Was it a tough year for stock markets? Certainly. Were share prices halved - or worse? Unfortunately. But, contrary to popular belief -- and the incessant drone of talking heads -- it's not all doom and gloom. Even in the most challenging of environments, several stocks posted impressive gains.

After wading through a lot of red ink, Minyanville uncovered 7 publicly traded companies (for the record, there are many more) that can look back on their fiscal year with satisfaction instead of despair.