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The Best-Performing Stocks in 2026 (By One-Year Returns)
The Best-Performing Stocks in 2026 (By One-Year Returns)
These are the best 21 stocks in the S&P 500 right now, based on 1-year performance.Many, or all, of the products featured on this page are from our advertising partners who compensate us when you take certain actions on our website or click to take an action on their website. However, this does not influence our evaluations. Our opinions are our own. Here is a list of our partners and here's how we make money.
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Updated · 4 min read Written by Head of Content, Investing & Taxes + more + more Reviewed by Certified financial planner Edited by Managing Editor Co-written by Managing Editor We're halfway through 2026, and this year has already had some major ups and downs for the major stock market indexes. The Iran war has threatened the global supply of oil, sending energy prices soaring and spooking investors. Plus, the Federal Reserve seems to have stopped interest rate cuts, and now investors are worried about the prospect of new interest rate hikes. But investors have also been quick to celebrate any news (or even rumors) about peace deal progress, as well as economic data that would make rate hikes less likely. Plus, strong performance from the tech sector has provided fundamental strength to the market. Below, we're listing the best S&P 500 stocks based on one-year returns. This can shed light on which companies may see continued momentum into the second half of 2026. Table of contents 📚 Best stocks by one-year performance Best stocks according to analysts How to find the best stocks for your portfolio How much of your portfolio should be in individual stocks? Best platforms for trading individual stocks » Do you have the right brokerage? See our list of the best brokerage accounts for stock trading » Do you have the right brokerage?Best stocks by one-year performance
The best-performing S&P 500 stock by one-year return is Sandisk Corp (SNDK), which is up 4493.87%. Ticker Company Performance (Year) SNDK Sandisk Corp 4493.87% WDC Western Digital Corp 835.06% LITE Lumentum Holdings Inc 787.52% MU Micron Technology Inc 783.17% STX Seagate Technology Holdings Plc 513.18% CIEN CIENA Corp 485.48% INTC Intel Corp 484.25% TER Teradyne Inc 382.37% GLW Corning Inc 338.98% COHR Coherent Corp 324.65% LRCX Lam Research Corp 313.51% AMD Advanced Micro Devices Inc 305.19% MRVL Marvell Technology Inc 267.88% AMAT Applied Materials Inc 261.94% FIX Comfort Systems USA Inc 259.05% ECHO EchoStar Corp 254.20% DELL Dell Technologies Inc 239.44% FLEX Flex Ltd 216.15% KLAC KLA Corp 209.22% CAT Caterpillar Inc 159.28% Source: Finviz. Data is current as of July 1, 2026, and is intended for informational purposes only. Note that these are the best stocks in the S&P 500 right now, based on one-year performance. But that doesn't mean that they're the best stocks to invest in. Predicting the future of even the current top-performing stocks is a job even the pros haven’t mastered. And the best stocks for your portfolio aren’t necessarily the best stocks for someone else’s portfolio. For example, a young person who is looking to aggressively grow their retirement savings (since they have a lot of time to ride out the stock market highs and lows) might gravitate toward growth stocks for their high-risk, high-reward volatility. On the other hand, a retiree who is looking for passive income might prefer predictable dividend stocks like the dividend aristocrats, which are relatively stable and typically increase their dividend payments over time. Make sense of the markets with The Nerdy Investor A weekly wrap on what's moving markets, plus two monthly deep-dives on how to improve your investing, straight to your inbox. Subscribe for free7 best stocks to buy this month, according to analysts
If you're looking for an expert opinion, here are the seven best stocks in the S&P 500 ranked by analyst consensus recommendation, where a "1" is equivalent to a "strong buy" indicator, and "5" is considered a "strong sell." Remember, though, that even the pros have a hard time picking winning stocks. This list is updated monthly. Ticker Company Analyst recommendation NWS News Corp 1 ANET Arista Networks Inc 1.09 APTV Aptiv Plc 1.17 WYNN Wynn Resorts Ltd 1.17 NWSA News Corp 1.2 SW Smurfit WestRock plc 1.2 MSFT Microsoft Corp. 1.23 Source: Finviz. Stock data is current as of May 27, 2026, and is for informational purposes only. Source: Finviz. Stock data is current as of May 27, 2026, and is for informational purposes only.How to find the best stocks for your portfolio
Choosing good stocks for your portfolio can be a time-consuming task, and you need to look beyond performance metrics like the ones on this page. Yes, it's a good sign if a stock is able to outperform during periods of market volatility and the broad market declines like we saw in 2022 (the last year the S&P 500 saw an annual decline). But as referenced above, there are a number of other factors to consider. Beyond your own personal risk tolerance and how long you plan to invest, strategic investors do significant research into a company before buying its stock. They perform fundamental analysis, which involves looking at the company's financial statements and considering how economic factors might influence the stock's future performance. Many investors also do technical analysis of a stock, which means analyzing historical movements in the stock's price to attempt to predict future movements. If you want to go this route, we have detailed overviews of how to research stocks and how to read stock charts, including key terms to know.How much of your portfolio should be in individual stocks?
The ideal portfolio composition varies from person to person. Some people like to keep things simple and exclusively invest in index funds, and advisors do often recommend keeping at least some of your portfolio in diversified funds. But there can also be a place for individual stocks — the question is, how much of your portfolio they should make up. some There are two different rules of thumb that are often used to answer this question, and they appeal to investors with different risk tolerances. The first rule of thumb, which is good for investors who are comfortable with taking on some risk, and like to invest heavily in individual stocks, is to invest no more than 10% of your overall portfolio in a single stock. As far as risk management goes, this is the bare-minimum standard. invest no more than 10% of your overall portfolio in a single stock. single Individual stocks sometimes experience big drops — 10% in a single day is not unheard of — and if you're investing heavily in them, this rule can limit the amount of damage that a decline in a single stock can do to your overall portfolio. (You can even use stop-loss orders to automatically sell a stock that drops 10% or more. If you combine this with the no-more-than-10%-per-stock rule, then you've built a system where no investment can shave more than 1% off your overall portfolio per day.) The other rule of thumb, which is more conservative, and better for hands-off or beginner investors, is to invest no more than 10% of your portfolio in individual stocks overall, and leave the other 90% in index funds. other invest no more than 10% of your portfolio in individual stocks overall, and leave the other 90% in index funds. individual stocks overall This approach really limits the amount of portfolio damage that a decline in any individual stock can do, although it also limits your chances of substantially beating the market. If you follow the 90%-index-funds rule, you'll mostly earn the market rate of return, but you'll have a little bit of money to trade individual stocks, giving you the opportunity to slightly outperform (or slightly underperform) an index-funds-only investor. Brokerage firms Learn more Learn moreon Charles Schwab's website
Learn more Learn moreon E*TRADE's website
Learn more Learn moreon Vanguard's website
Learn more Learn moreon Fidelity's website