08/14/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 08/14/2026 01:42
A day of broad gains was defined by one stock's persistent strength, raising questions about momentum.
Workday (WDAY) was the strongest S&P 500 stock of the day, returning +17.8% in a session where the broader index gained a more modest +0.7%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 returned +1.1%, signaling a positive day for growth-oriented names.
The immediate question raised by such a large single-day move is whether it represents a sudden event or the continuation of an existing trend. The day's full list of winners and losers offers the first layer of context.
Thursday's S&P 500 Winners
The 10 stocks with the highest returns on the last trading day:
| # | Ticker | Company Name |
1-D Returns |
YTD Returns |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WDAY | Workday | 17.8% | -3.9% |
| 2 | SNDK | SanDisk | 13.7% | 543.7% |
| 3 | GDDY | GoDaddy | 9.5% | -19.0% |
| 4 | CSGP | CoStar | 8.4% | -50.8% |
| 5 | TTD | Trade Desk | 7.9% | -61.6% |
| 6 | FISV | Fiserv | 7.6% | -17.4% |
| 7 | FDXF | FedEx Freight | 7.6% | n/a |
| 8 | WDC | Western Digital | 7.3% | 183.1% |
| 9 | GPN | Global Payments | 7.1% | 23.4% |
| 10 | INTU | Intuit | 7.0% | -45.4% |
Thursday's S&P 500 Losers
And the 10 stocks with the lowest returns:
| # | Ticker | Company Name |
1-D Returns |
YTD Returns |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | TPR | Tapestry | -16.5% | 1.0% |
| 2 | CSCO | Cisco Systems | -8.4% | 49.5% |
| 3 | COHR | Coherent | -8.0% | 77.3% |
| 4 | LITE | Lumentum | -5.6% | 138.9% |
| 5 | GLW | Corning | -5.3% | 81.7% |
| 6 | MPWR | Monolithic Power Systems | -4.4% | 50.9% |
| 7 | MOS | Mosaic | -3.6% | -7.9% |
| 8 | FCX | Freeport-McMoRan | -3.5% | 32.5% |
| 9 | ANET | Arista Networks | -3.3% | 55.4% |
| 10 | NEM | Newmont | -3.1% | 14.9% |
Is today's biggest winner a new story?
The data shows Workday's strength is not a one-day event. The stock also appears on the one-month winners list, with a total return of +45.6% over that period. Even excluding today's session, the stock still gained +23.6% across the prior month's trading. This persistence is notable for a company that trades at 61.9 times trailing earnings.
Movers Over The Last Week
Widening the window to five trading days, these are the strongest and weakest S&P 500 names:
| # | Ticker | Company Name |
1-W Returns |
YTD Returns |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SMCI | Super Micro Computer | 33.3% | 33.8% |
| 2 | ABNB | Airbnb | 22.1% | 36.4% |
| 3 | SNDK | SanDisk | 21.4% | 543.7% |
| 4 | WDAY | Workday | 21.3% | -3.9% |
| 5 | MPC | Marathon Petroleum | 19.1% | 121.1% |
| 6 | MRNA | Moderna | 18.2% | 115.8% |
| 7 | AXON | Axon Enterprise | 17.8% | 8.4% |
| 8 | VEEV | Veeva Systems | 16.0% | 13.2% |
| 9 | PLTR | Palantir Technologies | 14.8% | 0.7% |
| 10 | HPE | Hewlett Packard Enterprise | 14.1% | 151.4% |
| # | Ticker | Company Name |
1-W Returns |
YTD Returns |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | TPR | Tapestry | -20.7% | 1.0% |
| 2 | TTD | Trade Desk | -17.6% | -61.6% |
| 3 | FSLR | First Solar | -8.4% | -14.4% |
| 4 | MOS | Mosaic | -7.2% | -7.9% |
| 5 | APP | AppLovin | -6.9% | -53.6% |
| 6 | CSCO | Cisco Systems | -6.1% | 49.5% |
| 7 | ALL | Allstate | -5.3% | 26.4% |
| 8 | AIZ | Assurant | -5.2% | 17.5% |
| 9 | EBAY | eBay | -5.0% | 20.8% |
| 10 | AIG | American International | -4.9% | -10.0% |
Movers Over The Last Month
And over the last 21 trading days:
| # | Ticker | Company Name |
1-M Returns |
YTD Returns |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ZBRA | Zebra Technologies | 48.8% | 56.3% |
| 2 | SMCI | Super Micro Computer | 45.6% | 33.8% |
| 3 | WDAY | Workday | 45.6% | -3.9% |
| 4 | CTSH | Cognizant Technology Solutions | 37.3% | -27.7% |
| 5 | IT | Gartner | 37.0% | -27.3% |
| 6 | PLTR | Palantir Technologies | 33.8% | 0.7% |
| 7 | LDOS | Leidos | 31.8% | -20.5% |
| 8 | HPQ | HP | 31.8% | 44.5% |
| 9 | VEEV | Veeva Systems | 30.4% | 13.2% |
| 10 | ACN | Accenture | 30.3% | -31.7% |
| # | Ticker | Company Name |
1-M Returns |
YTD Returns |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | APP | AppLovin | -30.9% | -53.6% |
| 2 | TTD | Trade Desk | -24.8% | -61.6% |
| 3 | CHRW | C.H. Robinson Worldwide | -24.4% | -6.5% |
| 4 | LII | Lennox International | -23.8% | -13.4% |
| 5 | DVA | DaVita | -22.6% | 57.7% |
| 6 | HONA | Honeywell Aerospace | -20.1% | n/a |
| 7 | NXPI | NXP Semiconductors | -16.9% | 7.8% |
| 8 | ROL | Rollins | -16.8% | -39.0% |
| 9 | APTV | Aptiv | -16.6% | -35.4% |
| 10 | TPL | Texas Pacific Land | -16.1% | 21.2% |
A large daily return is information, not an instruction.
A disciplined investor uses these lists as a map of market attention, not a set of buy or sell signals. The day's weakest performer, Tapestry (TPR), returned -16.5% and trades at 16.9 times trailing earnings. The contrast with Workday is stark.
The longer-term performance detailed in the weekly and monthly tables printed earlier provides crucial perspective. A name appearing on these lists is a prompt to investigate the underlying business fundamentals, not to chase the tape.
Either side of these lists can be a lead worth following, with the same follow-up question: does the business back the move? For the winners, our Guidance Momentum screen tracks which companies raised their own forward numbers. For the losers, our Buy the Dip screen flags which marked-down names still have the fundamentals to recover.
The Tape Rewards Attention. It Punishes Reaction
Big daily moves pull hard at both greed and fear, and acting on either, day after day, is how most portfolios end up trailing the index they were trying to beat.
The Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio is built for the opposite reflex: about 30 quality businesses screened for the fundamentals that survive volatile stretches, held with rules instead of reactions. It has a track record of outpacing a benchmark that combines the three major indices - the S&P 500, S&P Mid-cap, and Russell 2000. Read the movers daily; trade them rarely.