We’ve recently released a compilation of
11 Best Performing Large Cap Stocks So Far in 2025
In this piece, we will examine how Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE:SPOT) measures up against other top-performing large-cap stocks for the year 2025 so far.
In early 2025, the stock market experienced a tumultuous beginning for the first quarter. Uncertainty surrounding trade policies, increasing concerns about an economic downturn, and rising inflation led to one of the poorest performances seen since the 2022 bear market, as reported by ClearBridge Investments in their analysis published on March 31st. According to portfolio managers Erica Furfaro and Margaret Vitrano, the S&P 500 dropped by 4.27%. Meanwhile, indices heavily weighted towards growth stocks such as the NASDAQ and the Russell 1000 Growth Index saw steeper declines at -10.42% and -9.97%, respectively.
In discussing the quarterly market performance, the portfolio managers highlighted that the Russell Growth Index lagged behind the Russell Value Index by over 1,200 basis points. This suggests that although large-cap stocks faced challenges, the growth sector suffered significantly more. While tariffs posed one obstacle to their performance, they weren’t alone; another factor was the introduction of China’s LLM DeepSeek, raising doubts about significant investments in artificial intelligence made by several large and megacap firms. These concerns spread through other members of what is known as the “Magnificent Seven,” leading to just one company within this group managing to surpass the Russell 1000 Index.
Erica Furfaro and Margaret Vitrano observed that their Large Cap Growth ESG approach outperformed the benchmark during times of significant turmoil. This strategy uses the Russell Growth Index as its reference point. According to them, this success was partly due to maintaining an underweight position in both the “Mag Seven” companies and within the information technology sector. Additionally, they emphasized that diversifying the portfolio with robust holdings spread across industries such as tech, could-boost-early-breast-cancer-detection-by-30″ title=”Baca lebih lanjut tentang communications”>communications, and finance significantly contributed to achieving higher relative performance.
The investment fund highlighted shifting toward a “middle-ground” strategy, involving adjustments to diversify their holdings rather than being heavily invested in one specific industry. Instead of focusing too much on particular sectors, they aim for broader balance among various kinds of growing enterprises within the market. As part of this shift, Clearbridge decreased its emphasis on healthcare—which had been over-weighted—and boosted investments in information technology, where previous allocations were lower. This strategic realignment aims at positioning the portfolio favorably ahead of anticipated economic deceleration.
Furthermore, Erica Furfaro and Margaret Vitrano pointed out that during Q1, profit increases spread beyond just the Magnificent Seven and significant non-tech large-caps showed stronger financial performance compared to expectations. Both experts predict that should another downturn not occur, firms specializing in industries like manufacturing and health care could start matching—or even surpass—the profitability levels seen in tech businesses come 2025.
Our Methodology
To compile our list of the top 11 large-cap stocks with strong performances through 2025, we utilized both the Finviz stock screener and information from Yahoo Finance. With these tools, we compiled a roster of large-cap equities showing robust gains for the current calendar year. Following this initial step, we verified their performance via Yahoo Finance’s records before ranking them according to their year-to-date growth metrics. Additionally, each equity’s listing includes its respective market cap along with insights into hedge fund interest levels as reported at the end of Q4 2024. It should be noted that all referenced data were last updated on May 2, 2025.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (
see more details here
).
An individual with earphones on, enjoying music from an online streaming platform.
Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE:
SPOT
)
Market Capitalization: $132.056B
Number of Hedge Fund holders: 101
Year-To-Date Performance: 39.83%
Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE:SPOT) is the world’s largest music streaming platform. The company provides a platform that allows users to access, discover, and manage a vast library of over 100 million songs, nearly 7 million podcast titles, and 350,000 audiobooks. The company offers two main tiers including the freemium subscription and the premium account.
On May 2nd, Loop Capital analyst Alan Gould increased the firm’s price target for the stock from $435 to $550 but maintained a Hold rating on the shares. According to the analyst, although the company delivered quarterly results with stronger-than-expected subscription numbers, it fell short of expectations regarding revenue from adsupported services.
In the first quarter of 2025, Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE:SPOT) saw a yearly increase of 10% in monthly active users and an uptick of 12% in premium subscriptions. Consequently, this pushed overall revenues up by 15%, totaling $4.19 billion. Additionally, the company experienced a significant rise in gross profits, climbing 32% within the period under review.
The management highlighted new initiatives like Partner Programs rolled out across major markets such as the U.S., the UK, Canada, and Australia. These programs enable video podcast producers to earn income from various sources for their work. Since then, engagement with these podcasts surged more than 20%, and payments made to content creators skyrocketed threefold just after one month.
Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE: SPOT), recognized among top performers amongst large-cap equities throughout 2025 thus far.
JDP Capital Management provided the following comments about Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE:SPOT) in their statement.
Q1 2025 investor letter
:
“Spotify Technology S.A.
(NYSE: SPOT) – Spotify continues to be our top holding. During the fourth quarter, the firm experienced a significant increase in free cash flow—up 123% compared to the previous year—which stemmed from robust operational efficiency that wasn’t fully reflected in its stock price. By the end of 2024, Spotify boasted a subscriber base totaling 675 million across both paid and advertisement-supported tiers. Both Spotify and YouTube stand out as key players benefiting from the major transition away from traditional broadcasting towards podcasts.A point of concern within the company revolves around its difficulties in expanding both advertising revenue and overall profitability. Advertising plays a crucial role in driving the next phase of the company’s path towards increased profitability and achieving the target of €20 billion in future operating profits set by management. So far, despite underwhelming ad revenues, investors have remained optimistic due to robust subscription growth and consistent price increases. For instance, in 2024, advertising saw just a modest increase of 7%, accounting for approximately 12% of total income. Spotify continues to face hurdles with improving targeted and performance-based ads to match competitors such as YouTube or Instagram. While this issue isn’t yet critical enough to affect our investment outlook significantly, it remains a key factor we’re monitoring carefully amid economic downturns. Notably, the stock value rose roughly 20% during Q1.
Overall, SPOT
ranks 5th
On our roster of top-performing large-cap stocks for 2025, we highlight that although SPOT shows considerable appeal as an investment option, we place greater confidence in AI stocks’ capacity to offer superior returns over a brief period. Among these, one particular AI stock has surged since the start of 2025, even as many well-known AI equities have declined roughly 25%. Should you seek an alternative AI stock with stronger prospects compared to SPOT yet trading below five times its earnings, explore our detailed analysis available in our latest report.
cheapest AI stock
.
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Disclosure: There are none to declare. This article was first published here.
Insider Monkey
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