This ranking provides useful insight: to succeed, you need a careful mix of favorable economic conditions, strategic positioning, and solid prospects.
Let's take advantage of the timing to get a glimpse of what is working on the stockmarket in 2025.
FTSE 100: +7.36%
Fresnillo - Half-year performance: 137.33% - Market capitalization: £10.61bn (€12.36bn)
The star of the London index is the precious metals giant operating in Mexico. It is the world's largest silver producer and Mexico's largest gold producer. Fresnillo is benefiting from two years of high prices on the precious metals markets.
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Babcock - Half-year performance: 127.59% - Market capitalization: £5.78bn (€6.7bn)
Babcock's return to the FTSE 100 in March marks a new phase for the British defense group. Results are improving significantly (operating profit up 50% in 2024), the first share buyback program has been launched, and major contracts are in the pipeline. The company embodies the rebound of the British defense sector, which produces ships for the Royal Navy, amongst other things.
Rolls-Royce - Half-year performance: 68.17% - Market capitalization: £80.8bn (€93.2bn)
A 1,018% rise in three years marks a spectacular rebound for a former stockmarket laggard. Its activities benefit from strong political support, particularly in defense, as well as its small nuclear reactor subsidiary. Strong momentum in long-haul traffic has also been a strong revenue driver in recent years.
CAC 40: +3.75%
Thales: Half-year performance: 74.32% - Market capitalization: €50.4bn
The defense electronics group is back to historic highs on the stockmarket. After a stable year in terms of performance in 2024, the stock is surging, buoyed by the increase in European defense budgets (notably an €800bn plan announced by the European Commission). Thales is solidly positioned, particularly through Dassault Aviation's Rafale (+52% over the half-year).
Société Générale: Half-year performance: 76.58% - Market capitalization: €38.1bn
The French banking group is reaping the rewards of the recovery plan announced by Slawomir Krupa at the end of 2023. With shareholder distributions up 75% in 2024 and net profit doubling in Q4 2024, confidence has been restored. The stock is benefiting from renewed confidence in the management.
Bouygues : Half-year performance: 34.3% - Market capitalization: €14.6bn
The group has outperformed the market over six months compared with its performance over one, three, five and even ten years. The group is now a well-balanced conglomerate: Equans (34% of revenue) has been integrated, and the outlook for the construction business in general is brightening with lower rates and a record order book of €32.2 billion (two years' revenue). In telecoms, the integration of La Poste Telecom is boosting market share.
Orange, lying in wait, posted a solid 33.62% increase over the half-year.
DAX: +19.89%
Rheinmetall : Half-year performance: 186.77% - Market capitalization: €79.7bn
One of the star stocks of 2025. Boosted by exploding defense budgets, particularly in Germany, which plans to spend 5% of GDP on defense by 2029, compared with 2035 for other countries. Rheinmetall has a record order book of €55bn, 5.5 times its 2024 revenue. It is benefiting from unique momentum on the political and industrial front.
Siemens Energy: Half-year performance: 89.64% - Market capitalization: €75.4bn
The energy transition is propelling Siemens Energy to historic levels. The group is capturing the surge in demand for electrical equipment and has an order book of €123bn. It is becoming a key player in the global energy transformation, after having been the sector's ugly duckling.
Commerzbank: Half-year performance: 70.49% - Market capitalization: €32.1bn
The German bank is back to growth, driven by a 20% increase in net profit in 2024, a record for the group. Q1 2025 confirmed this momentum, with its best results since 2011. Looking ahead, Commerzbank has announced its ambitions: to distribute 100% of net income (excluding restructuring and AT1 coupons) this year, and to achieve a net profit of €4.2bn by 2028, up 156% on 2024, as part of its "Momentum" strategy.
IBEX 35: +20.78%
Indra Sistemas: Half-year performance: 111.94% - Market capitalization: €6.1bn
A specialist in aerospace and defense, Indra is taking full advantage of the boom in military spending. The company aims to double its defense contracts to €2bn by 2025. Revenue targets have been consistently revised upward by analysts since the beginning of the year.
