Female CEOs running major U.S. corporations grew from nine to a record 12 in 2007.

While that is only 2.4 percent of the Fortune 500, for the second year in a row, the stock performance of women-led companies mirrored that of companies run by men.

As recently as 1996, there was just one woman running a Fortune 500 company. There have been six newcomers over the last two years, including two this year: Carol Meyrowitz at TJX Cos. and Angela Braly, who became CEO of WellPoint, the 35th-largest company by revenue on the Fortune 500 and by far the largest company captained by a woman since Carly Fiorina was fired by Hewlett-Packard in 2005.

Investments in TJX and WellPoint when Meyrowitz and Braly took over, and in the other 10 companies at the start of 2007, had an average increase of 3.4 percent in 2007. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 3.5 percent in 2007.

The performance of female CEOs in 2006 ended in a similar dead heat versus the S&P after a dismal relative performance by women in 2004 and 2005. Those two years more than negated 2003, when stock in eight women-led Fortune 500 companies averaged a 52 percent gain versus a 26 percent gain for the S&P 500. But over the entire length of the women's tenures as CEOs, their stocks on average have trounced the S&P for the same periods.

PATRICIA WOERTZ

Food-processing giant Archer Daniels Midland soared 45 percent in '07. The stock rose to $46.43 from $35.13 in the past six weeks as demand for food and ethanol soared.

INDRA NOOYI

Snack and beverage company PepsiCo jumped 21 percent in '07 under Nooyi, promoted to CEO in 2006.

ANDREA JUNG

Avon Products was up 20 percent under Jung, CEO since 2001.

MEG WHITMAN

EBay rose 10 percent. Whitman has been CEO since 1998, but eBay did not grow large enough to be a Fortune 500 company until 2005. Adjusted for splits, a share of eBay stock sold for $1.97 when it went public in 1998 and is up 1,549 percent since, which makes Whitman the runaway career performance leader among women.

CHRISTINA GOLD

Money transfer company Western Union was up 8 percent. Gold became CEO when the company was spun off from First Data in 2006.

ANGELA BRALY

Health insurance company WellPoint was up 7 percent since Braly took over on June 1.

MARY SAMMONS

Drugstore chain Rite Aid, down 49 percent to $2.79 in 2007 under Sammons, who has been CEO since 2003 and is the career laggard among current female CEOs. Rite Aid stock hit its tailspin after its June acquisition of competitor Brooks & Eckerd.

ANNE MULCAHY

Xerox was down 5 percent, but the stock has doubled over Mulcahy's tenure as CEO, which started in 2001.

CAROL MEYROWITZ

Apparel retailer TJX, down 3 percent since Meyrowitz was promoted to CEO on Jan. 28.

SUSAN IVEY

Tobacco holding company Reynolds American was flat under Ivey, CEO since 2004. The stock closed 2007 at $65.96, up 49 cents.

PAULA ROSPUT REYNOLDS

Insurance company Safeco, down 11 percent under Rosput Reynolds, CEO since 2006.

BRENDA BARNES

Food company Sara Lee, down 6 percent from under Barnes, CEO since 2005.