Mississippi-based stocks enjoyed a nice year in 2019, outperforming both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500.
The publicly traded companies based in the state gained roughly 38 percent in value from Jan. 1 through Dec. 22 (the date of this writing).
The increase was driven in part by a strong performance by Sanderson Farms, the Laurel-based chicken producer. Its stock has jumped 77 percent in 2019 after falling 28 percent in 2018. Sanderson Farms is now trading at around $175 dollars per share versus just under $100 at the end of 2018.
That success is good for anyone living in South Mississippi, where the company is a major employer and sponsor of various civic and charitable events, including the annual PGA Tour golf tournament held during the fall in Jackson.
So enjoy some chicken wings this New Year’s, and hope the good times continue to roll if you own Sanderson Farms stock.
This is my second year to track what I have dubbed the Mississippi Stock Index. My idea, inspired by Charles Dow, a fellow journalist who invented the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the 19th century, is to find all the publicly traded companies headquartered in Mississippi and compare their stock prices year to year.
I’m no expert, so don’t take anything from this column to the bank. In fact, I’m notoriously bad at picking stocks, possessing a unique knack for buying high and selling low. So the index is just intended as an informal way to get a broad look at the state’s economy and comes with a major caveat that it doesn’t provide a completely accurate picture of the state’s economy because many of the major companies based in the state (Southern Tire Mart and C Spire, for example, among many others) are privately held.
But with the decimation of the Associated Press and Clarion Ledger staffs, I don’t see much Mississippi-based business reporting, so hopefully the index is a worthwhile contribution to the state’s readers. If you have any suggestions for how to improve it, drop me a line.
This year saw the removal of one company, Callon Petroleum Co., which moved its headquarters from Natchez to Houston, Texas, and I could not find any Mississippi-based companies that held initial public offerings in 2019.
Here’s how the 10 stocks on the list performed:
- Hancock Whitney Corp. (Gulfport, bank): $34.65 to $43.98 (27%)
- Renasant Corp. (Tupelo, bank): $30.18 to $36.34 (20%)
- The First Bancshares (Hattiesburg, bank): $30.25 to $35.05 (16%)
- Trustmark Corp. (Jackson, bank): $28.43 to $35.15 (24%)
- BancorpSouth Bank (Tupelo, bank): $26.14 to $32.43 (24%)
- Peoples Financial Corp. (Biloxi, bank): $11.45 to $10.45 (-8%)
- Citizen Holding Co. (Philadelphia, bank): $21 to $22 (5%)
- Cal-Maine Foods (Jackson, eggs): $42.30 to $43.54 (3%)
- Sanderson Farms (Laurel, chickens): $99.29 to $175.98 (77%)
- EastGroup Properties (Ridgeland, real estate): $91.73 to $133.21 (45%)
A couple of thoughts:
1. It was a good year for Mississippi-based banks as their stock prices bounced back after falling 19% in 2018 to gain 18% in 2019.
2. Also, if you had bought Eastgroup Properties a few years ago, you’d be a happy investor today. On Dec. 31, 2015, its price was about $55 per share and now it’s over $130. Of course the question becomes will its growth continue or have you already missed the best time to buy. Whichever choice I ended up guessing would be the wrong one. So I’m done playing the stock market. Saps like me are better off sticking our hard-earned cash in the bank or into mutual funds.
But I hope 2019 was as good of a year to you as it was to Mississippi-based stocks, and I wish you all the blessings, financial and otherwise, that your heart and wallet can find as we head into 2020.
