10 Companies Churn Out A Whopping Third Of The S&P 500's Profit

Earnings season is wrapping up for the S&P 500. And it’s telling investors where the biggest profits are being made.

Ten S&P 500 companies, including Alphabet (GOOGL), Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT), made more than $23 billion in adjusted net income in 2025, says an Investor’s Business Daily analysis of data from S&P Global Market Intelligence and MarketSurge. That makes them — by far — the most profitable firms in the index. And it’s a third of the roughly $2.1 trillion in S&P 500 profit reported so far.

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Surprisingly, the shares of these 10 super-profit generators are lagging. They’re down 1.3% on average this year. That is trailing the 0.2% gain of the S&P 500 — as investors look beyond just the biggest-of-the-big companies to invest in this year.

It’s telling to look at S&P 500 profit now. Companies are wrapping up their reporting for the fourth quarter of 2025. “For (the quarter), the blended (year-over-year) earnings growth rate for the S&P 500 is 13.2%. If 13.2% is the actual growth rate for the quarter, it will mark the 5th consecutive quarter of double-digit earnings growth for the index,” said John Butters of FactSet.

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Alphabet Rules The S&P 500

Alphabet may not be the most valuable firm in the S&P 500, but it does make the most money.

The company earned a staggering $132.2 billion in adjusted net profit in 2025. That’s more than any other firm in the S&P 500, besting even Apple’s $117.8 billion. It also outearned Microsoft, which reported 2025 net income of $114.8 billion.

But these massive amounts of profit aren’t jazzing up investors. Shares of Alphabet are down 3.5% and Microsoft is off 17.9%. Much of that pain is due to investors’ fears that these companies won’t be able to turn their enormous investments in AI into profit. Shares of Alphabet, however, are up so much in past months its RS Rating is still 91.

Analysts are still bullish on the online search company, saying profit will rise 23% in 2026 and another 17% in 2027.

Not All S&P 500 Profit Giants Are Down

Shares of most of the top earners in the S&P 500 are down this year, but not all.

Energy giant Exxon Mobil (XOM), which earned the seventh highest amount in the S&P 500 last year, saw its shares jump 21% this year. The Trump administration is cutting back support for green energy as it doubles down support for fossil fuels. Exxon has an RS Rating of 88.

Additionally, shares of medical giant Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) are up nearly 18% this year. The company reported 2024 net income of $26.2 billion, the ninth highest in the S&P 500. The company’s adjusted earnings soared nearly 21% in the fourth quarter. And analysts are still hopeful for more growth, calling for 7% growth this year and 8% in 2027.

As the market shifts to reward smaller firms, it will pay to watch how the giant profit makers’ shares behave.

Most Profitable S&P 500 Firms In 2024

Based on adjusted net income

Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence

Follow Matt Krantz on X @mattkrantz

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