Best and Worst Stocks of the Decade

By: Ariel Nelson Director of Market Data & Content Services
Best & Worst of the Decade
As the decade moves towards its close, here is a look back at the biggest gainers and losers over the past ten years. For the next few days, we will highlight the best and worst in stocks, commodities and more as you reflect and plan for 2010.
To start off, let's take a look at stocks in the current S&P 500 [.SPX ]. Using data from Capital IQ, we looked at total return over the past decade, assuming any dividends were reinvested to buy more shares. Three energy stocks lead the top 10 performers with Southwestern Energy [SWN ] providing a whopping total return of 5782%. At the same time, only one tech stock managed to reach the top 10 - thermal imaging systems maker, FLIR Systems [FLIR).

Top 10 S&P 500 Performers over the Past Decade:









On the downside, there are many companies that did not make it through the decade due to financial collapse (e.g., Bear Stearns) or mergers. That being said, there are 8 companies that are still on the S&P 500 that have yielded their investors losses of 90% or more in total return. Topping the list of losers is JDS Uniphase [JDSU, one of the stars of the tech bubble, which is down nearly 99% since December 1999. In addition to the 5 tech stocks that made the bottom 10, are bailed out financials AIG [AIG] and Citigroup [C].

Bottom 10 S&P 500 Performers over the Past Decade:









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