In this article, let us take a look at the 5 Stocks With 3x-5x Returns This Year. For a deeper discussion and an extended list, please see 11 Stocks With 3x-5x Returns This Year.
The New York Stock Exchange building. Photo by Дмитрий Трепольский on Pexels
5. Sandisk Corp. (NASDAQ:SNDK)
Sandisk Corp. has seen its stock price climb by 287 percent year-to-date—at $919.47 apiece versus only $237.38 on December 31—thanks to a highly optimistic growth outlook and the strong demand for memory storage products.
In a notice to investors earlier this month, Sandisk Corp. (NASDAQ:SNDK) said that it is scheduled to report its financial and operating highlights for the third quarter of fiscal year 2026 after market close on Thursday, April 30. A conference call will be held to discuss the results.
For the period, Sandisk Corp. (NASDAQ:SNDK) is expected to report revenue growth of 159 percent to 182 percent year-on-year to a range of $4.4 billion to $4.8 billion, versus the $1.7 billion in the same quarter a year earlier.
Non-GAAP diluted net income per share is expected to be at $12 to $14, or a reversal of the $0.30 loss per share a year earlier.
Gross margin, on the other hand, is projected to be at 64.9 percent to 66.9 percent.
The rally can also be partly attributed to the price expansion of NAND memory storage amid the growing demand from the artificial intelligence and data center sectors.
According to a research study by TrendForce, the jump in prices is expected to continue in the remaining months of the year, opening further opportunities for Sandisk Corp. (NASDAQ:SNDK) and its peers.
4. Aehr Test Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:AEHR)
Aehr Test has seen its stock price climb by 300 percent year-to-date, as investors gobbled up shares amid the growing demand for its solutions and services in line with the AI boom.
On Thursday alone, Aehr Test Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:AEHR) said that it received a follow-on order from one of its major hyperscale customers amounting to $41 million, bringing its total bookings in the second half of fiscal year 2026 to $92 million.
The new order covers its high-power system called Sonoma, as well as modules and device-specific sockets required to configure Sonoma for the customer’s specific AI processor.
Aehr Test Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:AEHR) said deliveries are expected to begin on June 27, 2026, or the start of its fiscal year 2027.
“This order further validates our Sonoma platform for high-volume production burn-in of very-high-power AI processor ASICs. Our Sonoma systems first entered production with this customer last year, and this new order reflects their continued ramp in capacity for current-generation devices,” Aehr Test Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:AEHR) President and CEO Gayn Erickson said.
Earlier, Aehr Test Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:AEHR) clinched other contracts for its high-power FOX-XP WLBI system for devices aimed at the hyperscale data center optical interconnect market, as well as for multiple testing machines and next-generation chips.
One of the buyers is said to be underway with the development of advanced silicon photonics–based transceivers for data center networking and optical I/O applications to address the rapidly accelerating demand for high-speed fiber optic communication links in hyperscale AI and cloud data centers.
3. Applied Optoelectronics Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI)
Applied Optoelectronics climbed by 351 percent year-to-date, primarily bolstered by its ongoing expansion program, coupled with the strong demand for its 800G and 1.6T data transceivers.
Earlier this month, one of its major hyperscale customers, which it refused to identify, has upsized its order for the 800G data transceivers to a total of $124 million, more than doubling the existing backlog for the same buyer alone.
Applied Optoelectronics Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) said that the transceivers would support the latter’s network capacity expansion to support its AI-driven workloads.
Launched in September last year, the 800G optical transceivers are built for high-performance AI and cloud data center networks requiring superior port density and bandwidth efficiency.
Applied Optoelectronics Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) also received last month its first volume order for its 1.6T data center transceivers from one of its long-term clients.
Meanwhile, it is underway with the expansion of its manufacturing facility in Taiwan, to be completed by its new production site in Sugar Land, Texas.
“We expect that we will soon have the largest production capacity for 800G and 1.6T transceivers in the US, and including both our US and overseas production, we continue to expect to be able to produce over 500,000 units of combined 800G and 1.6T transceivers per month by the end of this year,” Applied Optoelectronics Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) Chairman and CEO Thompson Lin said.
The company is set to release the results of its earnings performance for the first quarter of the year after market close on May 7, 2026. It will hold a conference to discuss the results and its outlook for the second quarter.
2. Erasca Inc. (NASDAQ:ERAS)
Erasca has seen its share prices soar by 390 percent year-to-date, as investors sought to increase their exposure in the company amid developments on its treatment candidate for solid tumors.
Earlier in the year, Erasca Inc. (NASDAQ:ERAS) expanded its worldwide rights to develop and commercialize its treatment candidate, ERAS-0015—which has a best-in-class potential—to China, Hong Kong, and Macau, sparking revenue growth opportunities in the said areas.
In addition, it inked a collaboration and supply agreement with Tango Therapeutics Inc. to evaluate the efficacy of ERAS-0015 when combined with the latter’s PRMT5 inhibitor, vopimetostat (TNG462).
The combination represents a promising opportunity to redefine the standard of care in patients with MTAP-deleted RAS-mutant (MTAPdel RASm) cancers, where treatment options remain limited, Erasca Inc. (NASDAQ:ERAS) said.
The company is targeting to report the results of its clinical trial for ERAS-0015 in the first half of the year, as well as for its pan-KRAS inhibitor, ERAS-4001, in the second half of the year.
ERAS-4001 is an oral, highly potent, and selective inhibitor targeting solid tumors with KRAS mutations.
Last year, Erasca Inc. (NASDAQ:ERAS) narrowed its net loss by 22.9 percent to $124.5 million from $161.6 million in 2024. Total operating expenses declined by 21 percent to $140.9 million from $179.5 million year-on-year.
1. AXT Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI)
AXT Inc. has seen its share price soar by 400 percent year-to-date, primarily bolstered by the rosy prospects for its business, thanks to the strong demand from the semiconductor industry.
The company is a leading manufacturer of high-performance compound semiconductor substrates or wafers, including gallium arsenide, indium phosphide, and germanium, which are essential in the development of 5G infrastructure, data center connectivity, lasers, and consumer devices.
Further adding to the sentiment were announcements earlier this year that AXT Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI) was upbeat about its growth outlook for the first quarter following the significant progress on its export permits for indium phosphide. It said that this would support hopes of revenue growth on a sequential basis.
“We are in a strong position to achieve sequential revenue growth in Q1, driven primarily by growth in indium phosphide for the AI infrastructure build-out,” AXT Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI) CEO Morris Young has said.
“We are also on track to double our indium phosphide manufacturing capacity this year and have a strong balance sheet to support our continued business expansion,” he noted.
Last year, the company widened its attributable net loss by 83 percent to $21.26 million from $11.6 million in 2024. Revenues also declined by 11 percent to $88 million from $99 million year-on-year.
In the fourth quarter alone, attributable net loss narrowed by 31 percent to $3.5 million from $5.09 million, while revenues dropped by 8 percent to $23 million from $25 million.
While we acknowledge the potential of AXTI to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than AXTI and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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