Unicaja Banco - Half-year performance: 57.14% - Market capitalization: €5.09bn
The smallest Spanish bank by market capitalization, Unicaja is shining at historic highs. The group is part of the European banking sector's momentum.
Banco Santander: Half-year performance: 56.37% - Market capitalization: €105bn
The Spanish banking giant posted record quarterly profits (+19%) in early 2025. It is launching a €10bn share buyback program, demonstrating its confidence in its shareholders. Its size gives it a significant return on capital employed (ROCE) of 15.8%. In general, Spanish banks have suffered from particularly low valuations. With a price-to-book ratio of 0.6 and a P/E multiple of 5.8x in 2024, Spanish banking groups are benefiting from renewed market interest.
SMI: +2.98%
Geberit : Half-year performance: 20.56% - Market capitalization: CHF 21.17bn (€22.66bn)
The European leader in sanitary equipment is rebounding after a 45% drop in early 2022. The post-COVID period, rising interest rates and pressure on margins had weighed heavily on this cyclical business. Today, the trend is reversing and Geberit should benefit fully from the vast infrastructure stimulus plan in Germany.
Swiss Life: Half-year performance: 15.98% - Market capitalization: CHF 22.9bn (€24.52bn)
Swiss Life, the country's leading life insurer, is making a remarkable comeback. Despite revenues almost halving in two years, the group has maintained its profitability thanks to agile management. Confidence is returning: in Q1, net capital inflows reached CHF 9.3bn (compared with CHF 0.7bn a year earlier), return on equity rose sharply despite the lack of assets, and a share buyback plan (nearly 100,000 shares) reinforced the message to shareholders.
Swisscom : Half-year performance: 11.98% - Market capitalization: 29.14bn Swiss francs (€31.2bn)
Swisscom, the champion of turnarounds, is back in the black after a lackluster final quarter in 2024. In May, the group published solid quarterly results, supported by strong cash flow generation. The integration of Vodafone Italy is a key driver of this momentum.
BEL 20: +4.96%
Cofinimmo : Half-year performance: 39.66% - Market capitalization: €2.94bn
This was the best performance on the Belgian index in the first half of the year. The rental property specialist made a big impression with the announcement of its merger with its Belgian counterpart Aedifica. The deal creates Europe's largest healthcare real estate portfolio.
Umicore: Half-year performance: 37.02% - Market capitalization: €3bn
The Belgian group, which specializes in battery materials and recycling, fell back to its 2008 crisis levels after the announcement of customs duties in April. But the reaction was swift, with solid quarterly results triggering a rebound, reinforced this week by an upward revision of its annual targets.
Elia Group: Half-year performance: 34.41% - Market capitalization: €10.66bn
The Belgian electricity grid operator is back on track after hitting a five-year low in January. Its quarterly results were welcomed by the market, with a 17% surge in a single trading session. Strong prospects for infrastructure investment in Belgium and Germany are reinforcing the momentum.
Sector champions for the half-year:
After lagging behind for a long time, European banks posted one of the best sector performances of the half-year. After more than 15 years of underperformance, they are finally regaining the upper hand. While US banks recovered quickly after 2008, boosted by a stronger economic recovery, European banks made a series of mistakes: the Greek crisis, Brexit, persistently low or even negative interest rates, and then the COVID shock.
But the return of inflation has changed everything. Rising interest rates have given margins some breathing space, pushing them up automatically. Balance sheets are improving, as are valuations. Many banks are still trading below their book value (price-to-book ratio < 1), something unthinkable on the other side of the Atlantic.
Defense: Since the invasion of Ukraine, catalysts have been building up and giving the sector new momentum. Europe wants to free itself from the US shield by building a more autonomous defense, with a sharp increase in budgets, particularly via NATO. Added to this are growing regional tensions and the prospect of strategic contracts, particularly in the Middle East. Several groups have shattered their historic highs this quarter, buoyed by this unprecedented geopolitical momentum.
