18 Best-Performing Dow Stocks in 2023

Published on November 19, 2023 at 5:39 am by Fahad Saleem in Hedge Funds, News

In this article, we will take a look at the 18 best-performing Dow stocks in 2023. To see more such companies, go directly to 5 Best-Performing Dow Stocks in 2023.

The economy and stock markets have defied almost every prediction and estimate in 2023. When the year started there was almost a consensus among notable investors that a recession would hit the US economy in 2023. But amid a resilient consumer spending, healthy labor market and a stock rally fueled by the hype around AI, US stocks rose and surprised the Wall Street. In its Q4 market update report, Russell Investments said that while a soft landing cannot be ruled out, it is still expecting a mild recession before the end of 2024. With the end of 2024 now clearly in sight, it’s a bold prediction to make. The report said that while the current market situation has made predicting likely outcomes difficult, the past shows that whenever the economy begins to slow down in response to interest rate hikes, it enters into a recession.

The soft landing versus recession debate might not end until the end of 2024 or even 2025. But for now, as we near the end of 2023, our focus in this article is to see which stocks logged the highest gains in the Dow Jones index.

For this article we used a stock screener to identify stocks with the highest YTD gains in 2023 through November 17 in the Dow Jones index.

Technology share chart

Best-Performing Dow Stocks in 2023

18. Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

YTD Stock Gain Through November 17: 0.84%

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) shares have gained about 0.845 year to date through November 17. In November Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) posted fiscal Q1 results. Adjusted EPS in the quarter came in at $1.11 beating estimates by $0.08. Revenue in the quarter jumped about 7.6% year over year to $14.67 billion, beating estimates by $40 million. However, Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) fell as the Wall Street was disappointed with the company’s outlook.

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) said it now expects full-year 2024 revenue in the range of $53.8 billion and $55 billion, down from its previous guidance of $57 billion to $58.2 billion. This decline came amid a slowdown in new orders.

17. The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

YTD Stock Gain Through November 17: 0.84%

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) ranks 17th in our list of the best-performing Dow stocks in 2023. The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) has gained about 0.84% year to date through November 17.

As of the end of the second quarter of 2023, 74 hedge funds out of the 910 funds tracked by Insider Monkey had stakes in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG). The biggest stakeholder of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) was Terry Smith’s Fundsmith LLP which owns a $735 million stake in the company.

ClearBridge Sustainability Leaders Strategy made the following comment about The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) in its Q2 2023 investor letter:

“Reinforcing defensive exposure and pushing our consumer staples positioning from underweight to overweight the benchmark, we added The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG), a leading consumer products company with leading franchises in a variety of stable categories, including fabric care, baby, beauty and health. It is a high-quality company with a track record of superior growth, market share gains and attractive returns on capital. It also has defensive attributes when economic conditions deteriorate. Procter & Gamble is a sustainability leader with a demonstrated commitment to addressing environmental and social objectives in how it manages the business, and it has above-average corporate governance practices. Many Procter & Gamble products have a positive impact by promoting hygiene, self-care or health.”

16. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

YTD Stock Gain Through November 17: 1.82%

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) shares have gained about 1.82% year to date through November 17. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) ranks 16th in our list of the best-performing Dow stocks in 2023. UBS recently rolled out a list of its high conviction stock picks which it believes will benefit in the next 6-to-24-month time horizon. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) was one of these stocks. Here’s what UBS said about this list:

“Our thematic lists reflect groups of stocks that are positioned to benefit from a common set of drivers, such as macroeconomic forces, policy changes, geopolitical events, temporary mispricings (valuations), or timely factors.”

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) is one of the solid dividend stock picks, given its strong growth record. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) has upped its dividend consistently for the last 14 years.

Madison Sustainable Equity Fund made the following comment about UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) in its Q3 2023 investor letter:

“The top contributors in the quarter were Eli Lilly, Jacobs, Alphabet, Costco, and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH). UnitedHealth responded well to a solid second quarter, with a better medical loss ratio driving the better-than-expected results. Additionally, UNH modestly raised guidance for the full year.

We updated the sustainable scorecard for UnitedHealth Group. The company continues to have Above Average Corporate Governance with a clear policy on separating the roles of the Chair of the Board and the CEO. We also rate the company Above Average on Social factors due to its clear cybersecurity, privacy, and data governance policies. The company continues to diversify its top management positions, where 40% of top management positions are held by women, up from 37% in 2020. We reduced our Environment rating to Average from Above Average as the company has significantly expanded its footprint in the last few years by acquiring local providers. The company is at the beginning of its journey to source renewable electricity for 100% of its operations by 2030.”

15. Dow Inc. (NYSE:DOW)

YTD Stock Gain Through November 17: 2.08%

Chemicals company Dow Inc. (NYSE:DOW) has been a strong dividend payer with a yield of over 5%. Dow Inc. (NYSE:DOW) has gained about 2% year to date. However, Dow Inc. (NYSE:DOW) was downgraded to Hold from Buy by Argus Research. Argus believes Dow Inc. (NYSE:DOW) is facing a decline in demand amid weakening economic conditions all over the world.

