Key Points
Sandisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) and Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) were the two top-performing stocks in the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) to date. Sandisk is by far leading the way, rising over 600% so far this year. Micron is a long way behind but still up around 240%. No matter how you slice it, that’s an impressive run and leaves many investors disappointed they didn’t hop in earlier.
However, nobody can time-travel back to the start of 2026 and buy shares of these two. Instead, investors can only start now and predict what’s ahead. So, can Sandisk and Micron continue their unprecedented rise through 2027? Let’s take a look.
The memory chip market is still tight
Sandisk and Micron operate in the memory chip market. Sandisk makes NAND memory, which is typically used for long-term data storage. Micron makes both NAND and DRAM, with DRAM used alongside computing devices like graphics processing units (GPUs) for ultrafast memory access, ensuring these units have instant access to the information they need.
While most components that go into data centers have had the capacity to ramp up to meet demand, the memory portion of components that go into data centers has not. With soaring demand and insufficient capacity, prices have spiked for memory components. This has led to phenomenal revenue growth for both Micron and Sandisk.
SNDK Revenue (Quarterly YoY Growth) data by YCharts.
However, that’s just one part of the equation. Neither Sandisk nor Micron had to change its current setup to generate more revenue, so their margins have also skyrocketed to new highs.
SNDK Profit Margin (Quarterly) data by YCharts.
The one-two punch of soaring revenue and spiking margins has created a recipe for soaring stocks, but there’s one more catalyst that caused these two to skyrocket. About a year ago, nobody expected there to be a shortage in memory chips. These two also had low margins and low growth at that time, and not a whole lot was expected of them. As a result, they traded at a dirt-cheap valuation.
SNDK PE Ratio (Forward) data by YCharts.
However, as all of the catalysts have hit throughout the year, a combination of cheap stock prices, soaring revenue, and rising margins has created the ultimate recipe for legitimate stock price appreciation. Neither Micron nor Sandisk is in a bubble, and the market conditions that created their soaring stock prices make sense. But what about the future?
There could be several years of strong growth ahead
What investors are most concerned about is the memory chip market reverting to conditions in 2025, when memory was fairly low-priced and margins were weak. That would destroy everything these two stocks have earned over the past year and make them poor investments moving forward.
However, there are still a few years left in this cycle.
Micron recently reported quarterly earnings, and its management team informed investors that they see “tight market conditions” persisting beyond 2027. That bodes well for the short-term prospects of these two, but beyond that, it’s too hard to predict because nearly every memory chip producer will have new capacity online by then. Whether that is enough to meet AI memory demand remains to be seen, but until then, Sandisk’s and Micron’s stocks look primed to continue rising.
If you have a good risk tolerance and can monitor the memory chip market from time to time, I think these two can remain worthy investments moving forward. However, if you’re a set-it-and-forget-it investor, these two may not be right, as market conditions could shift at a moment’s notice, causing stock prices to soar or spike.
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Keithen Drury has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Micron Technology. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
