Technology

3 Big Chip Stocks Outperforming Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Alphabet and NVIDIA in 2017

Jon C. Ogg

Published: June 1, 2017 1:20 pm

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 11:27 am

If you only listened to the media chasing the most popular stocks, you might think that technology giants like Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB), Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) were the best performing stocks so far in 2017. These may be the most well-known tech leaders today, but it turns out that they actually are not the best performing tech stocks so far this year.

It is undeniable that these industry leaders have had impressive moves. Still, their average gains of just over 30% so far in 2017 are not actually the most impressive gains year-to-date. As of June 1, there were eight other key technology stocks within the S&P 500 Index outperforming these top giants. It also turns out that they are all well-known companies, and three of them are chip stocks that might have been overlooked.

Now that summer is kicking off, 24/7 Wall St. wanted to review some of these top-performing S&P tech sector stocks so far in 2017. Some are not even at all-time highs, but they are all close to multiyear highs. Most of them are trading above or close to their consensus analyst price targets.

With summertime setting in, should investors look for even more gains? Or should they consider taking some money off the table after such major gains?

For a comparison, here is how much each of the major tech stock gainers getting all the media attention are up so far this year, as of May 31, 2017:

• NVIDIA, up 35.0%
• Amazon, up 32.6%
• Apple, up 31.9%
• Facebook, up 31.6%
• Alphabet, up 24.5%

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Performance tracking was screened on FINVIZ for tech stocks in the S&P 500 Index; price, value and trading data were from Yahoo Finance; and relative consensus analyst price targets were from Thomson Reuters. Here are three top semiconductor stocks in the S&P 500 Index with the most impressive gains in 2017 at the end of May.

Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) was last seen up 42% so far in 2017, and this is the leader in semiconductor capital equipment. At $45.88, its shares are almost back to the peak levels from its chart during the 1999 and 2000 technology bubble. Applied Materials has a gain of 2% in the past week, is up 10% in the past month, and is up 24% in the past quarter. Its gain is actually 88% from this time a year ago.

Applied Materials now has a market cap nearing $50 billion, and it has a 52-week range of $22.17 to $46.05. Its consensus target price is $49.98.

Broadcom Ltd. (NASDAQ: AVGO), the amalgamation of Broadcom and Avago after their merger, keeps rallying to new highs. At $239.48, Broadcom shares were last seen up 36% year to date in 2017. The shares are up more than 1% over the past week, up over 8% over the past month and up around 11% over the past quarter. The stock is also shown to be up 55% from a year ago.

Broadcom has a 52-week range of $142.27 to $242.89 and a consensus price target of $252.26. The total market cap is $101.5 billion.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) may not be back at all-time highs, but the DRAM and flash maker has massively recovered from its lows during 2016. At $30.77, Micron is up 40% so far in 2017. Micron’s gains have been built at each comparison point as well: almost 9% higher over the past week, up over 25% in the past month and up about 54% in the past quarter. And to prove that this has been a powerhouse versus a year ago, its shares are up over 140% since then.

Micron has a market cap of $34 billion, and its consensus price target is $38.56. The 52-week range is $11.50 to $31.10. Micron’s most recent high in 2014 was above $35, but its shares used to trade at more than twice the current level in the 2000 tech bubble.