ARK Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF (ARKQ)

Which stocks rose to the top and which fell behind in the third quarter? In the quarter, the S&P 500 gained 2%, following a rise of 15% in 2Q and a loss of 4% in 1Q. But the strongest gains were concentrated within only a few sectors: Energy, Healthcare, and Information Technology. In fact, a majority of sectors were negative in the quarter. The laggards included Communication Services, Consumer Discretionary, Financial, Industrial, Materials, Real Estate, and Utilities. In the Argus Universe Coverage (more than 500 public companies), and looking at both BUY-rated and HOLD-rated companies, the average stock performance in the third quarter was a loss of 2% and the median change was a loss of 5%. The 10 top-performing BUY-rated stocks rose 71% on average. The following is a list of those top performers (noting that only four sectors are represented.) and also includes the bottom-five performers.

Teladoc Health Inc., based in Purchase, New York, provides telemedicine virtual healthcare services in the United States and internationally. The company operates two business segments, Teladoc Health Integrated Care and BetterHelp. Integrated Care consists of B2B distribution channels, including services offered through employers, health plans, and other providers. BetterHelp consists of mental health services sold through direct-to-consumer distribution channels.

The major indices were higher at midday Wednesday, likely benefiting from a retreat in oil prices and interest rates. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite is providing the biggest boost as traders anticipate results from Nvidia (NVDA), the world's largest company by market cap, after the close. Meanwhile, retail earnings are pouring in. Investors will be parsing through minutes from the Fed's recent open market committee meeting to be released at 2pm.

ASML is the leader in lithography systems for manufacturing semiconductors with 90% market share. Lithography is the process in which a light source is used to expose circuit patterns from a photo mask onto a semiconductor wafer. Lithography allows chipmakers to increase the number of transistors on the same area of silicon, with lithography historically representing a high portion of the cost of making cutting-edge chips. ASML outsources the manufacturing of most of its parts, acting like an assembler. ASML’s largest clients are TSMC, Samsung, Intel, SK Hynix, and Micron.