These stocks remind one that buy and hold didn’t die in 2009.

Top Performing Canadian Stocks

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These are the top three performers on the S&P/TSX Composite – and they all started the decade out as penny stocks – so don’t write your penny stocks off, either:

1. FNX Mining (TSX: FNX) – This stock returned almost 4300% over the past decade.  FNX is focused on nickel and copper mining in the Sudbury, Ontario basin.  There were expectations it would be taken out by Inco or Falconbridge, but this never happened.

2. PetroBank Energy (TSX: PBG) – This stock returned just over 3000% over the decade.  The company operates using innovative technologies for oil and gas extraction in Western Canada and Colombia.

3. Inmet Mining (TSX: IMN) – Over the past decade, Inmet has gone from a penny stock to today’s stock of $63 and change.  That’s a rise of 2300% over 10 years.  Inmet has international operations mining copper, zinc and gold in Turkey, Finland, Quebec, Papua New Guinea and other locations.

Tanya Gallus reported on BNN that there are about 120 ETFs trading on the TSX, and of those, a full 90 have been around for only about one year.  About a quarter are brand-new, very niche-focused and specific.  And about 75% of these 90 ETFs are up on the year.

Top Canadian ETF Winners From 2009

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1. Horizons BetaPro Global Base Metals ETF (HMU) – up 127% on the year.  This is a 2x leveraged “bull” ETF, which means that it replicates that index by two times, or double, what the index does.  The market cap and trading volume on this ETF are relatively small, though, so it may not be indicative of its peers.

2. Horizons BetaPro Financial Bull ETF (HFU) – up 81% on the year.  Again, this is a capped 2x leveraged “bull” ETF and replicates the index times two.

3. Claymore BRIC ETF (CBQ) – up 75% on the year.  This is one of the more popular vehicles for investing in the “BRIC” countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China).  Investors, take note that this is 57% weighted on Brazil – so if you’re interested in Russia, you might find a purer play elsewhere.  Also, the ETF is 27% composed of oil and gas stocks.  Investors should compare this ETF with the other, equally popular EEM for the same emerging markets sector.

4. Horizons BetaPro Energy Bull ETF (HEU) – up 66% in 2009.  Another 2x leveraged play, this ETF “doubles” the results of its index.

5. iShares S&P/TSX Small Cap ETF (XCS) – up 59% in 2009.  Note that this is not a leveraged ETF and about 26% of its weighting is in mining stocks.

6. Claymore Global Mining ETF (CMW) – up 58% on the year.  Unsurprisingly, the top holding is BHP Billiton, at a whopping 25% of the ETF weighting.

7. Horizons BetaPro S&P/TSX 60 Bull ETF (HXU) – up 57% on the year.  Another 2x leveraged ETF – double the TSX 60 index results.

8. iShares Canadian REIT Index (XRE) – Holds just 10 REITs, one quarter of which is RioCan.

Obviously past performance is not indicative of future performance.  But it’s good for new investors to get a sense of some of the other ETF products out there.  Always buy a stock or ETF based on its value and potential earnings as they are today – not based on what price you got them for or what they did last month or last year.

Happy Investing in 2010!