# How Comfort Systems USA (FIX) compares with the whole market and its popular alternatives

> Source: EasyCompare research, https://easycompare.io/research/fix
> 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 FIX alone. It places FIX (Comfort Systems USA, Inc.) against 20+ 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 FIX stands in the market, and of the alternatives worth a closer look.

Period covered: FIX's full trading record, from June 1997 through September 2026. All returns include reinvested dividends. Data as of October 20, 2026.

## Key findings

- **Right now:** FIX has gone against the market, falling 16.8% over the past 6 months while the S&P 500 rose 9.1%. The slide is FIX's own: it is 32.4% below its high, against 1.3% for the S&P 500.
- **Stock or market?:** The weakness is FIX's own: it fell 18.4% over the past 3 months while the engineering & construction ETF PAVE (Global X - U.S. Infrastructure Development ETF) fell 5.5%. The S&P 500 rose 3.9%. Its engineering & construction peers did not move as one over the past 3 months: APG (APi Group) rose 1.5%, while MTZ (MasTec) fell 44.3%.
- **Past 1 to 3 years:** Over the past year, FIX rose 67.3% against 15.8% for the S&P 500 and 17.9% for the Nasdaq 100. The same gap shows up over 3 years (819% against 89.3%). The last two calendar years both went the same way: FIX rose 121% in 2025, against 15.8% for the S&P 500 and 17.9% for the Nasdaq 100.
- **Long term:** FIX turned $10,000 into $540,000 over the past decade, against $42,100 in the S&P 500. FIX's 10-year return of 5,305% puts it among the best 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, FIX has typically fallen 1.5 times as far as the S&P 500. That said, in the 2022 bear market, FIX held up better than EME (EMCOR Group), APG and J; only PWR (Quanta Services) and ACM fell less.
- **Diversification:** Against the S&P 500, FIX has a correlation of 0.58 over 5 years, more closely than 86% of stocks worth at least $300 million. Next to an index fund it is some diversification, but not a hedge. Over 10 years, FIX's beta versus the S&P 500 was 1.38: in the S&P 500's rising months it gained 1.8 times as much as the index, and in falling months it lost 71% as much.
- **Better options:** 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 FIX with less volatility over the past 5 years. Across the whole market, FIX outpaced 99% of stocks worth at least $300 million over the past decade.

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

This chart tracks a hypothetical $10,000 investment in FIX over the past 29 years, with dividends reinvested, alongside the same amount in the S&P 500, investments that ended ahead of FIX over the same span and FIX's popular alternatives, among those that traded for the entire period.

- $10,000 invested in FIX at the end of September 1997 would have grown to $1,078,207 by September 2026, more than the $132,907 it would have become in SPY, an S&P 500 fund.
- Five of the eight other investments on the chart ended ahead of FIX, and AAPL finished highest, at $20,534,853.

## FIX 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.

- FIX is still 32.4% below its all-time high.
- FIX's deepest decline since it began trading in 1997 was 93.3%, from July 1998 to April 2003. It took about 12 years from the low to climb back to its old high.
- Over 28 full calendar years, FIX's best was 2025, when it returned 121%, and its worst was 2000, when it lost 71.1%. It lost money in seven of those years.

- Type: Stock, Industrials (Engineering & Construction)
- Trading since: June 27, 1997
- Market value: $49B
- Volatility (5 years): 46.7%; Sharpe ratio: 1.46
- Worst decline ever: −93.3%, from July 13, 1998 to April 16, 2003; back at its high by May 20, 2015

| Period | FIX total return |
| --- | --- |
| 1 month | −14.4% |
| 3 months | −18.4% |
| 6 months | −16.8% |
| year to date | +39.4% |
| 1 year | +67.3% |
| 3 years | +819% |
| 5 years | +1,636% |
| 10 years | +5,305% |

## FIX against the whole market

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

### How does FIX rank among all stocks?

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

- On return for the risk taken (the Sharpe ratio), FIX ranks in the top 1% of the 2,893 stocks worth at least $300 million.

| Measure | FIX | Rank |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1-year return | +67.3% | 346 of 3,287 (top 11%) |
| 3-year return | +819% | 41 of 3,017 (top 2%) |
| 5-year return | +1,636% | 6 of 2,893 (top 1%) |
| 10-year return | +5,305% | 5 of 2,202 (top 1%) |
| Volatility, 5 years | 46.7% | 1,780 of 2,893 (top 62%) |
| Sharpe ratio, 5 years | 1.46 | 3 of 2,893 (top 1%) |
| Worst decline, past 10 years | −49.7% | 450 of 2,187 (top 21%) |

## FIX against its popular alternatives

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

### How do FIX'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 24 popular alternatives earned more than FIX 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, FIX returned 77.0% a year, more than the S&P 500's 12.7%, with higher volatility (46.7% against 17.1%).

