Sandisk Is Dominating the S&P 500 in 2026. Can It Repeat in 2027?

Sandisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) has been the top-performing S&P 500 stock for most of 2026, until it was recently surpassed by the surging pharmaceutical company Moderna. Still, Sandisk is holding onto second place by a wide margin, and it has risen nearly 500% this year; not a bad one-year gain!

However, what's in the past is in the past. The question is, can Sandisk repeat its performance again in 2027?

While there are several other strong candidates for stocks looking like great investments in 2027, I have a hard time believing that Sandisk won't be one of them, as the same conditions that pushed it higher in 2026 will remain in 2027.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

The memory chip demand crunch is far from over

Sandisk makes NAND memory chips, which are used for long-term information storage. Devices like solid-state drives (SSDs) use NAND memory, and they are in high demand due to the massive AI data center build-out underway. SSDs don't have any performance characteristics that set one apart from another, so Sandisk's business is akin to a commodity. When demand is high and supply is low, as it is now, prices skyrocket, and this has driven Sandisk's revenue growth throughout 2026.

In the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026 (ending July 3), Sandisk's revenue soared 372% year over year. That's huge growth, and much of it can be attributed to higher chip prices.

Many investors are worried that this trend could flip and send Sandisk's business crashing once demand goes the other way. That's a valid concern, and history supports that precedent. However, Sandisk is using this opportunity to reshape the industry.

Sandisk is starting to enter into new business model agreements with its customers, which lock clients into committed volumes with defined pricing structures. This makes memory chip prices less subject to demand and supply curves and only subject to contracted agreements. This locks in pricing and gives Sandisk and its investors greater visibility into what to expect in the future.

The long-term effect of this change is that Sandisk becomes less cyclical. However, the market still prices Sandisk stock as if it will experience a cyclical downturn in the near future.

SNDK PE Ratio data by YCharts.

At 19 times trailing earnings and 6.5 times forward earnings, the market isn't pricing in any 2027 growth into the stock. That is a great opportunity for investors to take advantage of, and it could help Sandisk triple throughout 2027 if it hits expectations and remains at its current trailing earnings valuation. That would place Sandisk among the best-performing S&P 500 stocks next year, allowing it to potentially earn another top-five finish in the index.

Keithen Drury has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Moderna. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.