Best-Performing Stocks of 2024: Energy and Moderna Lead Market Gains Discover the best-performing stocks year-to-date in 2024, including energy sector gains and Moderna's rise, plus insights on market outlook and dividends. As of mid-October 2024, energy stocks have emerged as the best-performing year-to-date stocks in both Canada and the U.S. In Canada, the TSX Energy sector is up about 33 per cent this year, while in the U.S., the energy sector has surged about 50 per cent. This strong performance has been driven by multiple wars and supply issues that have boosted commodity prices, as well as corporate takeovers in Canada, such as the big deals for MEG Energy Corp. and ARC Resources Ltd., and the recent announcement of a takeover of Athabasca Oil Corp. Energy Sector Leads Market GainsEarnings growth has been the primary driver of markets this year, and that is a positive sign. However, what are the earnings expectations for next year? Typically, earnings growth follows, but that is hardly a guarantee. Still, investors in the U.S. are anticipating 2027 earnings growth in the 16 per cent range, and in Canada, investors are counting on 11 per cent to 12 per cent earnings growth. Whether this will be enough to drive stock markets to another decent year remains unknown.At 5i Research, we think the outlook might be more dependent on what inflation does than on earnings, at least in the short term. The inflation rate in Canada, available at a few small credit unions and virtual banks, is four per cent. If you invest in the stock market, what sort of yields are available right now in comparison? What is the relative cost of a lower stock dividend versus a guaranteed return?In this volatile market, the TSX Composite index yields about 2.09 per cent, the S&P 500 yields about 1.05 per cent, the Dow Jones yields about 1.54 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite yields about a paltry 0.53 per cent. Keep in mind that dividends can get taxed at better rates, especially in Canada, so these are not direct after-tax comparisons. Still, safe yields are averaging more than twice those available in the stock market right now.Top Performers Across Major IndexesIt has been a good year for many stocks. But do you know the best-performing year-to-date stocks, as of Thursday, on the TSX, the Nasdaq, the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 indexes? For this answer, we are only looking at companies within the indexes. But for Nasdaq, we will limit our answer to the Nasdaq 100 index. If we include the Nasdaq Composite index, we find some tiny stocks up many thousands of percentage points this year.For the TSX, the winner as of Thursday is Bird Construction Inc., up about 160 per cent on the back of new contracts and data centre business. For the S&P 500, the winner is Moderna Inc., that former COVID vaccine winner, now up about 660 per cent as its cancer vaccine potential gains traction with good clinical results. For the Nasdaq 100, the winner is also Moderna, but after it comes Sandisk Corp., up about 524 per cent this year. It has soared with memory prices. For the Dow Jones, the winner is Cisco Systems Inc., up about 47 per cent this year.Widely-Held Stocks and Market ValuationsUnfortunately, there is no common definition of widely-owned. The answer may be different if you are talking about individual holders or declared fund holders, or even looking at holdings in brokers such as Robinhood Markets Inc. The most plausible answer is Apple Inc., being a core holding in many indexes, pension funds and exchange-traded funds. It has been called the most universally held equity in America. Apple shares are up about 26 per cent this year, and it has a market capitalization (hit just this week) of US$5 trillion.In Canada, the best practical answer is Royal Bank of Canada, currently Canada's largest company by market value. Millions of Canadians own Royal Bank shares and they are up about 17 per cent this year, with market capitalization of about $380 billion. Peter Hodson, CFA, is founder of 5i Research Inc., an independent investment research network helping do-it-yourself investors reach their investment goals. He is also portfolio manager for the i2i Long/Short U.S. Equity Fund. (5i Research staff do not own Canadian stocks. i2i Long/Short Fund may own non-Canadian stocks mentioned.)