Earnings, market-moving catalysts, Wall Street outlooks and the next opportunities investors should watch.
As of November 13, 2026 | YTD returns based on the supplied market snapshot
The biggest winners of 2026 tell a story that goes far beyond the AI trade.
While $Moderna, Inc.(MRNA)$ leads the ranking with an extraordinary 684.50% YTD gain, semiconductor memory makers, AI infrastructure providers, energy companies and cybersecurity businesses have also delivered triple-digit returns.
The important question for investors is no longer simply which stocks have rallied the most.
Which companies have the earnings momentum, genuine business catalysts and institutional support to sustain their gains into 2027?
1. The 2026 YTD Top 10 Winners
Source: Supplied market snapshot. The ranking and YTD returns have not been independently reconciled against historical S&P 500 constituent data.
2. $Moderna, Inc.(MRNA)$ : From Vaccine Maker to Oncology Growth Story?
2026 YTD RETURN
+684.50%
Latest price: $231.35
Moderna establishes office in Singapore | Singapore Business Review
Moderna has emerged as the standout performer of 2026, supported by improving financial performance and growing expectations for its oncology pipeline.
Latest earnings and catalysts
Moderna reported approximately $1.3 billion in Q3 revenue on November 6, up 29% year over year. The company also raised its 2026 revenue growth guidance to 15%–25%, compared with its previous upper-end expectation of 10%.
Its personalized cancer therapy program, developed with Merck, has attracted significant attention following encouraging clinical progress in melanoma.
These developments have encouraged investors to reconsider Moderna's longer-term potential beyond its established respiratory vaccine business.
What Wall Street is watching for 2027
The next phase of Moderna's investment story depends on regulatory milestones, potential oncology commercialization and whether revenue growth can translate into sustainable profitability.
The stock reportedly reached an intraday high of $280.80 on Monday, November 9, before retreating to $231.35 in the supplied snapshot — approximately 17.6% below that high.
That sharp pullback highlights the valuation risk associated with rapid biotechnology rallies.
Investor takeaway: Moderna has significant pipeline optionality, but clinical success, regulatory approval and commercial profitability are three different milestones.
3. $SanDisk Corp.(SNDK)$ Is NAND Becoming the Next AI Supercycle?
YTD +294.92%
SanDisk's exceptional rally reflects one of the strongest investment themes of 2026: the growing importance of memory and storage infrastructure.
Latest earnings and catalysts
According to the previously cited October 29 earnings figures, SanDisk reported approximately $11 billion in fiscal Q1 2027 revenue, with data center revenue rising 61% sequentially.
The company also announced an eight-for-one stock split scheduled for November 19.
Beyond earnings, the market has increasingly focused on NAND supply discipline, enterprise SSD adoption and longer-term purchasing arrangements.
Wall Street outlook — Evercore ISI
Analyst Amit Daryanani has highlighted the possibility of a structural improvement in the NAND industry, supported by more disciplined supply management and longer-term customer commitments.
A reported $2,500 price target suggests substantial theoretical upside, although the target must be adjusted consistently for the announced stock split.
Investor takeaway: SanDisk's investment case rests on whether the NAND recovery represents a durable structural improvement rather than another short-lived memory cycle.
4. $GraniteShares 2X Long DELL Daily ETF(DLLL)$ : AI Orders Are Turning Into Revenue
YTD +194.86%
Dell is one of the clearest examples of AI capital expenditure translating into enterprise hardware demand.
Latest earnings and catalysts
In its September fiscal Q2 earnings announcement, Dell reported approximately $47 billion in revenue, representing 58% year-over-year growth.
The company also disclosed roughly $60.9 billion in quarterly AI server orders and a $95 billion backlog.
These figures highlight the scale of enterprise and hyperscaler investment in AI infrastructure.
Institutional outlook
The central question for investors is not simply whether Dell can secure additional AI server orders, but whether those orders can generate attractive margins and free cash flow.
AI servers are capital-intensive products, and strong revenue growth does not automatically translate into equivalent earnings growth.
Investor takeaway: Dell offers relatively visible AI infrastructure demand, but profitability and order conversion remain the critical variables for 2027.
5. $Micron Technology(MU)$ : The HBM and DRAM Earnings Engine
YTD +179.75%
Micron's rally reflects the intersection of AI memory demand, stronger DRAM pricing and improving industry supply conditions.
Latest earnings and catalysts
Micron's September 30 earnings announcement reported approximately $54.23 billion in fiscal Q4 revenue and $133.19 billion for the full fiscal year, based on the figures cited in the earlier analysis.
Demand for high-bandwidth memory, DDR5 and data center memory products remains central to its growth story.
Wall Street outlook — Baird
Baird reportedly raised its Micron price target from $1,280 to $1,520 in late September, maintaining an Outperform rating.
The bullish thesis centers on constrained DRAM supply growth, increasing HBM demand and stronger profitability into 2027.
Relative to the screenshot price of $798.44, that target implies approximately 90% theoretical upside.
Investor takeaway: Micron offers powerful earnings leverage to memory prices, but the same operating leverage can amplify downside when the memory cycle reverses.
6. $Advanced Micro Devices(AMD)$ : Can It Capture More of the AI Accelerator Market?
YTD +173.30%
AMD has benefited from accelerating AI infrastructure investment and growing demand for alternatives in the data center accelerator market.
Latest earnings and catalysts
On November 3, AMD reported approximately $13.4 billion in Q3 revenue, up 45% year over year.
Data center revenue increased 97%, while non-GAAP earnings per share reached $2.09.
Management also projected approximately $17 billion in Q4 revenue, representing substantial year-over-year growth.
The combination of Instinct GPUs, EPYC processors and the next-generation Helios platform supports AMD's expansion strategy.
