These are the only 7 stocks in the S&P 500 that rose while the market plunged - MarketWatch

Deep Dive

By Philip van Doorn

Published: Feb 28, 2020 9:39 am ET

The company whose stock has risen the most is working on drug trials to fight COVID-19

Gilead Sciences is holding drug trials to see if its Remdesivir medication is effective against the COVID-10 virus.

In any market environment, there are exceptions to the trend. But there aren’t many this time.

Since the S&P 500 SPX-3.05%  hit its last closing record on Feb. 19, the index has skidded 12% — and only seven of the component stocks haven’t declined through the close on Feb. 27. See the list below.

Before you get there, here’s a list of stocks in the index that took the worst beatings, along with a summary of how the 11 sectors performed.

It might surprise you that Tesla TSLA-6.88%  isn’t on that list of decliners, but the electric car maker hasn’t yet met the requirements to be included in the S&P 500. Before the outbreak of the coronavirus strain known as COVID-19, it appeared likely to be added to the index by the end of 2020. Tesla’s stock was down nearly $100 (13%) on Feb. 27 to close at $679. The stock was down $238 (26%) since it set a closing record of $917.42 on Feb. 19.

Read: Tesla’s stock tumbles toward biggest-ever weekly drop

So here are the exceptions — seven S&P 500 stocks that rose in price between Feb. 19 and Feb. 27:

Company	Ticker	Industry	Price change since Feb. 19	Price change - 2020	Decline from 52-week high	Price change - 2019
Gilead Sciences Inc.	GILD-6.04%	Biotechnology	7.9%	11.8%	-7.9%	3.9%
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.	REGN-1.45%	Biotechnology	7.7%	14.9%	-8.2%	0.5%
Clorox Co.	CLX-5.57%	Household/Personal Care	2.3%	9.9%	-3.1%	-0.4%
E-Trade Financial Corp.	ETFC-2.42%	Investment Banks/Brokers	2.3%	1.3%	-19.8%	3.4%
CME Group Inc. Class A	CME-5.01%	Investment Banks/Brokers	1.4%	4.8%	-6.6%	6.7%
Newmont Corp.	NEM-7.5%	Precious Metals	0.8%	7.1%	-9.4%	25.4%
Cboe Global Markets Inc.	CBOE-4.58%	Investment Banks/Brokers	0.7%	1.0%	-5.2%	22.7%
Source: FactSet

You can click the tickers for more about each company.

• Gilead Sciences GILD-6.04%  has announced two Phase 3 clinical studies to measure the effectiveness of its Remdesivir medication in countering COVID-19 infections. The company’s Feb. 26 press release has more details. Jefferies analyst Michael Yee rates Gilead a “buy,” but wrote in a note to clients on Feb. 26 that although he is pleased that fighting the virus is a ‘very high priority” for Gilead’s management, “the financial implications are modest (pricing, one-time use, no tail).”

• Regeneron Pharmaceuticals REGN-1.45%  ws upgraded to a “Buy” by Jefferies analyst Biren Amin on Feb. 25, because he believes competitive risk to the company’s Eylea macular degeneration therapy has been minimized because of safety concerns over Novartis AG’s NVS-2.57% CH:NOVN-4.97%  Beovu medication.

• Clorox CLX-5.57%  is an obvious defensive stock during a time when people are concerned about the spread of a deadly virus and reaching for bleach. But Charles Lemonides, founder of ValueWorks LLC in New York, argued that for long-term investors, Clorox’s high valuation to earnings actually makes it a risky stock.

• E-Trade Financial ETFC-2.42%  agreed on Feb. 20 to be acquired by Morgan Stanley MS-2.42%  in an all-stock deal valued at $58.74 a share at that time. E-Trade’s shares closed at $45.95 Thursday. The deal calls for an exchange of 1.0432 Morgan Stanley shares for every E-Trade share. Morgan Stanley’s shares closed at $45.41 on Feb. 27, so based on those numbers, E-Trade’s takeout price would be $47.37.

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