3 Growth Stocks to Buy Instead of SpaceX

Space Exploration Technologies has rallied more than 50% from its lows and has been gaining momentum after successfully launching chips made by Alphabet's Google into space. However, a $2 trillion market cap against $7.8 billion in Q2 revenue leaves a lot to be desired.

A projected $100 billion in annual recurring revenue by the end of 2026 will certainly help matters, but it still results in a price-to-sales ratio above 20. These three stocks below have more reasonable valuations, solid growth rates, and rising profit margins.

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1. Sandisk

Sandisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) has been one of the hottest growth stocks in the market with more than 600% in year-to-date gains. Its NAND memory products are critical for data centers as artificial intelligence inference increases memory demand.

The company delivered 372% year-over-year revenue growth in its fiscal 2026 fourth quarter, crushing results. While bearish investors have expressed skepticism about how long the memory chip rally can last, Sandisk and others put those concerns to rest with multi-year customer deals. The company has already sold out of half of its fiscal 2027 capacity and two-thirds of its fiscal 2028 capacity.

Despite this growth, Sandisk is still one of the cheapest stocks to buy. A $23 million net loss in Q4 FY25 was replaced with $6.9 billion in positive net income in Q4 FY26. Sandisk trades at a low 8 forward P/E ratio due to its rising profitability. SpaceX is still a long way from positive net income and isn't growing as quickly as Sandisk.

2. MaxLinear

MaxLinear (NASDAQ: MXL) designs optical data center products that have soared in demand amid the AI build-out. It's the main reason MaxLinear reported 145% year-over-year revenue growth for its data center infrastructure segment, with overall revenue up by 55% year over year. MaxLinear executives believe sustained growth and expanded profitability will be the norm for at least the next two years.

Critically, MaxLinear is exhibiting the type of sequential growth rates that investors saw during the early stages of Sandisk's rally. Revenue was up 23% sequentially and reached $168.8 million, and the company's guidance implies up to $220 million in Q3 revenue. This high end of the guidance implies 30.3% sequential growth.

Continued AI data center expansion, including SpaceX's initiatives, should boost demand for MaxLinear's optical data center products and tighten supply. The stock's market capitalization is just shy of $10 billion, and it trades at a 30 P/E ratio. That's slightly higher than the S&P 500's P/E ratio, but MaxLinear is also growing at a much faster rate than the famed benchmark.

3. nVent

nVent (NYSE: NVT) has a broad infrastructure portfolio that's designed to help data center operators with electrical connection and protection solutions, but those resources aren't the major catalysts for nVent's rally.

Rather, nVent has been gaining market share in the liquid cooling industry, which brings more attention to its other services. Liquid cooling is essential for data centers. Without it, AI chips will overheat and either pause or melt from the inside.

Demand for liquid cooling has grown so high that the company has leased a 160,000-square-foot facility in Minnesota to increase its output. Upon reviewing recent financial results, it's easy to see why nVent made that investment.

The company's revenue increased by 53% year over year in the second quarter, while it significantly raised its full-year sales and EPS guidance. Operating income was up 92% year over year, indicating that the company can expand margins while achieving impressive growth.

nVent closed out the quarter with a $2.5 billion backlog, which offers revenue visibility for multiple quarters. The company also mentioned strong quarter-to-date orders when talking about the third quarter. That remark came one month into Q3 and implies that the rally may continue.

Marc Guberti has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.