### Has FIX consistently beaten its popular alternatives?

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

- None of the 24 popular alternatives outperformed FIX in at least 3 of 5 short-term and 2 of 3 long-term timeframes. The closest was STRL.

| Investment | 1Y return | 3Y return | 5Y return | 10Y return | Periods ahead of FIX | Verdict | Sharpe |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| FIX: Comfort Systems USA, Inc. (this page) | +67.3% | +819% | +1,636% | +5,305% |  |  | 1.46 |
| STRL: Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. | +11.7% | +489% | +1,708% | +5,213% | 1/5 short-term, 1/3 long-term |  | 1.26 |
| [PWR](https://easycompare.io/research/pwr): Quanta Services, Inc. | +35.3% | +263% | +425% | +2,045% | 3/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 1.08 |
| EME: EMCOR Group, Inc. | +0.5% | +267% | +499% | +1,202% | 3/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 1.20 |
| [TT](https://easycompare.io/research/tt): Trane Technologies plc | +11.3% | +154% | +178% | +955% | 3/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.88 |
| [ETN](https://easycompare.io/research/etn): Eaton Corporation plc | +2.3% | +104% | +153% | +657% | 3/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.74 |
| [JCI](https://easycompare.io/research/jci): Johnson Controls International plc | +35.4% | +220% | +123% | +426% | 3/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.70 |
| TTEK: Tetra Tech, Inc. | +5.6% | +13.7% | +11.6% | +388% | 3/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.23 |
| J: Jacobs Solutions Inc. | −13.2% | +31.1% | +29.6% | +266% | 3/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.33 |
| KBR: KBR, Inc. | −13.9% | −35.0% | −8.9% | +189% | 3/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.08 |
| GVA: Granite Construction Incorporated | +4.1% | +216% | +191% | +186% | 3/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.85 |
| [CARR](https://easycompare.io/research/carr): Carrier Global Corporation | −1.1% | +21.2% | +11.6% | — | 3/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.23 |
| PRIM: Primoris Services Corporation | −48.0% | +142% | +174% | +297% | 2/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.68 |
| ACM: Aecom | −55.1% | −21.6% | −4.7% | +128% | 2/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.10 |
| FLR: Fluor Corporation | −5.6% | +30.2% | +147% | −0.9% | 2/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.63 |
| MTRX: Matrix Service Company | −23.2% | −15.2% | −4.3% | −45.6% | 2/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.25 |
| APG: APi Group Corporation | +14.8% | +137% | +182% | — | 2/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.81 |
| ROAD: Construction Partners, Inc. | −28.3% | +121% | +145% | — | 2/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.61 |
| IESC: IES Holdings, Inc. | +22.8% | +692% | +900% | +2,943% | 1/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 1.09 |
| MYRG: MYR Group Inc. | +31.2% | +116% | +166% | +828% | 1/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.67 |
| LMB: Limbach Holdings, Inc. | −49.3% | +62.3% | +572% | +243% | 1/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.92 |
| DY: Dycom Industries, Inc. | −15.0% | +198% | +230% | +197% | 1/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.76 |
| ORN: Orion Group Holdings, Inc. | +1.5% | +63.2% | +86.3% | +7.8% | 1/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.52 |
| MTZ: MasTec, Inc. | −8.7% | +206% | +114% | +542% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.57 |
| [VRT](https://easycompare.io/research/vrt): Vertiv Holdings Co | +16.0% | +456% | +772% | — | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 1.01 |

### How did FIX do year by year?

This table shows each investment's total return in every full calendar year since 1998, along with where FIX ranked among its popular alternatives each year.

