By: Phil Froats

 In the 36 trading days since the 2009 edition of the Investor 500, seven stocks on the list  had a return of 100% or more. All the companies other than Linamar Corp., a manufacturer and developer of machined components primarily for the automobile industry, are involved in the mining, forestry and paper and energy industries.

The major shareholders of two of the companies recouped some of their losses. Frank Hasenfratz, who owned 15,216,800 shares of Linamar, made over $73 million on paper from the rise in share prices from Apr. 3 to May 27, 2009. However, from a high price of $26.10 per share on Oct. 2, 2007, he lost over $350 million to Apr. 3, 2009. Cascades major shareholders, Bernard, Laurent and Alain Lemaire, picked up over $75 million on their  30,109,250 shares in the 36 days ended May 27, 2009. Considering that between Jan. 19, 2007, and Apr. 3, 2009, they lost over $388 million, a little less than 20% of the red ink was drained out of their investment in Cascades.