4 Tech Stocks With More Potential Than Any Cryptocurrency
One of the most appealing narratives about cryptocurrencies is their purported sky-high potential. Bitcoin has seen multiple years in which the coin gained more than 200%. Ethereum and XRP shareholders also saw mammoth 12-month increases in recent years.
But investing in cryptocurrency also means accepting massive volatility. The digital currencies often trade on market sentiment and speculation rather than being backed by tangible assets. And while stocks have built-in safeguards, such as markets that halt trading when a stock moves too low, too quickly, there are no such circuit breakers for cryptocurrencies. That means an investor could be left holding the proverbial bag.
Will AI create the world’s first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an “Indispensable Monopoly” providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue »
That’s why I prefer stocks to cryptocurrencies. With thousands of companies from which to choose, it’s pretty common to find some great tech stocks that have even more potential than your favorite altcoin. Here are four S&P 500 members off to a great start in 2026.
Image source: Getty Images.
Sandisk(NASDAQ: SNDK) is the best-performing stock in the S&P 500 year to date, with a return of nearly 200%. Sandisk is a return player in the stock market, having been acquired by data storage company Western Digital in 2016 and then spun off again as its own company in 2023.
The new Sandisk sells flash products, solid-state drives (SSDs), memory cards, and USB drives. Much of its momentum is in the data center end market, where its SSDs provide capacity for artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and other high-capacity storage workloads. Management said data center revenue in the second quarter of fiscal 2026 (ending Jan. 2) was up 64% on a sequential basis.
Overall, revenue in the most recent quarter was $3.02 billion, up 61% from a year ago.
Lumentum Holdings(NASDAQ: LITE) currently holds the No. 2 position on the list of best year-to-date returns in the S&P 500, with a gain of 118%. Lumentum makes optical components for fiber-optic networks that can handle AI workloads in both cloud and data center interconnect (DCI) environments. It also makes industrial lasers for sensing and precision manufacturing. It’s continuing to grow; the company just announced plans to build a 240,000-square-foot facility in North Carolina to manufacture optical devices for AI data centers.
Earnings for Q2 of fiscal 2026 (ending Dec. 27, 2025) included revenue of $665.5 million, up 65% from a year ago. Management issued guidance for third-quarter revenue to be even more, with a range between $780 million and $830 million.
Ciena(NYSE: CIEN) is having a solid 2026 as well, with shares up more than 85%. The Maryland company makes adaptive networking systems, including hardware and software, to handle AI workloads and support growth in bandwidth demand.
Its data center products include hyper-rail photonics, which enable networks to move more data while using less power and space, and AI-driven network automation, including AI agents to handle routing and validation and increase efficiency.
Sales in the first quarter of fiscal 2026 (ending Jan. 31) were $1.43 billion, up 33% from a year ago. “We delivered a very strong fiscal first quarter, driven by focused execution and unprecedented, broad-based demand as we enable customers to monetize their AI investments,” CEO Gary Smith said.
Seagate Technology(NASDAQ: STX) is a data storage company — similar to SanDisk — that provides hard disk drives and SSDs for both consumers and high-capacity data centers. Seagate stock is up more than 50% so far this year, and that’s expected to continue, as companies are spending hundreds of billions of dollars this year on AI data centers.
Revenue in Q2 2026 (ending Jan. 2) was $2.83 billion, up 22% from a year ago. Data center revenue was up 31% to $2.2 billion. Management issued guidance for Q3 2026 revenue to be $2.9 billion, up 34% from the previous year.
“Based on our current outlook, we expect to deliver sequential improvement to both the top and bottom line throughout calendar 2026,” CFO Gianluca Romano told analysts in the company’s earnings call.
Before you buy stock in Sandisk, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Sandisk wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $532,066!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,087,496!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 926% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 185% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.