- FIX finished ahead of the S&P 500 in 17 of its 28 full calendar years, and ahead of it in each of the last five.
- None of the 24 popular alternatives came out ahead of FIX in most of the years they have in common.
- Ranked against its popular alternatives each year, FIX finished in the top quarter in 11 of 28 years and in the bottom quarter in two. In 2025, it ranked 1 of 25.

| Year | FIX | SPY |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2025 | +121% | +17.7% |
| 2024 | +107% | +24.9% |
| 2023 | +79.6% | +26.2% |
| 2022 | +17.0% | −18.2% |
| 2021 | +89.0% | +28.7% |
| 2020 | +6.7% | +18.3% |
| 2019 | +15.1% | +31.2% |
| 2018 | +0.8% | −4.6% |
| 2017 | +32.1% | +21.7% |
| 2016 | +18.3% | +12.0% |

## Risk and diversification

How FIX 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 FIX's worst declines?

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

- In all five of FIX's worst declines, the S&P 500 held up better over the same dates.
- Not every decline was the market's doing: FIX fell 49.7% from November 2018 to April 2020, while the S&P 500 rose 0.4%.
- The slowest recovery came after FIX fell 93.3% from July 1998 to April 2003; it did not regain that peak until May 2015, 12 years later.

| Decline | Peak | Low | Back at the high | SPY over the same dates | Market event |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| −93.3% | July 13, 1998 | April 16, 2003 | May 20, 2015 | −19.5% | dot-com bust |
| −49.7% | November 8, 2018 | April 21, 2020 | January 7, 2021 | +0.4% | late-2018 sell-off |
| −46.1% | January 22, 2025 | April 4, 2025 | July 17, 2025 | −16.4% |  |
| −32.4% | June 22, 2026 | October 20, 2026 | not yet | +3.6% |  |
| −28.1% | September 24, 1997 | November 18, 1997 | March 31, 1998 | −0.2% |  |

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

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

- FIX 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 FIX fell 77.6% and the S&P 500 fell 47.5%.
- Among its popular alternatives, TTEK held up best, falling less than FIX in six of the ten crashes they both traded through.

| Crash | Dates | FIX fall | SPY fall |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Dot-com bust | March 10, 2000 to October 9, 2002 | −77.6% | −47.5% |
| Global financial crisis | October 9, 2007 to March 9, 2009 | −57.0% | −55.2% |
| Flash crash | May 6, 2010 to May 7, 2010 | −3.3% | −1.5% |
| Euro debt crisis | July 22, 2011 to October 3, 2011 | −33.3% | −17.9% |
| China devaluation & oil rout | August 10, 2015 to February 11, 2016 | −26.8% | −12.8% |
| Volmageddon | February 2, 2018 to February 9, 2018 | −6.3% | −6.5% |
| Q4 2018 selloff | September 21, 2018 to December 24, 2018 | −30.2% | −19.3% |
| COVID crash | February 19, 2020 to March 23, 2020 | −38.8% | −33.7% |
| 2022 bear market | January 4, 2022 to October 12, 2022 | −23.9% | −24.5% |
| SVB / regional bank stress | March 8, 2023 to March 13, 2023 | −7.8% | −3.4% |

### How closely does FIX 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.

- None of the 20 popular alternatives with the same record had a higher capture ratio (upside capture divided by downside capture) than FIX's 2.55.
- Over the past 10 years, FIX captured 180% of the S&P 500's gains in rising months and 71% of its losses in falling months, with a beta of 1.38. Its share of the market's gains was larger than its share of the losses.

