Palantir Technologies was easily the biggest winner on the S&P 500 index last year. And with PLTR stock breaking out in last week's strong market rally, the artificial intelligence play is once again leading in 2025. CVS Health, Newmont Corp., Philip Morris International and VeriSign round an eclectic top-five for the S&P 500.
Meanwhile, the Magnificent Seven — Tesla, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon.com, Nvidia and Google-parent Alphabet — are nowhere near the top performers. In fact, these megacap stocks are all down in 2025, some significantly.
The S&P 500 is off 6.1% in 2025.
S&P 500 Top Winners 2025
| Company | Ticker | 2025 Gain |
|---|---|---|
| Palantir Technologies | PLTR | 49.12% |
| CVS Health | CVS | 45.51% |
| Newmont | NEM | 44.92% |
| Philip Morris Intl | PM | 41.45% |
| VeriSign | VRSN | 31.81% |
Palantir Stock
Palantir stock is up 49.1% in 2025 as of April 25 after spiking 340.5% for all of 204.
The government and commercial data analytics firm surged 20.3% last week. Shares have nearly doubled since hitting 66.12 intraday on April 7. PLTR stock broke out past a 98.17 double-bottom base buy point on Wednesday and continued to power higher. Investors also could view Palantir's chart as a cup base with a 125.41 buy point, according to MarketSurge.
The relative strength line for Palantir stock is at a record high. The RS line, the blue line in the charts provided, tracks a stock's performance vs. the S&P 500.
Palantir earnings growth is strong, with six straight quarters of accelerating revenue growth.
Palantir will report Q1 earnings on May 5.
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CVS Stock
CVS stock has rallied 45.51% so far this year after tumbling to a 12-year low in late 2024. The drug store giant, pharmacy benefits manager and health insurance giant has been rangebound since breaking out from a cup-with-handle base in late March. CVS stock is currently just below its 50-day line.
CVS earnings have fallen sharply in the past four quarters. Analysts expected EPS growth to return in 2025 and continue next year. Q1 results are due on Thursday.
Newmont Stock
Newmont stock has jumped 44.9% in 2025, rebounding from an eight-month low at the very end of 2024. Shares have soared this year among with gold prices and other gold stocks. In truth, NEM stock has been a bit of a laggard relative to many other gold stocks that are greatly extended. Newmont stock cleared an early entry on April 10, continuing to work the right side of a cup base. The buy point is 58.72 on a daily chart, but will have a handle after Monday. On a weekly chart, NEM stock has a 57.16 cup-with-handle buy point already.
Newmont earnings have been in the triple digits for four straight quarters, reflecting huge profits from soaring gold prices.
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S&P 500 Stock Philip Morris International
Philip Morris stock has been smoking hot in 2025, up 41.45% through April 25. Tobacco stocks have been strong as a defensive play about Trump tariffs and recession firms. Phillip Morris International also is benefiting from strong growth in smokeless tobacco products. PM stock boasts a 3.17% dividend yield.
Philip Morris stock is greatly extended from an early February earnings gap-up breakout, and is stretched from a more-recent rebound from the 50-day line to clear a range.
Philip Morris earnings have been in the double-digits for the past three quarters, with double-digit growth seen in 20025 and 2026.
Q1 earnings are due on Tuesday.
VeriSign Stock
VeriSign stock has gained 31.8% so far this year.
Shares rebounded from the 50-day line last week, capped by Friday's 8% jump following earnings. That also cleared a massive consolidation going back to 2021.
Growth for the domain name and web security firm has been modest but solid, with Q1's 9% EPS gain and 5% revenue rise both slight increases from Q4.
Magnificent Seven Stocks Performance
| Company | Ticker | 2025 change |
|---|---|---|
| Apple | AAPL | -16.43% |
| Alphabet | GOOGL | -14.44% |
| Amazon | AMZN | -13.86% |
| Meta Platforms | META | -6.53% |
| Microsoft | MSFT | -7.03% |
| Nvidia | NVDA | -17.34% |
| Tesla | TSLA | -29.44% |
The Magnificent Seven has been anything but in 2025. All of them are lagging the S&P 500, dragging down the benchmark index. Meta stock and Microsoft are down 6.5% and 7%, respectively. The other five are down more than 10%. Tesla stock has lost 29.4% this year, even with last week's 18.1% surge.
Microsoft stock and Meta Platforms report Tuesday night. Apple stock and Amazon are due late Thursday.
Please follow Ed Carson on Threads at @edcarson1971 and X/Twitter at @IBD_ECarson for stock market updates and more.