Patrick Sanders has positions in Ethereum. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin, Ciena, Ethereum, Lumentum, Western Digital, and XRP. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
With the S&P 500 and Treasury bonds moving sharply lower in March, investors have been shifting over to cash for safety. As of the end of February, there was approximately $8.25 trillion sitting in money market funds, a new all-time record high. It’s also a sharp increase from the roughly $5 trillion parked in these
As the Australian stock market experiences a positive shift, buoyed by optimism surrounding geopolitical developments and economic normalization, investors are keenly observing potential opportunities in undervalued stocks. In this environment, identifying companies trading below their estimated worth can be a strategic move for those looking to capitalize on market inefficiencies and long-term growth potential. Name
A lot of people build their portfolios without a real structure or strategy in mind. They often buy what feels right in the moment, usually because it’s performing pretty well. What that usually creates is a collection of stocks and funds, not a portfolio that’s built to function as a singular unit. Portfolio construction should
①In the first quarter of 2026, a total of 30 new stocks were listed, with more than half from the Beijing Stock Exchange. ②By industry sector, there were relatively more stocks in the automotive, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, electronics, and basic chemical industries. ③The average increase on the first trading day for new stocks in the
As of March 30, the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO) was down 7% from its all-time high. It’s due to the first significant fall for the S&P 500 in roughly a year. This type of pullback may be uncomfortable, but it’s not unusual. Pullbacks of at least 5% typically happen on average about once
Every so often, the stock market has a way of manufacturing a crisis. This time, it’s Alphabet‘s (GOOG 0.20%)(GOOGL 0.57%) Google TurboQuant — a compression algorithm that reportedly shrinks artificial intelligence (AI) memory requirements by 6x. The narrative writes itself: Less memory required is a knockout punch for the likes of Micron Technology (MU 0.49%),
Statistically, the stock market has thrived under President Donald Trump. When his first term concluded (Jan. 20, 2017 – Jan. 20, 2021), the time-tested Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI), benchmark S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC), and innovation-driven Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) had risen by 57%, 70%, and 142%, respectively. The first year of Trump’s second
You don’t have to put much into the stock market to start building wealth. A single $500 investment in a stock that has promising long-term growth prospects is capable of growing into a much larger sum over time, thanks to the power of compounding. Fintech stock Robinhood Markets (HOOD 1.71%) is one potential example of
It’s been a turbulent year for the stock market. The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) index has been hurt by worsening sentiment. It could be from the Middle East conflict, the acceptance of higher interest rates for longer, or general uncertainty. As of April 1, the widely followed benchmark is down 4% in 2026. This is
During Donald Trump’s first term in office (Jan. 20, 2017 – Jan. 20, 2021), he oversaw some of the highest annualized stock market returns of any president since the late 1890s. When his term concluded, the ageless Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI), broad-based S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC), and tech-dependent Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) gained
①The Q1 earnings season for A-shares is gradually unfolding. The day after the earnings forecast disclosure, Fuxiang Pharmaceuticals and Bohui Shares surged by 20%, while Wanbangde, Tianshan Aluminum, and Shandong Hedao also hit their daily trading limit. ②Below is a list of A-share listed companies expected to report over 200% year-over-year growth in net profit
The March sell-off hit even the hottest areas of technology. However, not every tech stock was down for the month, and one pair of stocks in particular stood out as not only surviving the sell-off but coming out looking even stronger. That pair is Arm Holdings (NASDAQ: ARM) and Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD), whose
Never miss an important update on your stock portfolio and cut through the noise. Over 7 million investors trust Simply Wall St to stay informed where it matters for FREE. Wondering if LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton Société Européenne is priced attractively today, or if the share price is already reflecting its strengths? This
Ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East have sent the price of oil soaring, fueling fears of a slowdown in the U.S. economy. As a result, the S&P 500 (^GSPC +0.11%) stock market index plummeted by 5% in March, with many individual stocks suffering even steeper declines. But Advanced Micro Devices (AMD +3.36%) bucked the
Ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East have sent the price of oil soaring, fueling fears of a slowdown in the U.S. economy. As a result, the S&P 500 (^GSPC +0.11%) stock market index plummeted by 5% in March, with many individual stocks suffering even steeper declines. But Advanced Micro Devices (AMD +3.36%) bucked the
Stock prices have been sliding, and major indexes recently reached new lows for the year. The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) is down by nearly 6% from its peak, as of this writing, with the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) falling by around 9% after recently entering correction territory. This doesn’t constitute a market crash, and the
The stock market has offered investors a rollercoaster ride over the past several weeks, shifting between gains and losses. Expectations of rising volatility have been high, as we can see through recent peaks in the VIX — and when this volatility index rises, it also suggests investors are growing more fearful. Concerns emerged late last
RH (NYSE:RH) is among the stocks in focus, as Jim Cramer analyzed the broader market impact of the recent AI data center rally. Cramer showed a pessimistic sentiment toward the stock, as he said: Finally, because we need rate cuts to sustain this rally, I would’ve liked to see the home builders rally, but other
Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) is among the stocks in focus, as Jim Cramer analyzed the broader market impact of the recent AI data center rally. When a caller asked about the stock during the episode, Cramer said: Well, you know, Palantir right now, I have to tell you, here’s what’s going on with Palantir… It
We all know how costly healthcare is, and that it’s big business, making plenty of people wealthy. You might be wondering, then, how you’d have done if you’d invested in some healthcare companies in years past. Here’s how you would have done if you’d plunked $100 in shares of CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) five years
