20 Top Performer Stocks of S&P 500 index 2010 edition or leader stocks

This article will discuss about the 20 Top Performer Stocks of S&P 500 index for 2010. With the year 2010 came to the end, some stocks may have out performed or underperformed for the year especially the stocks in S&P 500 index. I always like to check which stocks have performed better for the past year as well as the laggard stocks in S&P 500. For the past year 2010, S&P index managed to closed with a gain of 12.78%. This should be considered as a good year especially after a great year during 2009. More details about the stocks will be discussed later. I also will provide the details about the top performer companies as well.

As many investors know one of the most well known US large cap indexes is the S&P 500 index. The S&P 500 has been broadly regarded as the best single estimate of the large cap U.S. stocks market. The index was first available in 1957. The index has assets comprising approximately US$ 915 billion of the US$ 3.5 trillion benchmarked, with index. The index includes 500 leading companies or stocks in many different sector industries of the U.S. economy. It has about 75% coverage of U.S. equities or stocks.

Most of the companies in S&P 500 can be divided into 9 sectors such as:

• Energy
• Materials
• Industrials
• Consumer Discretionary
• Consumer Staples
• Health Care
• Financials
• Technology
• Utilities

If you are interesting in other S&P index stocks article, please check:

• 18 Worst Performer Stocks of S&P 500 Index 2010 Edition

As of January 4th 2011, the top 3 sectors are Information Technology (18.71%), Financials (16.23%), and Energy (11.95%). Based on the list, the top performer sectors are as follows:

1. Technology – 7 companies
2. Services – 5 companies
3. Financial – 3 companies
4. Basic Materials – 2 companies
5. Consumer Goods – 2 companies
6. Industrial Goods – 1 company

1. Cummins Inc

As the top performer S&P 500 for 2010, Cummins Inc. is engaged in the manufacturing, designing, distributing and servicing various products such as diesel and natural gas engines, electric power generation systems and engine-related component products, including filtration and exhaust after treatment, fuel systems, controls and air handling systems. Cummins Inc serves its customers through a network of more than 500 Company-owned and independent distributor locations and approximately 5,200 dealer locations in more than 190 countries and territories.

For the last 12 quarters, Cummins Inc (ticker: CMI) has reported 9 positive quarters, 2 negative quarters & 1 In-Line quarter. This past quarter, Cummins announced actual EPS of $1.33 which is lower than Mean EPS of $1.411 on 10/26/2010.

2. Huntington Bancshares Inc

Huntington Bancshares Incorporated is a bank holding company operates various regional financial services. Through its many subsidiaries, the Huntington Bancshares provides full-service commercial and consumer banking services, mortgage banking services, equipment leasing, automobile financing, investment management, trust services, brokerage services, insurance service programs, and other financial products or services.

For the last 12 quarters, Huntington Bancshares (ticker: HBAN) has reported 5 positive quarters, 6 negative quarters & 1 In-Line quarter. This past quarter, Huntington Bancshares announced actual EPS of $0.10 which is higher than Mean EPS of $0.06 on 10/21/2010.

3. Wynn Resorts Limited

Wynn Resorts is a service company as well as a developer, owner and operator of destination casino resorts. It owns and operates two destination casino resorts Wynn Las Vegas and Encore at Wynn Las Vegas located adjacent to Wynn Las Vegas. Another destination casino is located at Macau (China). This resort is known as Wynn Macau. Macau is Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China.

For the last 12 quarters, Wynn Resorts (ticker: WYNN) has reported 8 positive quarters, 2 negative quarters & 2 In-Line quarter. This past quarter, Wynn Resorts announced actual EPS of $0.390 which is in line with Mean EPS of $0.394 on 11/02/2010.

4. Zions Bancorporation

Zions Bancorporation (Zions) is a financial bank holding company. Zions Bancorporation along with its subsidiaries owns and operates 8 commercial banks with more than 490 domestic branches. It provides a range of banking financial and related services. The banks are mostly located in western part of USA such as Utah, California, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Idaho, Washington and Oregon. The bank focuses on providing community banking services by its business range of small, medium-sized business and corporate banking; residential and commercial development, construction and term lending; retail banking; treasury cash management and related products and services; residential mortgage; wealth management and trust, and investment brokerage activities.

For the last 12 quarters, Zions Bancorporation (ticker: ZION) has reported 4 positive quarters, 8 negative quarters & 0 In-Line quarter. This past quarter, Zions announced actual EPS of -$0.470 which is better than Mean EPS of -$0.51 on 10/18/2010.

