Benzinga - by Neil Dennis, Benzinga Staff Writer.
The sublime performances of Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) stood out on the S&P 500 index as the best two equity gains of 2023.
The comeback of Big Tech was celebrated with a new name for the top stocks: The Magnificent Seven.
These so-called Mag7 stocks are:
- Nvidia, which gained nearly 240% in 2023
- Meta, up nearly 200%
- Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), with gains of 112%
- Intel (NASDAQ:INTL), which added 90%
- Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), which gained 83%
- Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) up 60%
- and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), which climbed 56%.
But too much has already been written about these undoubted champions and, as the year closes, we’d like to celebrate some of the performances that outshone even Nvidia’s. But we’ll have to move outside the large caps and into the realm of the small caps where if you were savvy — or lucky — you might’ve bagged gains over 1000%.
Three 1,000% Winners And Crypto Gainers
Soleno Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SLNO), with a market cap of just $1.2 billion, is a relative minnow. But thanks to its discovery of a treatment for the rare genetic disorder Prader-Willi Syndrome its shares rocketed in September, leaving the company with an annual gain of 1908%.Also Read: ‘Magnificent 7’ Widens Gap With Rest Of S&P 500, But That May Change In 2024
Carvana (NYSE:CVNA) shares, meanwhile, started the year at $4.74 and, as it negotiated its continued existence with financial backers, buying itself more time, the shares jumped a remarkable 1079% taking the $11 billion market-cap car dealer to $55.89.
Further down the market-cap tree, Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) gained 1064%, making it the best performer this year on the NASDAQ Composite index after increasingly positive results drove several analyst upgrades. The IT services company’s strong links to artificial intelligence data processing was a major driver of its performance.
Several stocks with direct exposure to the fourth-quarter rally in cryptocurrencies were also strong performers over the year. These included Bitcoin miners Bit Digital (NASDAQ:BTBT), up 725% and Bitfarms (NASDAQ:BITF), which gained 670%.
Outperforming ETFs
Thanks to the performance of cryptocurrencies, the Grayscale Bitcoin Cash Trust (NYSE:BCHC), an exchange-traded product that tracks the price of Bitcoin Cash, was the best-performing non-equity ETF, with an annual gain of 1178%, massively outperforming the price movement of Bitcoin Cash, which only managed a rally of 177%.Not surprisingly, given the performances of the Mag7 stocks, exchange-traded funds that tracked growth stocks were the best equity ETF performers. They all managed to outperform the NASDAQ Composite’s 44.5% but were only able to broadly match the outstanding 54% seen on the slimmer NASDAQ 100 index.
The best performing was the Baron Fifth Avenue Growth Fund (NYSE:BFTIX), which gained nearly 60% over the year, while the Fidelity Blue Chip Growth ETF (NYSE:FBCG), which climbed 59%. Both ETFs contain the Mag7 stocks.
Now Read: Can’t Buy Into SpaceX? Here’s How to Get A Piece Of The Rocket Launch Action
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