While the S & P 500 is trading close to its all-time high, a group of favored stocks among hedge funds is soaring even higher, according to Goldman Sachs. The S & P 500 reached an all-time intraday high as well as a new closing record on Wednesday, the broad market index’s second consecutive record close. But Goldman Sachs sliced and diced market performance another way, tracking the holdings of 695 hedge funds with a combined $3.1 trillion of gross equity positions at the beginning of 2025 and finding the top 50 stocks that show up most often among each fund’s 10 largest holdings. The result is what Goldman calls its Hedge Fund VIP basket of the most popular long positions. Year to date, that VIP basket has returned 10%, through Thursday, almost triple the S & P 500 year-to-date gain of more than 3%. Goldman noted that the VIP basket has outperformed the S & P 500 in 60% of all quarters going back to 2001. The updated basket features 13 new stocks, including vaccine maker Pfizer and social media platform Reddit . Below are some of the stocks appearing on the latest Goldman VIP list. Alibaba made the top 20 names that are most often in the top 10 holdings of hedge funds, appearing in 17 portfolios. The China e-commerce stock has soared 69% in 2025 and more than 90% over the past 12 months. U.S.-listed shares of the Chinese e-commerce company jumped about 6% on Friday, hitting a new 52-week high after rallying 8% in the previous session, after its latest quarterly results topped Wall Street’s expectations. Separately, GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen boosted his stake in Alibaba to about $1 billion , The Wall Street Journal said Thursday. BABA YTD mountain BABA, year-to-date Newly added Pfizer appeared as a top 10 holding in 11 hedge funds. Shares of the New York-based pharmaceutical maker are down 2% in 2025 and more than 6% over the past year. Earlier this month, Pfizer’s fourth-quarter results topped Wall Street’s expectations. Fewer than half the Wall Street analysts covering Pfizer rate it the equivalent of a buy, or 10 out of 24 analysts, according to LSEG data. The average analyst’s 12-month price target of $31 implies almost 19% upside from Thursday’s close. Delta Airlines , another new addition to the basket, likewise appeared as a top 10 holding at 11 hedge funds. The Atlanta-based carrier has soared more than 54% over the past year, far outperforming the S & P 500. Delta is on pace to fall about 4% this week in the wake of a crash landing at a Toronto airport on Monday. All 80 people on board survived.
