The Dow Jones Industrial Average shook off COVID-19, supply-chain snafus, inflationary pressures and myriad other worries to deliver an outstanding year in absolute terms. Indeed, the blue-chip bastion of Dow stocks generated a price gain of 19% through Dec. 30.
To get a sense of what an outlier 2021 was for the blue-chip average, the Dow's 30-year annualized price return comes to 8.7%.
Although the Dow as a whole powered through the pandemic, there's no question COVID-19 factored heavily in deciding the average's winners and losers in 2021, which we list in full down below. Naturally, the pandemic remains a key variable in the minds of Wall Street analysts as they rate the 30 Dow Jones stocks' prospects for 2022.
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Either way, many of this year's best Dow stocks are expected to continue their market-beating ways in the new year.
Take Home Depot (HD, $409.94) and Microsoft (MSFT, $339.32), for example. The Dow's top stocks of 2021 – each up by more than half – are forecast to put up more big gains in the year ahead thanks to a continuation of current trends.
In HD's case, the pandemic led to changes in consumer consumption patterns. Folks stuck at home decided to feather their nests, embrace do-it-yourself (DIY) projects and invest newfound discretionary income into their dwellings. The red-hot housing market also remains a tailwind at HD's back.
MSFT, meanwhile, has become a king of cloud-based services. The rise of remote work accelerated companies' embrace of Microsoft products such as Azure and Office 365. Looking ahead, analysts say enterprise customers are still in the early innings of their digital transformations.
On the other side of the ledger, analysts say some of this year's losers are set to become 2022's winners. Look no farther than Walt Disney (DIS, $155.93) for an example.
Disney was the Dow's worst stock in 2021, losing almost 14%. The media and entertainment conglomerate was essentially undone by the emergence of the Delta and Omicron variants of COVID-19. Anything that creates uncertainty around the health of Disney's all-important theme parks and resorts – not to mention its filmed entertainment business – is bad for DIS shareholders.
As much of a bummer as 2021 was for DIS, the Street gives shares a consensus recommendation of Buy, with fairly high conviction to boot. The pandemic can't last forever, the thinking goes, and shares look cheap.
Here's hoping, anyway.
Without further ado, have a look at how all 30 Dow stocks fared in 2021 in the table below:
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S&P 500 Slips Ahead of Fed Week: Stock Market TodayAll eyes are on the Federal Reserve ahead of next week's critical policy meeting.
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Dow Gains 617 Points as Rate Cuts Near: Stock Market TodayWednesday's economic data didn't shift Wall Street's expectations that the Fed is preparing for a rate cut at next week's meeting.
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S&P 500 Hits New High After Oracle Earnings: Stock Market TodayAnother down day for Apple held the Dow Jones Industrial Average back, though.
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Stocks Grind Up to New All-Time Highs: Stock Market TodayUnitedHealth stock led the Dow Jones Industrial Average amid increasing signs the labor market has not been well for months.
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Markets Prepare for August Inflation Data: Stock Market TodayApple CEO Tim Cook is still important, but price action this week is as much about incoming inflation data ahead of next week's Fed meeting.
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Stocks Slip as Job Growth Stalls: Stock Market TodayThe August jobs report came in much weaker than expected, while the unemployment rate ticked higher.
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S&P 500 Hits New High on Jobs Friday Eve: Stock Market TodayThe S&P 500 hit a new all-time closing high and most of the stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up the day before a critical jobs report.
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Big Tech Names Rise Above Broad Weakness: Stock Market TodaySome familiar names enjoyed solid rallies on the resolution of outstanding questions, but macro uncertainty hangs over the broader market.
