Here are our 4 best stocks — and 4 worst stocks — of the first quarter
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on March 22, 2023 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The S&P 500 concluded a topsy-turvy — yet winning — first quarter of 2023 on Friday, overcoming a shock to the U.S. banking system in March to rise around 7%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite proved to be the real standout, soaring nearly 17%. The 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, eked out a roughly 0.4% gain.
Stocks’ rip-roaring January eased in February, with all three major Wall Street indexes finishing lower in that month. Then came the failure of three U.S. banks within days of each other starting March 8, which spooked investors and further stoked recession fears. The S&P 500 briefly went negative for the year on March 15, a rough session defined by banking concerns spreading to Europe. But as the bank crisis stabilized over the past two weeks, the averages more than bounced back.
Here’s a look at the best and worst performers in the Club’s 36-stock portfolio for the first quarter, beginning with the top four gainers.
Tech stocks lead the way
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang speaks at a press conference on Jan. 7, 2018.
MANDEL NGAN | AFP | Getty Images
Nvidia (NVDA) captured the first-quarter crown, soaring an astounding 90% over the three-month period. The chipmaker is not only the Club’s best-performing holding, but the biggest winner in the entire S&P 500.
- The driving force behind Nvidia’s move: artificial intelligence. The AI buzz sparked by ChatGPT in late 2022 intensified throughout the first quarter, so it’s no surprise that investors flocked toward the company whose technology — both on the hardware and software side — is at the heart of the trend.
- Nvidia’s fourth-quarter earnings, in late February, only enhanced its shine. It reported better-than-expected results along with strong forward guidance, including quarter-over-quarter growth fueled by its data center and gaming segments.
- The strength in data center captures the tangible impact AI adoption has for Nvidia. Investors also took solace in the fact the gaming inventory correction that plagued the company in recent quarters is largely in the rearview mirror at this point. That’s another important reason why Nvidia’s stock did so well.
Nvidia’s stock performance year to date.
Meta Platforms (META) finished in second place in both the Club’s portfolio and the S&P 500 overall, climbing 76.1%.
- CEO Mark Zuckerberg dubbed 2023 the “year of efficiency” for the Instagram and Facebook parent. So far, management’s actions have lived up to the billing. Meta in March announced plans to cut 10,000 jobs, on top of 11,000-plus layoffs disclosed in November.
- Crucially, the social media giant also lowered its 2023 expense outlook for the second time this year. It now stands between $86 billion to $92 billion, down from the $89 billion-to-$95 billion range issued in February.
- Meta’s initial 2023 expense guidance of $96 billion and $101 billion flabbergasted Wall Street in late October, causing a huge sell-off in the already downtrodden stock. Now, investors are thrilled that Zuckerberg and Co. got serious about better aligned expenses with slower revenue growth.
Meta’s stock performance year to date.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) had the third-best performance in the first quarter, with shares advancing just over 51.3%.
- On Jan. 31, AMD CEO Lisa Su called the bottom in the chipmaker’s beleaguered PC business, saying the first quarter should be the trough with growth returning in the second quarter and into the rest of the year. That important statement gave investors confidence the chip inventory glut that crushed the company — and industry peers alike — last year was nearing an end.
- All signs also continue to point to AMD taking share from chief rival Intel (INTC) in the data center processor market. Su said AMD expects more share growth to occur in the third and fourth quarters, along with an overall improvement in the data center market.
- AMD also is seen as another winner in AI adoption, which has helped lift sentiment around the stock in the first quarter. In the second half of this year, AMD is expected to launch its next-generation supercomputer processor, which can be used for large language model applications. (ChatGPT is one example of a large language model, though it was trained on a Microsoft-built supercomputer that used Nvidia chips).
Advanced Micro Device’s stock performance year to date.
Checking in fourth was Salesforce (CRM), which saw its stock price climb 50.7% in the first quarter.
- The enterprise software maker’s stellar earnings report and guidance March 1 cemented investors’ warming attitude toward the company. Salesforce surged 11.5% the following day, one of its best single-session gains in a decade, because it was clear significant profitability improvements were underway.
- Salesforce shares were up more than 20% year to date before that earnings print, amid a broader rotation into the tech stocks that struggled in 2022, and on hopes that the five activist investors with stakes in the company could bring about margin expansion. The actual report confirmed CEO Marc Benioff is delivering on what investors care about — becoming more profitable and managing dilution with an enhanced buyback.
