The Russell 1000 Index is a market-capitalization-weighted index of the 1,000 largest publicly traded companies in the U.S. It represents approximately 92% of the total market capitalization of all listed stocks in the U.S. equity market. For this reason, it is considered a bellwether for large-cap investing. Some of the largest companies in the index include Apple Inc. (AAPL), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), and The Walt Disney Co. (DIS). The Russell 1000 provided a total return of 39.4% over the past 12 months.1 This market performance number and all data below are as of July 27, 2021.
Here are the top 5 stocks across all sectors with the best value, the fastest growth, and the most momentum.
Best Value Stocks
Value investing is a factor-based investing strategy that involves picking stocks that you believe are trading for less than what they are intrinsically worth, usually by measuring the ratio of the stock's price to one or more fundamental business metrics. A widely accepted value metric is the price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio. Value investors believe that if a business is cheap compared to its intrinsic value, in this case as measured by its P/E ratio, the stock price may rise faster than others as the price comes back in line with the worth of the company. These are the stocks with the lowest 12-month trailing P/E ratio.
Source: YCharts
- Annaly Capital Management Inc.: Annaly Capital Management is a diversified capital management company that invests in and finances residential and commercial assets. Its investment strategies include agency mortgage-backed securities, residential and commercial real estate, and middle market lending. The company has about $93 billion in total assets.2 For Q2 2021, Annaly reported net loss available to common stockholders of $322.5 million, compared with $820.7 million in net income in Q2 2020. The company said challenges for the quarter included heightened rate and spread volatility, and an elevated prepay environment.3
- Qurate Retail Inc.: Qurate Retail is an e-commerce services company that reaches 218 million homes and operates through seven retail brands, including QVC, HSN, Zulily, and Frontgate.4 It partners with television networks, e-commerce sites, streaming services, social pages, mobile apps, print catalogs to provide video and digital commerce services.5
- Sage Therapeutics Inc.: Sage Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company that creates treatments for central nervous system disorders including schizophrenia and major depressive disorder. One of the company's flagship drugs is Zulresso, used to treat postpartum depression in adults.6
- Rocket Companies Inc.: Rocket Companies helps consumers to obtain mortgages, personal and car loans, as well as other financial services. Its flagship business is Rocket Mortgage, an online mortgage application tool that has closed more than $1 trillion in home loans. Other Rocket companies include Amrock, a title insurance and property evaluations provider; Nexsys Technologies, focused on real estate; and Lendesk, which provides digital products for the Canadian mortgage market.7 On July 20, the company announced that its web-based home search tool, Rocket Homes, now includes listings in all 50 U.S. states.8
- Athene Holding Ltd.: Athene Holding is an insurance holding company that provides issuance, reinsurance, and other services globally related to retirement savings products. As of March 31, 2021, Athene had $205.7 billion in total assets.9 Athene announced on July 15 that it would acquire Foundation Home Loans, a U.K. mortgage lender from funds managed by affiliates of Fortress Investment Group LLC. As of June 2021, Foundation had a portfolio of buy-to-let and owner-occupied mortgages valued at 3 billion pounds ($4.2 billion).10
Fastest Growing Stocks
These are the top stocks as ranked by a growth model that scores companies based on a 50/50 weighting of their most recent quarterly YOY percentage revenue growth and their most recent quarterly YOY earnings per share (EPS) growth. Both sales and earnings are critical factors in the success of a company. Therefore ranking companies by only one growth metric makes a ranking susceptible to the accounting anomalies of that quarter (such as changes in tax law or restructuring costs) that may make one or the other figure unrepresentative of the business in general. Companies with quarterly EPS or revenue growth of over 2,500% were excluded as outliers.
