The best and worst performing ASX 200 stocks of FY26
A flat 2.7% year for the ASX 200 hid a stark divide. Miners boomed while tech and healthcare favourites were savaged.
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KEY POINTS
- The S&P/ASX 200 rose just 2.7% in FY26, with miners single-handedly keeping the index positive as healthcare, tech and telco favourites all dragged.
- 4DMedical was the standout, a 17-bagger up 1787% that beat the next six best stocks combined. Fourteen of the top 20 performers were miners.
- The worst names, including WiseTech, Xero and Tuas, fell on self-inflicted catalysts. Last year's laggards led the pack, a reminder of how fast leadership rotates.
FY26 is done and dusted, and let's be real here, it was a terrible time to be an Australia index investor. The S&P/ASX 200 finished the year pretty flat, up just 2.7%, in a year where miners single-handily propped the index into positive territory, and portfolio-favourites like healthcare, tech and telco stocks underperformed.
The S&P/ASX 200 Materials Index has dipped 9.1% in the past two weeks, but still closes the financial year up 47.4%. The index first broke out to all-time highs last September, after trading relatively sideways for four years, which proved to be a powerful signal, bringing plenty of high-profile names like BHP, Rio Tinto, PLS Group, Newmont, Sandfire Resources and more to fresh all-time highs.
S&P/ASX 200 vs. S&P/ASX 200 sectors (Source: TradingView)
Best performing ASX 200 stocks
4DMedical (4DX) takes the #1 spot, closing the financial year out as a 17 bagger and outperforming the next six stocks ... combined. The past twelve months have featured non-stop commercial and regulatory milestones for the company's CT:VQ software, which turns standard CT scans into lung ventilation and perfusion maps. In September 2025, the product landed FDA clearance, and within four months, adopted by Stanford, Cleveland Clinic, University of Miami and UC San Diego Health. The year also featured a major $10 million investment from Pro Medicus back in July, when the stock was trading at just 24 cents a piece.
Elsewhere, 14 of the 20 best performers were miners, thanks to a strong rebound in lithium prices (up around 160% from July lows), gold miners holding onto leftover 2025 gains, a global race to secure critical minerals propping up rare earth stocks, and a record-setting year for copper prices.
Ticker | Company | Close Price | Sector | 1 Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
4DX | 4DMedical | $4.53 | Health Care | 1787.5% |
MI6 | Minerals 260 | $0.73 | Materials | 508.3% |
EOS | Electro Optic Systems Holdings | $10.30 | Industrials | 277.3% |
ELV | Elevra Lithium | $9.60 | Materials | 255.6% |
PLS | PLS Group | $5.02 | Materials | 229.2% |
MIN | Mineral Resources | $62.07 | Materials | 154.0% |
NWH | NRW Holdings | $7.44 | Industrials | 142.4% |
SRG | SRG Global | $3.98 | Industrials | 136.9% |
LTR | Liontown | $1.69 | Materials | 129.3% |
CDA | Codan | $44.14 | Information Technology | 123.7% |
LYC | Lynas Rare Earths | $18.06 | Materials | 116.6% |
KCN | Kingsgate Consolidated | $4.95 | Materials | 107.1% |
ALK | Alkane Resources | $1.37 | Materials | 97.1% |
ILU | Iluka Resources | $7.07 | Materials | 86.1% |
MND | Monadelphous Group | $30.99 | Industrials | 80.2% |
PDI | Predictive Discovery | $0.68 | Materials | 72.2% |
SGM | Sims | $27.56 | Materials | 70.7% |
IGO | IGO | $7.37 | Materials | 70.6% |
SFR | Sandfire Resources | $19.19 | Materials | 67.6% |
WGX | Westgold Resources | $4.70 | Materials | 65.5% |
Worst performing ASX 200 stocks
Names like WiseTech, Tuas and Xero would probably have made some sort of "best performing" or "top growth picks" list a year or two ago. They've now ended up in the bottom drawer amid a broader, sharp de-rating across tech, defence and healthcare. Most of that weakness was compounded by some kind of self-inflicted catalyst, whether the range of governance issues at WiseTech, Xero's costly M&A (it bought unprofitable US accounting outfit Melio for $2.5bn) or Tuas being accused of using unauthorised radio frequency bands, which triggered a one-day selloff of around 60%.
Ticker | Company | Close Price | Sector | 1 Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
WTC | Wisetech Global | $33.00 | Information Technology | -70.2% |
TUA | Tuas | $2.27 | Communication Services | -60.2% |
COH | Cochlear | $121.75 | Health Care | -59.6% |
XRO | Xero | $72.22 | Information Technology | -59.1% |
CSL | CSL | $114.74 | Health Care | -52.4% |
NEC | Nine Entertainment | $0.89 | Communication Services | -45.5% |
SEK | Seek | $13.45 | Communication Services | -44.4% |
ARB | ARB Corporation | $18.92 | Consumer Discretionary | -43.0% |
LLC | Lendlease | $3.23 | Real Estate | -41.2% |
TWE | Treasury Wine Estates | $4.76 | Consumer Staples | -41.0% |
JDO | Judo Capital Holdings | $0.94 | Financials | -40.9% |
REA | REA Group | $139.19 | Communication Services | -40.0% |
NWL | Netwealth Group | $20.56 | Financials | -39.5% |
GQG | GQG Partners | $1.45 | Financials | -38.0% |
BPT | Beach Energy | $0.86 | Energy | -36.4% |
GNC | Graincorp | $4.91 | Consumer Staples | -35.4% |
PME | Pro Medicus | $203.43 | Health Care | -33.8% |
TPG | TPG Telecom | $3.60 | Communication Services | -32.8% |
ASB | Austal | $4.05 | Industrials | -32.3% |
TLX | Telix Pharmaceuticals | $16.58 | Health Care | -30.8% |
On to FY27
The best and worst lists change quickly. Just a year ago, names like Generation Development Group and Austal sat at the top of the leaderboards, up 110% and 153% respectively in FY25, only to land among the worst performers this year.
Meanwhile, names like PLS Group and MinRes were FY25 laggards, down 58% and 61% that year, and now sit at the top alongside a long list of other miners. It goes to show just how much leverage is built into these resource names.
Even when sectors turn, the names within them don't always follow. Despite a higher oil price backdrop, the likes of Beach Energy and Karoon Energy have still underperformed.
