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5 of the best stocks of 2020

We talked about some of the worst stocks of 2020 in this article. To finish the year on a positive note, I want to talk about the 5 best performing stocks of 2020. The champions, the elite. The stocks that made you wish you invested back in March. Hopefully, these ideas might motivate your to invest in stocks as well.

To keep your interest alive, I will leave stocks like Tesla, Netflix and Zoom aside. I'm sure you're tired of them, and that you don't need yet another article telling you that Tesla had a +700% surge in 2020. You know, you regret not buying earlier, but that's life.

Without further ado, let's jump into it.

Adani Green Energy Ltd (NSE:ADANIGREEN)

Adani Green Energy is part of one of India's largest conglomerate: the Adani Group. This year, it is among the nation's top 100 stocks.

Shares of the company jumped 522% in 2020, heavily outperforming the National Stock Exchange's Nifty 100 Index, which showed a 13% gain. If we take in consideration the downfall of March, that's a 923% rally from the Rs 112.70 low in March 17 to the Rs 1'041 now. Despite rather disappointing earnings, with net sales declining by 11% in Q2 and an 82% fall from Q3 2019 to Q3 2020, many factors kept a positive sentiment around the stock: Adani was ranked number one by Mercom Capital as the global solar power generation asset owner in terms of both operated and under constructions projects. Also, it is the only Indian developer among the top 10 global solar powers, and currently the top global solar power developer with 2.3 GW of operational projects, 2 GW under construction and no less than 8 GW of awarded projects, giving it a total capacity of 12.3GW.

The company has one goal in mind: to become the world's largest renewable power company by 2025. Back in June, they said that they were going to invest 450 billion rupees ($6.5 billion) to execute what they call the world's largest solar order.

 

Adani Green Energy Ltd Stock

 

NIO (NYSE:NIO)

While everyone is talking about Tesla, many forget NIO, the Chinese EV manufacturer breaking the market. Year to date, the stock is up 1'115%.

Of course, part of its success is certainly due to what we call the "Tesla Effect". EVs have become hot this year, with almost every stock in the sector offering a very solid performance - making Elon Musk reaching the spot of the second wealthiest individual on the planet.

But hype is not everything. After all, NIO's vehicles are just, well, good vehicles. They've been working hard to offer a good looking fleet, with the ES6 and ES8 which are five-seater and seven-seater cars respectively, as well as the recently launched EC6, a coupe SUV. Their latest model, the EE7 sedan - arguably the coolest of them all - will be launched early in 2021. Rumors also talk about a potential fifth vehicle to be announced for the coming year.

It would be unfair to expect the same stock growth for 2021, but if the cars keep selling, there is no reason why the stock price should stumble.

 

NIO stock

 

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX)

It would not really be a 2020 top if we did not talk about at least one Covid-19 vaccine related stock.

We have not talked about Novamax much as they were not among the first movers in the Covid-19 vaccine quest. However, as we always say, better late than never. At the time of writing this post, Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine has already been given to many people in several countries, while Moderna has been slowed by allergic reactions to its use.

Recently, Bill Gates appeared in an interview talking about the effectiveness of Novavax's vaccine along with those of AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson. The difference between these 2 companies and Novavax? Combined, they are worth $535 billion, or 64 times that of Novavax. Room for growth? Maybe.

Novamax has yet to complete the Phase 3 clinical trials in the US and everywhere else on the globe. Although it is no done deal, the European Union has entered negotiations for Novavax to supply up to 200 million doses in Europe, which is good news for the company and its shareholders. As of now, year to date, the stock is up more than 2'500%.

Lastly, the company has yet another vaccine, waiting for an FDA approval, called Nanoflu. Although the performance of 2020 was already astounding, it could also only be the beginning of an outstanding growth in 2021.

 

Novavax Inc stock

 

Fiverr (NYSE:FVRR)

Fiverr is a freelancing marketplace where people can offer their services online to accomplish tasks, big or small, in exchange for a fee. Whether you need a musical intro for your podcast, a translation for your memoirs or a logo for your new start-up project, Fiverr is the way to go. No wonder, Fiverr played a crucial role in what we call the "gig economy", where many people were looking for ways to earn this little additional income to put food on their table or make sure they could keep up with rent.

Fiverr stock had a crazy performance this year, with a stock growth of +779%. The company almost doubled its 3rd quarter revenues year over year, fueling an astounding growth. And it is not nearly over. According to analysts, the market they're aiming for is expected to be worth $100 billion only in North America, even higher in Europe, and let's not even mention Asia-Pacific. Adding to this, the company constantly expands the range of services it is willing to offer on the platform. We could be witnessing the birth of a giant in an economy increasingly with peer-to-peer interactions.

 

Fiverr International Ltd Stock

 

Shopify Inc. (NYSE:SHOP)

It would not be a top of 2020 if we did not have an e-commerce stock on our list. And because you have all heard about the tremendous success of Amazon, let us talk about Shopify.

Shopify is a platform to facilitate e-commerce website building. In only a few clicks, you can set up a website and start selling your products. All payment methods are integrated, and the website design is not more complicated that dragging and dropping and choosing themes and colors, an enormous help for the independent sellers who do not have the magic gift of coding.

The market crash scared investors as many thought that Shopify was doomed for failure, but the pandemic and the surge of e-commerce seemed to have saved the company. Shopify has become one of the champions of e-commerce in a matter of months, breaking records with astounding numbers again and again. Since the company entered the financial markets arena, its shares have grown 3'785%, and this year only, it grew 165%. Their revenue grew 96% year over year, and the rate of subscription grew 48% in the same time range. A surge of new merchants is bringing recurring revenue to the company, accounting for both growth and stability.

 

Shopify Inc Stock

 

And there we are, this was a selection of some of the great performing stocks of 2020. It will now be interesting to see if these stocks will be able to maintain their outstanding performance running into 2021, or who will be the next hot stocks. Looking at the best and worst performers is a great way to start learning and make better judgments to invest in stocks. 

 

Sources:

The 10 Best-Performing Stocks of 2020, in NASDAQ

Best-Performing Stocks: December 2020, in Nerdwallet

The 5 Best Stocks of 2020, in the Motley Fool

Year in Review: The 5 Best-Performing Stocks of 2020, in Yahoo! Finance

Top five stocks which made you richer by up to 500% in 2020, in Mint

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