We're now a few trading days into the second half of the year, and with not much going on this Friday after July 4th, we thought now was as good of a time as any to highlight some year-to-date performance numbers.
Below is a chart showing the YTD performance of the S&P 500 and its ten sectors (purple bars) along with the average YTD performance of stocks in the Russell 3,000 by sector (green bars). Ā As you'll see in the chart, while 2013 has been a great year for the largecap S&P 500, it has been an even better year when you include all of the midcap and smallcap stocks that make up the US equity market. Ā (The Russell 3,000 is made up of all Russell 1,000 -- large and midcaps -- and Russell 2,000 -- smallcaps -- stocks and represents 98% of the US stock market.)
As shown below, the cap-weighted S&P 500 is currently up 13.9% year to date, but the average stock in the Russell 3,000 is up 22.3%! Ā The S&P 500 Consumer Discretionary sector is up 21.4% YTD, but the average Consumer Discretionary stock in the Russell 3,000 is up significantly more than that at 32.5%. Ā Technology stocks have done much better in 2013 than the S&P 500 Technology sector suggests as well. Ā Due to Apple's struggles, the S&P 500 Tech sector is up just 7.4% YTD, but the average Technology stock in the Russell 3,000 is up 21.9%. Ā The only sector where largecaps are doing better than midcaps and smallcaps is the Financials. Ā As shown, the S&P 500 Financial sector is up 20.1% YTD, while the average Financial stock in the Russell 3,000 is up 16.9%. Ā These results within the Financial sector coincide with a post we did a couple of weeks ago on the impact that Dodd-Frank might be having on smaller financial firms.
As mentioned above, the average Russell 3,000 stock is up 22.3% year to date. Ā Of the stocks that make up the Russell 3,000, 81.8% are in the green so far this year, while 86 stocks in the index are up more than 100%. Ā Below is a list of the 50 best performing Russell 3,000 stocks so far in 2013. Ā As shown, Revolution Lighting Technologies (RVLT) is up the most with a gain of 479.92%, followed by Clovis Oncology (CLVS) and YRC Worldwide (YRCW). Ā Some other notables on the list include Tesla (TSLA), Best Buy (BBY) and Netflix (NFLX). Ā Outside of these names, however, you've probably never heard of most of the stocks. Ā If you're looking for new ideas, why not take some time to become familiarized with this year's big winners. Ā It can't hurt!
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