NVIDIA, mega-cap stocks soar to new highs in 2024 as 40% of S&P 500 loses value

Mega-cap tech companies NVIDIA Corp., Meta Platforms Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. have increased their value by a combined $1.542 trillion since the end of 2023, accounting for more than half of the growth in the S&P 500's total market cap gains.

From the end of last year through Feb. 23, NVIDIA has climbed $716.65 billion, a 58.6% increase in the company's market cap and the largest gain by far of any other stock, according to the latest S&P Global Market Intelligence data. NVIDIA alone accounts for more than one-quarter of the S&P 500's $2.720 trillion market cap gains since the end of 2023. Meta Platforms is a distant second in market cap gains so far this year, increasing $323.87 billion, or 35.6%.

Top gainers

While NVIDIA is an outlier for the sheer size of its market cap gains, growth has not been uniform throughout the S&P 500. About two of every five companies in the large-cap stock index have lost value this year, including Tesla Inc., which has lost $178.51 billion, or 22.6%, and Apple Inc., which has lost $175.92 billion, or 5.9%.

Overall, 203 S&P 500 stocks have lost an average of $4.50 billion in market cap since the end of 2023, and 76 companies have each gained less than $1 billion, the data shows.

'The Magnificent 7' in focus

Since the S&P 500 crashed in March 2020 in the early days of the pandemic, seven of the S&P 500's largest stocks, the market cap of a group known as 'The Magnificent Seven' has risen by $8.947 trillion. This accounts for about 36% of the $25.159 trillion in market cap growth fro the entire index since March 23, 2020.

The group includes Microsoft, Apple, NVIDIA, Meta, Tesla and Alphabet Inc.

Microsoft has gained $2.015 trillion in value since that March 2020 bottom, the largest gain of any S&P 500 stock, while Builders FirstSource Inc. saw the largest percentage gain, jumping $21.72 billion, or about 1,682% over that time. NVIDIA saw the second-largest percentage gain, climbing about 1,389%, and the third-largest overall dollar gain, climbing nearly $1.810 trillion.

Biggest drops in value

Just 31 stocks have lost market cap since the March 2020 trough, including AT&T Inc., which has lost $71.85 billion, the most of any S&P 500 company over that stretch.