- Salesforce expects an adjusting operating margin of 27% in fiscal 2024, much better than analysts’ 22.8% estimate. Its share repurchase authorization increased to $20 billion, doubling the $10 billion buyback program first announced last year.
Salesforce’s year to date stock performance.
What’s the common denominator among the winners? These four stocks were beaten up last year as the Federal Reserve got aggressive with interest-rate hikes, crushing stocks with premium valuations and causing slowdowns in each business due to economic uncertainty. But as the calendar turned, investors realized they were far too negative on these tech stocks and regained appreciation of their secular growth stories.
Within this group, there are some additional overlaps. Some are self-help stories, such as Meta and Salesforce. Both companies put their cost structures under the microscope and found ways to reduce expenses. Layoffs are never easy, but the two companies did what was necessary to fix their business models. Stocks of other companies that “took their medicine” have done well in 2023 too.
Others top performers are business-cycle related. For both semiconductors companies, inventory gluts in the industries they sell into punished those stocks in 2022. For AMD, it was PC chips, and for Nvidia it was gaming GPUs. The gluts were so severe that it forced both companies to take big charges on their inventory. But after a couple of quarters of working the excess inventory down, both AMD and Nvidia expect the first quarter to represent the trough of those respective businesses.
First quarter laggards
A Halliburton oil well fielder works on a well head at a fracking rig site January 27, 2016 near Stillwater, Oklahoma.
J. Pat Carter | Getty Images
Halliburton (HAL) shares fell 19.6% in the first quarter, making the oilfield services firm the Club’s worst-performing stock in the period.
- Halliburton’s weakness is tied to factors outside the company’s control — specifically, the roughly 6% decline in West Texas Intermediate crude prices in the first quarter. Keep in mind Halliburton shares also soared 55% in the fourth quarter, so the stock entered the new year vulnerable to profit taking.
- Fundamentally, Halliburton offered investors a lot to like in the first three months of the year. In late January, it raised its dividend by a third to $0.16 per share and announced the resumption of its stock buyback program. It also reported better-than-expected fourth quarter numbers and a robust full-year outlook, with CEO Jeff Miller saying customer spending is expected to grow by at least 15% in 2023. He also indicated Halliburton continues to have pricing power.
Halliburton’s stock performance year to date.
Devon Energy (DVN) was second from the bottom, with shares falling 17.7% in the first quarter.
- Similar to Halliburton, the overall oil market weighed on Devon’s stock price in period.
- But unlike Halliburton, Devon in February rankled investors with its fourth-quarter results and 2023 outlook, which featured higher-than-expected capital expenditures and lower-than-anticipated production projections. That’s a double whammy of disappointment.
Devon Energy’s stock performance year to date.
The third-worst performing Club stock in the first quarter was Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), which saw its stock price decline 12.3% over the three-month stretch.
- A broader rotation out of health-care stocks, one of 2022’s top sectors, contributed to Johnson & Johnson’s weakness in the first quarter. For context, the Club’s three other health stocks — Eli Lilly (LLY), Humana (HUM) and Danaher (DHR) — also ended the quarter in the red.
- However, concerns about J&J’s ongoing talc litigation resurfaced in the quarter following an unfavorable court ruling on the drugmaker’s strategy to resolve the claims. That ruling, handed down Jan. 30 by a U.S. appeals court, has proven to be an additional overhang on J&J shares.
- Despite the stock struggles, J&J’s most recent quarterly results, issued in late January, showed healthy growth and solid free cash flow generation.
Johnson & Johnson’s stock performance year to date.
Honeywell International (HON) rounds out our list as the fourth-worst performer in the first quarter, falling 10.8%.
- Honeywell’s strong 2022 did not extend to the first three months of this year. It didn’t take long for sentiment to sour on Honeywell, either. On Jan. 4, UBS double-downgraded the industrial conglomerate, taking its rating to sell from buy.
- It’s been tough sledding for the stock since, with Honeywell’s uninspiring fourth-quarter earnings print in early February unable to shake off the malaise. The company’s sizable aerospace unit remains especially well-positioned, but it’s not getting a ton of love from Wall Street.
- Compounding matters for Honeywell is an upcoming CEO transition, which was announced March 14. President and COO Vimal Kapur is set to replace Darius Adamczyk on June 1. Adamczyk will remain executive chairman.
Honeywell’s year to date stock performance.
What is the common denominator among the laggards? It’s pretty simple to see. These four stocks all outperformed the S&P 500 by a wide margin last year. The total return (including dividends) on Halliburton was 75% and Devon’s was 52%. Johnson & Johnson and Honeywell both delivered around 5% compared with the S&P 500’s total return of about minus 18%. As the old saying goes, one key to investing is buying low and selling high. That’s what the market did to a lot of stocks in the first quarter. It sold off what investors “hid in” last year to buy what got crushed and historically does better when there is light at the end of the Fed tightening cycle.
(See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust.)
As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade.
THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY, TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER. NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
Toyota USA has refreshed its RAV4 for 2026, and, in a significant step forward for efficiency, Toyota has axed the non-hybrid version of the vehicle. The RAV4 will now only be available in HEV and PHEV versions starting in the 2026 model year.
However, in an act of greenwashing reminiscent of many things Toyota has done before, it’s confusingly calling its vehicles “100% electrified” – despite that every single RAV4 includes a gas engine.
The improvements include new looks and trim lines, including an outdoorsy Woodland model (like the bZ just got) and a higher-performance “GR SPORT” model (though, we must remind everyone, that SUVs are not sportscars and will never be sportscars), and higher power from both PHEV and HEV models.
The PHEV model also boasts improved range, bumped from 42 miles to 50 miles – still lower than we’d typically consider worthy of coverage on Electrek, but the number is at least usable to keep the average driver on electric power for most of their daily driving (if they bother to plug it in).
Some trims will have DC fast charging, and you’ll be able to charge from 10-80% in 30 minutes.
Notably, the RAV4 no longer includes any option for a non-hybrid powertrain. All trims are either hybrid or plug-in hybrid. Previously, it had been anticipated that an EV model might join the lineup, but it looks like Toyota is just sticking with the newly-renamed bZ model for that purpose.
Toyota calls its new RAV4 options “highly efficient electrified powertrains,” but did not specify anticipated EPA mileage numbers for the HEV model, or for the PHEV when operating on gas power. The current RAV4 hybrid gets 39mpg (that’s about 10mpg better than the non-hybrid), and we would imagine something in that ballpark for the updated model.
The 2026 RAV4 will be available in Toyota dealerships across the US “later this year.” Pricing has not yet been announced.
Electrek’s Take
But the real issue here is the use of the word “electrified,” and specifically, “100% electrified.”
Toyota has a long history of deceptive advertising when it comes to its electrification efforts. Its lies have gotten it in trouble before, both in Norway and in the US.
Toyota is also the largest auto industry funder of climate denial, and has consistently ranked as the worst auto industry lobbyist on climate policy worldwide.
So its use of the word “electrified” should be looked at with some skepticism, since the company has used it before to confuse consumers into thinking that its vehicles are more efficient than they really are. For some previous coverage on that, see the FTC complaint filed against Toyota over its false electrification claims.
In this case, Toyota has upped the ante, not just claiming that its vehicles are electrified, but “100% electrified.”
There are a lot of terms that get used confusingly in the EV industry, oftentimes purposefully, in order to greenwash companies’ efforts. EV, PHEV, EREV, FCEV, HEV, BEV, electrified, all-electric, and so on.
But one thing that has heretofore been reserved for models that do not include a gasoline engine is any variation on “all-electric,” “100% electric,” “fully electric” or the like.
So, moving from “electrified” to “100% electrified” certainly seems like intentional phrasing by Toyota here. “Electrified” was already questionable, but “100% electrified” is well over the line.
So despite that we should be happy about a step-change improvement in powertrain availability on the RAV4, and the elimination of the non-hybrid model, Toyota just had to play one of its tricks and remind us why they’re the greatest enemy of electrification in the auto industry (well… save one).
Charge your electric vehicle at home using rooftop solar panels. Find a reliable and competitively priced solar installer near you on EnergySage, for free. They have pre-vetted installers competing for your business, ensuring high-quality solutions and 20-30% savings. It’s free, with no sales calls until you choose an installer. Compare personalized solar quotes online and receive guidance from unbiased Energy Advisers. Get started here. – ad*
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Elon Musk interviews on CNBC from the Tesla Headquarters in Texas.
CNBC
Elon Musk said Tuesday that artificial intelligence development could run into power generation problems by the middle of next year, as the technology industry builds increasingly large data centers.
