# How Celestica (CLS) compares with the whole market and its popular alternatives

> Source: EasyCompare research, https://easycompare.io/research/cls
> Data as of October 20, 2026. Total returns include reinvested dividends. Past performance does not predict future results; nothing here is investment advice.

Built by QuantCommons' quantitative engine, this page is about relative opportunity, not data on CLS alone. It places CLS (Celestica Inc.) against 18 popular alternatives, its neighboring categories and the entire market of over 10,000 U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs, and surfaces what has done better on consistent outperformance, return for the risk taken, behavior in real market crashes and diversification. The result is a clearer view of where CLS stands in the market, and of the alternatives worth a closer look.

Period covered: CLS's full trading record, from June 1998 through September 2026. All returns include reinvested dividends. Data as of October 20, 2026.

## Key findings

- **Right now:** Over the past 6 months, CLS fell 25.3% while the S&P 500 rose 9.1%. CLS is 36.6% below its high, bear-market territory, while the S&P 500 sits 1.3% below a record.
- **Stock or market?:** The weakness is CLS's own: it fell 2.5% over the past 3 months while the electronics manufacturing ETF XLK (State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF) rose 5.7%. The S&P 500 rose 3.9%. Its electronics manufacturing peers did not move as one over the past 3 months: TEL (TE Connectivity) rose 5.6%, while FN (Fabrinet) fell 28.1%.
- **Past 1 to 3 years:** CLS has trailed the market, rising 9.6% over the past year against 15.8% for the S&P 500 and 17.9% for the Nasdaq 100. On the flip side, the last two calendar years both went the same way: CLS rose 220% in 2025, against 15.8% for the S&P 500 and 17.9% for the Nasdaq 100.
- **Long term:** CLS turned $10,000 into $287,000 over the past decade, against $42,100 in the S&P 500. CLS's 10-year return of 2,771% puts it ahead of 99% of the stocks worth at least $300 million with that much history. The S&P 500 returned 321%.
- **In a crash:** Across seven sell-offs, CLS has typically fallen 1.7 times as far as the S&P 500. In the Covid crash, CLS fell 63.9%, against 33.7% for the S&P 500, and more than electronics manufacturing peers such as APH (Amphenol, 33.8%).
- **Diversification:** Against the S&P 500, CLS has a correlation of 0.54 over 5 years, more closely than 81% of stocks worth at least $300 million. Next to an index fund it is some diversification, but not a hedge.
- **Better options**
  - **Nearby categories and themes:** MU (Micron Technology, semiconductors) was ahead of CLS in most short and long periods.
  - **Whole market:** Nothing in the whole market did better on both counts: none of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than CLS with less volatility over the past 5 years.

## How much would $10,000 in CLS have grown?

This chart tracks a hypothetical $10,000 investment in CLS over the past 28 years, with dividends reinvested, alongside the same amount in the S&P 500, investments that ended ahead of CLS over the same span and CLS's popular alternatives, among those that traded for the entire period.

- $10,000 invested in CLS at the end of September 1998 would have grown to $570,056 by September 2026, more than the $121,630 it would have become in SPY, an S&P 500 fund.
- Five of the eight other investments on the chart ended ahead of CLS, and AAPL finished highest, at $11,681,338.

## CLS at a glance

This section summarizes the key facts about the stock, its returns over periods from one to ten years and the risk it has carried, with dividends reinvested throughout.

- CLS is still 36.6% below its all-time high.
- CLS's deepest decline since it began trading in 1998 was 96.9%, from October 2000 to March 2009. It took about 16 years from the low to climb back to its old high.
- Over 27 full calendar years, CLS's best was 1999, when it returned 350%, and its worst was 2002, when it lost 65.1%. It lost money in 14 of those years.

- Type: Stock, Technology (Hardware, Equipment & Parts)
- Trading since: June 30, 1998
- Market value: $38B
- Volatility (5 years): 59.7%; Sharpe ratio: 1.47
- Worst decline ever: −96.9%, from October 20, 2000 to March 9, 2009; back at its high by November 7, 2024

| Period | CLS total return |
| --- | --- |
| 1 month | −13.0% |
| 3 months | −2.5% |
| 6 months | −25.3% |
| year to date | −0.9% |
| 1 year | +9.6% |
| 3 years | +1,061% |
| 5 years | +3,143% |
| 10 years | +2,771% |

## CLS against the whole market

Where CLS ranks among every stock and fund, and what across the market has done better.

