Nasdaq's hottest winners just fell behind: Chart of the Day

The 10 best-performing Nasdaq-100 stocks from March to June, mostly AI hardware companies like Sandisk, Astera Labs, and Micron, have fallen about 12% since June 25, while the index has moved sideways. The rotation suggests a healthy pause rather than a full growth unwind, with the Magnificent Seven and other sectors offsetting losses.

The Nasdaq-100 ^NDX https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/^NDX/ is holding up. Its old leaders are struggling. The 10 best-performing stocks in the Nasdaq-100 from March 30 to June 25 surged more than 200% on a median basis, according to a Yahoo Finance analysis of AlphaSpace data. Since then, that same group is down about 12%. That is a sharp leaderboard flip inside an index that has mostly moved sideways since early June. The spring winners were easy to spot. They were the hottest parts of the AI hardware trade, where investors chased chips, memory, storage, and anything tied to the next bottleneck. Sandisk SNDK https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/SNDK/ , Astera Labs ALAB https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/ALAB/ , Micron MU https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/MU/ , Intel INTC https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/INTC/ , and Marvell MRVL https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/MRVL/ all more than doubled from the late-March low into June 25. Now that group has lost the lead. That does not mean investors are dumping growth. The median https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/median.asp Nasdaq-100 stock is still up about 2% since June 25, while the 10 weakest spring performers are up about 8%. The "Magnificent Seven" have bounced back https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/article/big-tech-is-dodging-the-chip-stocks-wipeout-alphacheck-100000687.html over that same stretch, helping offset the damage to the former AI hardware leaders. Apple AAPL https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/AAPL/ has been one of the clearest examples, catching a summer bid after lagging earlier in the rebound and coming within striking distance of its first record close since June 2. Nvidia NVDA https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/NVDA/ has also held up better than the broader chip wreck, even as memory stocks have entered a bear market https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/article/micron-samsung-sk-hynix-just-dragged-memory-stocks-into-a-bear-market-154549356.html . The shift fits with the broader rotation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sector rotation that has defined the market this week. The chip sell-off https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/article/the-2-trillion-chip-sell-off-hits-a-make-or-break-level-chart-of-the-day-155000822.html has been real, but the Nasdaq has not treated it like a full growth unwind. In fact, the PHLX Semiconductor Index ^SOX https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/^SOX/ held its critical support line this week and is up nearly 10% from Tuesday's low. That is the healthier version of a pause: Former leaders cool, the index holds, and buyers show up elsewhere. If the new supports start losing ground too, the leaderboard flip becomes something bigger. Jared Blikre is the global markets and data editor for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on X at @SPYJared or email him at jaredblikre@yahooinc.com . Click here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance