Deep Dive: These 20 stocks were the biggest winners of 2022

Even during a year in which the S&P 500 index has declined 19%, with 70% of its stocks in the red, there are plenty of winners.

Before showing you the list of the best performers in the benchmark index, let’s look at a preview: Here’s how the 11 sectors of the S&P 500
SPX,
-0.58%
have performed this year through the close on Dec. 29:

S&P 500 sector

2022 price change

Forward P/E

Forward P/E as of Dec. 31, 2021

Energy

57.8%

9.6

11.1

Utilities

-0.5%

18.8

20.4

Consumer Staples

-2.7%

20.9

21.8

Healthcare

-3.2%

17.4

17.2

Industrials

-6.7%

18.0

20.8

Financials

-12.1%

11.7

14.6

Materials

-13.4%

15.6

16.6

Real Estate

-27.7%

16.2

24.2

Information Technology

-28.8%

19.6

28.1

Consumer Discretionary

-37.4%

20.7

33.2

Communication Services

-40.4%

14.0

20.8

S&P 500

-19.2%

16.5

21.4

Source FactSet

Maybe you aren’t surprised to see that the energy sector is the only one that has increased this year. But it might surprise you to see that despite the sector’s weighted price increase of nearly 58%, its forward price-to-earnings ratio has declined and remains very low relative to all other sectors.

It might also surprise you that West Texas Intermediate crude oil
CL.1,
+0.87%
has given up most of its gains from earlier this year:

FactSet

The reason investors have remained confident in energy stocks is that oil producers have remained cautious when it comes to capital spending. They don’t want to increase supply enough to cause prices to crash, as they did in the run-up to the summer of 2014, after which prices fell steadily through early 2016, causing bankruptcies and consolidation in the industry.

Now the oil companies are focusing on maintaining supply, raising dividends and buying back shares, as Occidental Petroleum Corp.’s
OXY,
+0.52%
chief executive explained in a recent interview with Matt Peterson. Click here for more about Occidental and the long-term supply/demand outlook for oil.

Best-performing S&P 500 stocks of 2022

Here are the 20 stocks in the benchmark index that have risen the most during 2022 through the close on Dec. 29, excluding dividends. Proving that there are always exceptions, not all of them are in the energy sector.

Company

Ticker

Sector

Industry

2022 price change

Occidental Petroleum Corp.

OXY,
+0.52%

Energy

Oil & Gas Production

114.8%

Hess Corp.

HES,
-0.09%