The top 10 U.S. stocks of 2022

Investors and financial advisors who have spent half a decade in thrall of soaring technology shares got a wake-up call last year. As persistent inflation, rising interest rates and recession worries jolted markets, Apple lost nearly 27%, Amazon plunged almost 50% and Alphabet dipped more than 39%. Investors exposed to the broader market also felt plenty of pain, with the S&P 500 clocking its worst losses, just over 18%, since the Great Recession in 2008.

But there was one bright spot on Wall Street, and it glowed like a natural gas flare seen from space: energy. Nine of the 10 best-performing stocks last year were oil, gas and energy services companies, according to Morningstar, and all had high double-digit or  three-figure returns. The S&P 500 Energy Index rose nearly 66%. Only one other sector, utilities, rose last year, and only 1.6%.

The reasons for energy's 2022 glow include Russia's invasion of Ukraine last February, a war that immediately spiked oil prices already on an upswing as the COVID-dented economy limped back to its feet and consumer demand returned. A ban on U.S. imports of oil from Russia, the world's third-largest producer, crimped supplies and further pressured prices upward. Domestic producers ramped up production after curtailing operations in 2021 during the height of the pandemic.

All of that news was good news for investors — and it could keep going. 

"Barring a severe global recession, I believe that outperformance could continue," Maurice Fitzmaurice, a sector portfolio manager at Fidelity Investments, wrote last month.

Which means that as the new year starts, many wealth advisors are keeping their eyes on oil and gas companies. 

"Energy stocks have been important to client portfolios in the past year, and I expect that they will continue to shine going forward," said Andy Kapyrin, a partner and co-chief investment officer at CI RegentAtlantic Private Wealth. "Oil prices have made a round trip, back down from the highs they had in 2022, but the other fundamental drivers of energy stocks are still strong," he said, citing moves by energy companies to pay dividends, buy back shares and pay down debt.

Steve Kolano, the managing director of investments at Integrated Partners, said that "the outperformance of the energy sector in the last year helped to cushion the drawdown of broad portfolios." He added that as rising interest rates pressure growth stocks and boost value stocks, shares in energy companies, which tend "to be more of a value-oriented sector," will continue to benefit.

Scroll through our slideshow of the top 10 U.S. stocks — nine of them energy companies — of 2022. Returns over three years and five years are included. All data is from Morningstar.