The NASDAQ or Nasdaq Composite Index is a popular stock exchange in the United States. It is where small pieces of companies (called shares) are bought and sold. It is the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations exchange, which is the first electronic exchange where investors can buy and sell the stock. Second is the Nasdaq Composite Index, which is a statistical measure or you can say benchmark index for the technology stocks of the U.S market. It is quite young, as it exists since 1986. It is a capitalization-weighted stock market index. There are companies listed from all over the world in this index. Companies included in this index are Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and even Chinese companies. Nasdaq is the second largest stock exchange in the world after the New York stock exchange. Overall, Nasdaq changed the world by creating an online stock exchange that vastly expanded the convenience of buying stocks for the average person.
Based on the performance of the companies in 2018, here is the list of top 5 individual stocks of the Nasdaq whose performance were outstanding in the stock market.
Top 5 individual stocks of the Nasdaq:
1) Workday, Inc. (WDAY)
Workday, Inc. is a software company who manages on-demand financial management and provides human capital management software. This company comes under the global provider of the cloud-based applications. Throughout the year, the company was going with a modest flow, but suddenly in November, the company has doubled the predicted analytics and given a return of 57%. This way, it became the best performer of the year 2018.
Sector: Software
Market Capitalization: $35.06 billion
Price Change: +$58.63
Performance in the year 2018: +57%
2. Illumina, Inc. (ILMN)
With 46% of annual returns, this Biotechnology Company has made its name in the list with the second position. The company is the chief in providing technologies needed to understand the genetic changes in the healthcare sector.
Sector: Biotechnology
Market Capitalization: $47.45 billion
Price Change: +$102.43
Performance in the year 2018: +46%
3. O’Reilly Automotive, Inc. (ORLY)
O’Reilly Automotive, Inc. is a retail company that deals with the automotive aftermarket accessories. With 40% of annual return in 2018, the company continues to see growth in the market.
Sector: Retail
Market Capitalization: $27.55 billion
Price Change: +$98.91
Performance in the year 2018: +40%
4. Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc. (FOXA)
21st Century Fox is a Mass media company based in New York. After a steady start in 2018, they managed to generate a 37% returns. In both the earnings and revenue, they have beaten the expectations of the analysts.
Sector: Media and Entertainment
Market Capitalization: $91.14 billion
Price Change: +$13.20
Performance in the year 2018: +37%
5. Netflix, Inc. (NFLX)
Well, Netflix does not need an introduction, but still, Netflix, Inc. is a media-services provider. From the starting of the year, Netflix was rising, which resulted in higher revenues and earnings. This gave a 32% annual return. They performed well by increasing the count of subscribers expanding worldwide.
Sector: Entertainment
Market Capitalization: $118.48 billion
Price Change: +$65.77
Performance in the year 2018: +32%