Palantir lost its status as the best S&P 500 stock in 2025. Who beat him out?
Analysts are predicting a 57% increase in AI developer profits, but there is a company that could have a 528% increase in that number
Shares of Palantir, a developer of AI for military and civilian needs, lost the leadership in the S&P 500 index in terms of growth rate in 2025. They were overtaken by Seagate Technology, a manufacturer of hard disks and storage systems. Since the beginning of the year, the securities of the first company have added about 100%, but the appreciation of the second company has already reached 116%, outperforming other major market players.
Details
The title of best paper of the year in the S&P 500 index is no longer held by military and civilian AI developer Palantir, Investor's Business Daily reported. According to data it recorded before the markets opened on Sept. 5, the company's shares had risen 107% since the start of 2025. They were behind storage device maker Seagate Technology, whose shares jumped 113%.
At that, at trades on September 5 the gap became even stronger. Palantir shares were getting cheaper, due to which their rate of appreciation this year slowed down to +102% (at the time of publishing this news). While Seagate rose to a new record and improved to +116%. Moreover, Palantir's growth rate is now also behind gold miner Newmont (+107%), which was third on Investor's Business Daily's list.
In addition to these three companies, other companies on this year's list of top performers in the S&P 500 include energy company GE Vernova, engine maker General Electric, healthcare company CVS Health, aerospace company Howmet Aerospace, energy company NRG Energy, sensor and antenna supplier Amphenol, and Tapestry, owner of fashion brand Coach.
In comparison, the world's most expensive company Nvidia has risen in price by 24% since the beginning of the year, and the second most capitalized Microsoft - by 17.5%.
What helped Seagate break into the lead?
Seagate is benefiting from the large-scale construction of data centers for artificial intelligence. The company is seeing strong demand from major technology customers for build-to-order (BTO) storage equipment, a custom-built format where devices are built to meet specific customer requirements, Investor's Business Daily explains.
"This BTO model and customer mix gives STX a longer-term understanding of demand dynamics, which will help manage capacity during a downturn," Bank of America analysts said in the release.
Seagate is in the business of manufacturing hard disk drives and other data storage equipment. Its RS Rating (RS Rating, which shows the company's stock performance relative to the rest of the market) rose to 95. At the same time, the EPS Rating (an assessment of the growth and stability of earnings per share) reached 82. Analysts forecast the company's earnings to increase by 528% this year, Investor's Business Daily reports.
As for Palantir stock, it has an RS Rating of 98 and an EPS Rating of 98. Analysts estimate that Palantir's earnings will increase 57% this year, the publication noted.
What to do with stocks
At the end of August Barclays raised target price of Seagate Technology securities from $125 to $180, keeping neutral rating (Equalweight). Now this target implies a decline of about 3.6%. Seagate shares have a total of 25 ratings from analysts, and most advise buying (14 Buy and 3 Overweight), MarketWatch shows. Another six recommend Hold, and two recommend Sell (Underweight and Sell).
Palantir stock has 29 ratings and the most popular advice is to hold (18 Hold), while seven analysts recommend buying, four recommend selling.
This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor
