A customer holds a new Apple Inc. iPhone 12 Pro at an Apple Inc. store in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Friday, Oct. 23, 2020. Apple is urging iPhone and iPad users to promptly update their operating systems to fix security bugs that may have already been exploited by hackers.
Tech stocks in 2020 saw significant overall gains despite it being a volatile year of record-breaking lows and highs. The year started and ended bullish, with long stretches of immense uncertainty.
Massive sell-offs beginning in February amid the coronavirus outbreak caused a stock market crash on March 9, representing the biggest point plunge in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) history. By the end of the year, however, the market saw record highs. These historic ups and downs of 2020 made for a volatile market, but proved out again the value in investors being more mindful of long-term performance rather than hourly (or monthly) changes.
Stacker compiled a list of the best performing tech stocks of 2020 using data from IEX Cloud. Information technology and communication services stocks in the S&P 500 were considered. Stocks are ranked by total return.
Overall, in a year that put the vast majority of the world into lockdown mode, businesses with tech elements saw stocks do extremely well—from gaming and social media to video software and e-commerce. The stocks represented here don’t necessarily represent the best stocks to invest in currently, just as not all investments work for all portfolios. Keep reading to see which tech stocks performed best in 2020.
Apple is urging iPhone and iPad users to promptly update their operating systems to fix security bugs that may have already been exploited by hackers.
On its support webpage, the company said three security flaws “may have been actively exploited.” It did not reveal too many specifics about the bugs, noting “Apple does not disclose, discuss, or confirm security issues until an investigation has occurred and patches or releases are available.”
Keep scrolling to see 2020’s 50 best-performing tech stocks
The issue is a link in an exploit chain, meaning a hacker would need to exploit further bugs for it to be fully executable. The company declined to comment further on any attacks.
The company pushed out the security patches on Tuesday as part of its new iOS 14.4 software, which also includes fixes for keyboard lag and allows smaller QR codes to be read by the camera.
Apple said two security issues stem from its WebKit, an open source browser engine used by Safari and iOS browsers. “A remote attacker may be able to cause arbitrary code execution,” the company said in the description notes. Meanwhile, Kernel, an Apple developer framework, was also affected.
The exploits were reported by “an anonymous researcher,” according to the webpage.
Apple prides itself on device security but it’s not immune to exploits. Last year, Google researchers found several websites with code that allowed hackers to quietly infiltrate iPhones. Meanwhile, an iOS13 bug exposed contact details stored in iPhones without requiring a passcode or biometric identification — a flaw that the company did not publicly address until several months after it was first reported.
