The first quarter has been a banner period for Wall Street.

The S&P 500 is up more than 12 percent this quarter and is on pace to notch its best start to a year since 1998. The broad index is also set to post its biggest one-quarter gain since 2009.

Accompanying the S&P 500 in its ride high to start off 2019 are the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Nasdaq Composite and the Russell 2000, which tracks small-cap stocks. The 30-stock Dow is up over 10 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq has rallied more than 15 percent. The small-caps Russell is up nearly 14 percent.

Leading the way higher for U.S. stocks this quarter was the tech sector, which is up nearly 20 percent in the period. Tech giants Apple and Microsoft — two of the biggest publicly traded U.S. companies — rose more than 15 percent each for the quarter, but the sector’s best performer is an unlikely stock: Xerox. Shares of the copy and fax machine maker are up more than 60 percent to start off the year. They are also among the best-performing stocks in the entire S&P 500.

Other top-performing sectors include real estate, energy and industrials. Real estate got a boost from lower interest rates, while higher oil prices boosted energy. Meanwhile, optimism around U.S.-China trade negotiations lifted industrials.

Not every sector performed as well, however. Health care and financials are the biggest laggards among S&P 500 sectors, rising around 5 percent and 7 percent, respectively.

At the individual stock level, cosmetics giant Coty and fast-casual restaurant chain Chipotle Mexican Grill are the best-performers, followed by Xerox, Hess and Xilinx. Kraft Heinz, Biogen and CenturyLink rang up the rear, as they all fell around 20 percent.

Global stocks also performed well this quarter, with Irish shares surging more than 26 percent, more than doubling the S&P 500’s performance year to date. Stocks in Greece, Italy and Canada also rose more than 12 percent each. Japan’s Nikkei index is up more than 5 percent along with Indian stocks, lagging their global counterparts.

Stocks weren’t the only assets to do well in the first quarter, however.

Lean hog futures surged around 50 percent this quarter, while gasoline and U.S. crude oil futures are both up more than 25 percent. Coffee, wheat and cocoa futures fell sharply this quarter, sliding at least 6 percent.

—CNBC’s Gina Francolla, Chris Hayes and John Schoen contributed to this report.

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Shares of Jack in the Box, Adobe and FireEye have reached valuations that could be attractive for investors, according to several analysts.

CNBC combed through company research to find analysts from different industries singling out stocks in their coverage universes. Other names cited this week as compelling to investors include IHS Markit and Conduent.

Fast-food chain Jack in the Box is improving same-store sales with an increasingly aggressive value promotion, said Gordon Haskett analyst Jeff Farmer. “We’re upgrading JACK to Buy from Hold with the stock’s valuation discount bumping up against multi-year highs, offering a compelling risk/reward profile,” Farmer wrote this week in a note to clients.

“We expect JACK’s begrudging adoption of an increasingly aggressive promotional value strategy to drive an improved absolute and relative same store sales performance in coming quarters,” Farmer said.

Shares of Jack in the Box were little changed Thursday, at $80.37.

Software maker Adobe is another stock analysts called out with bullish comments.

“We continue to believe Adobe remains one of the best positioned growth stories in software and the risk/reward remains attractive at current levels,” said Evercore ISI analyst Kirk Materne. His firm attended Adobe’s Digital Marketing Summit earlier this week and came away impressed by the company’s message.

Last week Adobe also reported strong fiscal first-quarter earnings but issued a weak second-quarter outlook. The stock is down 0.35 percent, to $261.88.

In a recent note, analysts at J.P. Morgan upgraded FireEye to overweight from neutral. J.P. Morgan analyst Sterling Auty said that while shares of the cybersecurity firm have lagged others in its coverage by 23 percent, “increased billings will make it an, “attractive risk/reward profile.”

The stock is down 0.06 percent in early trading, to $16.48.

Here’s what else analysts think has an attractive risk/reward:

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Warren Buffett, the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, is speaking with CNBC’s Becky Quick at The Gatehouse’s Hands Up for Success luncheon in Grapevine, Texas.

Buffett said in his annual letter to shareholders that he wants to make an “elephant-sized” purchase, but noted that prices were were too high.

“In the years ahead, we hope to move much of our excess liquidity into businesses that Berkshire will permanently own. The immediate prospects for that, however, are not good: Prices are sky-high for businesses possessing decent long-term prospects,” Buffett said in the letter, which was released Feb. 23.

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Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, said Thursday that economic growth has lost some steam recently.

“It does look like the pace of increase in the economy has slowed down,” Buffett, who is known as the Oracle of Omaha, told CNBC’s Becky Quick at The Gatehouse’s Hands Up for Success luncheon in Grapevine, Texas. “I’d call it somewhere close to noticeably, but I wouldn’t go beyond that.”

Buffett noted that a slowdown in BNSF, the railroad company owned by Berkshire, is flashing a signal of slower growth, but added that some of the data may be distorted by seasonal factors, such as the weather.