### How does CLS rank among all stocks?

This section ranks CLS on return, volatility, risk-adjusted return and worst decline against every stock worth at least $300 million with enough history.

- CLS's 5-year return ranks in the top 1% of the 2,893 stocks worth at least $300 million with 5 years of history.
- CLS is among the more volatile stocks: its price swings rank in the bottom 22% of the 2,893 stocks worth at least $300 million, where the top is the calmest.

| Measure | CLS | Rank |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1-year return | +9.6% | 1,598 of 3,287 (top 49%) |
| 3-year return | +1,061% | 23 of 3,017 (top 1%) |
| 5-year return | +3,143% | 1 of 2,893 (top 1%) |
| 10-year return | +2,771% | 21 of 2,202 (top 1%) |
| Volatility, 5 years | 59.7% | 2,269 of 2,893 (top 79%) |
| Sharpe ratio, 5 years | 1.47 | 2 of 2,893 (top 1%) |
| Worst decline, past 10 years | −80.6% | 1,659 of 2,187 (top 76%) |

### What has beaten CLS on both return and risk?

Each dot is an investment, placed by how much it earned a year over the past 5 years (higher is better) and how much its price swung, its volatility (further left is calmer).

- None of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than CLS over the past 5 years with less volatility: nothing sits in the green region.

### Is there a better investment than CLS?

The table below lists investments that beat CLS over the past 5 years on at least one of these measures: a higher annual return with lower volatility, a higher annual return at similar volatility, a similar return with lower volatility, a higher Sharpe ratio with a smaller worst decline, a higher total return in most periods from 3 months to 10 years, or smaller losses in recent market crashes.

- Looking beyond its popular alternatives, MU (semiconductors) was ahead of CLS in most short and long periods.
- Nothing in the whole market did better on both counts: none of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than CLS with less volatility over the past 5 years.

## CLS against its popular alternatives

The investments people most often weigh against CLS, compared period by period and year by year.

### How do CLS's risk and return compare with its alternatives?

This map plots each investment's annual return over the past 5 years against its volatility, the size of its typical price swings.

- None of the 18 popular alternatives earned more than CLS over the past 5 years with smaller price swings, so every higher return on the map came with a bumpier ride.
- Over the past 5 years, CLS returned 100.5% a year, more than the S&P 500's 12.7%, with higher volatility (59.7% against 17.1%).

### Has CLS consistently beaten its popular alternatives?

This section compares CLS with the investments people most often weigh against it, checking each one over eight periods from one month to ten years.

- None of the 18 popular alternatives outperformed CLS in at least 3 of 5 short-term and 2 of 3 long-term timeframes. The closest was NVDA.

| Investment | 1Y return | 3Y return | 5Y return | 10Y return | Periods ahead of CLS | Verdict | Sharpe |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| CLS: Celestica Inc. (this page) | +9.6% | +1,061% | +3,143% | +2,771% |  |  | 1.47 |
| [NVDA](https://easycompare.io/research/nvda): NVIDIA Corporation | +18.8% | +425% | +884% | +13,019% | 5/5 short-term, 1/3 long-term |  | 1.14 |
| [ANET](https://easycompare.io/research/anet): Arista Networks, Inc. | +23.7% | +289% | +634% | +3,439% | 5/5 short-term, 1/3 long-term |  | 1.06 |
| [DELL](https://easycompare.io/research/dell): Dell Technologies Inc. | +217% | +636% | +800% | +3,701% | 4/5 short-term, 1/3 long-term |  | 1.08 |
| [APH](https://easycompare.io/research/aph): Amphenol Corporation | +25.6% | +311% | +329% | +965% | 5/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 1.07 |
| [HPE](https://easycompare.io/research/hpe): Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company | +150% | +296% | +315% | +483% | 5/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.89 |
| VICR: Vicor Corporation | +252% | +294% | +36.4% | +1,630% | 4/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.46 |
| JBL: Jabil Inc. | +35.9% | +123% | +361% | +1,264% | 4/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.97 |
| PLXS: Plexus Corp. | +56.4% | +162% | +152% | +420% | 4/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.72 |
| CTS: CTS Corporation | +34.6% | +42.6% | +74.1% | +252% | 4/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.50 |
| BHE: Benchmark Electronics, Inc. | +66.5% | +218% | +204% | +243% | 4/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.78 |
| BELFB: Bel Fuse Inc. | +43.7% | +425% | +1,688% | +872% | 3/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 1.37 |
| TTMI: TTM Technologies, Inc. | +64.8% | +693% | +609% | +707% | 3/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.99 |
| FLEX: Flex Ltd. | +39.4% | +263% | +365% | +534% | 3/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.88 |
| SANM: Sanmina Corporation | +28.0% | +236% | +343% | +499% | 3/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.86 |
| [TEL](https://easycompare.io/research/tel): TE Connectivity plc | −4.1% | +90.6% | +57.4% | +311% | 3/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.46 |
| [AVGO](https://easycompare.io/research/avgo): Broadcom Inc. | −3.5% | +305% | +617% | +2,380% | 2/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 1.11 |
| FN: Fabrinet | −12.8% | +121% | +260% | +732% | 1/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.74 |
| AMSC: American Superconductor Corporation | −57.9% | +327% | +49.4% | +272% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.52 |

