Today is a momentous day. This time last year, on 23 March 2020, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) was having one of its worst days yet with the coronavirus-induced market crash. The market was plummeting after yet another night of heavy selling over in the United States.
Little did we know at the time, though, that this would be the day the ASX 200 found its bottom. Yes, after 23 March, it was only onwards and upwards. More so for some shares than others, of course.
Here are 5 of the best performing ASX shares since that fateful day (in ascending order of performance):
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5 of the best performing ASX shares since the COVID crash
5. Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P)
At today's share price of $8.21, it's hard to imagine Zip Co at just $1.05 a share. Yet that's where this buy now, pay later (BNPL) company briefly found itself 12 months ago. But fast forward one year and Zip shareholders have a 682% gain under their belts. Not a bad outcome at all.
4. Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS)
Pilbara was hit by a perfect storm this time last year. Lithium miners like Pilbara had been in a bear market long before COVID-19 graced our lives. So when the market crashed, Pilbara was pushed to multi-year lows, bottoming out at 13 cents a share on 23 March 2020.
Today, Pilbara is a $1.02 stock, meaning investors have enjoyed a 685% recovery.
3. Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT)
Afterpay has become a poster child of the ASX 200 recovery. It famously got down to a price of $8.01 on March 23 last year, down from the near-$20 a share it was commanding a month earlier.
Remember, that seemed ludicrously expensive at the time for the BNPL pioneer! But today, Afterpay is going for $109.53 a share – a move I'm not sure even the bulls of the bulls could have dreamed of a year ago. That's a return of 1,267%, thank you very much!
2. Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX: PBH)
Pointsbet shareholders were wiped out by around 80% between 14 February and 23 March last year. But anyone who had the nerves of steel to hold on has been richly rewarded for their courage.
Since reaching a low of $1.04 on 23 March last year, Pointsbet closed yesterday at a price of $14.24 a share. That's a handy 1,269% return.
1. Redbubble Ltd (ASX: RBL)
Last, but certainly not least is Redbubble, a company known for helping artists sell their works on various innovative mediums (like mugs for instance) online. Last March seemed to coincide with a slump Redbubble had been working through over the previous months.
It reached a low of 40 cents on 23 March. But today, Redbubble shares are worth, at the time of writing, $5.70 each. That's a return of… drumroll…. a whopping 1,325%. Just for some context, that return would result in a $10,000 investment then being worth $132,500 today.
Foolish takeaway
Got FOMO yet? I know I have, so that's all for today! But this does go to show that selling your favourite companies in the worst throes of a market crash might just be one of the worst financial decisions you can ever make.
