A winning stock?

Really, it's all relative.

Now more than ever, it seems, all that separates winners and losers in the stock market is time.

Look at the top returning in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index from the start of the year to the end of the second quarter:

• Dynegy Inc., up 255.9 percent.

• Williams Cos. Inc., up 192. 6 percent.

• Avaya Inc., up 163.7 percent.

• Corning Inc., up 123.3 percent.

• PMC-Sierra Inc., up 111.5 percent.

Being a winner in the first half of 2003 is really like winning the "most improved" prize. It doesn't necessarily mean you're doing so hot now - only that you were doing so horribly poor before.

Still big losers

Look first at Dynegy (ticker DYN). The energy company finished June at $4.20 a share. That's more than 31/2 times its $1.18 close to end 2002.

But take a closer look. Just a little over two years ago, Dynegy hit its all-time high of $57.95 a share.

Even after its "winning" six months, shares are still 93 percent off that mark. If you'd invested back then and continued to hold, it's doubtful the last six months could be considered all that great.

Fellow energy firm and six-month runner-up Williams Cos. Inc. looks very much the same.

A year-to-date return of 192.6 percent, from $2.70 Dec. 31 to $7.90 June 30, loses its luster over the longer term.

But Williams (ticker WMB) in mid-1999 traded as high as $48.77. A year ago, it hovered around $1.

Indeed, over the longer term, Dynegy and Williams are still considered pretty big losers among companies still members of the S&P 500.

For the short term

The energy companies aren't alone.

Telecommunications provider Avaya (ticker AV) finished June at $6.46 - 68.5 percent below where it started, at $20.50, when it was spun off from Lucent Technologies in September 2000.

Corning's tale is no better. Since peaking with other telecom providers in September 2000 at $113.33 a share, the New York firm (ticker GLW) finished last quarter at $7.39.

Buying three years, you'd be looking at a 93.5 percent loss. But having bought just six months ago, you'd have enjoyed a 123.3 percent gain.

At the risk of belaboring the point, the stock that rounds out the top five S&P winners for the 2003's first six months is PMC-Sierra (ticker PMCS).

The networking company slid into fifth place for the six months on a 111.5 percent gain, from $5.56 to $11.76.

Who wouldn't be happy having doubled their money in six months?

Maybe anyone who bought PMC-Sierra anywhere near its March 2000 peak of $245.44 a share.

Holders from that era maintain less than 5 cents of every dollar they initially invested in PMC-Sierra, where just over 2 cents existed six months ago.

See? Winning and losing, it's all just a matter of time.

Contact Amy Higgins at 768-8373; ahiggins@enquirer.com; or 312 Elm St., Cincinnati 45202. She regrets that she cannot reply to all individual questions.