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May Flowers: 10 Best-Performing S&P 500 Stocks<br><br>

May wasn’t the best month for investors but these 10 S&P 500 stocks managed to buck the trend, delivering healthy returns to shareholders.


For the month, the S&P 500 lost 87.58 points, or 6.2%, to finish at 1,310.33.


Here’s a closer look at the 10 best-performing S&P 500 components last month:


Source: Standard & Poor’s
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1. Dean Foods Co. (NYSE: DF)<br><br>

Closing Share Price on 4/30: $12.28


Closing Share Price on 5/31: $15.64


Percentage Gain: 27.4%


Sector: Industry Goods


52-Week High: $16.27


52-Week Low: $7.83


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2. TripAdvisor Inc. (Nasdaq: TRIP)<br><br>

Closing Share Price on 4/30: $37.51


Closing Share Price on 5/31: $42.88


Percentage Gain: 14.3%


Sector: Online Travel Services


52-Week High: $45.82


52-Week Low: $23.99


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3. Cooper Industries (NYSE: CBE)<br><br>

Closing Share Price on 4/30: $62.57


Closing Share Price on 5/31: $70.55


Percentage Gain: 12.7%


Sector: Manufacturing


52-Week High: $72.21


52-Week Low: $41.15


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4. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT)<br><br>

Closing Share Price on 4/30: $58.91


Closing Share Price on 5/31: $65.82


Percentage Gain: 11.7%


Sector: Retail


52-Week High: $68.48


52-Week Low: $48.31


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5. Scripps Network Interactive Inc. (NYSE: SNI)<br><br>

Closing Share Price on 4/30: $50.22


Closing Share Price on 5/31: $54.77


Percentage Gain: 9%


Sector: Television Broadcasting


52-Week High: $57.75


52-Week Low: $33.82


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6. Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV)<br><br>

Closing Share Price on 4/30: $8.28


Closing Share Price on 5/31: $9.03


Percentage Gain: 9%


Sector: Transportation


52-Week High: $11.65


52-Week Low: $7.15


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7. The Sherwin-Williams Co. (NYSE: SHW)<br><br>

Closing Share Price on 4/30: $120.28


Closing Share Price on 5/31: $129.64


Percentage Gain: 7.8%


Sector: Industrial Goods


52-Week High: $132.50


52-Week Low: $69.47


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8. Expedia Inc. (Nasdaq: EXPE)<br><br>

Closing Share Price on 4/30: $42.65


Closing Share Price on 5/31: $45.89


Percentage Gain: 7.6%


Sector: Online Travel Services


52-Week High: $65.78


52-Week Low: $27.28


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9. Whole Foods Market Inc. (Nasdaq: WFM)<br><br>

Closing Share Price on 4/30: $83.07


Closing Share Price on 5/31: $88.61


Percentage Gain: 6.7%


Sector: Services/Grocery Stores


52-Week High: $92.00


52-Week Low: $53.32


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10. Beam Inc. (NYSE: BEAM)<br><br>

Closing Share Price on 4/30: $56.78


Closing Share Price on 5/31: $60.56


Percentage Gain: 6.7%


Sector: Consumer Goods


52-Week High: $65.42


52-Week Low: $42.30

Also see:

May Flounders: 10 Biggest S&P Laggards

10 Dividend-Paying Stocks Your Clients Will Want in 2012

5 Best-Performing Growth Mutual Funds This Year

5 Best-Performing Dow Stocks in Q1

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