His comments come amid increasing concern that U.S. economic growth could be stalling out. This has added to volatility in the stock market and has pushed Treasury yields lower.

“But it does look like it’s slowing down. I don’t mean it’s reversing course, but it does seem from all of the businesses, especially the railroad statistics” that the economy may be growing at a slower pace, Buffett said. “That doesn’t change anything we do. If there was a flashing red light; if there was a blurring red light, we would keep investing the same way we do.”

This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.

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SVMK Inc.: Dynamite. Fabulous quarter. A lot of people didn’t react to it correctly at the beginning. When they dug down, they liked what [CEO] [Zander Lurie] had to say, and I did, too. The stock came too cheap. It should never have been down where it was.”

Axsome Therapeutics Inc.: “Yeah, they got some sort of great breakthrough designation on a new drug, but we’re not gonna cuff it. No how, no way, we’re gonna find out what that [is] about. We have a list of homework and we better get it—maybe the dog at it.”

Sprint Corp.: “No, no, no. We’re sellers [of] Sprint. If you wanna play that, you gotta play T-Mobile, which is the one I’ve been behind the whole way. [CEO] John Legere knows I’ve been behind it even when he’s wavered, I’ve been there.”

NIO Inc.: “I do not want you in this stock ultimately, but I can’t” tell you to sell here. “That would be a mistake.”

General Electric Co.: “It does feel like it’s gonna” get to “$10. I feel, look, it’s [CEO] Larry Culp. He’s doing his thing. It’s gonna take a little while. It’s not an overnight fix. He’s approaching it correctly. I wouldn’t touch it.”

JD.com Inc.: “Maybe it goes up. To me it’s a dice roll and I don’t invest that way. I like to have more than dice.”

American Water Works Co. Inc.: “It’s been fine. I’ve liked that forever. I mean, I never had a problem with that one. It’s just a good stock, it’s slow growth. slow and steady wins the race.”

Watch Cramer’s lightning round:

McDonald’s has lagged the market this year.

The world’s largest burger chain has added 5 percent since January, its smallest quarterly gain in three quarters, and less than half the advance of the broader market.

One technician sees a big move breaking it out of its funk.

“McDonald’s possibly breaking out here. I’m liking, or I’m loving, the trade — to steal from the commercial,” Todd Gordon, founder of TradingAnalysis.com, said Tuesday on CNBC’s “Trading Nation.”

Since the stock’s consolidation in the final months of 2018, Gordon predicts a renewed surge to break past the $190 level. The stock last hit a record high of $190.88 in late November.

“We’re seeing higher lows, indicating buyers are becoming more aggressive as we move on up. I do think we should get the breakout, eventually targeting the $200 region,” said Gordon.

A move to $200 would mark a record and implies 7 percent upside from Tuesday’s close.

To take advantage of that move, Gordon is buying the May 3 expiration 190/200 call spread for roughly $2.78. This trade pays off when McDonald’s ends the contract above $200. Gordon is betting the stock could run the last leg of that move higher when it reports earnings on April 30.

“I remain net long in my portfolio. I hold McDonald’s in my longer-term equity portfolio, so I like the way the stock acts,” Gordon said.

Victor J. Blue | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Catherine Bessant, Bank Of America

Bank of America‘s technology and operations chief Cathy Bessant isn’t losing sleep over Apple‘s new credit card.

Bessant, who has led the bank’s tech division since 2010, was asked by CNBC’s Deirdre Bosa what her reaction was to Apple’s Monday announcement. Keep in mind that Bank of America, the second biggest U.S. lender by assets, is a financial giant with relationships with 66 million consumers and small businesses.

“My reaction when I saw the announcement was, first competitively, all of the features that are in that card are offerings we have today,” Bessant said on Squawk Alley. “The card plastic for swiping itself all the way through to the mobile and electronic wallet.”

Bessant joins a few industry voices, including analysts at Goldman Sachs, the bank partner for the Apple Card, to downplay the innovation that Apple CEO Tim Cook boasted about on Monday. The new service relies on Apple Pay for mobile payments and includes a titanium card for situations where Apple Pay isn’t yet accepted.

When asked if the Apple Card would at least widen the pool of card users by signing up millennials, Bessant allowed that her bank would be closely watching how the new product performs.

“We see new cards in the marketplace all the time,” Bessant said. “I think it’s an interesting announcement. We’ll pay a lot of attention to it.”

Analysts either love or hate Tesla.

RBC slashed its price target on Monday, suggesting 20 percent downside, and reiterated an underperform rating. Meanwhile, the rest of the Street has an average $335 target, which implies 30 percent upside.

Technical analyst Ari Wald is in the hate-it camp, arguing that aimless price direction means investors should steer clear of the stock.

