Moneybox: The Year?s Top Stocks

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Moneybox The Year's Top Stocks Warning: It's a depressing list. By Matthew Yglesias Posted Wednesday, Dec 28, 2011, at 06:52 PM ET What better way to while away the waning days of 2011 than to look back at the investment opportunities you missed? Even in a generally flat year for the big S&P 500 index, a handful of firms did much better than average. A look at the standout business success stories behind the 10 stocks with the highest percentage price increase on the index helps us understand how the American economy has evolved. (We'll look exclusively at firms that started and ended the year as S&P components.) 1. Cabot Oil & Gas Opening price: $38.46. Current price: $76.41. Growth: 107 percent Success for the energy industry will be a theme of this list, and, as you can tell from the name, the good people of Cabot are involved in the oil and gas industry. Specifically onshore drilling right here in the United States of America. With facilities in Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and the Rocky Mountains, they've ridden the hydrofracking boom to more than double the value of their stock. 2. El Paso Corporation Opening price: $13.75. Current price: $26.20. Growth: 90.41 percent Currently based in Houston rather than its original hometown, the El Paso Corporation is primarily in the business of owning and operating regulated interstate natural gas pipelines, another industry getting a boost from frack-mania. On Oct. 16 they announced they would be acquired by Kinder Morgan, driving stock prices even higher. 3. MasterCard Opening price: $220.85. Current price: $372.59 ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate South Hadley Reveals How Much It Paid Phoebe Prince's Family in Settlement Why Was There So Much Whistling in Pop This Year? The Incredibly Vicious Dishwasher Wars of 2011	Advertisement
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