These stocks, including Tesla and Apple, are the real winners for the second quarter of 2020

MW UPDATE: These stocks, including Tesla and Apple, are the real winners for the second quarter of 2020

By Philip van Doorn, MarketWatch

A select group of stocks rose in the second quarter and for all of 2020

The second quarter was a dramatic one for U.S. stocks -- the S&P 500 had its best quarter since 1998.

But many of the best performers were really bounce backs from the doldrums of March, when the market hit bottom during the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Some stocks are still down for 2020, but there were also some "real" winners -- ones that were up significantly in the quarter and the first half of the year.

Below are lists of stocks that rose the most during the second quarter.

-- The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 17.8% in the second quarter, but was down 9.6% for the first half of 2020. (All gains and losses in this article exclude dividends.)

-- The S&P 500 added 20% in the second quarter, and ended Tuesday down 4% for 2020.

-- The Nasdaq Composite Index soared 30.6% during the second quarter and is now up 12.1% for 2020.

There are still hundreds of large-cap U.S. stocks with double-digit declines for the year. To lift the sagging economy, the Federal Reserve is supporting the market with extremely low interest rates and a vast increase in the money supply through securities purchases. In addition, the federal government is giving unprecedented aid to people and businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Rising forward valuations

Here's chart showing the S&P 500 trading at its highest forward price-to-earnings valuation since February 2001:

The S&P 500 traded for 21.6 times weighted consensus forward earnings estimates at the close June 30, up from a forward P/E valuation of 18.3 at the end of 2019.

That forward P/E ratio is up, even thought the S&P 500 is down this year, because analysts have cut their earnings estimates following the economic devastation caused by the Covid-19 outbreak. So there are myriad warnings of an asset bubble.

James Bullard, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, said last week that he didn't see evidence of an asset bubble .

Dow Jones Industrial Average

Here's how the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average performed in the second quarter:

Company
Ticker
Price change - second quarter, 2020
Price change - first half, 2020
Price change - 2019 
Apple Inc.
US:AAPL
43.5%
24.2%
86.2% 
Dow Inc.
US:DOW
39.4%
-25.5%
N/A 
Home Depot Inc.
US:HD
34.2%
14.7%
27.1% 
Microsoft Corp.
US:MSFT
29.0%
29.0%
55.3% 
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
US:GS
27.8%
-14.1%
37.6% 
Chevron Corp.
US:CVX
23.1%
-26.0%
10.8% 
Boeing Co.
US:BA
22.9%
-43.7%
1.0% 
Visa Inc. Class A
US:V
19.9%
2.8%
42.4% 
Cisco Systems Inc.
US:CSCO
18.6%
-2.8%
10.7% 
Nike Inc. Class B
US:NKE
18.5%
-3.2%
36.6% 
UnitedHealth Group Inc.
US:UNH
18.3%
0.3%
18.0% 
Exxon Mobil Corp.
US:XOM
17.7%
-36.0%
2.3% 
Walt Disney Co.
US:DIS
15.4%
-22.9%
31.9% 
Travelers Companies Inc.
US:TRV
14.8%
-16.7%
14.4% 
3M Co.
US:MMM
14.3%
-11.6%
-7.4% 
McDonald's Corp.
US:MCD
11.6%
-6.6%
11.3% 
American Express Co.
US:AXP
11.2%
-23.5%
30.6% 
Raytheon Technologies Corp.
US:RTX
10.8%
-30.2%
40.6% 
Intel Corp.
US:INTC
10.6%
0.0%
27.5% 
Caterpillar Inc.
US:CAT
9.0%
-14.3%
16.2% 
International Business Machines Corp.
US:IBM
8.9%
-9.9%
17.9% 
Procter & Gamble Co.
US:PG
8.7%
-4.3%
35.9% 
Johnson & Johnson
US:JNJ
7.2%
-3.6%
13.0% 
Walmart Inc.
US:WMT
5.4%
0.8%
27.6% 
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.
US:JPM
4.5%
-32.5%
42.8% 
Verizon Communications Inc.
US:VZ
2.6%
-10.2%
9.2% 
Coca-Cola Co.
US:KO
1.0%
-19.3%
16.9% 
Merck & Co. Inc.
US:MRK
0.5%
-15.0%
19.0% 
Pfizer Inc.
US:PFE
0.2%
-16.5%
-10.2% 
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.
US:WBA
-7.3%
-28.1%
-13.7% 
Source: FactSet 

Scroll the table to see all the data. Click on the tickers for more about each company.

All Dow components except for Walgreens Boots Alliance $(WBA.AU)$ were up during the second quarter, but only six were up for the first half of 2020.

Apple's $(AAPL)$ has been remarkable. The stock was up 43.5% during the second quarter, ending June with a 24.3% gain for the first half of the year.

Other "real" winners among the Dow included Home Depot $(HD)$ and Microsoft $(MSFT)$.

S&P 500

Here's how the 11 sectors of the S&P 500 performed during the second quarter:

S&P 500 sector
Price change - second quarter, 2020
Price change - first half, 2020
Price change - 2019 
Consumer Discretionary
32.6%
6.6%
26.2% 
Information Technology
30.1%
14.2%
48.0% 
Energy
28.7%
-37.0%
7.6% 
Materials
25.3%
-8.0%
21.9% 
Communication Services
19.6%
-1.0%
30.9% 
Industrials
16.4%
-15.5%
26.8% 
Health Care
13.1%
-1.7%
18.7% 
Real Estate
12.3%
-10.0%
24.9% 
Financials
11.4%
-24.6%
29.2% 
Consumer Staples
7.3%
-7.1%
24.0% 
Utilities
1.8%
-12.6%
22.2% 
Source: FactSet 

The consumer discretionary sector was the best performer during the second quarter, but its year-to-date performance shows how dramatically it fell before the big comeback. The information technology sector was second-best during Q2. However it was, by far, the best performer in the first half of 2020.

Among the S&P 500, 451 stocks rose during the second quarter, but only 135 were up for the first half of the year.

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July 04, 2020 11:20 ET (15:20 GMT)

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