The U.S. stock market was not affected by inflation, high interest rates, the bankruptcy crisis that struck a small number of U.S. banks, and geopolitical tensions around the world in 2023.
All three major indexes on the New York Stock Exchange recorded gains during the current year. The influx of investors into technology stocks supported that growth. The emergence of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has likewise increasingly played an important role in the economy.
Best-performing stocks in 2023
George Khoury, global head of education and research at CFI Group stated that the best-performing stocks of 2023 are:
- Carvana (CVNA): Carvana Co. is an online used car retailer based in Tempe, Arizona. Carvana was named to the 2021 Fortune 500 list, one of the youngest companies to be added to the list. The leading online used car sales company announced an impressive growth of 1,082 percent in its stock price from the beginning of 2023 to date. Strong net income in the third quarter of 2023, which amounted to $741 million supported this growth. Carvana’s unique business model has led to unparalleled success this year.
- Riot Platforms Inc. (RIOT): Riot Platforms is a Bitcoin mining and digital infrastructure company focused on a vertically integrated strategy. The Company has Bitcoin mining data center operations in central Texas, Bitcoin mining operations in central Texas, and electrical switchgear engineering and fabrication operations in Denver, Colorado. Riot’s stocks rose by 442.2 percent during 2023. It benefitted from the recovery in the cryptocurrency market to achieve its remarkable growth.
Pharmaceutical company stocks
- ImmunoGen Inc. (IMGN): ImmunoGen, Inc. is a biotechnology company focused on the development of antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) therapeutics for the treatment of cancer. The biopharmaceutical company’s stock has grown by approximately 581.7 percent since the beginning of 2023. ImmunoGen is a company specializing in cancer treatment. It has achieved significant gains after its successful third phase of testing for its treatment Elahere.
- MoonLake Immunotherapeutics (MLTX): MoonLake Immunotherapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company unlocking the potential of Sonelokimab, the novel investigational Nanobody for the treatment of inflammation, to revolutionize outcomes for patients. MoonLake witnessed strong growth since the beginning of 2023, amounting to 478.2 percent. MoonLake is a biopharmaceutical company focused on nanoparticles that treat inflammation in the body. Its positive trial results for its treatments have fueled confidence in its shares.
- BridgeBio Pharma Inc. (BBIO): BridgeBio Pharma Inc (BridgeBio) is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company that develops drugs for genetic diseases and cancer. The company’s pipeline products include precision cardiorenal, mendelian, precision oncology, and gene therapy. Its stock has grown by 406.8 percent since the beginning of 2023. Its results of positive clinical trials for some of its products have positioned it as an attractive candidate in the field of biopharmaceuticals.
Tech companies
- Symbotic Inc. (SYM): Symbotic is an American robotics warehouse automation company based in Wilmington, Massachusetts. The company builds and operates automated warehouse systems for clients in the United States and Canada, using artificial intelligence in its software. It has witnessed a remarkable growth of 341.9 percent since the beginning of 2023. The company met the needs of key customers such as Walmart, Albertsons, and C&S Wholesale Grocers, which contributed to its revenue growth of 60 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023.
- Affirm Holdings Inc. (AFRM): Affirm Holdings, Inc. is an American public company founded in 2012. It is a financial technology company with a buy now, pay later service for online and in-store purchases. Affirm leads the buy now, pay later sector in the U.S., and reports serving 16.9 million customers and over 266,000 merchants, as of 2023. It has achieved strong growth since the beginning of the year, reaching 341.8 percent. Affirm offers short-term, interest-free loans and other similar services.
- AppLovin Corp. (APP): The AppLovin Corporation is an American mobile technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. AppLovin enables developers of all sizes to market, monetize, analyze, and publish their apps through its mobile advertising, marketing, and analytics platforms MAX, AppDiscovery, and SparkLabs. It achieved a growth of 318.9 percent since the beginning of 2023. AppLovin is a global company specializing in providing mobile application technology. Its revenues grew by 21 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2023. This growth was driven by the AXON 2.0 advertising platform that it launched this year.
U.S. indexes rise
U.S. indexes also continued to rise during the last month of 2023, with investors’ focus shifting from rising interest rates to the possibility of lowering them as soon as early 2024. That is what the U.S. Federal Reserve hinted at in its last meeting, during which it kept interest rates unchanged.
Since the beginning of 2023, the S&P 500 recorded a 24.4 percent increase. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average recorded a 13.3 percent increase. Additionally, the technology-dominated Nasdaq Composite recorded a 44 percent increase, putting it on track for top performance annually since 2020. However, it is crucial to take into account that these percentages are subject to change by the end of the last trading day of 2023.
Read: Dollar faces strain amidst rate cut speculations in holiday trading
Tech stocks
Technology stocks reclaimed their gains in 2023 after sharp losses in 2022. They were supported by the so-called mega technology stocks, led by Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, and Tesla. All of them consolidated the gains of the S&P 500 index so far this year.
According to Bloomberg, at the end of 2022, experts expected that the S&P 500 index would end 2023 at 4,078 points. In fact, the index has exceeded 4,700 points at present. It recorded gains of more than 22 percent, which means that the expectations were completely far-fetched and exceeded the state of pessimism that prevailed when they were released.
For more news on markets, click here.
