First Quarter Winners

We looked at the results for the major indexes for the first quarter of 2017 yesterday. Here are the stocks in the S&P 500 that had the strongest first quarters:

• NRG Energy was up 52.8 percent year to date. The utilities sector is up about 5.2 percent for the year.
• Vertex Pharmaceuticals was up 48.4 percent; it released positive results for a cystic fibrosis drug just last week.
• Activision Blizzard was up 38.9 percent; it's the leader in the video game subgroup of the tech sector.
• Viacom Inc., owner of MTV and Paramount Pictures, was up 33.4 percent
• Incyte Corp. was up 33.3 percent; another pharmaceutical, it focuses on cancer drugs.