Too far, too fast? Stocks like Micron are very stretched compared to historical trading patterns

A sharp rally in semiconductor and artificial intelligence infrastructure stocks has pushed several names to historically stretched levels relative to their long-term trends. At the same time, many defensive and slower-growth areas of the market remain deeply out of favor. CNBC Pro screened the S & P 500 for stocks trading the furthest above or below their 200-day moving averages, relative to their own historical trading patterns. Our screen highlights those trading at statistically significant distances from their own averages. Semiconductor and hardware names dominate the list of S & P 500 stocks trading furthest above their 200-day moving averages. Intel , Micron , Seagate , Western Digital , On Semiconductor , Texas Instruments and AMD were all among the most-extended names, highlighting how the AI and data center trade has dominated the recent rally and broadened beyond the market's mega caps. Storage-related names like Seagate and Western Digital also stand out as investors continue to pile into companies tied to rising demand for memory and data infrastructure. Caterpillar , Centene and Cboe Global Markets are among the non-info tech names on the most-extended list. Each of those stocks is up more than 40% so far in 2026, and trading well above their respective moving averages. On the other side of the screen, defensive consumer and healthcare stocks made up many of the market's most-oversold names. …