S&P 500: Only 7 Stocks Could Gain 500% In Five Years (Tesla Isn’t No. 1)

Not many S&P 500 stocks have enough oomph to jump 500% in five years. But a handful show it’s more than possible.

X

Elon Musk’s Tesla (TSLA) did it: It’s up 739% in the past five years. But it’s not alone or even the best. Six other S&P 500 stocks, including top-managed energy technology firm Enphase Energy (ENPH) and SolarEdge (SEDG), soared more than 500% since this time in 2007, says an Investor’s Business Daily analysis of data from S&P Global Market Intelligence and MarketSmith.

Thriving In The Crazy Five Years

Why do the past five years matter so much to investors? It’s been a historic half decade for stocks. You’ve seen which companies can handle just about anything thrown at them. Political upheaval, a pandemic, a painful but short recession and now inflation and an unwinding of globalization plus threat of another recession all happened in five years.

“The problem is, the combination of higher costs and lower revenues could hit corporate America hard,” said Jack Ablin, strategist at Cresset Capital Management.

Amazingly, S&P 500 stocks did pretty well during the past five years. And that’s saying something.

All 10 of the S&P 500 sectors that existed five years ago are up in that time. The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK) more than doubled, making it the best-performing sector. And even the worst sector in that time, Real Estate Select Sector SPDR (XLRE), rose 15.2%.

What about the S&P 500 itself? Despite everything thrown at it, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), rose nearly 50%. But that’s nothing compared to the winners in the period.

11,223% Gain In Five Years!

The biggest winner in the S&P 500 is also one of its newest members: Enphase.

Shares of the leader of solar-power equipment are up more than 11,220% in five years. That’s a remarkable move that would have turned a $10,000 investment in late 2017 into $1.1 million now. The company only joined the S&P 500 in late 2020.

It’s clear investors see great promise from clean energy. The No. 2 S&P 500 winner in the past five years isn’t Tesla, it’s SolarEdge. Shares of the other S&P 500 company that makes solar-power equipment are up nearly 760% in five years. That turned a $10,000 investment into $85,972 for a tidy $75,972 gain. SolarEdge’s profit this year is on pace to double what it was just five years ago.

That’s not to take anything away from Elon Musk’s Tesla, another clean energy play. The past five years haven’t been the electric car maker’s best: It’s lost half its value this year alone. But shares are still up more than 738% in five years, making it the third best in the S&P 500. And that’s enough to turn your $10,000 investment five years ago into $73,877.

The lesson? You can still make loads of money in stocks during one of the most unusual times for the S&P 500.

Huge S&P 500 Winners In Past Five Years

Sources: IBD, S&P Global Market Intelligence