Hedge funds are handily beating the market - and Goldman Sachs says these are the 16 stocks they can't live without

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• Stock market volatility has been a boon for hedge funds this year, as they've beaten benchmarks handily.
• Goldman Sachs has identified the 16 stocks given "VIP" status from hedge funds - meaning the companies most commonly held by those large speculators.

The volatility surge felt in stocks this year has been kind to hedge funds.

Aided by the types of price dislocations that largely evaded them during the snoozefest of 2017, those large stock speculators have seen a blended index of their 100 largest positions climb 4.8% this year. That performance has easily outpaced the S&P 500 Total Return index, which has returned just 0.4%.

Considering the outperformance that hedge funds have enjoyed, there's definite value to be gleaned from knowing what their top holdings are. Luckily for investors, that's something tracked by the equity strategy team at Goldman Sachs, which maintains a list of the stocks that matter most to hedge funds.

Analyzing 848 funds that hold a total of $2.3 trillion in gross equity positions, Goldman identifies the stocks that appear the most frequently among top 10 holdings.

If you're not yet sold on the approach of singling out hedge fund favorites, consider that Goldman's so-called hedge fund VIP list had climbed 3.5% through May 18, handily topping the equity benchmark.

Without further ado, here are the 16 stocks most widely held by hedge funds, according to Goldman data:

Get the latest Goldman Sachs stock price here.