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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Moneybox: The Year?s Top Stocks

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Moneybox
The Year's Top Stocks
Warning: It's a depressing list.
By Matthew Yglesias
Posted Wednesday, Dec 28, 2011, at 06:52 PM ET

What better way to while away the waning days of 2011 than to look back at the investment opportunities you missed? Even in a generally flat year for the big S&P 500 index, a handful of firms did much better than average. A look at the standout business success stories behind the 10 stocks with the highest percentage price increase on the index helps us understand how the American economy has evolved. (We'll look exclusively at firms that started and ended the year as S&P components.)

1. Cabot Oil & Gas
Opening price: $38.46. Current price: $76.41.
Growth: 107 percent

Success for the energy industry will be a theme of this list, and, as you can tell from the name, the good people of Cabot are involved in the oil and gas industry. Specifically onshore drilling right here in the United States of America. With facilities in Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and the Rocky Mountains, they've ridden the hydrofracking boom to more than double the value of their stock.

2. El Paso Corporation
Opening price: $13.75. Current price: $26.20.
Growth: 90.41 percent
Currently based in Houston rather than its original hometown, the El Paso Corporation is primarily in the business of owning and operating regulated interstate natural gas pipelines, another industry getting a boost from frack-mania. On Oct. 16 they announced they would be acquired by Kinder Morgan, driving stock prices even higher.

3. MasterCard
Opening price: $220.85. Current price: $372.59 ...

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