13 Best Performing S&P 500 Stocks in the Last 5 Years

Ramish Cheema
9 min read

In This Article:

In this piece, we will take a look at the 13 best performing S&P500 stocks over the past five years. If you want to skip our introduction to one of the most widely followed and coveted stock market indexes in the world, then take a look at 5 Best Performing S&P 500 Stocks in the Last 5 Years.

The S&P 500 is one of the most coveted stock indexes in the world. Securing a place in the index is highly sought after, and it adds a semblance of credibility to a company that helps its shares attract more investor capital. The index is run and managed by S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI), an American financial services firm headquartered in New York, New York.

It's not easy to secure a place in the S&P 500. S&P Global lists down a set of criteria that must be followed for inclusion. For instance, a non American company with a primary listing outside the U.S. cannot be a part of the S&P 500. At the same time, its market capitalization should be greater than $14.5 billion, which removes small cap stocks from consideration. Additionally, a firm that seeks to be added to the S&P 500 must be profitable, and there must be significant volume for its shares as well as adequate liquidity.

This collection of the 500 top companies in America often serves as a benchmark for the broader market as well as the economy. Thousands of investors eagerly pour over the S&P 500 index each day to try to decipher the sentiment of market participants and determine whether there is an opportunity to make a profit. Year to date in 2023 so far, the index has returned 15.46% and its performance is a reflection of investor sentiment surrounding the American economy and monetary policy. 2023 has been quite a roller coaster ride for the S&P 500 too. The index started the year at a reading of 3,824 and for the first half of 2023, it posted returns of 16.3% by closing at 4,450 points at June end. However, the index dipped to 4,117 in late October to reverse all of its gains made since late May. However, the tail end of 2024 is proving to be much better than the third quarter, as currently, the index is trading at 4,415 points to recuperate some of its losses since June.

In fact, November has been quite a month for the S&P 500. It has seen the index post eight consecutive days of daily returns to beat a two year old record. These shifts are reflective of market sentiment, which has relied on the Federal Reserve for most of the past 18 months. This sentiment is shifting during the fourth quarter, with investors believing that interest rates are likely to start coming down. This is despite the fact that Fed officials have maintained that additional interest rate hikes are not off the table, but investors believe that the economy cannot withstand any substantial increases in interest rates particularly due to their impact on the bond market. However, there are still a lot of jitters within the market, since Fed Chair Jerome Powell's latest comments about the potential of interest rates being insufficient to bring down inflation ended up sapping the record setting rallies of the S&P 500 and other indexes. Yet, at the same time, these rallies are also indicative of the potential gains that these indexes can post if there is sufficient evidence to believe that not only are rate hikes a thing of the past but that rates will soon start to drop.

Recommended Stories