped the Fortune 500 last year, and stands a good chance of reclaiming its crown in 2008. Wal-Mart isn't only beating the market - it's beating its own performance. Not counting gasoline sales, the company posted a 3.1% increase in same-store sales last quarter - triple last year's growth.

NEXT: PNC Financial
Last updated October 13 2008: 4:43 PM ET
More from Fortune
2008 Fortune 500
2008 Fortune 500
Wal-Mart is on top for the second year in a row, while AT&T moves up and GM slips. See who ranks where on the definitive list of America's largest companies and why. More
What investors should do now
What investors should do now
With Wall Street imploding and stocks hitting bear territory, this volatile market is more confusing than ever. Here's how to navigate through the chaos. More
Stocks to buy now
Stocks to buy now
Oppenheimer analyst Meredith Whitney doesn't have a lot of good things to say about the financial sector - but she sees a bargain in the preferred shares of these three banks. More
Contact Us Closed Captioning Manage Cookies+ Site Map

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.