Musk told CNBC in an interview that his artificial intelligence startup xAI is planning a gigawatt-size facility outside Memphis, Tenn. He said the facility would be complete in six to nine months. A gigawatt is equivalent to the power capacity of the average nuclear plant in the U.S., according to the Department of Energy.
Musk said AI faces three major limitations as it scales up: chips, transformers and power generation. Transformers are used to ramp down the voltage of electricity produced by power plants so it can used by computers.
“As we solve the transformer shortage, there will be the fundamental electricity generation shortage,” Musk told CNBC’s David Faber. “My guess is people are going to start hitting challenges with power generation maybe by the middle of next year, end of next year.”
Alphabet’s Google unit warned in February that the U.S. is facing a power capacity crisis as the U.S. races against China to achieve dominance in AI. Google started looking into nuclear energy after realizing renewables were potentially causing instability on the grid, said Caroline Golin, Google’s global head of energy market development. The output of wind and solar is dependent on weather conditions.
Google ran into a “very stark reality that we didn’t have enough capacity on the system to power our data centers in the short term and then potentially in the long term,” Golin said at a February conference hosted by the Nuclear Energy Institute in New York City.
Musk said Tuesday that China is building significantly more power generation than U.S. “China power generation looks like a rocket going to orbit and U.S. power generation is flat,” the Tesla CEO said.
Musk’s xAI is using natural gas turbines to help power its Colossus data center in Memphis. Environmental advocates have accused xAI of violating the Clean Air Act and permitting requirements for “major sources of air pollution” by using gas turbines without mitigation technologies or permits in place.
Utilities such as Dominion Energy told investors on recent earnings calls that they are not seeing evidence of slowing data center demand, despite anxiety in the market that the tech sector might cut back on concerns about of a possible recession. Dominion serves the largest data center market in the world located in northern Virginia.
But Constellation Energy cautioned that although demand is strong, some of the forecasts by utilities are overstated as developers shop their data centers in multiple jurisdictions. Constellation is the largest operator of nuclear plants in the U.S.
“I just have to tell you, folks, I think the load is being overstated,” CEO Joe Dominguez said on the power company’s first quarter earnings call. “We need to pump the brakes here.”
Hyundai is shutting down a production line at its Ulsan plant in Korea, where the IONIQ 5 and Kona EV are built. Although it’s only for a few days, the move comes as the automaker faces slower exports.
Why is Hyundai pausing EV production in Korea?
For the third time this year, Hyundai is planning to pause production of some of its most popular EV models in Korea.
Industry sources said on May 20 (via Newsis) that Hyundai will shut down Line 2 at its Ulsan plant in Korea, where it builds the IONIQ 5 and Kona Electric. The pause will start on May 27 and end on May 30.
Despite launching a new discount campaign in Korea earlier this month, offering over $4,300 (6 million won) in savings on the IONIQ 5, sales are still lagging. In particular, Hyundai has exported significantly fewer IONIQ 5 models this year.
Through April, Hyundai exported just 9,663 IONIQ 5s, down from 27,476 sold overseas in the same period last year.
Kona EV exports have also fallen sharply. Through April 2025, Hyundai shipped just 3,428 Kona EV models, down 42% from nearly 6,000 last year.
According to the report, Hyundai said in an internal note, “The sluggish sales in the global electric vehicle market have not improved,” adding, “We have made every effort to secure additional orders, but we are currently unable to secure the quantity.”
Following a temporary halt in February and April, this will be Hyundai’s third time pausing EV production in Korea this year.
In a turn of events, Hyundai’s joint venture in China, Beijing Hyundai, announced losses improved by over 100 million won ($72 million) in Q1. With its first custom-tailored electric SUV launching in China later this year, Beijing Hyundai could turn a profit by the end of 2025.
The Korean automaker reported its seventh consecutive record sales month in the US. The IONIQ 5 remains a top seller with over 12,000 units sold through April, up 14% from last year.
IONIQ 6 sales, on the other hand, are down 10% this year, with 4,424 sold through April, and Hyundai doesn’t give a breakdown for Kona EV sales.
Hyundai is also offering generous discounts in the US right now with up to $12,500 in upfront savings on the new three-row IONIQ 9. The 2025 IONIQ 5 is a steal with leases starting at just $209 per month.
Ready to try out Hyundai’s electric vehicles for yourself? We’ve got you covered. You can use our links below to find popular Hyundai EV models in your area.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway