S&P 500 Gainers and Losers in May: Dell Surges by Over 100% Leading the Charge, Zoetis Tanks by 32% Coming in Last
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The S&P 500 added 5.1% in May, with AI hardware names sweeping the entire top five; the losers revealed how much damage slowing consumer spending and guidance cuts can do.
What ties the top gainers together?
The top five — Dell, Micron, Datadog, Super Micro, NetApp — all orbit AI infrastructure.
This means → the market treats "who is selling the hardware and data services AI needs" as the single most reliable profit thesis, and capital is piling in.
In plain terms = this rally is not "all tech is up." The closer a company sits to AI servers, the bigger the gain.
Why did Dell and Micron lead?
Dell surged over 100% in May. Quarterly results beat estimates, and the company forecast AI-server revenue rising from $24.7 billion in fiscal 2026 to $60 billion in fiscal 2027.
Micron climbed 84%. AI demand plus a memory-chip supply shortage pushed prices higher; the stock's market cap crossed $1 trillion for the first time this month.
This reflects a shift in how the market prices AI — from "concept" to "orders and capacity." Real revenue growth numbers are now the ticket to the biggest gains.
Any surprises among software and server names?
Datadog — an observability platform that helps companies monitor how their cloud systems are running — jumped 75% after beating estimates and raising full-year guidance, a rare standout in software.
Super Micro rose 69% despite federal charges against a co-founder and two other individuals for allegedly smuggling U.S.-assembled servers to China. The broader server-sector momentum carried the stock higher.
In plain terms = Datadog proves "you don't have to sell hardware to capture AI upside"; Super Micro shows that sector momentum can overpower individual bad headlines.
What story does the losers' list tell?
Animal-health company Zoetis fell 32%, the worst in the S&P 500. It cut full-year EPS guidance to $6.85–$7.00, below its prior $7.00–$7.10 forecast.
CEO Kristin Peck said tighter consumer spending is making pet owners more price-sensitive — fewer vet visits and weaker demand for premium products.
This means → Zoetis's problem is not an operational misstep. It is end consumers pulling back on discretionary spending — a signal worth watching well beyond one stock.
What risks did the other decliners expose?
AutoZone dropped 20%. Comparable sales in Mexico and Brazil grew just 1.6% on a constant-currency basis, down from 2.5% last quarter — the international growth engine is slowing.
Trimble fell 19% over seven straight sessions. The construction- and agriculture-tech firm issued a weak Q2 outlook, prompting multiple analyst downgrades.
Intuit slid over 18%. Despite a quarterly beat, the company announced it would cut 17% of its full-time workforce; CEO Sasan Goodarzi told Barron's the layoffs had "nothing to do" with AI.
Insulet dropped 17%, extending its April decline. Q2 U.S. guidance for its Omnipod insulin pump — a small wearable device that delivers insulin automatically — came in below expectations, and the company disclosed manufacturing issues affecting roughly 7 million insulin cartridges.
What does the full scoreboard tell us when you read both lists together?
The top five are all AI hardware and data names. The bottom five span pet health, auto parts, construction tech, financial software, and medical devices — highly dispersed across sectors.
This means → the market's consensus trade has exactly one lane: AI infrastructure. Everything else has its own troubles, with no unifying downside thesis.
In plain terms = money is converging in one direction while risks are popping up everywhere else — a classic "single theme + landmines all around" setup.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.