Wall Street outlook — Mizuho
Mizuho analyst Vijay Rakesh reportedly increased AMD's price target to $705 from $580 in October, citing AI demand and data center growth opportunities.
Against the supplied share price of $585.30, the target implies approximately 20.5% upside.
Investor takeaway: AMD's opportunity is significant, but investors should monitor GPU revenue conversion, customer concentration, competition and margins rather than focusing solely on the AI market's size.
7. $Marathon Petroleum(MPC)$ : Refining Margins Deliver
YTD +153.86%
Not all of 2026's biggest winners are technology companies.
Marathon Petroleum has benefited from favorable refining economics and strong cash generation.
Latest earnings and catalysts
The company's November 3 earnings announcement included approximately $7.5 billion in adjusted net income and $9.9 billion in refining adjusted EBITDA, according to the figures previously cited.
Marathon also announced a 10% quarterly dividend increase.
2027 outlook
The key variables are gasoline and diesel crack spreads, refinery utilization, maintenance costs and capital returns.
Investor takeaway: Marathon offers a different earnings driver from AI stocks, although unusually strong refining margins may normalize.
8. $Bloom Energy Corp(BE)$ : AI's Power Bottleneck Creates a New Growth Market
YTD +132.40%
Bloom Energy has become an important beneficiary of growing electricity requirements associated with AI data centers.
Latest earnings and catalysts
The company's October 22 Q3 results showed approximately $1.24 billion in revenue, up 138.1% year over year, according to the previously cited figures.
Management raised its 2026 revenue outlook to approximately $4.4 billion–$4.6 billion.
Its inclusion in the S&P 500 also represents a potential catalyst through increased institutional and index-related ownership.
2027 outlook
Investors are focused on whether Bloom can convert growing power demand into sustained orders, production capacity, deliveries and profitable cash flow.
Investor takeaway: Bloom offers exposure to the AI electricity infrastructure theme, but execution risk and valuation sensitivity remain significant.
9. $Valero(VLO)$ : A Traditional Energy Winner
YTD +130.33%
Valero's rally has been supported by strong refining profitability and favorable fuel market conditions.
Latest earnings and catalysts
The company reported approximately $6.8 billion in adjusted Q3 net income, alongside $8.8 billion in refining operating income, based on the earlier cited figures.
Supply disruptions and favorable refining spreads have supported the earnings environment.
2027 outlook
Investors should monitor global refining capacity, gasoline and diesel demand, crude oil differentials and capital allocation.
Investor takeaway: Valero's cash generation is attractive during strong refining cycles, but peak margins should not be assumed to continue indefinitely.
10. $Okta Inc.(OKTA)$ : Identity Security Meets the AI Agent Economy
YTD +111.10%
Okta's investment thesis is increasingly connected to the growth of enterprise identity management and AI-driven applications.
Latest earnings and catalysts
In August, Okta reported approximately $805 million in fiscal Q2 revenue, representing 11% year-over-year growth.
Current remaining performance obligations increased 14%, while free cash flow reached approximately $227 million.
2027 outlook
The emergence of autonomous AI agents could expand demand for authentication, authorization and access governance.
However, investors need evidence that these emerging applications are contributing meaningfully to bookings and recurring revenue.
Investor takeaway: Okta offers an interesting AI-related software opportunity, but its current reported growth is more modest than that of the leading AI infrastructure companies.
11. $Hewlett Packard Enterprise(HPE)$ : AI Infrastructure Beyond GPUs
YTD +108.83%
HPE benefits from enterprise demand for AI systems, networking infrastructure and hybrid cloud solutions.
Latest earnings and catalysts
In its September fiscal Q3 update, HPE raised its fiscal 2026 revenue growth outlook to approximately 34%–37%.
The company also outlined an improved fiscal 2027 growth framework.
2027 outlook
The major opportunities include enterprise AI infrastructure, networking integration, cross-selling and operating margin improvement.
Investor takeaway: HPE's opportunity extends beyond AI servers into enterprise networking, but investors should monitor integration execution, margins and free cash flow.
12. Which 2026 Winners Have the Strongest Potential for 2027?
13. Four Key Takeaways for Investors
1. The AI trade is broadening beyond chipmakers.
The presence of SanDisk, Micron, Dell, AMD, Bloom Energy and HPE among the leading performers illustrates how AI-related investment is extending into memory, servers, networking and power infrastructure.
2. Earnings delivery matters more than narratives.
Investors are increasingly differentiating between companies with tangible revenue growth, order backlogs and improving profitability, and companies whose valuations rely primarily on future expectations.
3. Moderna demonstrates the power — and risk — of biotechnology revaluation.
A major clinical development can dramatically change a company's perceived long-term value. However, substantial gains also create sensitivity to regulatory setbacks, commercialization delays and profit-taking.
4. The strongest 2027 opportunities may not be the stocks with the highest 2026 returns.
Following triple-digit rallies, the more important variables are earnings revisions, free cash flow, valuation and the durability of competitive advantages.
The Bottom Line
2026 has rewarded investors who identified the next bottlenecks in global growth — from AI memory and computing power to electricity supply and medical innovation.
But the investment landscape heading into 2027 could be more selective.
The next market leaders will likely need to demonstrate not only strong demand, but also sustainable earnings growth, pricing power and the ability to convert investment into cash flow.
Investor discussion: Which of these 2026 winners has the strongest earnings momentum heading into 2027 — MRNA, SNDK, MU, AMD or BE?
Data note: YTD returns are taken from the supplied screenshot. Earnings figures, institutional targets and company guidance discussed above are carried forward from the earlier analysis and have not been independently reverified for this English edition. Reported price targets are time-sensitive and should be checked against current analyst publications and split-adjusted share prices before publication. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
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