With everything that's happened so far this year, it's hard to predict exactly how the rest of 2020 will turn out. While major indexes such as the NASDAQ are trading at near-record highs once more, it's anyone's guess as to how the markets will change going into the second half of this year.
While many businesses have suffered, quite a few companies have not just survived but thrived during the first half of 2020. If you're looking for a place to put your money, here are five companies that have done exceptionally well so far and are poised to continue doing so moving forward.
1. Barrick Gold
Gold has long been seen as a safe haven to store wealth. While there's a bit of demand for gold in industrial use as well as in jewelry, a large chunk of global gold demand comes from either institutional investors (like central banks) or retail investors looking to protect their wealth. Thus, gold prices surge when there's uncertainty in the world at large.
With gold prices trading higher than $1,900 per ounce -- a new all-time high for the precious metal -- times have never been better for gold-mining companies. Barrick Gold (GOLD +2.51%), the largest gold miner in the world by market cap, has seen its stock rise 53% since the start of this year.
The total cost for Barrick to produce 1 ounce of gold, also known as a miner's all-in sustaining costs (AISC), came in at $954 during the company's first quarter. At the time those financial results were released, gold was trading for about $1,600 per ounce. With the price higher now, most investors are expecting Barrick to continue to do well, with an even wider profit margin.
2. Moderna
When it comes to hot coronavirus stocks to invest in, Moderna (MRNA +4.29%) has done extremely well for itself. The company has a fairly broad portfolio of early-stage mRNA-based vaccine candidates targeting a variety of conditions. However, Moderna really started to explode due to its coronavirus vaccine candidate, mRNA-1273.
Not only was Moderna one of the first companies to announce it was working on a coronavirus vaccine, but its candidate has managed to stay ahead of the many other vaccines in the running. The company just announced that phase 3 trials are beginning for mRNA-1273; the drug is scheduled to hit the markets in early 2021 if there are no clinical setbacks.
Even putting aside its coronavirus vaccine, Moderna has other promising candidates in development -- most notably mRNA-1647, a vaccine for a common herpes virus that's currently in phase 2 trials as well. Moderna has a lot of opportunities to succeed thanks to its broad pipeline, something that not many other early-stage biotech companies can claim.
Image source: Getty Images.
3. Newmont
The stock of another well-known gold miner, Newmont (NEM +2.52%), is up an impressive 53.6% so far this year. This performance easily makes the company one of the best-performing mining stocks of 2020 so far.
Just like Barrick, Newmont's surging stock price is due to the drastic increase in gold prices seen over the past few months. Considering that Newmont's Q1 2020 AISC came in at $1,030 per ounce, it's clear that the company is making a ton of money right now. Net income for the first quarter came in at $837 million, several times higher than Q1 2019's $113 million.
Newmont also has been steadily increasing its dividend yield. While gold miners generally aren't known for their impressive dividends, Newmont's 1.5% yield is a nice bonus on top of what's already been a fantastic year for the stock. Over the past 12 months in particular, Newmont's management has made it a mission to expand its dividend, which has grown by 79% during this time frame.
4. Teladoc
Given its role as a leading provider of telehealth services, it's not surprising that Teladoc (TDOC +2.77%) has done incredibly well this year. The company reported that total appointments grew to more than 2 million in the first quarter, almost double the number reported in Q1 2019.
Quarterly revenues are up an impressive 41% from last year as well, growing to $181.1 million. Although Teladoc still isn't profitable -- the company reported a net loss of $29.6 million in Q1 -- there's still time for that, considering Teladoc remains a young, fast-growing company.
Now that so many people have tried using Teladoc for the first time, it wouldn't be surprising if many of these patients end up being more permanent users of the platform moving forward.
Image source: Getty Images.
5. Eli Lilly
Eli Lilly (LLY +1.39%) is one of many pharmaceutical giants that have done well in 2020. Up 21.4% so far this year, this company has quite a few things going for it.
First-quarter revenue is up 15% from last year, with the main driver being the company's strong lineup of diabetes drugs, including Trulicity, Jardiance, and Basaglar. Net income from continuing operations has grown substantially as well, up to $1.4 billion from last year's $561.1 million.
Eli Lilly also has a pretty broad pipeline of new products coming up on the horizon. This includes 16 different phase 3 trials currently ongoing, alongside another seven indications currently under regulatory review.
While Eli Lilly's dividend yield of 1.8% is pretty mild in comparison wiith some other healthcare stocks (and slightly trails the S&P 500's average of 2%), the company has been making up for it with a lot of growth potential moving forward into 2020 and beyond.
