The S&P 500's Best-Performing Stock Over The Past 5 Years Is... (Not NVDA Or TSLA)

Despite economic challenges, S&P 500 stocks have demonstrated resilience, delivering significant gains over time.

In the graphic below, utilizing data from YCharts, Visual Capitalist's Marcus Lu and Bruno Venditti have ranked the best-performing S&P 500 stocks based on their 5-year total returns as of November 2023.

IT Companies Top the List

Surprisingly, neither Tesla nor Nvidia claims the number one spot on this list.

Enphase Energy, a California-based producer of solar components and EV charging stations, secures the top position. The company provides a semiconductor-based microinverter that converts energy at the solar module level, energy monitoring technology, and control services.

According to Affinity Syntax, Enphase Energy generates over 80% of its revenue from the U.S. market.

Despite leading this list, Enphase Energy’s stock has performed poorly since December 2022, plummeting by more than 60%.

In the second position is chipmaker Nvidia. This year, America’s largest semiconductor company surpassed the $1 trillion market capitalization mark, a milestone achieved by just a handful of companies, including Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft.

Tesla holds the third spot. The automaker increased its output by a respectable 40% in 2022, outpacing Western brands like Volkswagen (+10%) and GM (+13%). However, it was surpassed by Chinese BYD, which became the top-selling EV brand globally.

The list is dominated by IT companies, with 10 of 15, but also includes two consumer discretionary and two industrial companies. Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly the sole health care company on our list.