August was the month of the comeback kids. Cramer reviews what drove the biggest winners

August was the month of the comeback kids. Cramer reviews what drove the biggest winners. Several of the S&P 500's biggest winners in August spent months under pressure from concerns ranging from artificial intelligence disruption to slowing growth. Cramer said improving fundamentals helped challenge those fears and fuel sharp rebounds. Biggest S&P 500 winners in August Company name Stock ticker % gain in August Year-to-date % gain Moderna MRNA 156% 375.89% Palantir PLTR 51.45% 4.86% Veeva Systems VEEV 40.2% 27.98% Salesforce CRM 39.95% -2.78% Paramount Skydance PSKY 37.06% -18.58% Newmont Corporation NEM 34.52% 26.25% ServiceNow NOW 33.05% -3.39% Super Micro Computer SMCI 31.27% 27.37% Gartner IT 31.18% -21.47% Sandisk SNDK 28.96% 560% Coinbase COIN 28.62% -16.81% Source: FactSet data Moderna led the index in August after announcing promising results for its experimental melanoma vaccine developed with Merck, challenging skepticism about whether its mRNA technology could produce another major breakthrough. Enterprise software accounted for many of the other big rebounds in August. Palantir, Veeva Systems, Salesforce and ServiceNow had all faced varying degrees of selling as investors questioned the durability of software in the AI era. Cramer said those declines were exacerbated by the presence of Situational Awareness, a highly leveraged fund that had made large bets against software stocks based on that thesis. Situational Awareness was forced to unwind its trades in late July. Cramer said Palantir's earlier decline never made sense given its exceptional combination of revenue growth and profitability. Salesforce rebounded after a strong quarter undercut fears of the "SaaSpocalypse," while ServiceNow rallied after showing it could successfully integrate AI into its existing business. Veeva, which is focused on the life sciences industry, also bounced back alongside the broader software group after fears that AI would disrupt its business proved overblown. Gartner joined the rebound after earlier being hit by concerns that AI models such as Anthropic's Claude could diminish the need for its technology research. Cramer said those fears ultimately weren't reflected in the company's business. Outside software, miner Newmont benefited from an emerging recovery in the price of gold, which had been soared last year and into early 2026, before topping out. To be sure, Cramer said he prefers the stock of fellow miner Agnico Eagle Mines over Newmont. Paramount Skydance also bounced back as its proposed Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition remained delayed.