Buying S&P 500 stocks is a thing again. And investors are rushing to buy their new favorites.
Ten stocks in the S&P 500, including travel plays Carnival and Norwegian Cruise Line plus consumer discretionary Tesla, jumped more than 22% just from the start of June, says an Investor's Business Daily analysis of data from S&P Global Market Intelligence and MarketSmith.
Starting June 1 is an important time frame to consider as kicked off a flood of investors' interest in buying stocks again. This latest surge is very different from the entirely big-cap tech focused rally raging all year.
"With the S&P 500 rallying into bull market territory and new 52-week highs, investors have become bullish," says Bespoke Investment Group.
Everybody Back Into The S&P 500!
Signs of investors piling back into the S&P 500 abound.
More than $53 billion poured into stock ETFs in June — showing the strongest demand among all asset classes, says State Street Global Advisors. That's ETFs' biggest inflow of fresh cash in a month since October 2022.
All told, investors "jumped into the rally in June," State Street says, pointing to a nearly $70 billion flow into ETFs just that month. That was the biggest inflow in eight months and the first time monthly flows topped the average.
But investors aren't just bullish with their money. "Bullish sentiment jumped up to 46.4% from 41.9%" according to the weekly survey of individual investor sentiment from AAII, Bespoke said. "While bulls are still not in the majority and haven't been in over two years, this week's reading was the highest level of bullish sentiment since November 2021."
So what kinds of S&P 500 stocks are investors loading up with this time?
S&P 500 Stocks Popular Now
What's the top-performing S&P 500 stock since June? You might think Apple, Microsoft or Nvidia? Nope. Microsoft is "only" up 3.9% since June. Think something less high-tech: cruise ship operator Carnival.
Shares of the operator of a fleet of more than 90 ships are up more than 67% in just about a month's time. The company is now helmed by former chief operating officer Josh Weinstein since August of last year. And the company's fortunes are already turning around.
Analysts think the company in September will report a profit of 76 cents a share for the August-ended quarter. If that happens, it would be the company's first profitable quarter since prior to Covid-19 in the quarter ended in February 2020.
S&P 500 Travel Stocks Are Taking Off
It's a similar story for Norwegian Cruise Line. Shares are up more than 47% just from the first of June. Analysts think the company is poised to turn a profit of 78 cents a share for 2023 as revenue doubles to $8.6 billion.
Rounding out the other top-performing S&P 500 stocks in the June boom also fit the travel theme. Delta Air Lines, Royal Caribbean Cruises and Southwest Airlines are among the top 10 S&P 500 stocks in that time.
But it's not just travel stocks investors are jumping into. Shares of electric vehicle maker Tesla are up more than 35% from June 1. That makes it the No. 3 best stock during the early summer run — a rally so strong analysts now think it's overvalued.
Will more S&P 500 stocks join the rally? That's the twist in the S&P 500 investors seem to be getting a jump-start on now.
Top S&P 500 Stocks Since June Surge
| Company | Ticker | Ch. since June 1 | Sector |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carnival | 67.9% | Consumer Discretionary | |
| Norwegian Cruise Line | 46.4 | Consumer Discretionary | |
| Tesla | 35.6 | Consumer Discretionary | |
| Delta Air Lines | 30.3 | Industrials | |
| United Rentals | 28.3 | Industrials | |
| Royal Caribbean Cruises | 25.7 | Consumer Discretionary | |
| Ford Motor | 24.8 | Consumer Discretionary | |
| Southwest Airlines | 24.2 | Industrials | |
| Lincoln National | 22.5 | Financials | |
| Generac Holdings | 22.3 | Industrials |
Sources: S&P Global Market Intelligence, IBD
Follow Matt Krantz on Twitter @mattkrantz