### How did CLS do year by year?

This table shows each investment's total return in every full calendar year since 1999, along with where CLS ranked among its popular alternatives each year.

- CLS finished ahead of the S&P 500 in nine of its 27 full calendar years, and ahead of it in each of the last five.
- Among its popular alternatives, AVGO came out ahead of CLS most often, in 12 of the 16 years both traded.
- Ranked against its popular alternatives each year, CLS finished in the top quarter in five of 27 years and in the bottom quarter in six. In 2025, it ranked 1 of 19.

| Year | CLS | SPY |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2025 | +220% | +17.7% |
| 2024 | +215% | +24.9% |
| 2023 | +160% | +26.2% |
| 2022 | +1.3% | −18.2% |
| 2021 | +37.9% | +28.7% |
| 2020 | −2.4% | +18.3% |
| 2019 | −5.7% | +31.2% |
| 2018 | −16.3% | −4.6% |
| 2017 | −11.6% | +21.7% |
| 2016 | +7.4% | +12.0% |

## Risk and diversification

How CLS has fallen, how it held up in crashes beside the S&P 500 and its popular alternatives, and what moves independently of it.

### What were CLS's worst declines?

A drawdown is the decline from a peak to the lowest point before a new high.

- In all five of CLS's worst declines, the S&P 500 held up better over the same dates.
- Not every decline was the market's doing: CLS fell 41.2% from June to September 2026, while the S&P 500 rose 1.0%.
- The slowest recovery came after CLS fell 96.9% from October 2000 to March 2009; it did not regain that peak until November 2024, 16 years later.

| Decline | Peak | Low | Back at the high | SPY over the same dates | Market event |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| −96.9% | October 20, 2000 | March 9, 2009 | November 7, 2024 | −43.7% | dot-com bust |
| −54.8% | July 16, 1998 | October 8, 1998 | December 9, 1998 | −18.1% |  |
| −54.0% | February 5, 2025 | April 4, 2025 | June 24, 2025 | −16.1% |  |
| −41.2% | June 2, 2026 | September 2, 2026 | not yet | +1.0% |  |
| −36.7% | March 17, 2000 | May 24, 2000 | July 14, 2000 | −4.5% | dot-com bust |

### How did CLS do in stock market crashes?

This section measures how far CLS, the S&P 500 and each alternative fell from peak to trough during every major market crash since 2000.

