Given all that's transpired in the financial world over the past few years, 1999 may seem like a lifetime ago for investors. Still, it's useful -- though not necessarily predictive -- to take a look at some stocks that have trounced the overall market since then.

The top stock of the last decade is a 1,400-employee gas and oil driller based off the northern beltway in Houston, Tex. Southwestern Energy (SWN) was founded in 1929 but only in the last several years has the company really set itself apart from the independent energy firms dotting the region.

Quietly, Southwestern bought up rights to a vast new natural gas field it discovered in Arkansas. The company was "able to get a large holding of drilling leases before other companies got wind of the prospect," says Morningstar (MORN) analyst Catherina Milostan. She adds that Southwestern has efficiently gone about exploiting the so-called Fayetteville Shale using innovative techniques such as horizontal drilling.

Southwestern's success has handsomely rewarded its investors. The total return on its shares in the last ten years is 3,662%.

BW's top 20, low-beta stocks BusinessWeek, using data from Standard & Poor's Compustat, looked at the top performing stocks in the S&P index of 500 stocks based on total return, which includes both price appreciation and dividends.

Excluded from our top 20 list were stocks that suffered high volatility, as measured in beta. By definition, the overall market has a beta of 1.0. Southwestern's beta over the last ten years was just 0.348.

The total returns of the top 20 stocks ranged from almost 500% to Southwestern's 3,662%. What drove such outsized success?

Some firms filled a growing niche. Stericycle (SRCL) offered investors a 1,503% return in the last ten years by pursuing a profitable but unglamorous business model: Helping hospitals and other health-care facilities dispose of medical waste.

Some companies came up with innovative products. Effective medical treatments were developed by pharmaceutical companies such as Celgene (CELG) -- with its 2,607% total return -- and Gilead Sciences (GILD), with its 1,491% return.

most winners: health care or energy Flir Systems (FLIR), which returned 1,190% to investors, developed thermal imaging and infrared cameras now used in hundreds of applications by governments and businesses.

Sometimes a company's success is the result of day-in, day-out hard work. C.H. Robinson (CHRW) helps companies solve the logistical puzzles involved in shipping products worldwide by air, land, and sea. Its efforts have netted shareholders a 692% return since 1999.

Often, however, there are broader forces at work. Unfortunately, these factors can be harder for executives or investors to predict. Of the 20 top stocks identified by BusinessWeek's screen, all but two are either health-care or energy-related companies.

That's no coincidence. U.S. health-care expenditures nearly doubled from 1997 to 2007, the most recent year data are available. According to the federal government's Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, $2.24 trillion was spent on health care in 2007.

Energy costs have also skyrocketed. A barrel of West Texas crude oil sold for about $18 in May 1999, exploding to more than $140 in July 2008 -- an eightfold increase. In May 2009, oil prices were above $50 and approaching $60.

no finance, Web, or software plays High oil prices rendered more economical the innovative drilling techniques used by Southwestern and other operators. Robust health-care spending boosted firms such as Ventas (VTR), a real estate investment trust that owns 41 hospitals and hundreds of other health facilities.

And it's no coincidence that the top 20 stocks include neither financial firms, which were battered by the crisis of the past two years, nor Internet or software companies, which were deflated by the tech bust of the early 2000s.

Still, it's not just luck that led to these stellar returns. Sure, some oil and gas explorers ended up on the top 20 list. But Morningstar's Milostan says they stand out from their peers as "good operators": The top companies "all have found ways to drill efficiently [with] lower costs and also are fairly prudent with their cash management," she says.

These firms got lucky but they also made the best of an already great situation. And shareholders reaped the rewards.

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.