These Are The Best (And Worst) Performing Stocks Of 2023

Topline

Driving stocks’ broad rebound over the first seven weeks of the year are several of last year’s black sheep, including Tesla, the always volatile electric vehicle company helmed by the U.S.’ second-richest man Elon Musk.

Technology giants like Tesla are leading the way for stocks this year, while pharmaceutical giants … [+] like Pfizer are among the worst performers.

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Key Facts

Tesla is the best-performing stock listed on the S&P 500 year-to-date, rising 69%, while the other five best-performing S&P constituents are streamer Warner Bros. Discovery (up 63%), biotechnology contractor Catalent (59%), orthodontics firm Align Technology (50%) and the cruise liner Royal Caribbean (48%), according to FactSet data.

Despite spanning industries, each of those companies have one thing in common: They were among the worst-performing stocks of 2022, each losing 35% or more last year.

Other notable gainers this year are fellow streamers Paramount (40%) and Disney (21%), Silicon Valley technology giants Nvidia (46%) and Meta (44%) and other leisure travel stocks like Norwegian Cruise Line (44%) and Caesars Entertainment (27%).

The S&P’s biggest losers are also a diverse group, led by telecommunications firm Lumen Technologies (-25%) and followed by solar energy company Enphase Energy (-23%), specialty healthcare provider Baxter International (-20%), energy company APA Corp (-18%) and pharmaceutical and healthcare giant Pfizer (-15%).

The decline of Pfizer, by far the worst-performing stock of 2023 with a market capitalization over $100 billion, comes after the company said it expected sales for its Covid-19 vaccine and oral treatment will slip 60% in 2023, and headline an onslaught for several big pharmaceutical companies, with peers Johnson & Johnson and Eli Lilly down 9% and 10%, respectively, year-to-date.

Key Background

The S&P 500 is up 6.7% year-to-date after slipping 18% in 2022, its worst annual performance since 2008. The slump closely tracked the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates from around 0% to over 4% in an effort to slow inflation. In addition to Meta, other mega-cap tech stocks are up dramatically this year, with each of Alphabet, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft up 6% or more.

Tangent

Also gaining thus far in 2023 is bitcoin, up almost 50% year-to-date at about $25,000, an eight-month high. Oanda analyst Craig Erlam warned Monday that investors must be wary of the latest rally for the cryptocurrency, explaining: “We’ve all seen what happens when enthusiasm and euphoria exist in cryptos,” referring to bitcoin’s dramatic 75% nosedive between November 2021 and November 2022.

Surprising Fact

U.S. military contractor Northrop Grumman is the sixth-worst performing S&P constituent year-to-date, despite a recent rally for it and other defense stocks as geopolitical tensions stewed.

Big Number

$61.3 billion. That’s how much Musk has tacked onto his fortune so far this year during Tesla’s rally, roughly the size of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s total fortune. Musk, who lost his position as the world’s wealthiest person in December, is $15 billion away from reclaiming the title from LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault.