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.
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.
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1. Sandisk
Sandisk (SNDK +11.98%) 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.
NASDAQ: SNDK
Key Data Points
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.
2. Lumentum Holdings
Lumentum Holdings (LITE +1.88%) 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.
3. Ciena
Ciena (CIEN +1.03%) 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.
NYSE: CIEN
Key Data Points
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.
4. Seagate Technology
Seagate Technology (STX +4.40%) 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.
