Penny Stocks that made it big in 2012! Penny Stocks have always had a potential for windfall profits – provided of course, you know the stocks and the markets well. Here then are some of the top performers of year 2012. These stocks earlier traded at under $1 but during 2012, rose high and hundreds of investors became fabulously wealthy. Here is our list of 5 gems that were traded as penny stocks last year but turned a leaf this year and were traded at $10 or more. Real Estate: General Growth Properties A victim of the economic downturn, General Growth Properties (GGP) had filed for bankruptcy in April 2009 and its stock crashed and was traded in pennies. In fact, the following year i.e. Feb 2009, GGP became a penny stock and was being traded at $0.59. Today GGP is traded at around $19 – a jump of 3000% from Feb 2009. The economic downturn hides many more gems like these. Companies that got caught up and were sucked into the economic whirlpool – many of them drowned but a few like GGP fought back to the top. There are others still fighting and we will point them out to you in due course. Medical Software: Quality Systems There was a time back in the 2000’s when nobody gave Quality Systems (QSII) a second look. After all, it was a company with shares that were rarely traded over $1. Although it barely had the money to cover the salaries, in what could at best be termed as a gamble, the company hired some of the best software engineers that money could buy and designed a medical software product that today has a good demand in the market. The market cap of QSII jumped and now stands in excess of $1 billion with top penny stocks trading above $40 per share. This is an excellent example how management risk-taking created fortunes for penny stock investors. Seasonal Retail: Pier 1 Imports Pier 1 Imports (PIR) imports a range of furniture, decorative accessories, candles, house wares and seasonal products from Malaysia, Thailand, China, India and so on. The products often sourced from gifted artisans in developing countries did well in the USA and the company made good profits. Financial mismanagement made worse by the economic downturn, almost bankrupted this company and in 2009, the stock value dipped to an all time low of 11 cents. Subsequent improvement both in the economic scenario and the company management, saw its stock worth climb steadily and is today being traded $20. Auto Industry: American Axle & Manufacturing American Axle & Manufacturing (AXL) manufactures driveline and drive train systems for the automotive industry and therefore depends on the companies such as GM, Chrysler, and Ford for the off-take of AXL products. The recent U.S. economic downturn which almost bankrupted GM and Chrysler almost drove AXL to bankruptcy as well with its shares selling at around $ 0.40 by March 2009. Investors who saw the potential and snapped by thousands of this good penny stocks were rewarded this year when the stock traded above $10. Software: Concur Technologies (CNQR) Many folks are under the impression that the software industry remained unaffected by the economic downturn. The reality is quite different. Take Concur Technologies (CNQR) for example; this company produces software that helps employees to integrate, track and analyze travel business expenses. With almost 60% of the Fortune 500 company staff using the Concur software one might have expected the company to do well. The economic downturn however saw the CNQR shares being traded at just $0.31. This year however, CNQR are being traded at $67! Check out also for : Trend Analysis of Penny Stocks