The 10 Best Performing Companies of 2018

Which 10 companies had the best performance in 2018?

Why did they perform so well?

What can your business learn from them to ensure better results in 2018?

While 2018 was an uneven year for for the stock market – with the Dow down 5.6%, the S&P 500 6.2%, and the NASDAQ 28% – these 10 smaller cap companies bucked the trend and returned on average 110%(!) to their shareholders.

Learn who they are below, along with a key lesson from each of their 2018 successes that can be put to work in any business right away:

#10. Addus HomeCare Corp. (NASDAQ: ADUS), Addus provides home health care services to over 33,000 patients from 111 branches in 24 states. It was the 10th best performing stock in the S&P 600 Small Cap Index last year, up 95.1%.

Key Lesson:  A theme on this list is healthcare services, with 5 of the 10 top performing 2018 companies operating in this space.

Healthcare in our ageing society will always be a growth business – look hard at your industry and see if you can say the same.

#9. BioTelemetry Inc. (NASDAQ: BEAT). San Diego-based BioTelemetry provides cardiac and mobile blood glucose monitoring, centralized medical imaging, and original equipment manufacturing services for the healthcare and clinical research industries. Its stock finished the year up 95.1%.

Key Lesson: Similar to Addus above, solid management execution in a steady growth market will always be a formula for business success.

#8. Fossil Group Inc. (NASDAQ: FOSL). Fossil owns and manages fashion brands including Fossil, Relic, Abacus, Michele Watch, Skagen Denmark, Misfit, WSI, and Zodiac Watches.  It saw its stock finish 2018 up 102.4%.

Key Lesson: Functional business skills, like brand management, can be well applied and replicated across business assets.  As we have functional expertise in a particular business domain, let’s think more of “duplication” vs. innovation in our growth planning and efforts.

#7. Belmond (NASDAQ: BEL). Belmond is an international travel operator with 47 hotel, river cruise, safari and luxury rail businesses in 24 countries. It saw its stock rise 104.3% in 2018.

Key Lesson: Similar to healthcare, travel will be a “meta” growth business for as far as the eye can see. And similar to Fossil Group, once a business formula proves successful, simply replicate it – in new locales and via new brands – in order to grow.

#6. Crocs Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX) – famous for its “clogs” shoe, the company has sold more than 300 million pairs of shoes in 90 countries since 2002. In 2018 its stock gained 105.5%.

Key Lesson: The theme here again is replicating and extending an initial success and brand equity across and into adjacent product lines (sandals, sneakers, etc.) and into new markets (in Crocs case, internationally).

#5. Evertec Inc. (NASDAQ: EVTC), provides a range of merchant acquiring, payment processing and business solutions services, primarily in Latin America, and saw its share rise 110.3% in 2018.

Key Lesson: Merchant processing is a highly mature market in the United States, but in Latin and South America it is exploding.  To the degree that a business only targets mature domestic markets and customers, high growth will be exceedingly difficult to sustain.

So ask yourself: what is your business’ international growth plan for 2019?

#4. Renewable Energy Group Inc. (NASDAQ: REGI), a leading provider of biomass-based diesel, renewable chemicals and biofuel, saw its stock gain 117.8% in 2018.

Key Lesson: REG has built significant intellectual property, trade secrets, and proprietary relationships within the renewables space.

Driven by these assets, the company has grown consistently since its founding in 1995.

The lesson here is own your niche, and think and long hard about venturing beyond it, now matter how attractive an opportunity might seem to be.

#3. eHealth Inc. (NASDAQ: EHTH), which saw its stock rise 121.% in 2018, has enrolled over 5 million people in health insurance via its innovative online marketplaces since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act in 2010.

Key Lesson: Explore and invest constantly in new technologies. Not all of these investments will pay off, but the ones that do will transform tired and slow growth businesses into fresh and fast-growing ones.

#2. Amedisys Inc. (NASDAQ: AMED), provided home health care to over 350,000 patients in 2018, and saw its stock jump 122.2% in 2018.

Key Lesson: See Addus above. 🙂

#1. Tabula Rasa Healthcare (NASDAQ: TRHC), provides technology and solutions designed to promote medication regimen adherence. In 2018, it was the market’s top-performing small cap stock, with a 127.3% price rise.

A Key Lesson from their 2018 Success: Look to solve problems created by big businesses. In Tabula’s case, they provided solutions for the complexity and liabilities caused by multiple pharmaceuticals being prescribed to patients, especially ageing ones.

As we do, our business can “ride the coattails” of the market demand and customer problems created by these far larger businesses.  Of course we still need to execute well, but business models like these are far easier to maintain than “soup to nuts” creating, selling, and fulfilling upon a new market and product.

Great and easy business wisdoms from these 2018 awesomely performing companies.

Do what and as they do and maybe and hopefully your company will join this high-flying list in the New Year!