These 3 Stocks Have Crushed the Market This Year. Here's Why There Is More Upside Ahead

Despite economic headwinds and geopolitical tensions, equities have performed fairly well so far this year. The S&P 500 is up by a solid 8% to date. Some companies are doing an even more impressive job of overcoming all the challenges and volatility. Consider these three stocks that have left broader equities in the dust this year: Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA), Krystal Biotech (NASDAQ: KRYS), and Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD). Despite their strong performances this year, these companies are still worth investing in.

Image source: Getty Images.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now, when you join Stock Advisor. See the stocks »

1. Moderna

Moderna, the famous vaccine maker that was one of the leaders in the coronavirus market, is making significant progress toward important new approvals. The company is inching closer to earning the green light for its influenza vaccine, mRNA-1010. This product could help address an unmet market need, as the low effectiveness of current flu vaccines leaves many patients -- particularly the elderly, whom Moderna is targeting with mRNA-1010 -- at risk of severe cases of the disease and hospitalization. An approval here would be an important step forward for the vaccine maker.

The company expects several other catalysts over the next two years, including the launch of its norovirus vaccine and several data readouts. Moderna's pipeline includes several highly promising candidates. One of them is mRNA-4157, an investigational personalized cancer vaccine currently undergoing several phase 2 and phase 3 studies. Over the next few years, Moderna could make significant clinical and regulatory progress while also posting much stronger financial results. That's why, even though its shares are up 100% this year, it could still deliver solid returns over the next decade.

2. Krystal Biotech

Krystal Biotech is performing well thanks to Vyjuvek, a medicine for a rare disease called dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (DEB). This genetic condition leads to extremely fragile skin. Patients with DEB get painful blisters from otherwise minor friction. Vyjuvek, a gene therapy for DEB, was the first medicine to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for this disease. It has helped Krystal Biotech generate rapidly growing revenue and earnings. The drugmaker is on an 11-quarter streak of positive earnings per share, which is fairly impressive for a biotech company of this size with only a single product on the market.

The good news is that Krystal Biotech still has a large addressable market to tap into with Vyjuvek, as it continues to expand to new regions in Europe and elsewhere. Expect the company's top line to continue moving in the right direction for the foreseeable future. Further, Krystal Biotech boasts over half a dozen pipeline candidates, and we should see clinical trial data for at least some of them over the next few years. Between the strong performance of its leading product, Vyjuvek, and potential clinical catalysts that could lead to brand-new approvals, Krystal Biotech looks likely to continue beating the market. The stock is up 38% this year. But it's not too late to buy.

3. Advanced Micro Devices

Shares of AMD have soared by 129% year to date. The company is posting strong financial results, but that's only part of the story. AMD looks increasingly attractive as a pick to capitalize on the rapidly growing artificial intelligence (AI) field. Here are two reasons why. First, AMD is a leader in the server CPU (Central Processing Unit) market. As we move into the world of agentic AI -- self-directed systems that can work toward a goal with limited human intervention -- CPUs will become increasingly more important. That puts AMD, whose EPYC processors are among the market leaders, in a great position. Note that Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) has argued that we could be looking at a $200 billion CPU total addressable market due to the rise of agentic AI, a number that dwarfs AMD's trailing-12-month revenue of $37.5 billion.

Second, AMD has been gaining ground on one of its biggest competitors in its niche, Intel (NASDAQ: INTC). In the first quarter, AMD's share of the desktop CPU market was 33.2%, up about 5% from the same period in the previous fiscal year. AMD also had a 46.2% revenue share, a record for the company and clear evidence of its stronger pricing power. These factors suggest that AMD can continue riding the AI wave for a while, making it a top stock to buy now, even after its impressive run this year.

Prosper Junior Bakiny has positions in Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Intel, Krystal Biotech, Moderna, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.