We recently published a list of 10 Hottest Mega-Cap Stocks So Far in 2025. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Chevron (NYSE:CVX) stands against other hottest mega-cap stocks so far in 2025.
Many mega-cap stocks have started 2025 with a bang and we’ll be taking a closer look into each of them to learn why they’ve performed so well already.
If you skim the trends in the past two years, it should be clear that it’s worthwhile to look into mega-cap stocks that have gained a lot already. Investors who defied the conventional wisdom and doubled down on the mega-cap stocks last year have outperformed the benchmark index by a wide margin.
We used a stock screener and sorted public companies — those tagged by the screener as trading in the U.S. — with a market capitalization above $100 billion by their year-to-date (YTD) gains.
Will lightning strike again this year and take these stocks even higher by the end of 2025? It’s not rational to paint all these companies with the same brush, so let’s dive into the nitty gritty of each mega-cap stock in this list.
An aerial view of an oil rig at sea, the sun glinting off its structure.
Chevron (CVX)
- YTD Total Return: 5.98%
Chevron (NYSE:CVX) has been trading around $135 to $180 since 2022 and hasn’t broken above or below that range in a while. CVX trading up and down that band is why it is on this list. The stock declined in December but started to recover at the end of the month. As I said with Sinopec, I believe Chevron (NYSE:CVX) is also linked to macroeconomic factors, and whether or not the stock does good depends a lot on whether or not the U.S. economy stays strong and keeps oil demand strong with it.
The performance here has been mixed. They’ve come in below their prior-year earnings, mostly because of weaker margins in their refining segment and slightly lower oil and gas realizations. In the second and third quarters of 2024, Chevron still pulled in billions of dollars in profit. Plus, they flashed some eye-catching metrics like record Permian Basin production.
The key narrative, though, is that they’ve managed to keep churning out substantial free cash flow — enough to fund large shareholder returns, continue investing in high-return projects, and chip away at costs. They’ve also announced plans to cut overall capital spending next year and tighten up their portfolio by selling off certain Canadian assets for $6.5 billion.
Chevron’s hefty cash returns will likely keep it on solid footing in the near term, though the long-term case depends a lot on oil prices.
Overall, CVX ranks 10th on our list of hottest mega-cap stocks so far in 2025. While we acknowledge the potential of CVX as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than CVX but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
