A quiet day for the index hid significant divergence among its biggest movers, raising questions about which trends have staying power.
The S&P 500 returned +0.4% on the last trading day, a quiet session that masked extreme moves in individual names. PayPal (PYPL) was the day’s strongest stock, returning +17.2%, while the weakest, Pentair (PNR), returned -15.0%.
When a single day delivers such a wide gap between the top and bottom performers, the immediate question is whether these are fleeting reactions or part of a larger, more durable trend. The day’s lists show both kinds of moves.
Photo by ArtsyBee on Pixabay
Wednesday’s S&P 500 Winners
The 10 stocks with the highest returns on the last trading day:
#
Ticker
Company Name
1-D
Returns
YTD
Returns
1
PYPL
PayPal
17.2%
-4.3%
2
BLK
BlackRock
6.6%
3.3%
3
CBRE
CBRE
6.2%
-12.1%
4
IVZ
Invesco
5.5%
17.2%
5
BNY
Bank of New York Mellon
5.1%
6
BKNG
Booking
4.5%
-14.3%
7
CTAS
Cintas
4.4%
2.8%
8
HCA
HCA Healthcare
4.2%
-18.6%
9
AAPL
Apple
4.0%
20.7%
10
KKR
KKR
3.8%
-20.5%
Wednesday’s S&P 500 Losers
And the 10 stocks with the lowest returns:
#
Ticker
Company Name
1-D
Returns
YTD
Returns
1
PNR
Pentair
-15.0%
-37.9%
2
ERIE
Erie Indemnity
-11.9%
-25.4%
3
DELL
Dell Technologies
-9.8%
229.3%
4
PGR
Progressive
-9.4%
-4.1%
5
WDC
Western Digital
-8.8%
198.5%
6
ELV
Elevance Health
-8.5%
12.5%
7
SNDK
SanDisk
-8.1%
580.3%
8
MU
Micron Technology
-8.0%
217.0%
9
LITE
Lumentum
-7.7%
104.0%
10
MRVL
Marvell Technology
-7.3%
143.1%
Is today’s biggest gain a new story or an old one?
In addition to being the day’s strongest stock, PayPal (PYPL) also appears on the one-month winners list with a return of +33.7%. This suggests the single-day return of +17.2% is an extension of prior strength.
The pattern of persistence is also visible on the downside. Both SanDisk (SNDK) and Marvell Technology (MRVL) appear on the one-day and one-month losers lists. Their respective one-month returns are -18.4% and -26.2%, indicating their weakness has been building for weeks.
Movers Over The Last Week
Widening the window to five trading days, these are the strongest and weakest S&P 500 names:
#
Ticker
Company Name
1-W
Returns
YTD
Returns
1
PYPL
PayPal
24.7%
-4.3%
2
META
Meta Platforms
13.0%
3.4%
3
IVZ
Invesco
12.1%
17.2%
4
GS
Goldman Sachs
11.9%
32.3%
5
MOS
Mosaic
11.6%
-2.6%
6
PANW
Palo Alto Networks
10.4%
92.2%
7
BLK
BlackRock
10.4%
3.3%
8
BBY
Best Buy
9.4%
31.2%
9
COF
Capital One Financial
8.8%
-13.1%
10
SYF
Synchrony Financial
8.5%
-10.5%
#
Ticker
Company Name
1-W
Returns
YTD
Returns
1
IBM
International Business Machines
-30.1%
-27.8%
2
ERIE
Erie Indemnity
-16.4%
-25.4%
3
APP
AppLovin
-13.3%
-32.8%
4
PNR
Pentair
-12.2%
-37.9%
5
PGR
Progressive
-11.9%
-4.1%
6
MRVL
Marvell Technology
-11.0%
143.1%
7
AXON
Axon Enterprise
-9.8%
-4.7%
8
HCA
HCA Healthcare
-7.7%
-18.6%
9
YUM
Yum Brands
-7.7%
1.8%
10
MRNA
Moderna
-7.5%
131.5%
Movers Over The Last Month
And over the last 21 trading days:
#
Ticker
Company Name
1-M
Returns
YTD
Returns
1
MRNA
Moderna
36.8%
131.5%
2
PYPL
PayPal
33.7%
-4.3%
3
TECH
Bio-Techne
32.4%
21.9%
4
PANW
Palo Alto Networks
26.6%
92.2%
5
DASH
DoorDash
26.3%
-16.0%
6
HOOD
Robinhood Markets
24.0%
2.2%
7
AXON
Axon Enterprise
22.5%
-4.7%
8
CRL
Charles River Laboratories International
21.7%
14.4%
9
VEEV
Veeva Systems
21.4%
-13.2%
10
CRWD
CrowdStrike
21.1%
76.4%
#
Ticker
Company Name
1-M
Returns
YTD
Returns
1
ORCL
Oracle
-27.8%
-31.4%
2
ALB
Albemarle
-26.8%
-11.4%
3
MRVL
Marvell Technology
-26.2%
143.1%
4
IBM
International Business Machines
-22.4%
-27.8%
5
SWKS
Skyworks Solutions
-22.3%
-7.4%
6
COHR
Coherent
-22.2%
62.2%
7
ON
ON Semiconductor
-20.8%
70.9%
8
FDXF
FedEx Freight
-18.9%
9
ACN
Accenture
-18.6%
-47.6%
10
SNDK
SanDisk
-18.4%
580.3%
A big move is a starting point for research, not a conclusion.
A daily list of top movers is a map of where market attention is focused, not a set of instructions. A sharp gain or loss simply flags a stock for further review. The disciplined next step is to investigate the underlying business fundamentals behind the name.
Look back at the weekly and monthly tables. The names that persist across different time horizons often have a more significant story to tell than those that appear for a single session. The real work begins after the leaderboard is published.
The next step is never to trade the list; it is to test it. Our Guidance Momentum screen shows which risers have management raising guidance behind them, and our Buy the Dip screen shows which of the fallers still generate the growth and cash that make a recovery plausible.
Today’s Winner Is Tomorrow’s Loser Often Enough
The movers list is the most honest picture of single-stock risk the market prints each day: the same volatility that makes the winners column also fills the losers column, and no one reliably knows which side a stock lands on next.
That is the case for owning a disciplined basket instead of chasing the tape. The Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio holds roughly 30 businesses selected for consistent cash generation, strong margins, and resilient balance sheets, sized and rebalanced with rules. It has a track record of outpacing a benchmark that combines all major indices – the S&P 500, S&P Mid-cap, and Russell 2000. Watch the movers for information; let the portfolio do the compounding.