The Best Stocks to Donate Now

As of 2/5/2024
Despite headwinds from inflation and fears of recession, many widely-held stocks have done very well and are ripe for tax-advantaged harvesting by via charitable stock gifting.

As detailed in our post on how to select stocks to donate to charity we recommend that you:

1. Harvest gains on hot stocks held 12+ months
2. Donate your all-time winners
3. Reduce portfolio concentration

To surface those stocks that are best for gifting today we’ve researched and published the top 20+ widely held stocks with a market cap of at least $10 billion based on 5-year and 10-year returns.

Best Stocks: 1-Year Returns*

Rank	Stock Ticker & Name	1-Year Return
1	SMCI Super Micro Computer Inc.	686.52%
2	APP Applovin Corp - Class A	244.02%
3	NVDA NVIDIA Corp	228.59%
4	SYM Symbotic Inc	226.32%
5	CRWD Crowdstrike Holdings - A	166.37%
6	DKNG Draftkings Inc. - Class A	148.67%
7	META Meta Platforms Inc. - Class A	146.29%
8	AFRM Affirm Holdings Inc.	128.93%
9	BLDR Builders Firstsource Inc	117.03%
10	PANW Palo Alto Networks Inc	115.68%
11	UBER Uber Technologies Inc	108.49%
12	LLY ELI LILLY & CO	108.27%
13	AVGO Broadcom Inc	108.01%
14	ANET Arista Networks Inc	106.86%
15	AMD Advanced Micro Devices	102.38%
16	FCNCA First Citizens BCSHS - Class A	97.19%
17	MDB Mongodb Inc	96.82%
18	FICO FAIR ISAAC corporation	84.37%
19	PHM PULTEGROUP INC	77.47%
20	RCL Royal Caribbean Cruises LTD	77.10%
21	CELH Celsius Holdings INC	73.27%
22	ZS ZSCALER INC	71.90%
23	CRM Salesforce inc	68.45%
24	GE General Electric Co	68.02%
25	MANH Manhattan Associates Inc	66.31%
Best performing members of the S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite with a market cap > $10 billion. 1 Year to 2/5/2024

Best Stocks: 5-Year Returns*

Rank	Stock Ticker & Name	5-Year Return
1	SMCI Super Micro Computer Inc.	4138.66%
2	CELH Celsius Holdings Inc	3746.51%
3	NVDA NVIDIA CORP	1749.47%
4	ENPH Enphase Energy Inc	1239.73%
5	BLDR Builders Firstsource Inc	1217.90%
6	TSLA Tesla Inc	745.15%
7	LSCC Lattice Semiconductor Corp	699.49%
8	AMD Advanced Micro Devices Inc	647.45%
9	BNTX BIONTECH SE-ADR	557.75%
10	CDNS Cadence Design Sys Inc	492.35%
11	LLY Eli Lilly & Co	486.40%
12	PWR Quanta Services Inc	484.03%
13	KLAC KLA CORP	475.84%
14	SNPS Sypnosys Inc	466.45%
15	MRNA Moderna Inc	455.82%
16	FICO Fair Isaac Corp	441.79%
17	CRWD Crowdstrike Holdings Inc	421.53%
18	URI United Rentals Inc	399.90%
19	ASML ASML HOLDING NV-NY REG SHS	394.76%
20	AXON Axon Enterprise Inc	390.42%
21	LRCX LAM Research Corp	390.14%
22	MELI Mercadolibre Inc	388.58%
23	MPWR Monolithic Power Systems Inc	387.85%
24	ANET Arista Networks Inc	387.38%
25	SYM Symbotic Inc	383.90%
Best performing members of the S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite with a market cap > $10 billion. 5 Years to 2/5/2024

For reference, we wanted to include a list of mega cap stocks that generally come to mind when speaking of long-term appreciation. Several racked up impressive gains!

Ticker	1-Year Return	5-Year Return
GOOGL Alphabet	37.13%	152.93%
AMZN Amazon	64.73%	105.34%
AAPL Apple	21.48%	331.00%
META Meta	146.29%	168.41%
MSFT Microsoft	57.02%	278.33%
NFLX Netflix	53.61%	57.97%
NVDA Nvidia	228.59%	1749.47%

At DonateStock, we know that appreciated stocks exponentially benefit both donors and nonprofits when benevolent (and strategic) investors avoid capital gains tax on stock by donating stock to charities they believe in. If you want to maximize your giving, gifting stock is one of the best tactics you can use.

*Data provided by hedge fund veteran and market analyst Berna Barshay.

Please note: we are not financial advisors and we do not provide investment or tax advice. This is informational only. Please speak to a tax professional.