As 2019 comes to a close, a new decade will be upon us. The incredible bull market will also be in its 11th year since the V-bottom marked in March of 2009. And with each new decade comes an opportunity to review the best and the worst in many categories to see what has been working and what may continue to work ahead. Speculative investors love the “ten-bagger” term, which is an investment that rises tenfold, or 1,000%.
24/7 Wall St. has identified 10 stocks that have risen 1,000% or more since the last trading day of 2009. These are of course unofficial “decade” gains at this point because the year still has more than three weeks to continue. That said, any ten-bagger would have to fall handily to not be considered as an outstanding return at this point. The S&P 500 has risen roughly 370% from its plunge-depth lows of 666 in March of 2009, but since the last day of 2009, the S&P 500 is up about 200%.
It’s important to realize that putting together a full list of ten-baggers over any decade might be hard to do. After all, there are recurring dividends, special dividends and reinvestment rates to consider, as well as what the reinvestment actually went back into, stock splits, game-changing mergers and spin-offs. There are also some companies that end up getting acquired along the way that would have otherwise made a list of such strong performers.
We have compiled 10 of the so-called ten-baggers, along with some runner-ups, since the last trading day of 2009 for your review. Some of these companies have seen gains of as much as 4,000%. Shockingly, the list of top gainers among the mostly $10 billion and higher stocks is not just loaded up with internet, tech or biotech, as most would have assumed.
These prices have been adjusted for splits and dividends, if applicable. These percentages also have been rounded out for simplicity, but we have included the last day’s trading price of 2009 on a split- and dividend-adjusted basis. We have also screened out the companies with less than $5 billion in market cap, but most are worth well over $10 billion.
Netflix
> Up 3,800%
Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) most recently closed at $307.35 a share. It has not been in a merger that clouded its performance or share price, and of course it pays no dividend as it keeps spending billions on its own shows and movies. Imagine the return if the stock was at its peak of $385.99 before Disney decided to go it alone in streaming. Netflix’s share price on December 31, 2009, was $7.87, but its gains would have been more than 4,000% had this been calculated earlier this year.
MarketAxess
>Up 3,000%
MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: MKTX) may still not be a household name with every American, but the firm allows for electronic trading for corporate and other bonds and fixed-income products bought and sold mostly at the institutional level. It is now worth over $14 billion and most recently closed at $375.90 a share (down from a high of $421.45), versus $12.48 on a dividend-adjusted basis on the last day of 2009.
Abiomed
> Up Almost 2,100%
This medical device company has won from its heart-failure pumping functions outfit loved the past decade, and its market cap is now over $8.5 billion. More recently, its value was much higher. At $189.22 a share most recently, Abiomed Inc. (NASDAQ: ABMD) is down from a 52-week high of $364.31 and down even more from a $450 or so peak in the middle of 2018. Its price on December 31, 2009, was $8.73.
TransDigm
> Up over 2,000%
The Cleveland-based company designs and makes aircraft components, and it now has a $31 billion market cap. Most recently trading at $570.11, TransDigm Group Inc. (NYSE: TDG) was not even 2% under its 52-week high, but it is up from $25.94 on December 31, 2009, after reflecting multiple special dividend payouts.
United Rentals
>Up 1,500%
United Rentals Inc. (NYSE: URI) has made some strategic acquisitions to help it grow in the United States and elsewhere, but the business fundamentally remains the same, even if it has been expanded with buyouts. It leads in equipment rentals of multiple manufacturers for heavy industry, infrastructure and other construction efforts. Its share price was $9.81 at the end of 2009, compared with $157.26 and an $11.8 billion market now. Its shares recently hit a 52-week high of $159.39, but it peaked above $180 at the start of 2018.
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