Star stocks of the decade

For a company that didn't even exist when the decade began, EnCana did pretty well for itself. Formed by the 2002 merger of Alberta Energy Co. Ltd. and PanCanadian Energy Corp., EnCana became Canada's biggest energy company just in time for the greatest bull run ever seen for oil and gas prices. Now, it's come full circle - last month it split in two again, spinning off its attractive oil sands assets as Cenovus Energy Inc. while continuing the EnCana name as North America's biggest natural gas producer. Together or apart, EnCana's assets have made investors a lot of money. D.P.

Unless you're a farmer, or a Saskatchewan premier, you probably had barely even heard of potash 10 years ago. (It's what? A fertilizer you mine? What is this, a story line from Fraggle Rock?) But toss together global population growth, a few years of bad crops and a couple of booming, billion-person emerging economies, and suddenly everyone needs more fertilizers to squeeze more yield out of their crops. Potash prices went through the roof. And guess who produces more potash than anyone else in the world? For a while, it was like Potash Corp. owned a money-printing machine. D.P.

Lifted from the pages of The Insatiable Investor Cookbook, here's the recipe for the perfect bull market in gold :

-Take one massive crisis in the global banking system;

-Add a sinking U.S. dollar;

-Mix in obscene amounts of debt-financed government stimulus that gets people worrying about inflation in the midst of a recession;

-Sprinkle with widespread fear, mistrust and paranoia. Heat for a year or so.

When it pops out of the oven, you have gold pushing $1,100 (U.S.) an ounce and ads on late-night TV offering cash for your unwanted fillings. D.P.

Okay, let's see a show of hands. How many of you had ever heard the phrase "peak oil" 10 years ago? No? How about "speculative commodity hedge funds"? Whether you blame irreversibly dwindling supplies, derivatives smoke-and-mirrors or mass public hysteria, the fact remains that oil went from afterthought to a $150-a-barrel monster in the course of the decade, redefining not only the energy marketplace but the entire global economy along the way. D.P.

Infrastructure was a good place to be in the 2000s. Want to cash in on the rapid modernization, urbanization and industrialization of massive emerging economies in China, India and elsewhere? They need roads, bridges, highways, dams - in other words, buy an infrastructure company (like SNC-Lavalin ). The global economy teeters on recession, forcing developed-world governments to throw trillions of dollars at the problem, money just begging for big job-producing projects on which to spend it all? Hey, that would be roads, bridges, highways - again, buy infrastructure. Can't lose for winnin'. D.P.

Sure, they break constantly. And prolonged use can damage your hearing. And you'll never listen to all the 40,000 songs on the hard drive, most of which suck anyway. Other than that, iPods are terrific fun - especially if you're an Apple shareholder. Launched in October, 2001, the iPod single-handedly revolutionized the music industry, building on Apple's success with its iMac and MacBook computers and sending the stock up the charts faster than a Lady Gaga single. J.H.

FNX Mining is down about 70 per cent from its 2007 peak, but it still managed to soar more than 4,000 per cent in the past decade, making it the top-performing member of the S&P/TSX composite index. The secret to FNX's success? It bought old mines and properties from Inco when nickel prices were in the dumps, then rode the boom as China's sizzling growth stoked demand for the metal that's used to make stainless steel. Now, copper, platinum and palladium are giving the stock a shine. J.H.

Downside of owning a BlackBerry: Walking into telephone poles; accidentally peeing on your shoe; prolonged service outages. Downside of owning shares of RIM : Stomach ulcers; large swings in your personal net worth; fits of joy followed by bouts of anxiety and depression. RIM's ride was nothing if not exciting, and while it finished the decade at less than half of its 2008 high, investors who held the stock for the past 10 years are still up more than 500 per cent. Whether that's enough to compensate them for all the stress they endured is another question. J.H.

Given the subprime mortgage disaster in the United States, you'd think a company that bills itself as "Canada's leading alternative lender" would be about as popular with investors as a boil on their backside. Wrong. Home Capital , which caters to customers who don't meet the lending criteria of the banks, has been doing just peachy, thanks, as low interest rates pour fuel on the sizzling housing market. The stock's recouped all of its losses suffered in the financial crisis and its dividend keeps rising. Great, now let's see how they do when the housing boom ends. J.H.

Money does grow on trees after all - just ask shareholders of Sino-Forest . Based in Mississauga and run by executives in Hong Kong, the company started in 1994 and has quickly become the largest forest operator in China. As the country's rebounding economy spurs demand for new homes, flooring, furniture and infrastructure projects, Sino-Forest's stock has been growing again after losing a few branches in the global financial crisis. Investors' portfolios are looking lush and green. J.H.