- CLS fell further than the S&P 500 in eight of the ten crashes it has traded through. The clearest case was the dot-com bust, when CLS fell 88.1% and the S&P 500 fell 47.5%.
- Among its popular alternatives, APH held up best, falling less than CLS in eight of the ten crashes they both traded through.

| Crash | Dates | CLS fall | SPY fall |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Dot-com bust | March 10, 2000 to October 9, 2002 | −88.1% | −47.5% |
| Global financial crisis | October 9, 2007 to March 9, 2009 | −73.4% | −55.2% |
| Flash crash | May 6, 2010 to May 7, 2010 | −0.4% | −1.5% |
| Euro debt crisis | July 22, 2011 to October 3, 2011 | −25.8% | −17.9% |
| China devaluation & oil rout | August 10, 2015 to February 11, 2016 | −38.0% | −12.8% |
| Volmageddon | February 2, 2018 to February 9, 2018 | −1.5% | −6.5% |
| Q4 2018 selloff | September 21, 2018 to December 24, 2018 | −22.4% | −19.3% |
| COVID crash | February 19, 2020 to March 23, 2020 | −63.9% | −33.7% |
| 2022 bear market | January 4, 2022 to October 12, 2022 | −35.6% | −24.5% |
| SVB / regional bank stress | March 8, 2023 to March 13, 2023 | −5.9% | −3.4% |

### How closely does CLS move with the S&P 500?

Upside capture measures how much of the S&P 500's gains an investment kept in the months the market rose, and downside capture how much of its losses it took in the months the market fell.

- Over the past 10 years, CLS captured 183% of the S&P 500's gains in rising months and 115% of its losses in falling months, with a beta of 2.17. It amplified the market's moves in both directions.
- DELL took just 43% of the S&P 500's losses, against 115% for CLS, while still keeping 154% of its gains.
- Five of the 18 popular alternatives had a higher capture ratio (upside capture divided by downside capture) than CLS's 1.59, led by DELL, ANET and AVGO.

Measured over the past 10 years of monthly returns against SPY.

| Investment | Upside capture | Downside capture | Beta |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| CLS: Celestica Inc. (this page) | 183% | 115% | 2.17 |
| [NVDA](https://easycompare.io/research/nvda): NVIDIA Corporation | 248% | 140% | 1.83 |
| [ANET](https://easycompare.io/research/anet): Arista Networks, Inc. | 174% | 91.0% | 1.40 |
| [DELL](https://easycompare.io/research/dell): Dell Technologies Inc. | 154% | 43.0% | 1.13 |
| [APH](https://easycompare.io/research/aph): Amphenol Corporation | 125% | 79.0% | 1.24 |
| [HPE](https://easycompare.io/research/hpe): Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company | 116% | 102% | 1.31 |
| VICR: Vicor Corporation | 188% | 143% | 1.55 |
| JBL: Jabil Inc. | 138% | 91.0% | 1.32 |
| PLXS: Plexus Corp. | 101% | 82.0% | 1.03 |
| CTS: CTS Corporation | 94.0% | 104% | 0.87 |
| BHE: Benchmark Electronics, Inc. | 96.0% | 94.0% | 1.19 |
| BELFB: Bel Fuse Inc. | 168% | 160% | 1.61 |
| TTMI: TTM Technologies, Inc. | 155% | 140% | 1.87 |
| FLEX: Flex Ltd. | 136% | 124% | 1.57 |
| SANM: Sanmina Corporation | 127% | 111% | 1.37 |
| [TEL](https://easycompare.io/research/tel): TE Connectivity plc | 109% | 120% | 1.26 |
| [AVGO](https://easycompare.io/research/avgo): Broadcom Inc. | 158% | 86.0% | 1.19 |
| FN: Fabrinet | 115% | 72.0% | 1.12 |
| AMSC: American Superconductor Corporation | 157% | 205% | 2.23 |

### What diversifies CLS?

Correlation measures how closely two investments move together, on a scale from 1 (in lockstep) through 0 (unrelated) to -1 (in opposite directions).

- Among large ETFs, LVHI, DXJ and EMLP have moved largely independently of CLS over the past 5 years, with correlations of 0.27 or lower, and each still earned a positive 5-year return.
- GLD made money in eight of the 14 calendar years in which CLS lost money.
- Among large stocks, CAH, MCK and MPC have moved largely independently of CLS over the past 5 years, with correlations of 0.16 or lower, and each still earned a positive 5-year return.

