By Paul R. La Monica

The Mag Seven were down -- and now not so much, rallying along with the rest of the stock market in the past few weeks. But tech's biggest names aren't all stepping up to cut the losses they've piled up this year.

As a group, the stocks have had huge gains in the past six weeks. The Roundhill Magnificent Seven exchange-traded fund is up 30% from its post-Trump tariff low in early April and is now off less than 3% for the year.

The rub, though, is that four of the seven are losers. The biggest is Apple, down 20% and the Mag Seven's worst performer this year.

The reasons are mostly AI and a bit of tariffs. Apple has been dogged by worries that it has been too slow to roll out artificial intelligence features on its ubiquitous iPhones. Then, just last week, the White House threatened to slap a 25% tariff on smartphones made outside of the U.S. Right now, the company assembles most of its iPhones in China and is shifting production to India.

Apple's technicals are as discouraging as the stock's losses so far, however.

Shares are trading around $200, well below $225.82, their 200-day moving average -- the statistical mean of the closing prices for the past 200 trading days. That price is a sign of weakening and suggests that there could be more losses ahead.

Two other Mag Seven names are also hovering near their 200-day moving averages: Amazon.com and Google parent Alphabet. Amazon is at $206. It's 200-day moving average is $201. And Alphabet's $173 is barely above its 200-day moving average of $171. On the year, Amazon is down 6% and Alphabet is off 9%.

But the remaining four are doing better -- actually three are going great guns and one is working to get back on track. And that's a big reason why the Mag 7 ETF is trading around $53 -- 7% above its 200-day moving average of $49.61.

Microsoft and Meta Platforms are the Mag Seven's two best performers this year -- up 9% and 10%, respectively. And they're trading comfortably above their 200-day moving averages. Microsoft is trading at around $458, 10% above its 200-day moving average of about $416.50. Meta, at a current price of $650 a share, is 9% higher than its 200-day moving average of just over $592.

Tesla has surged past its 200-day moving average after its monumental rebound of the past few weeks. The stock is still down 10% this year, but shares are now trading at around $363, which is more than 20% higher than its 200-day moving average near $301.

And then there's Nvidia. Shares are up slightly for the year. The stock is trading around $135.50 -- 7% higher than its 200-day moving average.

The disparity in performance this year illustrates how silly it is to lump a group of stocks under a catchy name.

At the end of the day, these seven companies aren't really that similar. They do compete against one another in some businesses such as cloud computing and AI infrastructure, but that is about it.

So the takeaway: Mag Seven companies aren't clones. They have real differences, from who runs them to what they make or provide to how they fit into the economies of the U.S. and -- yes -- the world.

If you're itching to own Mag Seven stocks, stick with the top index ETFs. And if you're determined to buy individual companies, drill down into technicals -- along with the fundamentals of valuations and earnings -- and scoop up what you think will be winners.

But think about this, too. There are more opportunities in other parts of the tech sector and even companies outside of tech.

The reality is that the monolithic Mag 7 trade isn't invincible. It can peter out, slow down, cool off just like anything else.

Write to Paul R. La Monica at paul.lamonica@barrons.com

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May 28, 2025 14:38 ET (18:38 GMT)

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