Top 5 Stocks That blew up in 2012

good time for investors to look at the stocks they own and decide whether their performance has met expectations. Let's take a look at some stocks that had an amazing run in 2012. Then we'll examine what made it such a great year for each of them.

Huge winners
Here are some of the biggest gainers of 2012:




Company


YTD Return





3D Systems (NYSE: DDD )


205%




Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ )


71%




Gap (NYSE: GPS )


69%




lululemon athletica (NASDAQ: LULU )


57%




Home Depot (NYSE: HD )


49%


Source: Yahoo! Finance.

These companies' shareholder returns have been nothing short of remarkable. All five of these companies outperformed the S&P 500 by at least fourfold year to date. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes returned roughly 12% and 15%, respectively, during the same period.

But while investors spend a lot of time focusing on year-to-date returns, you should also closely pay attention to other important considerations. For example, don't ignore major changes in the company -- like events that put pressure on a company's top-line growth, a management shake-up, or how well the company is maintaining profitability. That way you can figure out whether a company deserves to remain a part of your portfolio.

Let's take a closer look at what made 2012 a great year for these five companies.

Printing great returns
While still in its infancy, 3D Systems' cutting-edge 3-D printing technology holds a lot of promise. 3-D printing allows you to construct and print objects from a digital design using layers of materials like plastic, ceramic, and metal. Industrial companies are currently using the technology, but the printers are becoming more affordable for home and office use.

This year 3D Systems achieved amazing top-line growth and released The Cube, a 3-D printer that costs a more reasonable $1,300. But this razors-and-blades business-model company makes its money off the consumable cartridges. Even though 2012 was a blockbuster year for 3D Systems, the company -- and industry -- still holds a lot of potential.

Investors will drink to that
With little international presence, slowing growth in China and European economic woes didn't affect wine maker Constellation Brands. Its stock jumped more than 40% in one late-June week as the result of a deal that'll grant Constellation sole distribution rights to Grupo Modelo products in the U.S.

This agreement came at an opportune time for Constellation, as an anticipated drying up of domestic grape supply has U.S. wineries scrambling to plant new vines and increase capacity. But since it takes five years for new grapevine plantings to show up in our favorite Cabs, Constellation will likely benefit from further product diversification, as it's primarily a wine company with a small spirits and beer portfolio.

Enlightened returns for retailers
Cotton prices rose substantially in 2011 and early 2012, putting serious pressure on Gap's gross margins. But margins improved during the second half of 2012 as cotton prices retreated. Meanwhile, yoga apparel retailer Lululemon uses mostly synthetic, technical textiles for its attire, as opposed to cotton. Therefore, the company was more immune to cotton price increases and didn't feel the margin pressures. Lululemon's cult-like customer base continues to drop huge dollars on its apparel -- sales per square foot in 2011 were an amazing $1,941 for Lululemon compared to $386 for Gap.

Home run
Home Depot benefited tremendously from the beginning signs of a long-anticipated upswing in the housing market. Whether homeowners were making improvements or homebuilders were buying building supplies, Home Depot profited from the increased demand. The DIY retailer announced in mid-September that it'd pull out of China, after failing to read the Chinese home-improvement market and the way Chinese customers shop.

Foolish bottom line
While it's never a wise idea to invest in a company solely based on its stock's most recent performance, an investor can learn a lot from focusing instead on what factors made a company prosper in any given year. One blockbuster year is irrelevant without the existence of other successful company attributes like a sustainable competitive advantage, great management, and solid financials.

Jim Cramer Lighting Round Stock Picks

Mad Money Recap

Segment 1: The Obama Accountability Index
Cramer said that things were much better today than they were yesterday with IBM (IBM), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Abbott Labs (ABT), Forest Labs (FRX), Northern Trust (NTRS), and PNC (PNC) all reporting good earnings today, Wal-Mart (WMT) reporting good numbers, mineral plays announcing that they are cutting back on production, which is good for stocks like Freeport McMoran (FCX), and Apple (AAPL) and Research in Motion (RIMM) reporting good sales as well. Cramer said that the high yielding stocks are back at the lows that they bounced off of in November, and that they will bounce back again.
However, said many of the financials are still weighing us down, like Citigroup (C) and Bank of America (BAC). As long as they don't go under, the stock indexes should be OK.
Cramer thinks Obama needs to save the good banks like J.P. Morgan (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC) from the bad ones like C and BAC. He added that the bonds and preferred stock of C and BAC need to be preserved, because if they go down, investors will be even more afraid of the financials. To track Obama's performance, Cramer created an index of 6 Dow stocks, made up of Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), Caterpillar (CAT), General Electric (GE), General Motors (GM), and J.P. Morgan (JPM). It will start at a value of 100 as of the closing price at the end of today, and all the stocks have an equal weight. They were picked because it includes good and bad banks, a test of the infrastructure stimulus, the auto sector, and a large conglomerate that represents a large section of the overall economy.

Segment 2: Dow All Stars Review
In the first week of 2009, Cramer recommended Verizon (VZ), Caterpillar (CAT), Hewlett Packard (HPQ), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Home Depot (HD), and he wanted to review how they did after the big drop in the market recently. His group is down 3%, which isn't great, but is better than the Dow and S&P 500, which are down 8% and 9% respectively. He thinks this is good news because they should go up more than the index when times get better, plus they all have a yield over 3%, except HP. He still likes HP because they have great management, recently made a smart acquisition of EDS, and is beating their printer competition. Cramer is still bullish on Verizon because of its high yield, good CEO, and strong Blackberry Storm and FiOS sales. He also still likes J&J because it is a good defensive play and a strong balance sheet. Cramer is bullish on CAT because of its accidentially high yield and because it is in position to benefit from the U.S. and Chinese infrastructure stimulus plans. He is also still bullish on Home Depot because he thinks housing will bottom in about 5 months, and people will begin making home improvements then.

Segment 3: Interview with Google (GOOG) CEO Eric Schmidt
Cramer talked to Schmidt about his experience on Obama's transition team, and his ideas to reduce unemployment. He didn't make any stock picks in this segment.

Segment 4: Lightning Round!
Zions Bancorp (ZION): Cramer won't recommend any regional bank right now, so he gave it a "Don't buy".
CME Group (CME): Cramer would rather own NYSE Euronext (NYX) because it has a higher yield, or Ameritrade (AMTD) or Charles Schwab (SCHW).
Electronic Arts (ERTS): Cramer is bearish because it is not cheap right now, and the company doesn't have any momentum.
Barclays (BCS): Cramer is bearish because he thinks it is in serious trouble.
Huntsman (HUN): Cramer thinks it is too risky and recommended PPG (PPG) instead.
CBS (CBS): Cramer is bearish because media companies have not been doing well, and the ownership structure of CBS is unusual.

Segment 5: Quiz Cramer
Cramer had a live audience for the show today, and he took general questions but didn't make any stock picks.