20 stocks that bucked the stock market's decline in March with gains of up to 40%

By Philip van Doorn

Energy stocks have fared well as crude-oil prices have shot up, but one other industry group has also done well since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28

Even a sharply lower market will have exceptions. Among the S&P 500, 84% of stocks declined in March. Exceptions included oil producers and refiners, as well as several chemical manufacturers.

Updated with day-end prices for stocks and commodities on March 31.

The S&P 500 rallied 2.9% on Tuesday, but the large-cap U.S. benchmark index ended with a 5.1% decline for March.

Among the index's components, 84% showed declines for the month, with 144 stocks down at least 10.0% and 46 down at least 15.0% during March. All price changes in this article exclude dividends.

Read: These 20 stocks in the S&P 500 fell hardest during March

Here is a rundown of how the 11 sectors of the S&P 500 have performed from the close on Friday, Feb. 27 - the day before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran - through Tuesday. The sectors are in ascending order by March price changes, with the full index at the bottom:

   Sector or index           March price change  2026 price change  2025 price change 
   Industrials                            -8.5%               4.3%              17.7% 
   Healthcare                             -8.3%              -5.3%              12.5% 
   Consumer staples                       -7.7%               7.0%               1.3% 
   Communication services                 -7.3%              -7.1%              32.4% 
   Materials                              -7.1%               9.3%               8.4% 
   Real estate                            -6.6%               1.9%              -0.3% 
   Consumer discretionary                 -5.7%              -9.3%               5.3% 
   Information technology                 -3.9%              -9.3%              23.3% 
   Financial                              -3.7%              -9.8%              13.3% 
   Utilities                              -3.4%               7.5%              12.7% 
   Energy                                 10.3%              37.2%               5.0% 
   S&P 500 Index                          -5.1%              -4.6%              16.4% 
                                                                         Source: LSEG 

The energy sector was the only one to show a gain for the month. Continuous front-month contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude oil (CL00) on the New York Mercantile Exchange declined 1.2% on Tuesday to $101.65 a barrel, up 52% from $67.02 on Feb. 27, and up 77% from $57.42 on Dec. 31.

Read: Here's the long-term case for investing in producers of oil and natural gas

Oil producers and refiners dominate the list below of the S&P 500's SPX biggest gainers during March, but there are also chemical producers on the list.

Fear of declining demand for other commodities hurt the materials sector, which was down 7.9% for March. Front-month contracts for gold (GC00) rose 3.1% on Tuesday to $4,702.30 an ounce. Gold was down 10.4% from $5.247.90 on Feb. 27, but up 8.3% from $4,341.10 at the end of 2025.

But within the materials sector, the S&P 500 chemicals industry group was down only 1.6% for March. Narrowing further, the fertilizers and agricultural chemicals subindustry group was up 8.2% for the month, according to LSEG. LyondellBasell Industries NV (LYB) was the best performer among the S&P 500 during March, with a 40.1% gain. Three more companies in that last group were among the S&P 500's best performers since the start of the Iran conflict. They are listed below.

Another exception within the materials sector was aluminum, with Iran attacking facilities in Abu Dhabi and Bahrain over the weekend. MarketWatch's Tomi Kilgore looked into three aluminum suppliers whose stocks were surging.

The S&P 500's winners during March

Here are the 20 stocks in the S&P 500 that ended March with the largest monthly gains:

   Company                        March price change  2026 price change  2025 price changeIndustry 
   LyondellBasell Industries                   40.1%              86.1%             -41.7%Commodity chemicals 
   APA                                         39.7%              73.5%               5.9%Oil & gas exploration and production 
   Dow                                         35.5%              78.1%             -41.7%Commodity chemicals 
   CF Industries Holdings                      30.4%              67.9%              -9.4%Agricultural chemicals 
   Marathon Petroleum                          23.2%              50.1%              16.6%Oil & gas refining and marketing 
   Occidental Petroleum                        22.5%              58.1%             -16.8%Oil & gas exploration and production 
   Valero Energy                               20.7%              51.8%              32.8%Oil & gas refining and marketing 
   Phillips 66                                 18.0%              41.2%              13.3%Oil & gas refining and marketing 
   Akamai Technologies                         16.7%              31.6%              -8.8%IT services & consulting 
   EOG Resources                               16.5%              37.7%             -14.3%Oil & gas exploration and production 
   ConocoPhillips                              16.3%              41.0%              -5.6%Oil & gas exploration and production 
   Devon Energy                                15.6%              37.4%              11.9%Oil & gas exploration and production 
   Coterra Energy                              14.9%              33.5%               3.1%Oil & gas exploration and production 
   Diamondback Energy                          13.6%              31.6%              -8.2%Oil & gas exploration and production 
   Ciena                                       11.3%              66.0%             175.8%Communications & networking 
   Exxon Mobil                                 11.3%              41.0%              11.9%Oil & gas refining and marketing 
   Hewlett Packard Enterprise                  10.9%              -0.9%              12.5%Computer hardware 
   Dell Technologies                           10.8%              30.4%               9.2%Computer hardware 
   Chevron                                     10.8%              35.8%               5.2%Integrated oil & gas 
   ONEOK                                        9.2%              23.0%             -26.8%Oil & gas transportation services 
                                                                                                                    Source: LSEG 

Click on the tickers for more about each company.

Read: A detailed guide to the information available on the MarketWatch quote page

Don't miss: This commodities strategy can protect you from inflation, scarcity and even price declines

-Philip van Doorn

This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-31-26 1749ET