DivGro's Best and Worst Performers in 2020

Now that 2020 is in the rearview mirror, I wanted to review the best and worst performers in my DivGro portfolio in 2020. 

In this review, I considered only positions I owned throughout 2020. These include dividend growth stocks, dividend-paying stocks, growth stocks, and one closed-end fund. 

Of the 72 positions I've owned throughout the year, 18 stocks had negative returns for the year. On average, these positions are up 15.6% for the year, though if I use a weighted average instead of an arithmetic average, the return is a more impressive 20.4%! These returns exclude dividends. 

My worst performer was Valero Energy Corporation (VLO), down 40% since 1 January 2020. This year's best performer is Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSM), whose stock price increased by 85% in 2020!

Here is a chart showing the price performance of DivGro positions I owned each and every day in 2020:

Given the market crash in late February and early March, I'm thrilled with DivGro's overall performance and, especially, to see no fewer than six positions with returns topping 60%!

It is also informative to look at the annualized returns of these positions, including dividends:

It is great to see that every position has positive annualized returns! The three top-performing positions are Information Technology sector stocks, Apple Inc (MSFT), Microsoft Corporation (MSFT), and QUALCOMM Incorporated (QCOM), all with annualized returns topping 75%!

I have ten positions with triple-digit percentage returns and one just shy of that mark:

Two of these positions are growth stocks, Netflix, Inc (NFLX) and Amazon.com Inc (AMZN). I find it interesting that most of these stocks have rather small current yields, meaning a significant portion of the returns come from share price growth.  For Intel Corporation (INTC), I've received more than a third of my original investment back in the form of dividends. 

Ten Worst Performers

The following table presents DivGro's ten worst-performing positions in 2020. These are all stocks I owned on 1 January 2020 and that I still own today:

DivGro's Worst Performers of 2020
Ticker	Company	Sector	Total Return
VLO	Valero Energy Corporation	Energy	-39.9%
T	AT&T Inc	Communication Services	-24.0%
MAIN	Main Street Capital Corporation	Financials	-23.7%
NNN	National Retail Properties, Inc	Real Estate	-20.4%
INTC	Intel Corporation	Information Technology	-16.7%
GD	General Dynamics Corporation	Industrials	-16.1%
AFL	Aflac Incorporated	Financials	-15.1%
MO	Altria Group, Inc	Consumer Staples	-15.0%
LMT	Lockheed Martin Corporation	Industrials	-10.0%
WPC	WP Carey Inc	Real Estate	-9.5%

Ten Best Performers

The following table presents DivGro's ten best-performing positions in 2020. These are all stocks I owned on 1 January 2020 and that I still own today:

DivGro's Best Performers of 2020
Ticker	Company	Sector	Total Return
TSM	Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing  Company Limited	Information Technology	84.7%
AAPL	Apple Inc	Information Technology	79.1%
QCOM	QUALCOMM Incorporated	Information Technology	73.7%
AMZN	Amazon.com, Inc	Consumer Discretionary	71.7%
FDX	FedEx Corporation	Industrials	68.5%
NFLX	Netflix, Inc	Communication Services	64.5%
UPS	United Parcel Service	Industrials	45.4%
BLK	BlackRock, Inc	Financials	42.0%
NKE	NIKE, Inc	Consumer Discretionary	39.8%
MSFT	Microsoft Corporation	Information Technology	39.3%

Concluding Remarks

Of the 72 positions I've owned throughout the year, more stocks had positive returns for the year than negative returns. The weighted average return of these stocks was 20.4%, which easily outpaced the S&P 500's 16.3% return. 

---

Thanks for reading! If you liked this article and would like to read similar articles in future,

please subscribe to receive an e-mail message whenever I post a new article. 

—•—•—

I wish you a healthy, happy, and prosperous 2021!