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The Nasdaq Composite Index hit another milestone Dec. 26, passing 9,000 points for the first time. The index, known as a benchmark for technology companies, is huge — 2,690 stocks. Today we’ll show three lists of winners for 2019.
The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +0.05% is weighted by market capitalization, which means the five largest components — Apple AAPL, +0.26%, Microsoft MSFT, +0.07%, Amazon.com AMZN, +1.41%, Facebook FB, +0.14% and Google holding company Alphabet GOOG, -0.09% GOOGL, -0.02% — make up 36% of the index’s market value.
MarketWatch’s Mark DeCambre reviewed the index’s performance since it topped its previous 8,000-point milestone in August 2018 and found that a good part of its gain was provided by non-tech companies, including Lululemon Athletica LULU, +0.36% and Starbucks SBUX, +0.14%.
Breaking down the index
The bulky Nasdaq has so many stocks that many investors focus on the Nasdaq-100 Index NDX, +0.13%, which comprises the 103 largest non-financial companies in the full Nasdaq Composite Index. The components of the Nasdaq-100 make up 74% of the full index by market cap, according to data provided by FactSet. You can invest in the Nasdaq-100 as a group with the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF QQQ, +0.11%.
Since the Nasdaq-100 excludes financial companies (banks, insurers, real-estate companies and even exchanges such as Nasdaq Inc. NDAQ, -0.08% ), we have also looked at the Nasdaq Financial-100 Index IXF, -0.12%, which makes up only 5% of the full Nasdaq.
Going back to the full index, the best performers of 2019 are smaller companies, mostly in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries.
Best Nasdaq performers
Here’s a breakdown of total returns (with dividends reinvested) for 2019 through Dec. 26 and also returns for 2018 and longer periods:
| Index | 2019 | 2018 | 3 years | 5 years |
| Nasdaq Composite Index | 31% | -3% | 64% | 91% |
| Nasdaq-100 Index | 33% | 0% | 77% | 106% |
| Nasdaq / Financial-100 Index | 28% | -9% | 33% | 79% |
| S&P 500 | 28% | -4% | 47% | 69% |
| Dow Jones Industrial Average | 23% | -3% | 52% | 77% |
| Source: FactSet | ||||
The full Nasdaq and the Nasdaq-100 have beaten the S&P 500 SPX, +0.12% and Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.22% for all the periods shown above.
Nasdaq-100
Here are the 10 Nasdaq-100 stocks that have performed best during 2019 through Dec. 26:
| Company | Ticker | Total return – 2019 through Dec. 26 | Total return – 2018 | Total return – 3 years | Total return – 5 years |
| Advanced Micro Devices Inc. | AMD, -0.86% | 153% | 80% | 303% | 1,660% |
| Lam Research Corp. | LRCX, -0.17% | 121% | -24% | 188% | 296% |
| KLA Corp. | KLAC, -0.36% | 105% | -13% | 143% | 186% |
| MercadoLibre Inc. | MELI, +0.97% | 104% | -7% | 282% | 366% |
| ASML Holding NV ADR | ASML, +0.54% | 93% | -10% | 176% | 184% |
| Applied Materials Inc. | AMAT, -0.08% | 91% | -35% | 95% | 164% |
| Lululemon Athletica Inc. | LULU, +0.36% | 90% | 55% | 259% | 322% |
| Apple Inc. | AAPL, +0.26% | 87% | -5% | 160% | 177% |
| Skyworks Solutions Inc. | SWKS, -0.31% | 86% | -28% | 64% | 77% |
| Nvidia Corp. | NVDA, -0.88% | 80% | -31% | 120% | 1,105% |
| Source: FactSet | |||||
You can click on the tickers for more about each company.
For most of these companies, the 2019 gains followed significant declines in 2018. Advanced Micro Devices AMD, -0.86% and Lululemon are exceptions.
Nasdaq Financial-100
Here are the 10 Nasdaq Financial-100 stocks that have performed the best during 2019 through Dec. 26:
| Company | Ticker | Industry | Total return – 2019 through Dec. 26 | Total Return – 2018 | Total Return – 3 Years | Total Return – 5 Years |
| MarketAxess Holdings Inc. | MKTX, -0.33% | Investment Banks/Brokers | 79% | 6% | 157% | 434% |
| Kinsale Capital Group Inc. | KNSL, +0.85% | Multi-Line Insurance | 79% | 24% | 203% | N/A |
| Newmark Group Inc. Class A | NMRK, -0.73% | Real-estate development | 77% | -48% | N/A | N/A |
| GCI Liberty Inc. Class A | GLIBA, +0.55% | Specialty Telecommunications | 71% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Equinix Inc. | EQIX, +0.11% | Real-estate investment Trusts | 68% | -20% | 73% | 189% |
| Navient Corp | NAVI, -0.51% | Finance/Rental/Leasing | 65% | -30% | -4% | -20% |
| Arch Capital Group Ltd. | ACGL, +0.31% | Multi-Line Insurance | 58% | -12% | 45% | 113% |
| LPL Financial Holdings Inc. | LPLA, -0.33% | Investment Banks/Brokers | 54% | 9% | 170% | 132% |
| SBA Communications Corp. Class A | SBAC, -0.24% | Real-estate investment Trusts | 49% | -1% | 131% | 115% |
| United Community Banks Inc. | UCBI, -0.35% | Regional Banks | 49% | -22% | 12% | 79% |
| Source: FactSet | ||||||
Full Nasdaq
Here are the 10 best-performing Nasdaq stocks during 2019 through Dec. 26:
| Company | Ticker | Industry | Total return – 2019 through Dec. 26 | Total return – 2018 | Total return – 3 years | Total return – 5 years |
| Axsome Therapeutics Inc. | AXSM, -2.83% | Pharmaceuticals | 3,667% | -50% | 1451% | N/A |
| Constellation Pharmaceuticals Inc. | CNST, -1.89% | Pharmaceuticals | 1,129% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Kodiak Sciences Inc. | KOD, -4.56% | Biotechnology | 969% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| EverQuote Inc. Class A | EVER, -3.84% | Internet Software/Services | 772% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Relmada Therapeutics Inc. | RLMD, +1.50% | Pharmaceuticals | 753% | 53% | 1,364% | -38% |
| Provention Bio Inc. | PRVB, -4.98% | Pharmaceuticals | 728% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Microbot Medical Inc. | MBOT, -7.78% | Biotechnology | 714% | -89% | -86% | -99% |
| Avita Medical Ltd. ADR | RCEL, +1.26% | Biotechnology | 663% | 16% | 444% | 662% |
| ArQule Inc. | ARQL, -0.02% | Pharmaceuticals | 625% | 68% | 1,457% | 1,678% |
| Durect Corp. | DRRX, -2.08% | Pharmaceuticals | 577% | -48% | 155% | 310% |
| Source: FactSet | ||||||
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