The top stock of 2022 was Occidental Petroleum, an energy company. The top stock of the bottom five was Affirm Holdings, which was not an energy company.
- The Russell 1000 Index shows that the market as a whole fell 17%.
The best stock of 2022 was Occidental Petroleum. It went up 140%. - The worst drop was 87% for Affirm Holdings.
- Several of the best stocks are energy companies, which have done well because oil prices have increased.
- The rise in interest rates caused the economy to slow down, which hurt the bottom five firms.
We kept track of the top and bottom five stocks in the Russell 1000 Index by using the highest and lowest year-to-date (YTD) total returns until the market closed on November 29, 2022. During the same time, the Russell 1000 has gone down by 17%. Three of the top five stocks were from oil and gas companies. This was because energy prices went up after Russia invaded Ukraine in February and OPEC+ cut production later in the year, but they have since gone down again.
The other two are Constellation Energy Corp. (CEG), a renewable energy company whose shares went up because the government is investing in the industry, and Signify Health Inc. (SGFY), a healthcare company whose shares went up because it is about to be bought out.
Many of the worst-performing stocks of 2022 went down because inflation was going up, and consumers were being careful. Rising interest rates make them less valuable than other assets, and a slowing economy, which tends to hurt cyclical stocks like those in the bottom five, has hurt growth stocks.
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Top 5 Stocks for 2022
Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY)
- Return for the year so far: 139.9%
- The market Cap for the energy sector is $62.8B.
The oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) company Occidental Petroleum also makes petrochemicals. It also has some energy interests in the middle.
For the third quarter of 2022, Occidental earned $2.5 billion on net sales of $9.4 billion. Net income went up by 305%, and net sales went up by 38% from one year to the next.
Constellation Energy Corporation (CEG)
- Return for the year so far: 126.9%
- The market Cap for the Utility sector is $30.9B.
Constellation Energy is an electricity provider that gets most of its power from sources without pollution, like the sun, the wind, and nuclear power. Natural gas is also used to make electricity. It gives power to homes, businesses, governments, and wholesale customers all over the U.S., and almost 10% of the power it makes is carbon-free.
For the third quarter, Constellation had a net loss of $193 million, compared to a net profit of $633 million for the same time last year. Revenue rose 37% to $6.1 billion.
As one of the biggest clean energy companies in the U.S., Constellation Energy stands to gain from the Inflation Reduction Act, which President Biden signed into law on August 16. Constellation and other green energy companies could get billions of dollars in tax breaks, help with infrastructure, and other perks.
Antero Resources Corp. (AR)
- The return for Antero Resources Corp. (AR) so far this year is 111.0%
- The size of the energy market is $11.1B.
Antero Resources is mostly an exploration and production company with most of its properties in Ohio and West Virginia. It also owns a big part of Antero Midstream, an energy company that moves energy from one place to another.
The most recent quarter for Antero showed a net income of $560 million, while the same quarter the year before showed a loss of $550 million. The net income was $2.1 billion, nearly four times what it was in Q3 2021.
Texas Pacific Land Corp. (TPL):
- Year-to-Date Return for Texas Pacific Land Corp. (TPL): 104.1%
- The size of the energy market is $19.3B.
Texas Pacific Land makes money from selling land, getting oil and gas royalties, renting out grazing land, and doing other things. It owns about 880,000 acres of land in Texas and different royalty interests for oil and gas development.
In the last quarter, Texas Pacific’s net income was $130 million, and its sales were $191 million, up 55% from last year.
This is the best year for oil production in the Permian Basin, where Texas Pacific does business.
Signify Health Inc. (SGFY)
- The return for Signify Health Inc. (SGFY) so far this year is 101.3%
- The market Cap for the Healthcare sector is $6.8B
Signify Health helps millions of people pay for their health care through programmes for governments, employers, health systems, health plans, and doctors. One of its biggest customers is the Medicare programme run by the U.S. government. In September, the company said that CVS Health would buy it for about $8 billion, and the deal is expected to close in early 2023.
Signify had a net loss of $225 million for the third quarter, and its sales dropped by 30% to about $140 million.
When a company is bought out, its shares often go up a lot, at least in the short term, because the company buying it pays more per share than it was worth before the deal to get shareholders to agree to it.
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