Top 25 S&P 500 Stocks by Index Weight for August 2023

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The Standard & Poor's 500 Index, or simply the S&P 500, is a market-capitalization-weighted index of roughly 500 large-cap U.S. stocks. The index accounts for 80% of the market value of the U.S. equities market. Because it reflects nearly all the largest stocks in the U.S., it is often regarded as synonymous with the market as a whole. It's the closest there is to a default U.S. stock index.

Because it's weighted by market cap, the largest stocks have a big impact on both the long-term performance and daily movement of the index. The 25 biggest stocks made up 43.9% of the index's market value as of July 19. This means that investors should familiarize themselves with these 25 giant components to understand what drives the broader market.

Below is our analysis of the 25 largest components of the S&P 500. Weighting and market capitalization are as of July 19. The trailing 12-month (TTM) figures for revenue and net income are courtesy of YCharts.

Apple is a major producer of hardware and software products, primarily for the consumer market. Its most prominent product is the Apple iPhone brand, but Apple also produces other brands, including Mac computers and iPad tablets. It also operates the Apple Music and Apple TV media distribution platforms.

Microsoft is a computer hardware and software company that makes products for both personal and enterprise use. A major player in the tech industry for decades, Microsoft is best known for its Windows operating system, the Microsoft Office suite of programs, and the Xbox game system. The company also is a major player in cloud computing services with its cloud platform, Azure.

Amazon is an online retailer of all kinds of goods but has increasingly diversified its business. It also has a major cloud-computing business known as Amazon Web Services and runs the Whole Foods chain of brick-and-mortar grocery stores.

Founder and long-time Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jeff Bezos stepped down from the CEO role on July 5, 2021, to become executive chair of the company. He was replaced by Andrew Jassy, who previously served as CEO of Amazon Web Services.

NVIDIA is a company that develops and manufactures graphics processing units (GPUs). GPUs are a type of computer chip used for creating computer graphics, usually for visual design or computer gaming. But GPUs are increasingly in demand for other tasks such as cryptocurrency mining and artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning development. NVIDIA is known for its GeForce brand of consumer GPUs.

Tesla is primarily a maker of electric cars. It makes more than 90% of its revenue and virtually all its profit from its car business, but it also sells solar panels and batteries for homes and businesses.

Alphabet is the parent company of search-engine giant Google. Besides the Google search engine, Alphabet runs a number of other services, including the video-sharing site YouTube.

It's notable that the company splits its stock into two main share classes:

Each trades on the S&P 500. On their own, they are large enough to make the top 10 list. If counted together, they would place Alphabet third on this list and would make up 3.54% of the index.

Alphabet also has B shares. This class has disproportionate voting rights and is only held by Google insiders. The B shares don't trade on the open market.

Meta Platforms, previously Facebook, runs the largest, most dominant social networking platform in the world. It also owns the photo-sharing app Instagram, the messenger app WhatsApp, and the virtual reality equipment Meta Quest.

(See above for company description.)

Berkshire Hathaway is a holding company for the various investments CEO Warren Buffett has made over the years. Among its numerous holdings are insurance businesses such as GEICO, large energy and utilities businesses, a major railroad, consumer brands such as ice cream chain Dairy Queen, and manufacturers such as aerospace parts manufacturer Precision Castparts Corp. It also owns an enormous portfolio of equities.

UnitedHealth Group is a health insurance and pharmacy benefit management (PBM) corporation. It operates its PBM as well as additional healthcare services such as health-related data analytics under its Optum brand.

JPMorgan is a major financial services holding company as well as the largest U.S. bank by assets. It offers consumer, commercial, and investment banking and asset management services for individuals, businesses, and other entities.

Johnson & Johnson is a pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and consumer products company. It is in the process of separating out its consumer health business into a second publicly traded company, with the split expected to be completed by the end of 2023.

ExxonMobil is an oil and gas company that explores, produces, manufactures, and transports a variety of energy products. It operates in both the upstream and downstream portions of the industry.

Visa is a financial company that provides credit, debit, authorization, clearing, and settlement services to consumers and business clients. Notably, Visa itself doesn't issue credit cards, but rather acts as an intermediary between businesses and customers.

Broadcom supplies digital and analog semiconductors as well as software for networking, telecom, and data-center markets. It is among the largest semiconductor companies in the world.

Eli Lilly is a pharmaceutical company. Its best-known products include diabetes drugs such as Humalog and Trulicity, and the clinical depression drug Prozac.

Procter & Gamble is a consumer goods manufacturer. It offers products in categories including beauty, grooming, healthcare, baby, feminine care, family care, and fabric and home care.

Mastercard is a payment processing company that charges financial institutions and similar customers a fee to issue credit and debit cards under its brand.

Home Depot is the world's largest home improvement retailer. It operates about 2,300 stores across North America and employs some 475,000 associates.

Chevron is an integrated energy company producing crude oil, natural gas, transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals, and related products. It produces about 3 million net oil-equivalent barrels per day.

Merck is a biopharmaceutical company that develops medicines for humans and animals, vaccines, and related products. Some of its best-known drugs include Gardasil, Keytruda, and Pneumovax.

PepsiCo is a food, beverage, and consumer products company. Its best-known offerings include Pepsi, Gatorade, Mountain Dew, Aquafina, Frito-Lay products, and Quaker branded products.

Costco is a wholesale warehouse club and big-box retailer. The company also offers substantial e-commerce services. It operates about 850 retail locations across North America, Europe, and Asia.

AbbVie was formed as a spinoff of pharmaceutical firm Abbott Laboratories (ABT). It is a pharmaceutical company in its own right, best known for its drug Humira, an anti-inflammatory medication. It also offers products including Androgel (a testosterone booster) and Creon (pancreas therapy).

Adobe is one of the largest software companies in the world. It sells a popular Illustrator graphic design software, Acrobat document reader and editor, and Photoshop photo editing tools. It also develops other multimedia, creativity, and digital marketing product offerings.

There are several ways that you can invest in the S&P 500. Many investment companies have some type of investment that tracks the index. Some of the most common ways to invest in the index (without having to buy the stocks of the individual companies listed on the index) include purchasing shares in mutual funds or exchange-traded funds (ETFs). ETFs are like stocks because they trade on stock exchanges and are more cost-effective because of the lower fees associated with them. Do your research or talk to an investment professional who can help you navigate through all the options.

No, you can't buy shares or invest directly in the S&P 500. That's because it is an index that is made up of some of the largest companies in the U.S. But you can invest in vehicles that track the index. Index funds and ETFs try to mimic the composition and returns of the index.

The S&P 500 is an index that tracks the performance of 500 of the largest companies in the U.S. Because some companies have different share classes, the index is often made up of a few more stocks than 500. To be listed on the index, companies must have a market capitalization of more than $14.5 billion and must meet other criteria. Combined, the top 10 constituents make up more than 30% of the index's market value.

The S&P 500 is one of the most widely watched and tracked indexes in the global financial markets. It is made up of 500 of the largest companies in the U.S. Because of the vast market values of the companies in the S&P 500, the index is considered a gauge of the U.S. economy. Investors who are interested in taking advantage of the returns may want to consider buying shares in an index fund or ETF.

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