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MPWMost Powerful Women

The best and worst stock performances of Most Powerful Women CEOs

By
Valentina Zarya
Valentina Zarya
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By
Valentina Zarya
Valentina Zarya
Down Arrow Button Icon
September 14, 2015, 12:00 PM ET
Company Signs
Ross's clothing store, Jacksonville Beach, Florida, USA.Photograph by Diane Macdonald — Moment Editorial/Getty Images

Stock prices aren’t the end all and be all of a company’s performance, but they are an indication of investors’ confidence and support of its leader.

Of the women on Fortune’s list of the 50 Most Powerful Women, 23 are CEOs of publicly held companies. We took a look at these companies’ performance over the past year to see how they are faring from an investor standpoint.

The top five best performing companies from the second quarter of 2014 through the second quarter of this year were Ross Stores (ROST), Mylan (MYL), TJX Companies (TJX), Reynolds American (RAI), and General Dynamics (GD). While Synchrony Financial’s (SYF) stock price increased about 40% since its IPO, it did not start trading until Q3 and so was not included in our analysis.

Of the 22 companies analyzed, Ross Stores, led by CEO Barbara Rentler, had the biggest jump in stock price: from $33.07 on June 30, 2014 to $48.61 on June 30, 2015—or an increase of 47%. This is after adjusting for the company’s two-for-one stock split on June 11, 2015. The jump in price is a result of the discount clothier’s solid sales performance (sales increased 9% from Q2 2014 to Q2 2015) as well as the split itself; stock splits are generally considered a boost to investor confidence and are often followed by an increase in price. Accordingly, Rentler has jumped three spots in our rankings.

The worst performing stocks this year were GM (GM), IBM (IBM), HP (HPQ), Xerox (XRX), and Avon (AVP), with Avon’s stock plunging 57% in a year when the S&P essentially stayed flat. This is the company’s third straight year of reporting losses, and although CEO Sheri McCoy is trying to save the beauty business, the number of its saleswomen is quickly dwindling as other direct-to-consumer beauty businesses such as Birchbox spring up. Ranked 27th on our list of Most Powerful Women last year, McCoy dropped to No. 49 this year.

To see the full Most Powerful Women list, visit fortune.com/most-powerful-women.

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About the Author
By Valentina Zarya
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