The Consistent Market Movers of 2020

Over the course of 2020, the five stocks that consistently made the biggest gains on the S&P 500 included Etsy Inc. (NASDAQ:ETSY), Carnival Corp. (NYSE:CCL), Devon Energy Corp. (NYSE:DVN), Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NCLH) and Apache Corp. (NASDAQ:APA).

Starting in March of last year, GuruFocus began a new initiative to become more active on social media and interact with our audience on a daily basis. Throughout the year we developed several series of posts, including our increasingly popular Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio) Wednesdays and Market Movers.

• ETSY 30-Year Financial Data
• The intrinsic value of ETSY
• Peter Lynch Chart of ETSY

By June, it became clear that both of these series had become staples of our social media presence and they were implemented on a weekly basis. In October, Market Movers found a daily space on our social channels where our audience could find the top gaining stocks in the S&P 500 at a glance.

Etsy

Etsy was featured the most out of any company thanks to large gains throughout the year. The company landed in 10 separate posts thanks to a massive rise in per-share price starting in March.

Etsy is an American retailer of handmade goods, vintage items and crafted goods. The business model is based on sellers listing products on Etsy's platform. The product categories are clothing and accessories, jewelry, craft supplies and tools, wedding accessories and clothing, entertainment items, home and living, vintage items and child and baby goods. Etsy's revenue is categorized as: marketplace revenue, seller services and other revenue. The marketplace consists of a platform where sellers can list their products in exchange of a fee paid to Etsy.

On Jan. 4, the stock was trading at $172.13 per share with a market cap of $21.70 billion. THe GF Value Line gives the stock a significantly overvalued rating.

GuruFocus gives the company a financial strength rating of 6 out of 10 and a profitability rank of 6 out of 10. There are currently no severe warning signs issued for the company. Throughout the last three years, the company has drastically increased its cash flows and brought net income into positive territory after a few years of struggles.

Carnival

Carnival ranked second overall with nine separate mentions in our Market Movers posts throughout the year. Carnival took a beating at the beginning of 2020, when travel shut down worldwide. Since May, the company has been taking small strides to make its way back to pre-pandemic levels.

Carnival is the largest global cruise company, set to deploy 87 ships on the seas once cruising fully resumes after the pandemic. Its portfolio of brands includes Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America, Princess Cruises and Seabourn in North America; P&O Cruises and Cunard Line in the United Kingdom; Aida in Germany; Costa Cruises in Southern Europe; and P&O Cruises in Australia. Carnival also owns Holland America Princess Alaska Tours in Alaska and the Canadian Yukon. Carnival's brands attracted about 13 million guests in 2019.

As of Jan. 4, the stock was trading at $20.38 per share with a market cap of $22.50 billion. The GF Value Line shows that the stock is trading at a significantly overvalued rating.

GuruFocus gives the company a financial strength rating of 4 out of 10, a profitability rank of 7 out of 10 and a valuation rank of 7 out of 10. There are currently five severe warning signs issued, including building days sales outstanding and poor financial strength. Debt has increased significantly since 2015 as free cash flow has taken a large dive.

Devon Energy

Devon Energy ranked third overall on our list of Market Movers throughout the year. The share value has decreased throughout the last several years, but the company still made several small jumps and has been on the rise since November.

Devon Energy, based in Oklahoma City, is one of the largest independent exploration and production companies in North America. The firm's asset base is spread throughout onshore North America and includes exposure to the Delaware, STACK, Eagle Ford, Powder River Basin and Bakken plays. At year-end 2019, Devon's proven reserves totaled 589 million barrels of oil equivalent, with net production of 323 mboe/d. Oil and natural gas liquids made up 69% of production and 62% of proven reserves.

Jan. 4 saw the stock trading at $16.13 per share, up 2.02%, with a market cap of $6.17 billion. It is trading at fair value according to the GF Value Line.

GuruFocus gives the company a financial strength rating of 4 out of 10, a profitability rank of 5 out of 10 and a valuation rank of 8 out of 10. There are currently three severe warning signs issued for poor financial strength, declining revenue per share and an Altman Z-Score of 0.38 placing the company in the distress column. The weighted average cost of capital drastically outweighs the return on invested capital, meaning the company will destroy value as it grows.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings tied Devon Energy for third place, reaching our Market Movers seven different times. The company offers a similar story to Carnival, making steady progress to recover during the pandemic.

Norwegian Cruise Line is the world's third-largest cruise company by berths (at nearly 60,000), operating 28 ships across three brands (Norwegian, Oceania, and Regent Seven Seas), offering both freestyle and luxury cruising. Norwegian sails to more than 450 global destinations.

On Jan. 4, the stock was trading at $23.73 per share with a market cap of $7.49 billion. The GF Value Line shows that it is trading at a significantly overvalued rating.

GuruFocus gives the company a financial strength rating of 3 out of 10 and a profitability rank of 8 out of 10. There are currently six severe warning signs issued, including poor financial strength and new long-term debt. The company was growing revenue and net income prior to the pandemic downturn.

Apache

Apache rounds out the top five with six mentions throughout the last year in our Market Movers series. As with many companies, it hit a low in March, but has slowly started to regain traction since September.

Apache, based in Houston, is one of the largest independent exploration and production companies in the world. It operates primarily in the U.S., Egypt, the North Sea and Suriname. At year-end 2019, proved reserves totaled 1.0 billion barrels of oil equivalent, with net reported production of 417 mboe/d (68% of which was oil and natural gas liquids, with the remainder comprising natural gas).

Jan. 4 saw the stock trading at $14.77 per share with a market cap of $5.58 billion. According to the GF Value Line, it is the only company on the list trading at a modestly undervalued rating.

GuruFocus gives the company a financial strength rating of 1 out of 10, a profitability rank of 5 out of 10 and a valuation rank of 8 out of 10. There are currently five severe warning signs issued for the company. The cash-to-debt ratio of 0.02 ranks the company lower than 91.01% of the industry and the Altman Z-Score of -2.43 places the company deep into the distress column with bankruptcy a possibility in the next two years.

Disclosure: Author owns no stocks mentioned.

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