TORVANTAResearch archive
The Giants Monitor · Market · 2026-10-22

The Giants Monitor: the top 10 are 42.5% of the S&P 500 (week of October 19)

The ten largest S&P 500 companies now make up 42.5% of the index's market value, down 0.6 points over six months. Over three months they have beaten the typical S&P 500 stock by 8.7 points, and beaten it by 3.0 points over six months. When a few giants carry the index, the S&P 500 and the typical stock can tell very different stories; the tables below show both.

12 months: the giants against the average stock
-10%+0%+10%+20%Top 10 +16%S&P 500 +16%Avg stock +16%Oct 2025Oct 2026

The ten largest companies of a year ago, weighted by size, returned +16.4% over 12 months; the average S&P 500 stock (the equal-weight index) returned +15.9%. The rest of the market kept pace with the giants. Using the giants as of a year ago avoids flattering them with hindsight.

The ten largest companies

Chosen by market value today. Alphabet's two share classes count separately. Share of index = each company's slice of the S&P 500's total market value.

CompanyShare of index1 month3 months12 months
Nvidia (NVDA)7.2%-3.0%+6.4%+21.8%
Apple Inc. (AAPL)6.8%+1.2%+7.0%+31.7%
Alphabet Inc. (Class A) (GOOGL)5.6%-4.7%+5.4%+30.8%
Alphabet Inc. (Class C) (GOOG)5.5%-4.7%+4.0%+29.1%
Microsoft (MSFT)5.3%+7.0%+39.9%+4.0%
Amazon (AMZN)3.8%+2.9%+12.3%+21.2%
Meta Platforms (META)2.4%-5.3%+15.2%-4.4%
Broadcom (AVGO)2.2%-7.3%-13.8%-2.6%
Tesla, Inc. (TSLA)2.1%+2.0%+20.9%-13.6%
Lilly (Eli) (LLY)1.6%+8.6%+7.3%+58.1%

Over three months 9 of the ten beat the median S&P 500 stock (+0.4%). Leaders: Microsoft (+40%), Tesla (+21%). Laggards: Broadcom (-14%), Alphabet (+4%).

The index against its average stock

SPY weights companies by size; RSP holds all 500 equally, so it behaves like the average stock.

PeriodS&P 500 (SPY)Equal weight (RSP)Gap
1 month-0.0%+1.8%-1.8 pts
3 months+5.0%+2.6%+2.4 pts
12 months+16.4%+15.9%+0.5 pts

A positive gap means the largest companies did better than the average stock; a negative gap means the rest of the market led.

What this means

How exposed is the model to the giants?

Subscribers see the model portfolio's own exposure to the largest companies, direct and indirect, on the Research page.

See plans
The free Torvanta weekly

A Sunday read on the markets and what's new in Torvanta research. Market-level, no stock picks.

Research only, not investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Rankings change as data changes and can be wrong. Torvanta and its founder may hold positions in securities discussed, and trade only after the information is published to all subscribers. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

More research

torvanta.ai · Plans · Free weekly newsletter · Disclaimer

Data powered by Tiingo.com