Here Are the 20 Best Performing Stocks of March — and the 20 Worst in U.S. Stocks

Investors have been moving money back into tech stocks and other sectors, while leaning away from financials

Shares of Intel rose 31% in March; Meta was up 21% for the month and has soared 76% in 2023, following a 64% plunge last year.

Technology stocks dominated during March, with remarkable gains for a sector that tumbled last year. Meanwhile, two high-profile bank failures took their toll on the financial sector -- but maybe that sector performed better than you expected.

Below are lists of the month's best and worst performing stocks in the S&P 500 , followed by lists for the Nasdaq-100 Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average .

First, take a look at how the 11 sectors of the S&P 500 fared for the month. Performance and forward price-to-earnings valuations for the broad indexes are below the sectors:

All price changes in this article exclude dividends.

The IT sector has seen a considerable rebound this year, accelerating in March. The communications Services sector has trailed closely.

Sector placement can be confusing for some companies when considering how they are perceived by investors. Both Meta Platforms Inc. (META) and Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) are in the communications sector. Both are among the best performers in the S&P 500 during March, listed below.

Despite such a strong showing for the benchmark index, only 261 stocks in the S&P 500 rose during March. This reflects the index's weighting by market capitalization.

Here are the 20 stocks in the S&P 500 that performed best for the month:

Intel Corp. (INTC) was the best performer among the S&P 500 in March. A long-term chart for the stock is below the Nasdaq-100 list further down.

Here are the worst 20 performers in the benchmark index in March, mainly reflecting investors' concerns about regional banks:

First Republic Bank (FRC) of San Francisco was the worst-performing stock in the S&P 500 for March because of deposit outflow in the wake of similar trouble that caused the failures of Silicon Valley Bank on March 10 and the failure of Signature Bank of New York on March 12.

One reason the financial sector declined "only" 9.7% in March was the reclassification of sectors by S&P Dow Jones Indices. Visa Inc. (V), Mastercard Inc. (MA) and PayPal Holdings Inc. (PYPL) all moved to the financials sector from the tech sector and were up for the month. Two other large components of the financial sector -- Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRKA) and S&P Global Inc. (SPGI) -- rose during March. The five companies together have a combined market cap of $1.41 trillion, or 31% of the sector's $4.57 trillion market cap.

Nasdaq-100

The Nasdaq-100 index is made up of the largest 100 nonfinancial companies in the full Nasaq Composite Index, by market cap. Here are the 10 components of the index that performed the best during March:

To put Intel's 2003 surge into perspective, here's a 10-year price chart for the stock:

Intel’s stock has surged 24% in 2023 following a 49% decline last year. FACTSET

The Dow 30

Here's how all 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average performed in March: