(Updated as of the market close on Dec. 31.)
The performance of the stock market in 2021 was nothing short of remarkable, surprising many investors after the dramatic crash-and-recovery cycle of 2020.
A continuing recovery for the world economy meant increased demand and shortages in various industries, including semiconductors and energy. Some of the best-performing stocks were oil and gas producers, as the price of West Texas Crude oil CL00 rose 55%.
The following are lists of the best-performing stocks among the benchmark S&P 500 index SPX, the the S&P 400 Mid Cap Index MID, the S&P Small Cap 600 Index SML and the Nasdaq-100 Index NDX. Then there’s a list showing how all 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA have performed in 2021.
All performance figures in this article include reinvested dividends. For starters, here’s a chart showing total returns for all the indexes in 2021:
FactSet
The S&P 500 had the top spot with a 28.7% return for 2021, although it had pulled back from its high on Nov. 9, when it was up 32% for the year.
Best-performing S&P 500 stocks of 2021
The S&P 500 is weighted by market capitalization, which means the largest five companies — Apple Inc. AAPL, Microsoft Corp. MSFT, Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, Alphabet Inc GOOGL GOOG and Tesla Inc. TSLA — made up 23% of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF SPY as of the close on Dec. 31.
The gains in 2021 were broad, with 88% of the S&P 500 showing positive returns. Here are its 20 best performers in 2021:
| Company | Ticker | Industry | Total Return – 2021 |
| Devon Energy Corp. | DVN | Oil & Gas Production | 196.1% |
| Marathon Oil Corp. | MRO | Oil & Gas Production | 149.7% |
| Moderna Inc. | MRNA | Biotechnology | 143.1% |
| Fortinet Inc. | FTNT | Computer Communications | 142.0% |
| Signature Bank | SBNY | Regional Banks | 141.5% |
| Ford Motor Co. | F | Motor Vehicles | 137.5% |
| Bath & Body Works Inc. | BBWI | Retail | 133.7% |
| Diamondback Energy Inc. | FANG | Oil & Gas Production | 127.4% |
| Nvidia Corp. | NVDA | Semiconductors | 125.5% |
| Nucor Corp. | NUE | Steel | 118.4% |
| Gartner Inc. | IT | Internet Software, Services | 108.7% |
| Extra Space Storage Inc. | EXR | Real Estate Investment Trusts | 101.0% |
| Arista Networks Inc. | ANET | Computer Communications | 97.9% |
| Simon Property Group Inc. | SPG | Real Estate Investment Trusts | 95.8% |
| APA Corp. | APA | Integrated Oil | 90.8% |
| EOG Resources Inc. | EOG | Oil & Gas Production | 88.7% |
| Iron Mountain Inc. | IRM | Real Estate Investment Trusts | 87.8% |
| Seagate Technology Holdings PLC | STX | Computer Peripherals | 87.6% |
| CF Industries Holdings Inc. | CF | Chemicals | 87.1% |
| ConocoPhillips | COP | Oil & Gas Production | 86.7% |
| Source: FactSet | |||
You can click the tickers for more about each company. Click here for Tomi Kilgore’s detailed guide to the wealth of information for free on the MarketWatch quote page.
To make any of the lists, a stock had to be traded publicly for all of 2021.
Among the top 20 performers in the S&P 500, six were oil producers.
Ford Motor Co. F was up 137.5%, ranking sixth on the list, with a low valuation to expected earnings helping justify investors’ approval of at the early stage of its switch to electric cars. Ford’s rival General Motors Co. GM didn’t make the list, as its stock was up “only” 40.8% in 2021 (ranking 160th among the S&P 500), while shares of Tesla were up 49.8% for 2021 following their 743% increase in 2020.
Read: Ford Is More Valuable Than GM for the First Time Since 2016
Best-performing midcap stocks
Remember the meme stocks? Of course you do. GameStop Corp GME. led this craze, as traders banded together through the wallstreetbets Reddit channel in early 2021 to bid up the prices of heavily shorted stocks.
