In commemoration of the bull market’s 9th anniversary, we wanted to take a brief moment to highlight some of the equity market’s biggest winners and losers over the last nine years.  We’ll start with the losers.  Within the current universe of S&P 1500 stocks, a total of 60 names have share prices that are lower now than they were on the day the market bottomed.  That’s a pretty amazing forgettable accomplishment when you think about it, and suggests that these companies — whether through their own fault or the fault of a larger macro trend — have had some major issues to contend with.  The table below lists the 21 current members of the S&P 1500 that have seen their share prices decline 50% or more during the bull market.  Most of these names are either small or mid-cap names that you may have never heard of, but a lot of companies formerly considered high-quality, like JC Penney (JCP) and Barnes and Noble (BKS), are also listed.  The only two stocks listed that are in the S&P 500 (highlighted in grey) are Chesapeake Energy (CHK) and Range Resources (RRC).

Now to the winners.  Since the bull market began, 206 current members of the S&P 1500 have been ten-baggers, meaning that investors who held them the entire time have made over ten times their money.  Below we list the 25 best-performing stocks of the group.  All 25 of the names listed have gained more than 3,000% (thirty times your money), and 12 are up by over 5,000%.  The biggest winner, though, has been Patrick Industries (PATK).  On March 9, 2009, PATK closed at 16 cents.  Nine years later, its share price is $64.70 for a gain of 41,480.98%!!! Most people have never heard of PATK, but looking at the list there are a number of well-known S&P 500 companies as well.  As shown, GGP, United Rentals (URI), and Netflix (NFLX) are all 50-baggers.