“This is one we’ve been on the sidelines with, avoiding both on the long end and short side, just given how directionless and choppy it’s been, and that’s still the case,” Oppenheimer’s head of technical analysis said Monday on CNBC’s “Trading Nation.”

In the past 12 months, Tesla shares have moved as high as $387 and as low as $244.59. It is 34 percent off its August peak, a level reached after CEO Elon Musk falsely tweeted that the company had secured funding to go private.

“It’s paid to buy it when it’s ugly and sell it when it starts to look good, so with that in mind it probably looks more positive than not, just considering how bad it’s performed,” said Wald. “Two-hundred-fifty dollars is the big support range level, $360 is the upside there.”

A move back up to $360 marks nearly 40 percent upside from Monday’s close. However, that does not mean Tesla is a buy, says Wald.

“You can see the flat 200-day that exemplifies that directionless action,” he said. “If we allocate toward stocks that trend, this isn’t one of them.”

Gina Sanchez, CEO of Chantico Global, said Monday the company’s fundamentals also make for a bumpy road ahead.

“It’s going to be challenging,” said Sanchez on “Trading Nation.” “You’re looking at cutting deliveries estimates, delivery concerns, cutting demand estimates, and then concerns around margins — that $35,000 price point for the Model 3, there’s big concerns that they’re not going to be able to keep costs down enough in order to really produce a price margin.”

Like Sanchez’s concerns, RBC analysts’ downgraded expectations were tied to problems with its deliveries and the run-on effect on revenue and margins.

“Those don’t add up. Tesla is still being judged as to whether or not it can execute, and clearly the jury is still out,” Sanchez said.

Wall Street needs to see more mergers and acquisitions come through before the “coming onslaught” of initial public offerings jams up investing capital, CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Tuesday.

Major U.S. indexes traded strong out the gate Tuesday, but gave up most of their gains before the close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added more than 140 points in Tuesday’s session. The S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq both gained about 0.70 percent.

“I think part of it is that we’ve got too many stocks,” the “Mad Money” host said. “So with a bunch of new IPOs on the horizon, the market won’t be able to handle all the supply. And when supply outstrips demand, prices go lower.”

Lyft will list on the Nasdaq Friday. AirBNB and Uber plan to go public this year, and Slack, Palantir, and WeWork could join the fray as well.

Cramer predicted FAANG stocks would fall under pressure if there is not enough money to go around. The FAANG group includes Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Alphabet‘s Google.

“I think the FAANG stocks will be used a source of funds,” he said.

But big tech is not the only sector that the host is worried about. He said the oil, cloud, health care and transports sectors, among others, are too crowded and need some consolidation.

“I wouldn’t be this concerned about the lack of mergers if I weren’t so worried about the coming onslaught of IPOs,” he said. “If money managers want to participate in these deals—and they will—they need to sell stocks that they already own to raise money … and that’s gonna put pressure on the whole market.”

Below are some potential deals that would get Cramer excited:

Bond yields have tumbled as global economic fears have heightened.

For those seeking safety in the tech trade, these three sector plays could provide shelter, says Ari Wald, Oppenheimer’s head of technical analysis.

“Key for us is seeing this drop in interest rates the world over and signaling the threat of a slowdown in the global economy. We expect a premium to continue to be placed on these higher growth, large cap quality companies, and this includes a lot of your popular large-cap tech names like Apple,” Wald said Monday in a CNBC “Trading Nation” segment.

After underperforming the market at the beginning of the year, Apple has broken out this month. The stock has soared 9 percent in March, far better than the S&P 500’s advance of less than 1 percent.

Apple shares were up 1.8 percent Tuesday, a day after coming under pressure as the iPhone maker announced new subscription services, including a credit card and a streaming service.

“They’re planting flags in markets that are fairly mature and so I think that’s going to be challenging for Apple,” Gina Sanchez, CEO of Chantico Global, said on the segment. “I do think that Apple has to make a pivot, but … I think this is going to be a brand challenge for Apple if ever there was one.”

Wald sees two other names that could hedge against any tech squeeze: Microsoft and Amazon.

“For Microsoft, here’s a stock coming off a new cycle high in this mixed and questionable market tape. It held up better through the Q4 volatility, led on the way back higher as well, we see this as a sign of relative strength. It scores well in our momentum work,” said Wald.

He said Microsoft should find support at $114 after breaking out above that level in mid-March. It has rallied 3 percent since then.

“For Amazon, here’s a stock that’s probably the most tactical it’s been in years, and we say this looking at the stock’s weekly MACD [moving average convergence divergence indicator] inflecting positively from its most oversold condition since 2014 with a long-term uptrend that’s still intact as well,” said Wald.

The indicator has been trending upward since earlier this month, pointing to a change in trend.

“Broad-based strength, relative strength, you still want to own these high-growth companies,” said Wald.

Apple has added nearly 20 percent this year, Microsoft is up 16 percent, and Amazon has gained 18 percent.