By Nicole Strandlund Business Edge

To ring in the new year, Street Life looks back at the best and worst stocks of 2007, starting with the year's best (highest percentage return) picks:

First Place:

* Timminco Ltd. (TSX:TIM)

* 2007 Action: Up more than 7,200 per cent

* Dec. 31, 2007 price: $21.95

* Jan. 2, 2007 price: $0.30 This Toronto-based metals company climbed from obscurity into the limelight, stealing top spot in the year's best stock performers.

Shares of Timminco Ltd., which produces and markets alloy magnesium, silicon metal and other specialty alloys used in the aluminum, chemical, pharmaceutical, electronics and auto industries, were languishing under a dollar at the beginning of the year.

Reorganization costs and a strengthening Canadian dollar were taking their toll on the company, but that all changed in 2007.

During the year, Timminco inked four agreements to supply high-purity silicon. Total annual production under the contracts (beginning 2009) is forecast to be around 6,000 tonnes.

New financings, new deals, a rising market price for silicon, the opening of a new facility and a rapidly rising stock price created a Timminco-buzz on the market, prompting the company to make an announcement in October (at the request of Market Surveillance) that there had been no material developments to explain recent stock activity.

One can only imagine Timminco shareholders are saying "Keep the activity coming."

Second Place:

* Points International (TSX:PTS)

* 2007 Action: Up 455 per cent

* Dec. 31, 2007 price: $4.11

* Jan. 2, 2007 price: $0.74 Everyone loves to earn something when they spend, and shareholders of a Toronto-based rewards management company are reaping the benefits.

Points International Ltd., the owner and operator of Points.com - which has participants such as American Airlines, Aeroplan, Delta SkyMiles, Amazon.com and Starbucks, among others - has experienced a 455-per-cent rise in share price, from less than a dollar at the start of 2007 to $4.11 at the end of the year.

In addition to extending or expanding its existing relationships with American Express, US Airways, Alaska Airlines and Delta during the year, Points International signed a new deal with Choice Hotels and announced quarterly results that would make any businessperson jealous.

In the first quarter of 2007, Points International reported an 85-per-cent year-over-year increase in total revenue (to $5.3 million).

During that quarter, 2.7 billion miles/points were transacted (up 47 per cent year over year).

For the second quarter, the company reported 75-per-cent growth year over year. And even that was trumped when third-quarter results came out at a 159-per-cent revenue increase year over year.

Now that's worth a shopping spree.

Now, we look at the year's worst (greatest percentage loss) stocks.

Worst Finish:

* Neurochem (TSX:NRM)

* 2007 Action: Down 91.5 per cent

* Dec. 31, 2007 price: $2.20

* Jan. 2, 2007 price: $26 An investor friend said to me recently, "I might have bought shares in this Alzheimer's-drug research company, but I can't remember."

Some may have believed in Francesco Bellini's dream for Neurochem's drug Alzhemed, designed to slow the onset of Alzheimer's disease. After all, his past project was BioChem Pharma Inc., which developed the anti-AIDS drug 3TC.

But Neurochem stock tanked in mid-2007 when the company shelved two and a half years' worth of data from a Phase 3 clinical trial for the drug because results were inconclusive.

Neurochem took another blow - this time on its other major project, Kiacta, a treatment for kidney ailments - when the European Medicines Agency recommended refusal of a marketing authorization application, saying more studies would have to be done to prove the effectiveness of the drug.

With results like that, I'd block the memory of investing in it, too.

Second-worst Finish:

* Enterra Energy Trust (TSX:ENT.UN)

* 2007 Action: Down 87.5 per cent

* Dec. 31, 2007 price: $1.15

* Jan. 2, 2007 price: $9.19 It is said that the two things couples fight about most are the bedroom and the bank. In the case of this TSX second-worst finish, it seems this company's struggles centered on the boardroom and the bank.

Enterra Energy Trust, a Calgary-based energy trust focused on Western Canada, Oklahoma and Wyoming, had a stock price of more than $9 at the beginning of the year and a growing production base.

But by September, it was clear things weren't going as planned.

First the CFO resigned, followed by the announcement that Enterra was getting rid of its non-core properties. Next, the COO of U.S. operations resigned and Enterra announced it was suspending distributions to repay debt. A month later, two board members left. By the end of the year, the president and CEO had also resigned from the company.

What will 2008 bring? It’s anyone’s guess.

NOTE: The above is not intended as investment advice to buy or sell any mentioned securities. Investors should do due diligence before investing. Percentage return is calculated using the close prices on Jan. 2, 2007 and Dec. 31, 2007. “The year’s worst” are determined using the subset of TSX stocks over $1.

(Nicole Strandlund can be reached at nicole@businessedge.ca)