This week, which stocks lagged or dragged? Weekly Winners column keeps up with market trends, helping Tigers sort out the week's hottest sectors, stock winners and important news.
Below are top 10 S&P 500 stock gainers for the week ended May 22:
Dell Shares Jump Ahead of Strong Q1 Earnings Forecast, Leading AI Server Rally
Dell Technologies soared 22% this week amid a broad rally in AI server stocks, driven by expectations of a strong fiscal Q1 2027 earnings report on May 28. Analysts predict Dell will beat revenue and EPS estimates and raise full-year guidance, supported by a record AI backlog and rapid growth in AI-optimized server sales.
Along with Dell next week, HP Inc will report second-quarter earnings on May 27. And like Dell, HP has been leaning into AI. The shares surged 21.3% this week.
Skyworks Surges as Investors Focus on Qorvo Merger Paperwork and Debt-Exchange Steps
Skyworks Solutions shares surged 20.3% this week. Here is some analysis on what might have caused this price movement.
The move appears tied to renewed investor focus on Skyworks’ pending Qorvo transaction after a batch of merger-related filings and financing steps (including exchange offers for Qorvo notes) that help lay groundwork for the deal’s capital structure. Separately, Skyworks’ early-May earnings beat and a large Android design win have likely improved sentiment and made the stock more responsive to deal-progress headlines.
Qualcomm’s Stock Pop Shows Investors Are "Waking up" to Boom in AI Devices
Qualcomm shares surged 18.2% this week, as the chipmaker’s increasingly central position in the physical AI boom becomes more apparent to Wall Street. The stock is trading at a record.
Although Qualcomm has fallen behind giants like Nvidia in the race for chips to power AI models and workloads, the company is using its dominance in smartphones to cement its role as a key player in connected devices, whether it’s eyeglasses, cars or robots.
OpenAI is also reportedly partnering with Qualcomm to develop an AI chip that could power a coming device run by AI agents.
NetApp Shares Jump as Expanded Google Distributed Cloud Deal Fuels AI and Sovereign-Cloud Optimism
NetApp shares jumped 16.2% this week.
The move appears tied to renewed investor enthusiasm around NetApp’s deeper integration with Google Cloud’s sovereign, air-gapped distributed cloud offering, positioning the company as infrastructure plumbing for regulated AI workloads. The sharp gain also suggests the market is re-rating NetApp’s public-sector and security-focused storage opportunity.
IBM Jumps on a $1 Billion CHIPS Act Quantum Foundry Award
IBM notched its best weekly performance in 25 years after a federal bet on the company’s quantum technology sent shares into overdrive.
The stock gained nearly 16% this week, marking its best performance since October 2002, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Shares closed up 0.3% on Friday.
The hot streak began after IBM announced the creation of a stand-alone quantum foundry called Anderon, backed by a $1 billion investment from the Commerce Department.
