Brookfield was first recommended in the IWB way back in 1997 at a split-adjusted price of $4.09. I’ve repeatedly recommended buying the stock, even as it moved steadily higher over the years. However, I was caught off-guard by the powerhouse showing of this conglomerate in 2019. It’s not often that a company of this size and complexity posts a 47% gain in less than a year, but that’s what we have seen here. The shares finished 2018 at $52.32. They’re now at $76.85. And I still rate them a Buy, even at this level.

It’s hard to believe that when Ryan Irvine first recommended this stock in 2010, you could buy the shares for only $5.50. As of Nov. 14, it was trading at $191.01 for a gain of 3,373%. But what has this auto collision and glass repair business done for us lately? A lot. The stock ended 2018 at $112.95. At the current price, the year-to-date gain is 69%. Like the Energizer bunny, this one keeps going, and going, and going.

This little-known small-cap company was recommended by contributing editor Ryan Irvine in late 2015. It is a global supplier of aerospace and defense electronic products and subsystems, with facilities in Canada, the United States, and China. The company reported strong third-quarter results, with sales up 12% year-over-year and net income up 176% compared to the same period in 2018. The stock ended last year at $2.11 and is now at $3.72, for a year-to-date gain of 76.3%.

This Ottawa-based software company provides a range of services for small and mid-size retailers world-wide. The stock finished 2018 at $188.79 on the TSX. It then took off like a rocket, reaching a high of $543.76 in late August. At that point, investors decided this was too far too fast for a company that is not making any profits and pulled back. The shares were trading at $413.35 on Nov. 14, for a year-to-date advance of 119%.

Contributing editor Ryan Irvine wins the prize for the IWB’s top-performing stock in 2019. He originally recommended this Texas-based manufacturer and distributor of after-market auto products in June 2018 at US$3.32. It had almost doubled by the end of the year, finishing on Dec. 31 at $6.10. The price at midday on Nov. 14 was $14.02, for a year-to-date gain of 130%.