2022 S&P 500 Hindsight

2022 was a lost year for most long only strategies with notable and significant sector and geographic exceptions. Hedge funds overall generated alpha and a good number posted very good returns. Violent swings and a wide dispersion of returns was once again the norm. The total market value of the S&P was $40.36 trillion to begin 2022 and finished the year at $32.13 trillion.

• If you bought the top 100 performing stocks in the S&P 500 on an equal weighted basis on Jan 1^st last year and held them through the year, you would have been up 33.5%, and beaten the S&P 500 total return by over 50%.
• If you concentrated and picked the top 10 performing stocks on Jan 1st, and again held them all year, you would have generated a total return of 87.3%, more than 100% greater than the S&P.
• 10 of the 11 S&P industry sectors were negative. However, if you had gone all-in on energy stocks, the S&P 500 Energy Sector Index .SPNY generated a 59% return.
• If instead you picked the 100 worst performing stocks for the year, you would have to mark your portfolio down 44.7%.
• If you were in the worst 10 S&P 500 stocks for the year, you would have finished the year down 65.5%. To contrast, Bitcoin (BTC) lost 65.2% in 2022.

The data in this table was generated from the S&P website at www.spindices.com and Refinitiv, www.refinitiv.com. The calculations from this data were performed internally.  Perkins Fund Marketing LLC deems these sources to be reliable, but they are not in any way guaranteed and should not be considered as any form of an investment recommendation.

In 2022, investors who had ridden the growth stock train got derailed. Old fashioned value stock pickers got some revenge and the energy sector had a huge year.

2023 is off to a promising start. As always, we welcome the opportunity to speak with you.

Best wishes to all.

J. Douglas Newsome, CFA
Managing Director, Director of Research
Perkins Fund Marketing LLC