April was not a great month for the stock market, as all of the major indexes were down. The S&P 500 dropped about 3.4% last month, ending a five-month winning streak that carried it to all-time highs.
More than 350 of the 500 stocks in the index finished the month in the red, but there were some stocks that stood out with double-digit returns in April. Here are the top three performers on the S&P 500 last month.
GE Aerospace takes the top spot
The top performer on the large-cap benchmark is a familiar company, General Electric (NYSE:GE), now known as GE Aerospace. GE returned 15.1% in April alone.
At the beginning of the month, the old GE officially became three separate, investable companies after GE Vernova (NYSE:GEV), the power-generation arm, was spun off in early April. GE HealthCare Technologies (NASDAQ:GEHC) went its own way in 2023, so that left the legacy ticker GE as its own separate company.
However, the new company is nothing like the conglomerate that Jack Welch once ran, it focuses solely on making jet engines for commercial, military, business and general aviation aircraft, which is why it changed its name to GE Aerospace.
GE stock has been on a tear, soaring some 57% year to date as of May 1 and 97% over the past one-year period. Those results were mainly as part of the larger company that up until recently included GE Vernova. However, GE Aerospace released its first earnings report as a standalone company on April 23, and those results were also very good.
On a standalone basis, GE Aerospace saw its orders jump 34% to $1 billion while its adjusted revenue climbed 15% to $8.1 billion. The company’s operating profits rose 24% to $1.5 billion, and its operating profit margin surged 140 basis points to 19.1%. Further, GE Aerospace’s free cash flow climbed $800 million to $1.7 billion.
When these numbers were released on April 23, they triggered an 8% spike in the company’s stock price. In July, stay tuned for GE Aerospace’s first earnings report entirely as its own company.
ResMed and Newmont also spike
ResMed (NYSE:RMD), a medical equipment and supply company, was the second-best performer among large caps in April, gaining 13% for the month.
The maker of devices for sleep apnea and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) got a lift after posting strong fiscal third-quarter numbers for the quarter that ended March 31. ResMed crushed earnings estimates as its revenue rose 7% year over year to $1.2 billion and its net income jumped 29% to $300 million, or $2.04 per share. Its already-high gross margin also expanded 260 basis points to 57.9%.
ResMed stock is up by about 26% year to- date (YTD), trading at around $216 per share. It has a consensus price target of $219 per share, so growth expectations for the next 12 months are low. It is trading at about 33 times earnings, up from 28 at the start of the year.
The third-best stock on the S&P 500 in April was gold and copper miner Newmont Corp. (NYSE:NEM). The company’s stock price rose 11.6% in April, bringing its YTD return to about 1%.
Newmont has benefited from rising gold prices, which have climbed about 11% for the year to roughly $2,300 per ounce. That largely drove strong first-quarter results for Newmont, as its adjusted net income rose 39% year over year to $630 million, or 55 cents per share.
Gold is a volatile asset, so investors should be cautious with it and keep it as a smaller portion of a diversified portfolio. However, it seems to be a hot commodity right now, and some analysts believe the price of gold will keep rising into 2025. Certainly, investors are advised to do their own research on this stock and gold in general before making a buying decision.
Newmont is trading at $41 per share and has a consensus price target of $46 per share.
