The Nasdaq 100 is ending 2024 with a 27.0% return, building on 2023's 53.8% return (its best year since 1999). Since the start of 2023, the Nasdaq 100 has nearly doubled with stellar returns of 95.3%, its second highest two-year performance since 1998 and 1999's 274.2% rise. This year, the Nasdaq had countless winners and strong repeat performances from AI leaders like Nvidia, but 5 stocks took the market by surprise with significant outperformance relative to the broader indices.
I think it's important to pause and draw some parallels around the stocks that performed well in 2024 to form an opinion on what might perform well in 2025, as many of the year's top performers shared similar fundamental improvements or had similar thematic tailwinds such as AI, nuclear and quantum computing. AppLovin was one of the Nasdaq’s best performers, up 735% and joining the Nasdaq 100 on a special rebalance in November. From the start of 2024, AppLovin rose from a mere $13 billion valuation to $111 billion, peaking above $135 billion in early December – the stock has done the unthinkable this year, awakening a low-growth mobile gaming ads industry with an AI engine that is showing demonstrable results