Benzinga | Dec 31, 2020 01:37PM EST

10 Best Performing S&P 500 Stocks Of 2020

The S&P 500 delivered one of its surprising years in recent history in 2020, gaining more than 15%. Most U.S. investors had a lot of winners in their portfolios this year, but some stocks certainly performed better than others.

Here's a look at the 10 best-performing stocks in the entire S&P 500 in 2019 as of the Dec. 29 closing price.

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA)

The S&P 500's controversial new addition that joined the index in December gained 693.2% in 2020, more than triple the return of any stock that spent the entire year in the index.

Etsy Inc (NASDAQ:ETSY)

Americans stuck at home with nothing to do turned to Etsy in 2020. The stock joined the S&P 500 in September and is up 302% year-to-date.

Carrier Global Corp (NYSE:CARR)

The social distancing environment and a red-hot housing market triggered a surge in North American HVAC sales and a corresponding 214.6% gain from Carrier global shares in 2020.

NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)

Semiconductor giant Nvidia has been one of the top-performing stocks in the market over the last decade, and that momentum continued with another 119.2% gain in 2020.

Paypal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Continuing with the theme of social distancing beneficiaries, PayPal shares jumped 117.9% in 2020 thanks to a surge in online transactions.

L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB)

The parent company of Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works was a rare winner in a struggling retail sector in 2020, and the stock gained 114.2% on the year.

Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB)

Irrational or not, exuberance for electric vehicle stocks skyrocketed in 2020, and lithium producer Albemarle shares gained 104.9% on the year.

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD)

AMD was the top-performing stock in the S&P 500 in 2019 and nearly generated a repeat performance in 2020, gaining 104.9% on the strength of investor optimism related to online gaming, cloud computing and other tech themes.

Cadence Design Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CDNS)

Cadence Design provides integrated circuit and electronic device design services, and the stock rallied 94.2% this year as investors piled into high-tech investments.

ServiceNow Inc (NYSE:NOW)

Not only is ServiceNow's business immune from pandemic fallout, more customers are pushing to digitize their businesses as a result of the disruption. ServiceNow shares gained 92.6% in 2020.

Photo courtesy of Etsy.