Source: YCharts
- Freeport-McMoRan Inc.: Freeport-McMoRan is a leading international mining company with significant reserves of copper, gold, and molybdenum. The company has operations in North and South America as well as in Indonesia.11 For Q2 2021, net income attributable to common stock was $1.1 billion about 21 times higher than net income in Q2 2020. The increase was driven by high copper and gold production.12
- Zoom Video Communications Inc.: Zoom Video Communications is a communications technology company that provides a video-first communication platform and web conferencing services. Its cloud platform offers video, voice, content sharing, and chat for mobile devices, desktops, telephones, and room systems.13 Customers can engage in one-on-one chats or conduct large-scale online events with up to 10,000 view-only attendees.14 Zoom announced on July 18 that it would acquire Five9, Inc. (FIVN), an intelligent cloud contact center service provider, in an all-stock transaction valued at roughly $14.7 billion. The acquisition is expected to bolster Zoom's presence in the contact center market, a $24 billion industry, and to enhance Zoom’s presence with enterprise customers.15
- Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.: Chipotle Mexican Grill owns and operates a chain of restaurants serving burritos, bowls, tacos, and salads. The company operated 2,724 Chipotle restaurants throughout the U.S. as of Dec. 31, 2020.16
- Builders FirstSource Inc.: Builders FirstSource makes and distributes building products, and provides integrated services to professional homebuilders. It's one of the largest suppliers in the building industry and employs roughly 27,000. Builders FirstSource has 550 locations in 39 states.17 The company transferred the listing of its common stock from the Nasdaq to the New York Stock Exchange on July 19.1819
- Etsy Inc.: Etsy is an e-commerce company offering handmade and vintage items as well as art, supplies, clothing, housewares, paper goods, and related products. The company's marketplaces offer more than 90 million items for sale by 4.7 million active sellers.20
Stocks with the Most Momentum
Momentum investing is a factor-based investing strategy that involves investing in a stock whose price has risen faster than the market as a whole. Momentum investors believe that stocks that have outperformed the market will often continue to do so because the factors that caused them to outperform will not suddenly disappear. In addition, other investors, seeking to benefit from the stock's outperformance, will often purchase the stock, further bidding its price higher and pushing the stock higher still. These are the stocks that had the highest total return over the last 12 months.
Source: YCharts
- GameStop Corp.: GameStop operates a chain 4,000 stores and e-commerce properties in 10 countries. The company sells video game hardware, software, and accessories in more than .21 In recent months GameStop has been the focus of attention by investors in the Reddit community as a so-called "meme stock." GameStop was recently transferred from the small-cap Russell 2000 index to the large-cap Russell 1000 when they both recalculated.22
- Moderna Inc.: Moderna is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of messenger RNA therapeutics and vaccines. It develops mRNA medicines for infectious, immuno-oncology, and cardiovascular diseases. It has 24 development programs, including 14 that are in the clinical study phase. The company employs over 1,500.23 Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine continues to be in high demand globally. It recently announced new supply agreements with Taiwan and the government of Japan to deliver a total of 85 million additional doses of the vaccine and variant booster candidate.2425
- L Brands Inc.: L Brands is a specialty retail business focused on women's intimate and other apparel, personal care, and beauty categories. The company operates through three core brands: Bath & Body Works, a specialty retailer offering a range of fragrances for the home and body; Victoria's Secret, a specialty retailer of bras, panties, lingerie, beauty products, and more; and PINK, a lifestyle brand that offers loungewear, knit tops, bras, panties, activewear, accessories, and more.26 The company is splitting into two separate, publicly traded companies. The plan includes separating its Victoria's Secret business into an independent public company called Victoria's Secret & Co. The new company will include will include Victoria’s Secret Lingerie, PINK and Victoria’s Secret Beauty. The separation is expected to be completed in August 2021.27
- Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.: Cleveland-Cliffs is a major North American flat-rolled steel producer and major supplier of iron ore pellets. The company employs 25,000 at 46 operating facilities.28 On July 28, Cleveland-Cliffs announced that it had completed for $1.2 billion in cash the redemption of all of its outstanding Series B preferred shares held by an affiliate of ArcelorMittal S.A. This action reduces the company's diluted share count by 10% on a pro-forma basis.29
- Olin Corp.: Olin is a vertically-integrated global manufacturer and distributor of chemical products. It also owns Winchester, a U.S. manufacturer of ammunition products. Its chemical products include chlorine and caustic soda, vinyls, epoxies, chlorinated organics, bleach, and hydrochloric acid. Winchester produces and distributes sporting ammunition, law enforcement ammunition, reloading components, and related products.30 The company employs 8,000 professionals and customers in nearly 100 countries.31
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