MW These S&P 500 stocks have soared the most during the AI-driven May rally
By Philip van Doorn
Even stocks in the beleaguered software industry have been on fire
Datadog, Miron and Dell were some of the best-performing stocks in the S&P 500 during May.
The May rally for U.S. stocks has been nothing short of breathtaking - unless you have made a point of avoiding the information-technology sector.
Here is how the 11 sectors of the S&P 500 SPX were performing for May through 11:15 a.m. ET on Friday. The full index is at the bottom of the table. All price changes in this article exclude dividends.
S&P 500 index May price change 2026 price change 2025 price change
Information technology 16.0% 23.7% 23.3%
Consumer discretionary 3.0% 4.3% 5.3%
Healthcare 2.2% -3.8% 12.5%
Materials -0.2% 11.9% 8.4%
Communication services -0.5% 9.4% 32.4%
Industrials -0.7% 11.7% 17.7%
Financial -1.0% -5.9% 13.3%
Real estate -1.1% 9.5% -0.3%
Consumer staples -3.4% 6.4% 1.3%
Utilities -5.6% 3.6% 12.7%
Energy -6.5% 23.8% 5.0%
S&P 500 Index 5.3% 10.9% 16.4%
Source: LSEG
The S&P 500 was up 5.3% for May, even though all but three of its 11 sectors were down for the month. The May rally was, of course, led by the information-technology sector, which was up 16%.
Semiconductor manufacturers remained an obvious play for investors as the build-out of infrastructure to support generative artificial intelligence rolled on. The iShares Semiconductor ETF SOXX was up 24% for May and up 89% for 2026, following the exchange-traded fund's 40% gain in 2025.
But the tech gains weren't confined to semiconductors. The S&P 500 Software and Services Index was up 14.8% for May. This industry group had been down 15.7% for 2026 through April, according to data supplied by LSEG.
The S&P 500's top 20 for May
These 20 stocks among the S&P 500 showed the largest gains for May through 11:15 a.m. ET on Friday:
Company May price change 2026 price change 2025 price change Dell Technologies 100.1% 232.1% 9.2% Micron Technology 87.9% 240.4% 239.1% Datadog 82.2% 77.1% -4.8% Super Micro Computer 71.2% 60.3% -4.0% NetApp 64.6% 70.3% -7.7% CrowdStrike Holdings 61.1% 53.2% 37.0% Fortinet 59.3% 69.1% -16.0% Sandisk 53.3% 608.3% N/A Hewlett Packard Enterprise 53.1% 83.4% 12.5% Palo Alto Networks 52.1% 48.1% 1.2% First Solar 50.7% 16.5% 48.2% Advanced Micro Devices 45.1% 140.2% 77.3% Ford Motor 44.0% 32.6% 32.5% Akamai Technologies 43.8% 69.8% -8.8% ServiceNow 39.5% -19.6% -27.7% Qualcomm 38.6% 45.6% 11.3% Oracle 36.4% 12.9% 17.0% AppLovin 35.2% -10.4% 108.1% Seagate Technology Holdings 33.8% 227.2% 219.1% United Airlines Holdings 30.9% 5.4% 15.2% Source: LSEG
Dell topped $(DELL)$ the list with shares doubling in May and up 29% Friday morning after a stellar earnings report.
Software developers on the list were led by Datadog (DDOG), which was up 82% during May.
Microsoft $(MSFT)$ - the third-largest stock in the S&P 500 by market capitalization - didn't make the list as its stock was up only 9.1% for May. The stock had been down 15.7% for 2026 through May. On Friday morning, Microsoft was still down 8% for 2026, following a gain of 14.7% in 2025.
Click on the tickers for more about each company.
Read: Tomi Kilgore's detailed guide to the information available on the MarketWatch quote page
Don't miss: This stock-market strategy is a smart way to play Micron and the memory-chip rally
-Philip van Doorn
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 29, 2026 13:06 ET (17:06 GMT)
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