These S&P 500 stocks 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.

Updated with closing prices on May 29.

The May rally for U.S. stocks was nothing short of breathtaking - unless you had made a point of avoiding the information-technology sector.

Here is how the 11 sectors of the S&P 500 SPX during May. The full index is at the bottom of the table. All price changes in this article exclude dividends.

   Sector or index           May price change  2026 price change  2025 price change 
   Information Technology               15.9%              23.5%              23.3% 
   Consumer Discretionary                2.6%               3.9%               5.3% 
   Healthcare                            2.3%              -3.7%              12.5% 
   Materials                            -0.8%              11.2%               8.4% 
   Communication Services               -0.9%               9.0%              32.4% 
   Industrials                          -1.0%              11.5%              17.7% 
   Real Estate                          -1.2%               9.4%              -0.3% 
   Financial                            -1.2%              -6.0%              13.3% 
   Consumer Staples                     -3.3%               6.5%               1.3% 
   Utilities                            -5.5%               3.7%              12.7% 
   Energy                               -6.1%              24.4%               5.0% 
   S&P 500 Index                         5.1%              10.7%              16.4% 
                                                                       Source: LSEG 

The S&P 500 was up 5.1% 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 15.9%.

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 23% 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 16.3% 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:

   Company                        May price change  2026 price change  2025 price change 
   Dell Technologies                        101.4%               234%                 9% 
   Micron Technology                         87.8%               240%               239% 
   Datadog                                   87.1%                82%                -5% 
   Super Micro Computer                      68.2%                57%                -4% 
   CrowdStrike Holdings                      64.0%                56%                37% 
   Fortinet                                  63.6%                74%               -16% 
   NetApp                                    57.3%                63%                -8% 
   Palo Alto Networks                        57.1%                53%                 1% 
   Sandisk                                   54.6%               614%                N/A 
   First Solar                               52.0%                17%                48% 
   Hewlett Packard Enterprise                49.6%                79%                13% 
   Advanced Micro Devices                    45.6%               141%                77% 
   Akamai Technologies                       45.2%                71%                -9% 
   Ford Motor                                44.4%                33%                33% 
   ServiceNow                                40.8%               -19%               -28% 
   Oracle                                    39.9%                16%                17% 
   Qualcomm                                  39.8%                47%                11% 
   AppLovin                                  37.4%                -9%               108% 
   Gen Digital                               33.7%                -5%                -1% 
   Cisco Systems                             31.6%                56%                30% 
                                                                            Source: LSEG 

Dell topped (DELL) the list with shares doubling in May and up 33% Friday after a stellar earnings report.

Related: Dell's stunning stock rally is giving a big boost to shares of other server makers

Software developers on the list were led by Datadog (DDOG), which was up 87% 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 10% for May. The stock had been down 15.7% for 2026 through April.

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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05-29-26 1643ET