In a relatively healthy market year -- as 2004 ultimately panned out to be -- finding equities that appreciated is a pretty easy feat. However, how many of those doubled? How many tripled?
Let's take a closer look at five big winners this year. Each one saw its share price more than triple on the heels of improving fundamentals and the market's refreshing discovery process.
Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK) -- We are a thrifty lot. Perhaps that's why the clearance haven that is Overstock.com has seen its sales rise by 79% through the first nine months of the year. No, it's not as easy as that. The company is also pretty good at it as it has been beefing up its margins while giving its consumers some pretty amazing deals on overruns and closeouts. The stock has also been a big recent winner, soaring by nearly 60% since being singled out as a stock recommendation in our Rule Breakers newsletter.
Apple Computer (NASDAQ:AAPL) -- I'm not the only one who has always had a soft spot for Apple despite spending most of my life pecking away on Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows-powered PCs. You probably feel that way too. The company always put out a quality product that was easy on the eyes. It also rested well at night given its substantial cash hoard. The problem was that it was dealing with a thin slice of market share and even areas where the company was once the dominant force -- like education -- soon found Apple lapped by more aggressive rivals of the Wintel world.
Well, thanks to the iPod, the company's portable digital music player, Apple matters again. It is now also the leading seller of digital tunes and it is now selling as many iPod units as Macs. In an ideal world, many of those iPod users will become so enamored with the Apple brand that they migrate over to the Mac realm. If not, at least the shareholders are sitting pretty with the stock appreciating threefold in 2004.
Click Commerce (NASDAQ:CKCM) -- While everyone expects radio frequency identification -- or RFID -- to become a popular buzzword come 2005, that didn't stop some of the promising tracking technology's players from reaping market rewards in 2004. Click Commerce, which I profiled earlier this month, tripled this past year on the heels of its bTrade acquisition, positioning the company as an attractive data synchronization specialist that helps retailers and their suppliers shift to the new inventory control platform in an orderly fashion.
Kmart (NASDAQ:KMRT) -- Even before the "Big K" was talking merger with Sears (NYSE:S), the roughed up discount department store chain had bounced back strongly given optimism over the company's turnaround chances and its valuable real estate. While the company still has many challenges to face come 2005, thanks to Sears it won't be facing them alone.
Taser (NASDAQ:TASR) -- The stun gun maker produced a stunner of a year, more than quadrupling in 2004. What will it do for an encore? Given its selection in last month's Rule Breakers edition, it's apparent that a few people think this is just the beginning. Despite some recent notoriety over police officers using Tasers to sedate minors, the popularity of stun guns as a criminal pursuing weapon over the less forgiving bullet-flinging pistol gives Taser room to grow -- and stun.
Were you an Apple investor in 2004? Did you cash out too soon? Are you still holding on? How will the stock fare in 2005? All this and more -- in the Apple discussion board. Only on Fool.com.Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz is bummed that even though he wrote about all five companies this year, he didn't participate in any of the financial gains. He does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this story. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early.
