23 best-performing stocks of August, as the software industry continues its recovery

By Philip van Doorn

Moderna shares soared on test results for the drugmaker's experimental mRNA therapeutic vaccine, while software stocks continued to climb

These are among August's top-performing S&P 500 stocks.

Although the rise in oil prices and blowout earnings from megacap technology companies grabbed headlines in August, there was a lot more to the market's rally in the past month than strength in those two sectors.

The S&P 500 index SPX gained 2.6% during August. Shares of biotechnology company Moderna (MRNA) made the biggest splash with a 156% gain, but the software industry had another excellent month, continuing its recovery that started in June.

Here's a summary of how the 11 sectors of the S&P 500 performed during August. The sectors are sorted by their performance for the month and are followed by the full S&P 500, the PHLX Semiconductor Index SOX and the S&P 500 Software & Services industry group.

 
Sector or index                Aug. price change  Price change since June 30  2026 price change  2025 price change 
Energy                                      6.5%                       19.2%              41.4%               5.0% 
Information Technology                      6.2%                        1.1%              22.4%              23.3% 
Materials                                   5.8%                        2.5%              15.5%               8.4% 
Healthcare                                  4.8%                       14.3%               9.9%              12.5% 
Financial                                   1.2%                        7.8%               5.1%              13.3% 
Consumer Discretionary                     -0.1%                        0.7%              -0.4%               5.3% 
Consumer Staples                           -0.8%                        0.7%               7.9%               1.3% 
Communication Services                     -1.2%                       -4.0%              -0.3%              32.4% 
Real Estate                                -2.0%                        1.4%              10.1%              -0.3% 
Industrials                                -2.7%                       -3.1%              12.7%              17.7% 
Utilities                                  -5.2%                       -5.6%              -1.6%              12.7% 
S&P 500 Index - CBOE                        2.6%                        2.5%              12.3%              16.4% 
PHLX Semiconductor Index                    2.0%                      -19.6%              62.9%              42.2% 
S&P 500 Software & Services                13.1%                       27.8%               2.0%               9.7% 
                                                                                                      Source: LSEG 

Price changes are also shown from the end of June. So far during the third quarter, the software industry group has performed very well, with a 27.8% gain. The group is up only slightly for all of 2026, but this marks a trend reversal after it sank 20% during the first half of the year.

Meanwhile, the PHLX Semiconductor Index SOX of 30 chip makers and associated companies, which is tracked by the iShares Semiconductor exchange-traded fund SOXX, gained 2% in August, following its decline of nearly 19% in July. Of course the semiconductor industry is still a market leader for 2026, with SOX up 63% so far this year. During August, that industry's leader, Nvidia (NVDA) - the largest company by market capitalization in the S&P 500 - gained 10%, which is relatively modest considering the blowout results the company reported last week.

Best and worst performers of August

About half of the stocks in the S&P 500 were up for August. There were 86 stocks showing gains of 10% or more.

Here are the 23 stocks in the S&P 500 that rose 20% or more for the month:

 
Estée Lauder                                 August price change  Price change since June 30  2026 price change  2025 price change  Forward P/E  Forward P/E as of Dec. 31 
Moderna                                                   156.0%                      100.4%             375.9%             -29.1%          N/A                        N/A 
Palantir Technologies                                      51.5%                       59.7%               4.9%             135.0%         86.4                      173.1 
Veeva Systems                                              40.2%                       61.0%              28.0%               6.2%         29.0                       26.1 
Salesforce                                                 40.0%                       64.4%              -2.8%             -20.8%         15.8                       20.2 
Paramount Skydance                                         37.1%                       10.6%             -18.6%              28.1%         14.7                       13.4 
Newmont                                                    34.5%                       35.0%              26.2%             168.3%         12.2                       11.1 
ServiceNow                                                 33.0%                       49.1%              -3.4%             -27.7%         31.4                       37.1 
Super Micro Computer                                       31.3%                       27.1%              27.4%              -4.0%          8.4                       11.6 
Gartner                                                    31.2%                       52.8%             -21.5%             -47.9%         12.5                       18.7 
Sandisk                                                    29.0%                      -31.1%             560.0%                N/A          7.0                       13.6 
Coinbase Global                                            28.6%                       28.7%             -16.8%              -8.9%        208.4                       34.4 
Lumentum Holdings                                          28.1%                        6.6%             148.2%             339.1%         39.1                       50.2 
Charles River Laboratories International                   24.0%                       27.1%              44.5%               8.1%         23.3                       18.2 
Workday                                                    23.1%                       61.3%              -8.1%             -16.8%         15.9                       20.3 
Estee Lauder                                               21.9%                       29.6%              -2.3%              39.7%         29.6                       41.1 
Leidos Holdings                                            21.3%                       36.2%             -22.3%              25.2%         11.1                       14.6 
SLB                                                        21.2%                       29.3%              56.6%               0.1%         20.3                       13.3 
Robinhood Markets                                          21.1%                        4.5%              -7.3%             203.5%         41.1                       44.7 
CrowdStrike Holdings                                       21.0%                       21.1%              97.1%              37.0%        158.7                       99.1 
Freeport-McMoRan                                           20.9%                       20.4%              49.1%              33.4%         20.0                       19.3 
Airbnb                                                     20.9%                       28.0%              35.0%               3.3%         31.0                       28.3 
Zebra Technologies                                         20.3%                       34.3%              45.6%             -37.1%         16.2                       13.7 
Tyler Technologies                                         20.2%                       27.3%             -18.0%             -21.3%         25.6                       36.3 
                                                                                                                                                              Source: LSEG 

The right-most columns include current forward price-to-earnings ratios and those at the end of 2025. The P/E ratios are based on rolling consensus 12-month earnings-per-share estimates among analysts polled by LSEG. For 12 of these 22 stocks, forward P/E ratios have declined this year, because the earnings estimates have risen more quickly than the share prices. This is in keeping with the theme of an earnings-driven bull market. The S&P 500's weighted forward P/E has declined to 19.7 from 22.2 at the end of 2025, according to FactSet.

An "N/A" for forward P/E means the consensus 12-month EPS estimate for that company is negative or that an earnings estimate is (or was) unavailable.

Here are the 10 worst performers of August among the S&P 500:

 
Company                  August price change  Price change since June 30  2026 price change  2025 price change  Intraday forward P/E  Forward P/E as of Dec. 31 
DaVita                                -26.7%                      -20.9%              54.9%             -24.0%                  10.8                        8.9 
Edison International                  -26.4%                      -27.5%             -10.1%             -24.8%                   8.5                        9.8 
Trade Desk                            -23.9%                      -24.1%             -63.9%             -67.7%                  13.2                       17.9 
PG&E                                  -23.6%                      -21.1%             -17.4%             -20.4%                   N/A                        9.9 
Honeywell Aerospace                   -23.5%                      -28.5%                N/A                N/A                  18.7                        N/A 
AppLovin                              -21.2%                      -39.4%             -53.7%             108.1%                  16.1                       45.5 

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08-31-26 1716ET