The Best Performing Stocks of 2010

The stock market soared in 2010, despite the continued slump in housing, tenacious unemployment rates, and fear of the burden of worldwide debt. Stock price performance of some companies with at least a market value of $1 billion dollars or more showed definite winning performance. Results are based upon closing stock prices on the December 28^th trading session and mid December market capitalization. Stock price percentage gains noted are year to date. Here are some of the top performers of 2010.

Netflix, Inc. Stock price up 226.8% Blockbuster, its main competitor, declared bankruptcy which helped Netflix sales. Coupling the DVD by mail service with streaming video deals the company is thought by some to continue to shine.

Trading Symbol: NFLX on NASDAQ Exchange
The 52 week low on 1/25/10 was $48.52.
The 52 week high on 12/1/10 was $209.24.

Crocs Inc. Stock price up 206.4% The maker of those funny looking but comfortable shoes seemed to be in trouble for a while. Excessive debt and slumping sales drove the stock price to a low under $6.00, but new products and cost saving measures led to a remarkable gain in 2010.

Trading Symbol: CROX on NASDAQ Exchange
The 52 week low on 12/30/09 was $5.65.
The 52 week high on 12/21/10 was $19.54.

Riverbed Technology, Inc. Stock price up 204.5% Riverbed develops software solutions to the problems associated with information technology (IT) performance across wide area networks (WANs). The Company's Steelhead products enable its customers to improve the performance of their applications and access to their data across WANs by increasing transmission speeds.

Trading Symbol: RVBD on NASDAQ Exchange
The 52 week low on 1/22/10 was $11.08.
The 52 week high on 12/13/10 was $37.94.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. Stock price up 152.6% This popular chain has barely felt the recession. While other eateries have cut prices to retain customers, Chipotle has kept price levels steady. A well run company, this chain has even seen expansions in some markets.

Trading Symbol: CMG on NYSE
The 52 week low on 1/7/10 was $86.00.
The 52 week high on 11/30/10 was $262.77.

Atmel Corporation Stock price up 167.9% Atmel designs, develops, manufactures and sells a range of semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) products and touch solutions. Its products consist primarily of microcontrollers, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory, radio frequency (RF) and system-level integration semiconductor solutions. A large portion of its sales are from Asia.

Trading Symbol: ATML on NASDAQ Exchange
The 52 week low on 2/9/10 was $4.29.
The 52 week high on 12/16/10 was $12.68 .

Source:
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