In October Dow Inc. (NYSE:DOW) posted third quarter results. Adjusted EPS in the quarter came in at $0.48 beating estimates by $0.03. Revenue in the quarter fell about 23.9% year over year to $10.73 billion, beating estimates by $320 million.

Dow Inc. (NYSE:DOW)’s management talked in detail about its expectations for 2024 in Q3 earnings call. Answering a question, Dow CEO Jim Fitterling said:

“We guided for the fourth quarter, in line with the third quarter. It will obviously be a different mix. I expect packaging especially plastics to be up. They had obviously, the weight of the St. Charles turnaround on them in the third quarter. And they also had the fact that we were out of the merchant ethylene market. When you look at the core underlying volumes, polyethylene volumes were up in all regions year-over-year, and they were up sequentially 3% in Asia, Latin America and EMEA. So those are good signs. Things that you should take into account is we obviously don’t have the St. Charles turnaround in the fourth quarter. We do have a little bit of a headwind from the Thailand turnaround.

We’re expecting — we saw prices up in September. I’m expecting Q4 integrated margins to be up about $0.02 in P&SP, and that’s mostly on the back of pricing. The outlook right now is for ethane to be flat. It could be slightly better than that. But I think for right now, we’ve got it in as flat. We’ve got inventories down for three consecutive quarters in the United States and plastics, and U.S. Gulf Coast exports were up 7% versus the previous quarter and the previous quarter was up about 3.5% versus a quarter before. So I think all in all, I would expect volumes to be good, we’ll be back in the merchant ethylene market for some extent. Pro-Nap spread in Europe is positive at about $120 a ton, and our assets are the lowest cost in Europe. And I think when you factor all that in, the guide for the fourth quarter is heavily on the back of P&SP fee delivery.”

Read the full earnings call transcript here.

14. Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

YTD Stock Gain Through November 17: 2.42%

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) ranks 14th in our list of the best-performing Dow stocks in 2023. Recently, Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) received a green light from the FDA to market an interchangeable version of a biosimilar targeted at Johnson & Johnson’s (NYSE:JNJ) blockbuster arthritis therapy Stelara (ustekinumab) for multiple inflammatory diseases.

Last month Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) posted Q3 results. Adjusted EPS in the quarter came in at $4.96, beating estimates by $0.28. Revenue in the quarter jumped about 3.8% year over year to $6.9 billion, missing estimates by $50 million.

Aristotle Capital Value Equity Strategy made the following comment about Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) in its Q3 2023 investor letter:

“Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN), the biopharmaceutical company, was the top contributor for the quarter. The company continues to leverage its innovative platform to strengthen its product portfolio, offset maturing products, such as Epogen and Neulasta, and increase market share. Over the past year, Amgen has reported double‐digit volume growth, operating margin expansion to over 40% and record levels of sales for cholesterol drug Repatha, bone‐strengthening drug Prolia and cancer drug Blincyto. Additionally, the company remains well positioned to benefit from the continued development and commercialization of biosimilars such as Amgevita, the first biosimilar to Humira, and the successful integration of Otezla to bolster its inflammation segment. Lastly, the FTC agreed to allow Amgen to proceed with its $27.8 billion acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics. We note that this is yet another unsuccessful attempt by the FTC to block an M&A transaction of one of our holdings (see below re: Activision Blizzard). The transaction closed on October 6, 2023 and brings expertise in rare disease therapies (including bulging eye‐drug Tepezza), as well as adds to Amgen’s immunology portfolio.”

13. Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

YTD Stock Gain Through November 17: 3.61%

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) shares have gained about 3.61% year to date through November 16. Last month Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) fell after the company posted Q3 results. While Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)’s performance in the September quarter was strong, its estimates for the last quarter of 2023 weighed in on the stock price. Adjusted EPS in the third quarter came in at $5.52, beating estimates by $0.73. Revenue in the quarter jumped about 12% year over year to $16.8 billion, beating estimates by $240 million.

Diamond Hill Large Cap Strategy made the following comment about Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) in its Q4 2022 investor letter:

“In the case of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT), the company reported a better-than-expected Q3 as demand in mining, non-residential construction and energy remained healthy through the year even as recession fears grew. Caterpillar showed strong pricing power and operating efficiency in the face of supply chain constraints and labor shortages, which in turn contributed to better-than-expected share price performance.”

12. McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD)

YTD Stock Gain Through November 17: 4.78%

McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD)’s ranks 12th in our list of the best-performing Dow stocks in 2023. McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) has gained about 4.7% year to date. McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) posted sterling third quarter results. Adjusted EPS in the quarter came in at $3.19, surpassing estimates by $0.20. Revenue in the quarter increased by 14% year over year to $6.69 billion, beating estimates by $140 million. Global comparable sales jumped about 8.8%.

McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) in its Q3 earnings call talked about margins and overall business. Answering a question, McDonald’s CFO Ian Borden said:

“If you look at the full year 2023, we expect company-operated margin percent both in the U.S. and IOM to be in line roughly with where we landed in quarter 4, 2022. I think that view hasn’t changed. Obviously, we’ve had really strong sales performance this year, which is helping. And I think as you’ve heard me talk about before, the only way you sustainably work through periods of higher inflation in the business is obviously to continue to grow the top line and deliver strong performance. And that’s what we’re focused on. And we’re obviously very confident as we’re able to continue to do that that we’re going to be able to kind of see improved restaurant margin from a percentage basis performance.

In addition, obviously, to the really strong dollar growth that we’re seeing on the back of those strong top line sales. So, I think no change to what we expect for the full year this year. But I think, we feel like we’re in a really good position with the momentum we’ve got across the business.”

Read the entire earnings call transcript here.

RiverPark Advisors made the following comment about McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) in its Q3 2023 investor letter:

“McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD): MCD is the world’s leading global foodservice retailer with over 40,000 locations in over 100 countries. Approximately 95% of McDonald’s restaurants worldwide are owned and operated by independent local business owners under franchise licenses. This franchise model gives MCD enough control to drive sustainably high comparable store sales (same-store-sales or SSS) through quality controls, food sourcing agreements, and culinary and technological innovation, while delivering high operating and free cash flow margins. In addition, the company’s restaurants deliver industry-leading value and have therefore performed well in good economies and bad.

We believe that a combination of 3-4% SSS growth (11.7% in the recently reported 2Q23) and 3-4% new unit growth over the coming five years will drive 7-8% revenue growth and 12-15% EPS growth. The company generates greater than 30% free cash flow margins ($8+ billion expected for 2023), pays a $1.52 dividend (2.17% yield), and bought back nearly $4 billion of stock last year. We initiated a small position in August.”

11. American Express Company (NYSE:AXP)

YTD Stock Gain Through November 17: 7.65%

American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) shares have gained about 7.6% year to date through November 17. As of the end of the second quarter of 2023, 73 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey had stakes in American Express Company (NYSE:AXP). The biggest stakeholder of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) was Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway which owns a $26 billion stake in the company.

ClearBridge Large Cap Value Strategy made the following comment about American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) in its Q3 2023 investor letter:

“Other detractors included American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), which fell on concerns over slower consumer spending and rising charge-offs, as well as wireless tower REIT American Tower, which was pressured by the increase in rates along with the broader real estate sector.”

10. The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA)

YTD Stock Gain Through November 17: 8.46%

Having gained about 8% year to date through November 17, The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) is one of the best-performing Dow stocks in 2023.

Jackson Square Partners made the following comment about The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) in its Q3 2022 investor letter:

“For The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA)–in short, we believe the worst of Boeing’s idiosyncratic issues are behind it, the airframe duopoly remains as protected as ever, and at current prices (where we’ve been adding), the stock is trading around ~6x FCF on 2025E. Current airframe production is running materially below expected travel demand over the next 5-10 years, creating a structural supply/demand imbalance that we believe will drive a decade of strong growth in civil aerospace from here. In our 2Q’22 correspondence, we described the attributes of our ideal growth ballast and said we hoped to convert another in the coming months – we believe Boeing checks all those boxes.”

9. International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM)

YTD Stock Gain Through November 17: 8.64%

International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) is gaining value amid its AI projects and income investors also like the stock due to its stable dividend payments and high yield. International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) is one of the favorite dividend stocks of Jim Cramer.

Diamond Hill Long-Short Fund made the following comment about International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) in its Q4 2022 investor letter:

“New positions initiated in Q4 included shorts International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM), Acushnet Holdings (GOLF) and elf Beauty (ELF). Since diversified information technology company IBM’s 2019 acquisition of Red Hat, the company has aggressively pursued a hybrid cloud strategy. Though IBM and its new management team have made solid progress on this pivot, we believe the company still meaningfully lags the cloud hyperscalers and other cloud-native companies. Management has also laid out aggressive long-term targets for revenue growth and free cash flow, both of which we believe the company will struggle to achieve as it faces intense competition in its hybrid cloud business and structural headwinds in the company’s legacy businesses.”

8. The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS)

YTD Stock Gain Through November 17: 8.78%

The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) is finally rebounding after latest quarterly report showed Bob Iger’s management might finally be changing things at the company.

Madison Sustainable Equity Fund made the following comment about The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) in its Q3 2023 investor letter:

“During the quarter, we sold our positions in Bristol-Myers Squibb and The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS). The Walt Disney Company is facing a difficult and uncertain transition in its core media business assets including the ESPN business and other linear media assets. These media assets are cash generative but face secular decline as consumers are cutting their expensive cable subscriptions and moving to alternative streaming options. This has resulted in a decline in operating profits for the media division. The media business has long-term fixed costs related to its sports broadcasting agreement with multiple sports leagues which will further pressure profits during this transition.”

7. Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

YTD Stock Gain Through November 17: 10.05%

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) ranks 7th in our list of the best-performing Dow stocks in 2023. As of the end of the second quarter of 2023, 81 hedge funds had stakes in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT), as per Insider Monkey’s database of hedge funds.

6. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM)

YTD Stock Gain Through November 17: 12.94%

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) shares have gained about 12.94% year to date through November 17.

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