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

| Investment | Upside capture | Downside capture | Beta |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| FIX: Comfort Systems USA, Inc. (this page) | 180% | 71.0% | 1.38 |
| STRL: Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. | 186% | 79.0% | 1.60 |
| [PWR](https://easycompare.io/research/pwr): Quanta Services, Inc. | 141% | 61.0% | 1.22 |
| EME: EMCOR Group, Inc. | 128% | 75.0% | 1.16 |
| [TT](https://easycompare.io/research/tt): Trane Technologies plc | 115% | 69.0% | 1.10 |
| [ETN](https://easycompare.io/research/etn): Eaton Corporation plc | 114% | 80.0% | 1.16 |
| [JCI](https://easycompare.io/research/jci): Johnson Controls International plc | 102% | 90.0% | 1.17 |
| TTEK: Tetra Tech, Inc. | 94.0% | 76.0% | 0.88 |
| J: Jacobs Solutions Inc. | 82.0% | 78.0% | 0.79 |
| KBR: KBR, Inc. | 87.0% | 104% | 0.88 |
| GVA: Granite Construction Incorporated | 98.0% | 126% | 1.41 |
| PRIM: Primoris Services Corporation | 118% | 136% | 1.33 |
| ACM: Aecom | 82.0% | 111% | 1.24 |
| FLR: Fluor Corporation | 101% | 194% | 2.03 |
| MTRX: Matrix Service Company | 73.0% | 187% | 1.35 |
| IESC: IES Holdings, Inc. | 173% | 93.0% | 1.53 |
| MYRG: MYR Group Inc. | 117% | 75.0% | 1.22 |
| LMB: Limbach Holdings, Inc. | 62.0% | 26.0% | 1.21 |
| DY: Dycom Industries, Inc. | 114% | 141% | 1.53 |
| ORN: Orion Group Holdings, Inc. | 62.0% | 107% | 1.21 |
| MTZ: MasTec, Inc. | 143% | 143% | 1.57 |

### What diversifies FIX?

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 FIX over the past 5 years, with correlations of 0.46 or lower, and each still earned a positive 5-year return.
- MCK made money in four of the seven calendar years in which FIX lost money.
- Among large stocks, CAH, MCK and MPC have moved largely independently of FIX over the past 5 years, with correlations of 0.19 or lower, and each still earned a positive 5-year return.

| Investment | Correlation with FIX | 5Y return | Volatility | Sharpe | Rose in FIX's 7 down years |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| LVHI: Franklin International Low Volatility High Dividend Index ETF | 0.31 | +119% | 11.1% | 1.48 | 0 of 7 |
| DXJ: WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund | 0.35 | +225% | 19.1% | 1.34 | 1 of 7 |
| EMLP: First Trust North American Energy Infrastructure Fund | 0.46 | +101% | 14.5% | 1.04 | 1 of 7 |
| BUFD: FT Vest Laddered Deep Buffer ETF | 0.49 | +45.4% | 7.8% | 1.01 | 0 of 7 |
| HDV: iShares Core High Dividend ETF | 0.28 | +83.3% | 13.0% | 1.00 | 1 of 7 |
| DBEF: Xtrackers MSCI EAFE Hedged Equity ETF | 0.47 | +85.0% | 13.8% | 0.96 | 1 of 7 |
| [GLD](https://easycompare.io/research/gld): SPDR Gold Shares | 0.00 | +126% | 18.9% | 0.96 | 2 of 7 |
| [XLE](https://easycompare.io/research/xle): State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF | 0.16 | +177% | 25.5% | 0.93 | 3 of 7 |

## Common questions

### What was FIX's worst drawdown?

FIX's deepest decline since it began trading in 1997 was 93.3%, from July 1998 to April 2003. It took about 12 years from the low to climb back to its old high.

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

Over 28 full calendar years, FIX's best year was 2025, when it returned 121%. Its worst was 2000, with a return of -71.1%.

### What are the best alternatives to FIX?

None of the 24 popular alternatives we compared outperformed FIX in at least 3 of 5 short-term and 2 of 3 long-term timeframes, which says more about FIX's strength than about its alternatives.

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

FIX finished ahead of the S&P 500 (SPY) in 17 of 28 full calendar years. In 2025, it returned +121%, against +17.7% for the index.

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

FIX fell less than the S&P 500 (SPY) in one of the ten major crashes it has traded through, and further in eight. The clearest case was the dot-com bust, when FIX fell 77.6% and the S&P 500 fell 47.5%.

### What diversifies FIX?

These had a low correlation with FIX over the past 5 years and still earned a positive 5-year return: among large ETFs, LVHI (correlation 0.31), DXJ (correlation 0.35) and EMLP (correlation 0.46); among large stocks, CAH (correlation 0.19), MCK (correlation 0.16) and MPC (correlation 0.14). A correlation near zero means the two have moved largely independently.

## More research

- [Quanta Services (PWR) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/pwr)
- [Trane Technologies (TT) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/tt)
- [Eaton (ETN) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/etn)
- [Johnson Controls International (JCI) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/jci)
- [Carrier Global (CARR) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/carr)
- [Vertiv (VRT) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/vrt)
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## Explore further

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