Through Jan. 27, shares of GameStop were up 1,744.5% for 2021. Some traders who got in late were burned, as the stock took a dive through Feb. 22. But through Dec. 31, it was up 687.6% for the year, leading this list of the top 20 performers in the S&P 400 Mid Cap Index:
| Company | Ticker | Industry | Total Return – 2021 |
| GameStop Corp. Class A | GME | Electronics, Appliance Stores | 687.6% |
| Avis Budget Group Inc. | CAR | Finance, Rental, Leasing | 456.0% |
| Synaptics Inc. | SYNA | Semiconductors | 200.3% |
| SiTime Corp. | SITM | Semiconductors | 161.4% |
| Alcoa Corp. | AA | Aluminum | 159.0% |
| Olin Corp. | OLN | Industrial Specialties | 138.5% |
| Macy’s Inc. | M | Department Stores | 135.7% |
| Navient Corp. | NAVI | Finance, Rental, Leasing | 124.0% |
| Murphy Oil Corp. | MUR | Oil & Gas Production | 121.3% |
| Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. | DKS | Specialty Stores | 116.4% |
| Louisiana-Pacific Corp. | LPX | Forest Products | 113.3% |
| Builders FirstSource Inc. | BLDR | Building Products | 110.0% |
| Crocs Inc. | CROX | Apparel/Footwear | 104.6% |
| Tenet Healthcare Corp. | THC | Hospital, Nursing Management | 104.6% |
| Targa Resources Corp. | TRGP | Oil Refining/ Marketing | 100.1% |
| Life Storage Inc. | LSI | Real Estate Investment Trusts | 98.5% |
| National Storage Affiliates Trust | NSA | Real Estate Investment Trusts | 98.0% |
| Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. | GT | Automotive Aftermarket | 95.4% |
| American Financial Group Inc. | AFG | Property/ Casualty Insurance | 94.8% |
| Teradata Corp. | TDC | Software | 89.0% |
| Source: FactSet | |||
Small-cap stocks
A broad small-cap index, such as the Russell 2000 RUT, includes companies that haven’t yet turned profits and even some “pre-revenue” companies counting positive outcomes for binary events, such as regulatory approval of medication.
This list of the year’s 20 best-performing small-cap stocks instead relies on the S&P 600 Small Cap Index, which has a tougher selection criteria for initial inclusion. That includes positive earnings for the most recent quarter and for the sum of the most recent four quarters.
| Company | Ticker | Industry | Total Return – 2021 |
| Veritiv Corp. | VRTV | Wholesale Distributors | 490% |
| SM Energy Co. | SM | Oil & Gas Production | 382% |
| Apollo Medical Holdings Inc. | AMEH | Services to the Health Industry | 302% |
| Customers Bancorp Inc. | CUBI | Regional Banks | 260% |
| Callon Petroleum Co. | CPE | Oil & Gas Production | 259% |
| TimkenSteel Corp. | TMST | Steel | 253% |
| Chico’s FAS Inc. | CHS | Apparel, Footwear Retail | 238% |
| Signet Jewelers Ltd. | SIG | Specialty Stores | 221% |
| Consol Energy Inc. | CEIX | Coal | 215% |
| Cross Country Healthcare Inc. | CCRN | Personnel Services | 213% |
| Matador Resources Co. | MTDR | Oil & Gas Production | 207% |
| United Natural Foods Inc. | UNFI | Food Distributors | 207% |
| Laredo Petroleum Inc. | LPI | Oil & Gas Production | 205% |
| Thryv Holdings Inc. | THRY | Advertising, Marketing Services | 205% |
| Boot Barn Holdings Inc. | BOOT | Apparel, Footwear Retail | 184% |
| ArcBest Corp. | ARCB | Trucking | 182% |
| Donnelley Financial Solutions Inc. | DFIN | Software | 178% |
| Perficient Inc. | PRFT | Personnel Services | 171% |
| Range Resources Corp. | RRC | Oil & Gas Production | 166% |
| Ranger Oil Corp. Class A | RRC | Oil & Gas Production | 165% |
| Source: FactSet | |||
Turning more to tech: Nasdaq-100
The Nadaq-100 Index includes the largest 100 non-financial stocks by market cap in the full Nasdaq Composite Index COMP. It includes Chinese companies that aren’t included in the S&P 500.
