Still waiting for the ongoing S&P 500 rally to hit historic proportions? It just did for an elite class of stocks reaching all-time highs.
Ten S&P 500 stocks — including technology giants Oracle and Apple plus a host of industrials like Ametek — just notched fresh all-time highs, says an Investor's Business Daily analysis of data from S&P Global Market Intelligence and MarketSmith.
Seeing so many companies hit their highest prices in history underscores the sheer power of the S&P 500's latest rally — if you own the right stocks. And it's not just tech stocks emerging into rarefied air.
"While tech is getting plenty of love right now, these two other sectors are putting in work with healthy price action and new highs for breadth as well," said Bespoke Investment Group.
S&P 500 Rally Gets Real
Not all stock-price highs are the same. There's a growing number of S&P 500 stocks, 32, hitting their highest levels in 52 weeks. Yawn. That's just not as impressive as it was, now that stocks are actually setting all-time highs.
The 10 S&P 500 stocks to hit fresh record highs are among the superstars in this rally. And the ranks of such stocks continue to swell as the S&P 500 grinds higher. All told, 64 stocks in the S&P 500 are now at or within 5% from an all-time high. That's thanks to a more than 15% gain in the S&P 500 itself this year. That's not to mention a total of 22 S&P 500 stocks took out their highest-ever highs this week alone.
The tech sector — which hit all-time highs on a total return basis — is certainly much of the reason, Bespoke said. The sector is up more than 50% from its low. That's more than made up for a 34% drop from tech stocks' late-2021 high to their low in late 2022.
But the industrials and consumer discretionary S&P 500 sectors are pulling their weight, too. Six of the 10 S&P 500 stocks at all-time highs are in the industrials sector, which is more than any other sector — even tech (which has two).
"These two other sectors are putting in work with healthy price action and new highs for breadth as well," Bespoke said.
Looking At The S&P 500's New Highs
Topping the S&P 500 new highs list is a surprise: Oracle. Shares of the off-the-radar tech stock are up more than 54% this year to 126.55. That pushed ORCL stock 2% past its previous high of 124 set on June 13, 2023. It, like Apple, continues moving higher on robust demand. Apple itself is now trading for 0.5% higher than its previous all-time high set on June 5, 2023.
Returning to a high has been a longer wait, though, for many other stocks. Take homebuilder Lennar. Shares on Thursday pushed to 119.81, or roughly 2% higher than its previous high not seen since late 2021.
And again, it's not just tech racing to new highs. Ametek, a maker of electronic tools for factories, is now trading at a never-before-seen price of 156.70, or more than 1% higher than its previous high notched in June.
Which stocks are next to take investors to new heights? All eyes are on Microsoft, which is only 0.5% away from taking out its previous high notched on Nov. 22, 2021.
Here's the fact now: The number of S&P 500 stocks setting all-time highs show this rally is much too important to ignore.
S&P 500 Stocks At All-Time Highs
| Company | Ticker | Year-to-date change | Sector | From previous all-time high |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oracle | 54.8% | Information Technology | 2.1% | |
| Lennar | 32.4% | Consumer Discretionary | 2.0% | |
| Ametek | 12.2% | Industrials | 1.4% | |
| Eaton | 25.4% | Industrials | 1.0% | |
| Cintas | 9.0% | Industrials | 1.0% | |
| Parker-Hannifin | 28.5% | Industrials | 0.8% | |
| AmerisourceBergen | 9.8% | Health Care | 0.7% | |
| Apple | 43.2% | Information Technology | 0.5% | |
| W.W. Grainger | 33.7% | Industrials | 0.5% | |
| Ingersoll Rand | 23.8% | Industrials | 0.3% |
Sources: IBD, S&P Global Market Intelligence
Follow Matt Krantz on Twitter @mattkrantz
