It's been a pretty rough year for stock investors, with the S&P basically ending flat in 2011. While the general market went nowhere last year, quite a few stocks poured in monster performances.
After a volatile year, gold was up 10% going into the last week of 2011, while silver was down 4%. Copper was one of the largest losers, with a 34% drop. Most gold and silver miners have been lagging their respective metals.
While the metals didn't move up much this year, some miners have made up significant ground. Here's a list of this year's top 15 performers in the metals and mining industry:
|
Company |
YTD Return |
|
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Haynes International (Nasdaq: HAYN ) | 35.6% |
| 2 | Endeavour Silver (NYSE: EXK ) | 35.2% |
| 3 | Carpenter Technology | 33.9% |
| 4 | Royal Gold (Nasdaq: RGLD ) | 26.7% |
| 5 | Randgold Resources (Nasdaq: GOLD ) | 26.4% |
| 6 | First Majestic Silver (NYSE: AG ) | 24.0% |
| 7 | Allied Nevada Gold | 21.5% |
| 8 | Yamana Gold (NYSE: AUY ) | 21.4% |
| 9 | Harmony Gold Mining | 21.2% |
| 10 | Franco-Nevada | 17.3% |
| 11 | Fortuna Silver Mines | 17.2% |
| 12 | Central GoldTrust | 13.0% |
| 13 | Extorre Gold Mines | 11.7% |
| 14 | Gold Fields (NYSE: GFI ) | 9.8% |
| 15 | AngloGold Ashanti | 8.8% |
Source: S&P Capital IQ. Only includes companies listed on U.S. exchanges with a market capitalization greater than $500 million.
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