By Philip van Doorn
This year’s top performer among the S&P 500 has been CVS Health’s stock, which had a bad 2024 and is cheap by a key valuation measure
Following two years of stellar performance for U.S. stocks overall, investors have been making clear how much they dislike policy uncertainty.
Tariff talk and expectations for a slowing economy have taken their toll, with 77% of the S&P 500 SPX showing declines for 2025, according to price data provided by FactSet as of 11 a.m. Eastern time Tuesday.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s GDP Now model’s latest estimate is for the U.S. economy to contract at an annual rate of 2.4% during the first quarter. The economy is generally considered to be in recession if it contracts for two consecutive quarters. The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimated that U.S. gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 2.3% during the fourth quarter and at a rate of 2.8% for all of 2024.
There is plenty for investors to worry about – but there are always stocks bucking the broader trend. The 10 best performers of 2025 among the S&P 500 are listed further below.
But before looking at which large-cap U.S. stocks have held up the best this year, here is a summary of price changes for the 11 sectors of the index. The sectors are sorted by 2025 price changes through late Tuesday morning, with the full index at the bottom. Forward price-to-earnings ratios are also shown, along with the sectors’ five- and 10-year forward P/E valuations:
Sector or index 2025 price change 2024 price change Forward P/E 5-year average P/E 10-year average P/E
Health Care 6.1% 0.9% 18.0 17.1 16.5
Consumer Staples 4.5% 12.0% 22.7 20.4 19.8
Real Estate 2.6% 1.7% 18.1 19.3 18.9
Utilities 2.3% 19.6% 17.6 17.8 17.5
Energy 1.6% 2.3% 14.0 2.2 13.9
Materials 1.3% -1.8% 20.0 18.0 17.0
Industrials -1.3% 15.6% 21.9 21.5 19.3
Financials -1.7% 28.4% 15.7 15.2 14.4
Communication Services -3.7% 38.9% 18.6 19.2 19.0
Information Technology -11.4% 35.7% 24.9 25.1 20.7
Consumer Discretionary -14.0% 29.1% 25.0 31.7 26.9
S&P 500 -4.9% 23.3% 20.3 20.1 18.6
Source: FactSet
All price changes in this article exclude dividends. The two worst-performing sectors – information technology XX:SP500.45 and consumer discretionary XX:SP500.25 – are also the most expensive on a forward P/E basis. This is the ratio of price-to-rolling-consensus 12-month earnings-per-share estimates within sectors or the full index, weighted by market capitalization. If you scroll the table to the right, you can see that the S&P 500 now is trading only slightly above its five-year average forward P/E valuation, although it is still 9% above its 10-year average P/E.
The technology sector is now trading below its five-year average P/E, showing how significant the correction has been so far this year. But it still trades 20% higher than its 10-year average P/E.
The consumer-discretionary sector can be considered tech-heavy since it includes Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and Tesla Inc. (TSLA), which make up 20.8% and 11.3% of the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF XLY, respectively.
Amazon’s stock has declined 10.7% this year, following a 44% gain in 2024. The stock trades at a forward P/E of 29.7.
Tesla’s stock has been this year’s worst performer among the S&P 500, with a 44% decline after rising 63% last year. It is an expensive stock, trading at a forward P/E of 73.7.
Read: Tesla’s stock has lost its ‘Trump bump.’ Here’s the latest bad news.
Best performers of 2025
Here are the 10 stocks in the S&P 500 that were showing the largest gains for 2025 as of 11 a.m. ET on Tuesday:
Company Ticker 2025 price change 2024 price change Forward P/E
CVS Health Corp. CVS 45% -43% 10.6
Super Micro Computer Inc. SMCI 26% 7% 11.1
Philip Morris International Inc. PM 26% 28% 20.9
Gilead Sciences Inc. GILD 24% 14% 14.4
Baxter International Inc. BAX 24% -25% 14.2
Amgen Inc. AMGN 23% -10% 15.5
Texas Pacific Land Corp. TPL 22% 111% 50.6
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. VRTX 20% -1% 26.2
AbbVie Inc. ABBV 20% 15% 17.0
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. WBA 20% -64% 7.2
Source: FactSet
Click on the tickers for more inforomation about each company, and click here for a guide to the wealth of information available on the MarketWatch quote page.
Seven of these 10 stocks trade at forward P/E valuations below that of the S&P 500. Half of the stocks on this list have rebounded following lousy performance during 2024.
For CVS (CVS), rebound catalysts have included better-than-expected financial performance in the fourth quarter, and possible enthusiasm springing from the private-equity buyout deal for rival Walgreens (WBA).
The second-best performer among the S&P 500 this year is Super Micro (SMCI), which trades at a forward P/E of only 11.1. The stock was boosted late in February when the company brought its financial filings current to avoid being delisted from the Nasdaq exchange COMP.
While the stock rose 7% in 2024, that gain was split between a 318% rocket ride higher from where it ended 2023 (at $28.43) to its March 13 record close of $118.81, and the 74% plunge from there to its Dec. 31 close of $30.48.
Read: Super Micro’s stock has its doubters, but it just got a vote of confidence
Another Deep Dive: These 13 growth stocks are expected to roar back from their declines so far this year
-Philip van Doorn
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03-11-25 1340ET
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