Stocks are on pace to finish higher for the week, which also marks the end of what’s shaping up to be a winning month and quarter. And a group of outperformers is partially to thank. The three major indexes are on pace to each finish the week more than 2% higher. That advance has helped extend an already strong rally seen over the course of June and the second quarter, both of which conclude with Friday’s close. In addition to making preparations for the next quarter, investors watched for economic data around jobs and inflation in an attempt to predict future monetary policy decisions. A crop of rallying stocks helped drive the market higher despite investors taking some profits earlier in the week in anticipation of the new quarter. Here are the 10 best performers in the S & P 500 this week, as of shortly after Friday’s opening bell: Carnival was the best performing stock on the list, up 15.8% so far this week. The stock mounted a comeback beginning Tuesday after sliding in the previous session following the cruise line’s second-quarter earnings report. Carnival beat expectations on both lines in its fiscal second quarter and offered mostly positive guidance for the current quarter and fiscal year. Wall Street took note to the report. CFRA Research analyst Ashman Razak downgraded the stock to hold from buy earlier this week, while Jefferies’ David Katz upgraded shares to buy from hold Friday. This week’s surge puts the stock up more than 130% on the year. But analysts expect shares to pull back almost 9% over the next year following that outperformance. Slightly over 45% of analysts rate the stock a buy. “Despite the strong YTD performance, we believe the journey from a good trade to long-term investment case remains ahead,” Katz said. Competitor Norwegian Cruise Line was another top performer, up nearly 11% week to date. That’s put the stock 78% above where it started 2023. Nearly 37% of analysts rate the stock a buy. Wall Street also expects a pullback, with the average price target implying shares could fall nearly 22%. Both cruise stocks hit 52-week highs this week. CCL NCLH 1Y mountain Carnival and Norwegian, 1-year Generac was the second best performer on the list with a 14.5% advance on the week. CEO Aaron Jagdfeld told Bloomberg on Monday that the company had seen a “dramatic increase” in demand for generator and battery backup systems during the Texas heat wave. This week’s gains puts the stock up nearly 50% so far this year, but analysts now expect shares to slide almost 2% over the next 12 months. Of analysts with ratings on the stock, 44% think it’s worth buying. — CNBC’s Fred Imbert contributed to this report
