Key Points
Sandisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) leads the S&P 500 in 2026 with a remarkable 544% year-to-date gain, as of August 13. Following Sandisk, other top performers include Dell Technologies, Seagate Technology, Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU), which surpassed a market cap of $1 trillion, and Intel. Notably, the top ten stocks in the index are all tech companies benefiting from increased artificial intelligence (AI) investments.
In contrast, small-cap stocks have outperformed their larger counterparts in 2026, surpassing the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 indexes. This marks a significant shift, as large-cap tech stocks have historically dominated the market. Analysts have noted this change amid a broader AI-driven market rally that started with the release of ChatGPT on November 30, 2022.
The Vanguard Morningstar Small-Cap ETF (NYSEMKT: VB) shows a lower price-to-earnings ratio of 22.3 compared to the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF’s 27.5, indicating potential value for investors. The small-cap ETF also offers a dividend yield of 1.3%, higher than the S&P 500’s 1% yield, highlighting its attractiveness in a shifting market.
5 Stocks Our Experts Predict Could Double In the Next Year
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