How the Best and Worst Stocks of 2011 are Faring in 2012

While last week's alphabet post was tongue in cheek, below is a chart of the year's S&P 500 grouped by a factor that is slightly more relevant to forward returns.  The chart compares the 2012 performance of the best and worst performing stocks of last year.  It is broken down by quintile; 1 represents 2011's worst performers, while 5 is the group of best performing stocks.  The chart shows that so far the winners keep on winning in 2012.  The best stocks of 2011 continue to outperform the index in 2012.