Here are the top 20 performers among the Nasdaq-100 in 2021:
| Company | Ticker | Industry | Total Return – 2021 |
| Lucid Group Inc. | LCID | Motor Vehicles | 280% |
| Moderna Inc. | MRNA | Biotechnology | 143% |
| Fortinet Inc. | FTNT | Computer Communications | 142% |
| Nvidia Corp. | NVDA | Semiconductors | 125% |
| Marvell Technology Inc. | MRVL | Semiconductors | 85% |
| Applied Materials Inc. | AMAT | Industrial Machinery | 84% |
| Datadog Inc Class A | DDOG | Software | 81% |
| Intuit Inc. | INTU | Software | 70% |
| KLA Corp. | KLAC | Semiconductors | 68% |
| Alphabet Inc. Class A | GOOGL | Internet Software, Services | 65% |
| Atlassian Corp. PLC Class A | TEAM | Software | 63% |
| Zscaler Inc. | ZS | Software | 61% |
| Advanced Micro Devices Inc. | AMD | Semiconductors | 57% |
| Palo Alto Networks Inc. | PANW | Computer Communications | 57% |
| Broadcom Inc. | AVGO | Semiconductors | 56% |
| O’Reilly Automotive Inc. | ORLY | Specialty Stores | 56% |
| Lam Research Corp. | LRCX | Electronic Production Equipment | 54% |
| Microsoft Corp. | MSFT | Software | 52% |
| Costco Wholesale Corp. | COST | Department Stores | 52% |
| Paychex Inc. | PAYX | Data Processing Services | 50% |
| Source: FactSet | |||
The Dow 30
The Dow Jones Industrial Average brought up the rear in the chart at the top of this article. Home Depot Inc. HD took the top stop in the Dow, with a 59.5% return for 2021, while Walt Disney Co. DIS was the worst performer, with a 14.5% decline:
| Company | Ticker | Industry | Total Return – 2021 |
| Home Depot Inc. | HD | Home Improvement Chains | 59.5% |
| Microsoft Corp. | MSFT | Software | 52.5% |
| Goldman Sachs Group Inc. | GS | Investment Banks, Brokers | 47.6% |
| Chevron Corp. | CVX | Integrated Oil | 46.3% |
| Cisco Systems Inc. | CSCO | Information Technology Services | 45.8% |
| UnitedHealth Group Inc. | UNH | Managed Health Care | 45.2% |
| American Express Co. | AXP | Finance, Rental, Leasing | 36.9% |
| Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. | WBA | Drugstore Chains | 35.8% |
| Apple Inc. | AAPL | Telecommunications Equipment | 34.6% |
| McDonald’s Corp. | MCD | Restaurants | 27.8% |
| JPMorgan Chase & Co. | JPM | Banks | 27.7% |
| Procter & Gamble Co. | PG | Household, Personal Care | 20.5% |
| Nike Inc. Class B | NKE | Apparel, Footwear | 18.7% |
| International Business Machines Corp. | IBM | Information Technology Services | 16.8% |
| Caterpillar Inc. | CAT | Trucks, Construction, Farm Machinery | 16.0% |
| salesforce.com Inc. | CRM | Software | 14.2% |
| Travelers Companies Inc. | TRV | Multi-Line Insurance | 14.0% |
| Johnson & Johnson | JNJ | Pharmaceuticals | 11.4% |
| Coca-Cola Co. | KO | Beverages: Non-Alcoholic | 11.4% |
| Dow Inc. | DOW | Chemicals | 6.9% |
| Intel Corp. | INTC | Semiconductors | 6.0% |
| 3M Co. | MMM | Industrial Conglomerates | 4.9% |
| Walmart Inc. | WMT | Food Retail | 2.0% |
| Merck & Co. Inc. | MRK | Pharmaceuticals | 1.8% |
| Amgen Inc. | AMGN | Biotechnology | 0.9% |
| Honeywell International Inc. | HON | Industrial Conglomerates | -0.3% |
| Visa Inc. Class A | V | Finance, Rental, Leasing | -0.3% |
| Boeing Co. | BA | Aerospace & Defense | -6.0% |
| Verizon Communications Inc. | VZ | Telecommunications | -7.5% |
| Walt Disney Co. | DIS | Cable, Satellite TV | -14.5% |
| Source: FactSet | |||
More year-end stock-market coverage:
- Look for the best dividend-paying stocks to stay in the money in 2022 and beyond
- These stocks are down at least 20% from 2021 highs, but Wall Street sees them gaining as much as 87% in 2022