Top performing stocks of 2006

These 20 stocks produced the largest total returns to shareholders in 2006. For this list, we included only Fortune 500 companies that traded for at least $2.

Cablevision Systems (<a href='//money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=CVC'>CVC</a>)
Cablevision Systems (CVC)
Total return: 85%
Fortune 500 rank: 380
Despite high returns for investors, Cablevision had a rocky year in 2006. In April, the cable operator borrowed roughly $3 billion to finance a special $10 dividend, landing it among the top performing stocks of 2006. The dividend also heralded a $600 million payout for the Dolan family, who used the funds to make another run at taking the company private. But the takeover bid backfired when an independent board committee rejected the offer and Wall Street has since criticized the move, saying that Cablevision ultimately jeopardized its financial position.

The near-term financial picture doesn't look rosy either. Despite occupying one of the most lucrative cable markets nationwide, Cablevision faces a growing threat from telecom operator Verizon, which is investing in fiber networks to offer the same video, Internet and phone services that Cablevision provides its customers.

See more Fortune 500 data for Cablevision Systems
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Total return to investors includes both price appreciation and dividend yield to an investor in the company's stock. The figures shown assume sales at the end of 2006 of stock owned at the end of 2005.
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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.