Super Micro and Nvidia lead the S&P 500 this year. These stocks follow.

By Emily Bary and Philip van Doorn

A list of 20 standout stocks during the first half of 2024 includes names riding the AI wave, but also a few surprises

This has been a very good year for the stock market as a whole, although the performance of broad U.S. indexes also underscores how important the weighting of an index can be.

The S&P 500 SPX has returned 15.8% this year through Thursday, with dividends reinvested. It is weighted by market capitalization, as you will see below.

The build-out of technical infrastructure to support efforts to develop products and services using generative artificial intelligence has been a dominant theme this year. The market-cap weighting benefits investors in index funds that track the U.S. large-cap index and enjoy low fees. The $542 billion SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY is the best-known example.

The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP has returned 19.4% this year, and the Nasdaq-100 Index NDX, made up of the largest 100 companies by market cap in the full Nasdaq, has returned 19.4%. It is tracked by the $286 billion Invesco QQQ ETF QQQ.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, which isn't weighted by market cap, has returned 4.9% so far this year.

Best performers among the S&P 500 so far in 2024

Here are the 20 stocks in the S&P 500 with the highest returns this year through Thursday's close. Returns are also included for the past two years, to incorporate the broad decline in 2022 (especially for technology stocks) and recovery in 2023.

    Meta Platforms Inc. Class A Industry                             2024 return  2023 return  2022 return  Return since end of 2021 
   Super Micro Computer Inc.                      SMCI             Computer Processing Hardware              213.2%         246%          87%                     1926% 
   Nvidia Corp.                                   NVDA             Semiconductors                            150.4%         239%         -50%                      322% 
   Vistra Corp.                                    VST             Electric Utilities                        127.8%          71%           5%                      309% 
   Constellation Energy Corp.                      CEG             Electric Utilities                         75.8%          37%          N/A                       N/A 
   GE Aerospace                                    GE              Industrial Machinery                       58.0%          96%         -11%                      176% 
   Eli Lilly and Company                           LLY             Pharmaceuticals                            56.5%          61%          34%                      238% 
   Micron Technology Inc.                          MU              Semiconductors                             55.1%          72%         -46%                       44% 
   NRG Energy Inc.                                 NRG             Electric Utilities                         54.2%          69%         -23%                      100% 
   CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. Class A              CRWD             Software                                   51.7%         142%         -49%                       89% 
   Targa Resources Corp.                          TRGP             Gas Distributors                           49.8%          21%          44%                      160% 
   Deckers Outdoor Corp.                          DECK             Apparel/ Footwear                          49.6%          67%           9%                      173% 
   NetApp Inc.                                    NTAP             Computer Peripherals                       47.9%          51%         -33%                       50% 
   Arista Networks Inc.                           ANET             Computer Peripherals                       47.7%          94%         -16%                      142% 
   Howmet Aerospace Inc.                           HWM             Aerospace & Defense                        47.3%          38%          24%                      152% 
   Meta Platforms Inc Class A                     META             Internet Software/ Services                47.1%         194%         -64%                       55% 
   Western Digital Corp.                           WDC             Computer Peripherals                       46.3%          66%         -52%                       17% 
   First Solar Inc.                               FSLR             Semiconductors                             45.1%          15%          72%                      187% 
   Applied Materials Inc.                         AMAT             Industrial Machinery                       44.0%          68%         -38%                       51% 
   Broadcom Inc.                                  AVGO             Semiconductors                             43.2%         104%         -13%                      154% 
   KLA Corp.                                      KLAC             Electronic Equipment/ Instruments          40.8%          56%         -11%                       95% 
                                                                                                                                                        Source: FactSet 

Click on the tickers for more information about each company, including news, price ratios, ratings and financials.

Click here for Tomi Kilgore's guide to the wealth of information available for free on the MarketWatch quote page.

Semiconductors and energy are two of the prevailing themes on the list of the best S&P 500 performers for the first half.

Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) is among the biggest first-half gainers, but ranks only second in the index. First place goes to Super Micro Computer Inc. (SMCI), a server maker and Nvidia partner, which joined the S&P 500 in March. (Deckers Outdoors Corp. (DECK), a fellow new S&P 500 entrant, also ranks within the top 20.)

Super Micro shares have more than tripled so far this year. Nvidia shares are up 150%, but that is less than the 190% they returned during the first half of 2023.

Nvidia continues to prove itself a financial beneficiary of artificial intelligence by booking eye-popping growth quarter after quarter. The company's data-center business grew 427% to $22.6 billion last fiscal quarter. Year-over-year comparisons get tougher from here thanks to the strong back half of 2023 that Nvidia experienced, but the company dominates the market for graphics processing units (GPU) installed by data centers to support their clients' efforts to develop products and services making use of generative AI. Analysts are upbeat about rapid innovation that will further Nvidia's strong competitive positioning.

Super Micro has also seen rapid growth, with revenue rising 200% in the latest quarter. But there are concerns about component availability, as well as margins.

Micron Technology Inc.'s (MU) stock has performed strongly as well this year. The memory-chip stock has seen a 55% return in the year to date. Other semiconductor winners in the top 20 include shares of memory peer Western Digital Corp. (WDC), chip giant Broadcom Inc. (AVGO), as well as Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) and KLA Corp. (KLAC) which make equipment used to manufacture semiconductors.

Energy stocks have had a good year so far, with shares of Vistra Corp. (VST), Constellation Energy Corp. (CEG) and NRG Energy Inc. (NRG) all ranking in the top 10.

CrowdStrike Holdings Inc.'s stock (CRWD), meanwhile, bucked sluggish software trends to place ninth with a 52% return. "There is clear demand for the product and their hiring activity to support the demand are further indications of the same," Bernstein analyst Peter Weed wrote after the cybersecurity company's latest earnings report.

There are no total returns on the table before 2023 for Constellation, because the company was formed through a spinoff from was formed in 2022 when it was spun-out of Exelon Corp. (EXC) in 2022.

GE Aerospace (GE) ranked fifth for 2024 total returns among the S&P 500 through Thursday. The General Electric conglomerate was split into three companies on April 2, with GE Aerospace retaining the ticker. The two other new companies are GE Healthcare Technologies Inc. (GEHC) and GE Verona Inc. (GEV), which retained the conglomerate's energy businesses.

A related list: These 20 stocks have been the S&P 500's biggest losers so far in 2024

Sector performance

More than half of the companies on the list above are in the information-technology sector of the S&P 500. Here is how all 11 sectors of the index have performed this year, with the full S&P 500 and other indexes at the bottom.

   Sector of index                 2024 return  2023 return  2022 return  Return since end of 2021 
   Information Technology                28.8%        57.8%       -28.2%                     46.0% 
   Communication Services                28.8%        55.8%       -39.9%                     20.6% 
   Utilities                             10.6%        -7.1%         1.6%                      4.4% 
   Energy                                10.5%        -1.3%        65.7%                     80.6% 
   Financials                             9.7%        12.1%       -10.5%                     10.1% 
   Consumer Staples                       9.4%         0.5%        -0.6%                      9.3% 
   Healthcare                             7.9%         2.1%        -2.0%                      7.9% 
   Industrials                            7.6%        18.1%        -5.5%                     20.2% 
   Consumer Discretionary                 7.1%        42.4%       -37.0%                     -3.9% 
   Materials                              4.0%        12.5%       -12.3%                      2.7% 
   Real Estate                           -3.1%        12.4%       -26.1%                    -19.6% 
   S&P 500                               15.8%        26.3%       -18.1%                     19.7% 
   Dow Jones Industrial Average           4.9%        16.2%        -6.9%                     13.5% 

(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires

06-29-24 0603ET

Copyright (c) 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.