5. American International Group Inc (AIG)

American International Group, Inc. (AIG), is a financial holding company, which through its subsidiaries, is engaged primarily in a range of insurance and insurance-related activities in the United States and abroad such as Europe and Asia. AIG's four reportable segments include: General Insurance, Financial Services, Domestic Life Insurance & Retirement Services, and Foreign Life Insurance & Retirement Services.

For the last 12 quarters, American International Group (ticker: AIG) has reported 4 positive quarters, 8 negative quarters & 0 In-Line quarter. This past quarter, AIG announced actual EPS of -$1.470 which is lower than Mean EPS of $1.350 on 11/15/2010.

6. priceline.com Inc

priceline.com Incorporated (priceline.com) is a services sector company and it is an online travel company, which offers a range of travel services, including hotel rooms, car rentals or auto rentals, airline tickets, vacation packages, cruises and destination services. It also offers customers hotel room reservations in over 90 countries and 32 languages. In the US, priceline.com offers the customers the ability to purchase travel services in a price-disclosed manner or the chance to use the Name Your Own Price service for discounted price.

For the last 12 quarters, priceline.com (ticker: PCLN) has reported 12 positive quarters, 0 negative quarters & 0 In-Line quarter. This past quarter, PCLN announced actual EPS of $5.330 which is higher than Mean EPS of $4.971 on 11/08/2010.

7. Akamai Technologies Inc

Akamai Technologies, Inc is a technology services company for accelerating and improving the delivery of content and applications over the Internet. The company products are ranging from live and on-demand streaming video capabilities to conventional content on Websites, to tools that help people transact business and reach out to new and existing customers. The company customers include private or public companies, government agencies and other enterprises.

For the last 12 quarters, Akamai Technologies (ticker: AKAM) has reported 7 positive quarters, 0 negative quarters & 5 In-Line quarter. This past quarter, AKAM announced actual EPS of $0.340 which is in line with Mean EPS of $0.335 on 10/27/2010.

8. Cliffs Natural Resources Inc

Cliffs Natural Resources Incorporation was formerly known as Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. The company provides service such as producing and marketing iron ore pellets. There are three divisions in Cliff Natural Resources. The North American Iron Ore segment is comprised of our six iron ore mining operations in Michigan, Minnesota and Eastern Canada. The North American Coal segment supplied metallurgical coal in North America. The Asia-Pacific Iron Ore segment is comprised of Portman, an Australian iron ore mining company and it includes Koolyanobbing mine and Cockatoo Island. Portman serves the Asian iron ore markets with direct-shipping fines and lump ore.

For the last 12 quarters, Cliffs Natural Resources (CLF) has reported 8 positive quarters, 4 negative quarters & 0 In-Line quarter. This past quarter CLF announced actual EPS of $2.18 which is lower than Mean EPS of $2.578 on October 28, 2010.

9. salesforce.com, inc

Salesforce.com, Inc. is a technology provider company of enterprise cloud computing applications. It provides a customer and collaboration relationship management (CRM), service to businesses of all sizes (small, medium and large), and industries worldwide and provides a technology platform for customers and developers to build and run business applications. Cloud computing refers to the use of Internet-based computing, storage and connectivity technology for a variety of different services.

For the last 12 quarters, salesforce.com (Ticker: CRM) has reported 9 positive quarters, 0 negative quarters & 3 In-Line quarter. This past quarter Salesforce announced actual EPS of $0.320 which is higher than Mean EPS of $0.309 on November 18, 2010.

10. Qwest Communication International

Qwest Communications International Inc, also known as Qwest), is a technology telecommunication company. It is a provider of data, Internet, video and voice services. The company operates its business in the 14-state region especially Western part of US and Midwest USA such as Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. Qwest operates in 3 divisions: business markets, mass markets and wholesale markets. The Company's products and services are provided using its telecommunications network, which consists of voice and data switches, copper cables, fiber optic broadband cables and other equipment.

For the last 12 quarters, Qwest Communication International (Ticker: Q) has reported 9 positive quarters, 3 negative quarters & 0 In-Line quarter. This past quarter Qwest announced actual EPS of $0.110 which is higher than Mean EPS of $0.096 on November 3, 2010.

More on Part 2...

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Disclosure: I also have no position in any of these companies. Please do your own research for additional details. Please trade and invest responsibly. Past Performance is No Guarantee of Future Results.