Finance
“In the first half of September, Skyworks Solutions was the top-performing S&P 500 stock with a gain of 31.28%, followed by Dell Technologies (+19.56%), Best Buy (+16.89%), and Meta Platforms (+16.36%), among 15 S&P 500 companies with gains exceeding 7%.”
Plain restatementOver roughly 1 to 15 September 2026, Skyworks Solutions (SWKS) recorded the largest share-price gain of any S&P 500 constituent, at 31.28%, ahead of Dell (19.56%), Best Buy (16.89%) and Meta (16.36%), and 15 index members gained more than 7% in that window.
Distortion code this site does not recognise yet: gross_vs_net. Not collectible until the field guide has an entry.
A widely shared post says Skyworks Solutions was the best-performing S&P 500 stock in the first half of September 2026, up 31.28%, ahead of Dell, Best Buy and Meta. The top-line ranking checks out. Multiple independent outlets reported that Skyworks was the index's standout gainer in that period, driven by news that its roughly 22 billion dollar merger with Qorvo had entered its final stage, with the stock posting its strongest week since 2009. The exact percentage is harder to pin down: retrieved closing prices of 67.01 on 31 August and 90.00 on 15 September 2026 work out to about 34% for the month to date, so the 31.28% figure appears to be a snapshot taken before the close on 15 September rather than a close-to-close figure. The post does not state its cutoff time, its starting date, or whether the numbers are price returns or total returns, which is why two-decimal precision overstates how exact these figures are. The figures for the other fourteen companies, and the count of 15 stocks above 7%, were not independently verified, and the Bloomberg Línea article cited as the source could not be located. The list's composition is otherwise consistent with the real index, including Reddit, which joined the S&P 500 on 18 August 2026. General information only, not financial advice.
[drifted from the evidence:] In the first half of September, Skyworks Solutions [drifted from the evidence:] was the [drifted from the evidence:] top-performing S&P 500 stock with a gain of 31.28%, [drifted from the evidence:] followed by Dell [drifted from the evidence:] Technologies (+19.56%), Best Buy (+16.89%), and Meta [drifted from the evidence:] Platforms (+16.36%), [drifted from the evidence:] among 15 [drifted from the evidence:] S&P 500 companies with gains exceeding 7%.
[added by the neutral restatement:] Over roughly 1 to 15 September [added by the neutral restatement:] 2026, Skyworks Solutions [added by the neutral restatement:] (SWKS) recorded the [added by the neutral restatement:] largest share-price gain of [added by the neutral restatement:] any S&P 500 constituent, at 31.28%, [added by the neutral restatement:] ahead of Dell (19.56%), Best Buy (16.89%) and Meta (16.36%), [added by the neutral restatement:] and 15 [added by the neutral restatement:] index members gained more than 7% [added by the neutral restatement:] in that window.
Red-tinted words in the claim drifted from the evidence. Green-tinted words are what a neutral restatement needs.
The trace / claim to source
- Skyworks Solutions was the standout S&P 500 gainer in the first half of September 2026, by a wide margin, and the ranking as number one is corroborated by at least three independent outlets across 11 and 15 September 2026.
- The magnitude is in the right region. A 31% month-to-date gain as of mid-session on 15 September 2026 is consistent with the retrieved closing prices of 67.01 on 31 August and 90.00 on 15 September.
- The stated driver in the caption is accurate: the move was merger-driven, tied to the Qorvo transaction reaching its final approval stage, per the company CEO's own remarks as reported.
- The market context in the caption (September pressure from bonds and oil) matches the 15 September 2026 session reporting.
- The list is internally coherent with the index's actual membership. Reddit was a genuine S&P 500 constituent as of mid-September 2026, having been added on 18 August 2026, and The Trade Desk, APA, DaVita and West Pharmaceutical are index members.
- The presence of Dell, HP Inc. and other hardware names in the top ranks is consistent with independent gainer lists from 11 September 2026.
- Omitted qualifier: the post gives percentages to two decimal places but publishes no cutoff timestamp, no base date, and no return basis. The difference between a 31 August close base and a 1 September close base, and between an intraday and a closing snapshot, moves the headline figure from roughly 31% to roughly 34% for the same stock over the same nominal window. Two-decimal precision implies a exactness the stated methodology does not support.
- Gross vs net: the post does not say whether these are price returns or total returns. For a two-week window the gap is small, but it is left to the reader to assume, and the post does not name the basis.
- Temporal overreach (mild): a partial-month leaderboard is presented as a settled result. The underlying stock fell 10.29% on 14 September and rose 13.55% on 15 September, so the exact percentages and the ordering below the top spot were changing by double digits within single sessions. The number one ranking was robust; the precise figures were not.
- The exact figure 31.28% could not be reproduced from retrieved closing prices. It is consistent with a pre-close 15 September snapshot, but that reconstruction is inference, not a retrieved methodology statement.
- The figures for Dell (19.56%), Best Buy (16.89%), Meta (16.36%) and the remaining eleven names were not independently verified. No per-stock month-to-date series was retrieved for them.
- The count "15 S&P 500 companies with gains exceeding 7%" was not verified. It is internally consistent with the published list, whose fifteenth entry is Phillips 66 at 7.58%, but no independent screen was obtained.
- The cited Bloomberg Línea article was not located, so the original methodology note, the data vendor used, and the exact as-of timestamp could not be read.
- No primary exchange or index-provider record was retrieved for any price in this case. All price levels come from market-data aggregators.
Independent reporting confirms the central ranking. Skyworks Solutions was up 28% over the past five days as of 11 September 2026 and on track to be the S&P 500's best weekly performer, as investors priced in improving odds that its merger with Qorvo would close this year as regulatory reviews advanced. The chipmaker rallied 22% that week, a move that would mark its best five-day stretch since 2009 and one of only a handful of 20%-plus weeks in the company's listed history, with the catalyst being consolidation. Skyworks shares rallied after CEO Phil Brace said the $22 billion Qorvo merger had entered its final stages and should close by year-end. The rally continued into the 15 September session. On Tuesday 15 September 2026, US stocks closed lower under pressure from a jump in Treasury yields and another sharp rise in oil, and within technology Skyworks Solutions climbed 13.5%, driven by new signals on the progress of its roughly $22 billion merger with Qorvo, which is in its final stage. In that session the S&P 500 fell, with Skyworks (+13.55%), Revvity (+9.06%) and APA (+5.29%) standing out among the gainers. On price levels: a market-data aggregator records SWKS closing at 90.00 on 15 September 2026, up 13.55% from the previous close of 79.26 as of 15 September 4:00 p.m. GMT-4; TheStreet Pro records the 14 September close at 79.26, down 9.09 or 10.29%; Bloomberg's quote page shows 88.35 USD for 11 September 2026; and Macrotrends records the latest closing price as of 31 August 2026 at 67.01. On index membership, the inclusion of Reddit in a list of S&P 500 stocks checks out: S&P Dow Jones Indices said Reddit Inc. would become a member of the index beginning Tuesday 18 August 2026, replacing AvalonBay Communities, which is being acquired by Equity Residential. The macro framing in the caption also matches the record: the 15 September selloff was driven by a jump in Treasury yields and a sharp rise in oil, a combination that raised inflation and tightening expectations ahead of the Federal Reserve decision, which is consistent with three refiners (Marathon Petroleum, Valero, Phillips 66) and APA appearing in the list.
Complete reasoning
The reply is formatted for pasting into the thread where the claim is circulating.
Compact share page: finance.trueseeker.com/s/ea1b8ba57292/k9ZV_gFLUwNK8sR5rjgRoG
Ask this case
Answers come only from the case file above; nothing is added.
Was Skyworks Solutions really the top S&P 500 gainer in early September 2026?
Yes. At least three independent outlets reported Skyworks as the index's standout gainer around 11 and 15 September 2026, driven by news that its roughly 22 billion dollar merger with Qorvo had reached its final approval stage.
Is the exact 31.28% gain figure accurate?
It's in the right range but not verifiable to two decimal places. Retrieved closing prices of 67.01 on 31 August and 90.00 on 15 September 2026 imply about a 34% gain for that period, so 31.28% likely reflects a snapshot taken before the market closed on 15 September rather than a close-to-close number.
Were the figures for Dell, Best Buy, and Meta confirmed?
No. The case file did not independently verify the percentages for Dell (19.56%), Best Buy (16.89%), Meta (16.36%), or the other eleven companies listed, since no per-stock data series was retrieved for them.
Is the claim that 15 companies gained more than 7% accurate?
This was not independently verified. It is internally consistent with the published list, whose fifteenth entry is Phillips 66 at 7.58%, but no independent screen of S&P 500 stocks was conducted to confirm the count.
Why couldn't the original source be checked?
The Bloomberg Línea article cited as the source of the claim could not be located, so the exact methodology, data vendor, and as-of timestamp behind the figures could not be reviewed.