| Investment | Correlation with CLS | 5Y return | Volatility | Sharpe | Rose in CLS's 14 down years |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| LVHI: Franklin International Low Volatility High Dividend Index ETF | 0.18 | +119% | 11.1% | 1.48 | 2 of 14 |
| DXJ: WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund | 0.27 | +225% | 19.1% | 1.34 | 4 of 14 |
| EMLP: First Trust North American Energy Infrastructure Fund | 0.25 | +101% | 14.5% | 1.04 | 2 of 14 |
| HDV: iShares Core High Dividend ETF | 0.12 | +83.3% | 13.0% | 1.00 | 2 of 14 |
| DBEF: Xtrackers MSCI EAFE Hedged Equity ETF | 0.36 | +85.0% | 13.8% | 0.96 | 4 of 14 |
| [GLD](https://easycompare.io/research/gld): SPDR Gold Shares | -0.07 | +126% | 18.9% | 0.96 | 8 of 14 |
| [XLE](https://easycompare.io/research/xle): State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF | 0.12 | +177% | 25.5% | 0.93 | 7 of 14 |
| DFIV: Dimensional - International Value ETF | 0.23 | +99.4% | 16.4% | 0.93 | 0 of 14 |

## Common questions

### What was CLS's worst drawdown?

CLS's deepest decline since it began trading in 1998 was 96.9%, from October 2000 to March 2009. It took about 16 years from the low to climb back to its old high.

### What were CLS's best and worst years?

Over 27 full calendar years, CLS's best year was 1999, when it returned 350%. Its worst was 2002, with a return of -65.1%.

### Is there a better investment than CLS?

Looking beyond its popular alternatives, MU (semiconductors) was ahead of CLS in most short and long periods. Nothing in the whole market did better on both counts: none of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than CLS with less volatility over the past 5 years.

### Is CLS more volatile than the S&P 500?

Yes. CLS's volatility over the past 5 years was 59.7%, 3.5 times the S&P 500's 17.1%. Volatility measures how widely returns swing around their average: in roughly two years out of three, CLS's return lands within 59.7% of its average, either way. The higher it is, the rougher the ride and the harder it is to hold through a slump.

### What is CLS's Sharpe ratio?

CLS's Sharpe ratio over the past 5 years was 1.47, against 0.79 for the S&P 500, so CLS earned more for each unit of risk than an index fund did. The Sharpe ratio is the return earned above cash for each unit of volatility: two investments with the same return are not equal if one got there with far bigger swings.

### How correlated is CLS with the S&P 500?

Over the past 5 years, CLS's monthly returns had a correlation of 0.54 with the S&P 500. Correlation runs from 1 (moving in lockstep) through 0 (unrelated) to −1 (moving in opposite directions). They often move together: some diversification next to an index fund, but not a cushion. In the table, the correlation column measures each option against CLS instead: the lower it is, the more that option would diversify a CLS holding.

### What are the best alternatives to CLS?

None of the 18 popular alternatives we compared outperformed CLS in at least 3 of 5 short-term and 2 of 3 long-term timeframes, which says more about CLS's strength than about its alternatives.

### Did CLS outperform the S&P 500?

CLS finished ahead of the S&P 500 (SPY) in nine of 27 full calendar years. In 2025, it returned +220%, against +17.7% for the index.

### How did CLS do in stock market crashes?

CLS fell less than the S&P 500 (SPY) in two of the ten major crashes it has traded through, and further in eight. The clearest case was the dot-com bust, when CLS fell 88.1% and the S&P 500 fell 47.5%.

### What diversifies CLS?

These had a low correlation with CLS over the past 5 years and still earned a positive 5-year return: among large ETFs, LVHI (correlation 0.18), DXJ (correlation 0.27) and EMLP (correlation 0.25); among large stocks, CAH (correlation 0.07), MCK (correlation 0.08) and MPC (correlation 0.16). A correlation near zero means the two have moved largely independently.

## More research

- [NVIDIA (NVDA) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/nvda)
- [Arista Networks (ANET) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/anet)
- [Dell Technologies (DELL) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/dell)
- [Amphenol (APH) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/aph)
- [Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/hpe)
- [TE Connectivity (TEL) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/tel)
- [Broadcom (AVGO) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/avgo)
- [Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/schd)
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- [Alphabet (GOOG) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/goog)
- [Microsoft (MSFT) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/msft)
- [Amazon.com (AMZN) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/amzn)

## Explore further

- Full page with charts: https://easycompare.io/research/cls
- All research pages: https://easycompare.io/llms.txt
- Compare the entire market against CLS live: https://betterthanspy.com/?b=CLS&utm_source=easycompare&utm_medium=research