Financial analyst works on a computer with multi-monitor at night. The biggest stock winners and losers of 2026 so far have been companies that have benefited or negatively impacted by the AI spending boom.
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Since the start of 2026, the stock market has been great for stocks that supply scarce chips for AI data centers and bad for software and companies whose businesses are threatened by AI.
Learn how the overall market has performed so far this year, what has been driving that movement, the best and worst performing stocks so far, and what keep an eye on for the rest of the year.
The 2026 Stock Market So Far
The stock market has risen, up about 11% as of June 2, 2026. Despite the Iran war and spiking inflation, capital spending by hyperscalers like Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta Platforms, is expected to increase 63% to $670 billion this year, according to the Wall Street Journal. That spending has created an overpowering tailwind for the markets, particularly benefiting companies on the receiving end of that capital.
The key to investing successfully in 2026 has been to identify which companies would benefit most from this AI spending boom. The biggest winners have been makers of memory chips, the supply of which is falling far short of demand, driving price increases as high as 355% in 2026, a crunch likely to last until 2028.
What’s more, the market for high-bandwidth memory for AI accelerators is growing at a 41% average annual rate from $35 billion in 2025 to $100 billion in 2028.
Makers of AI servers that populate hangar-sized data centers also surged. For instance, last month Dell stock rose 32% the day after the company beat expectations and raised guidance on the strength of 757% demand growth for its AI-enhanced servers.
The biggest losers have been software companies whose business models AI agents were widely expected to decimated — an event dubbed the SaaSpocalypse. This fear was reflected in a 19% drop in the S&P 500 Software Index in February 2026 alone, which has since largely recovered, with over 90% of its components showing limited cumulative returns, reported Techi.
How These Winners and Losers Were Measured
I picked the four biggest winners and losers of 2026 in a simple way. I searched for stocks with a market capitalization of at least $5 billion and ranked them based on the percentage change in their stock price this year through June 2.
The Stock Market’s Biggest Winners Of 2026
The stock market’s biggest winners so far this year make memory chips and devices.
1. SanDisk (SDK)
- Revenue (3/30/26): $3 billion
- Revenue Growth (last year): 97%
- Net Margin (trailing 12 months): 34%
- Free Cash Flow (3/30/26): $2.96 billion
SDK Business Overview
SanDisk makes flash memory, enterprise solid state drives for AI and data centers, and portable storage for professionals.
Why SNDK Stock Is A Winner In 2026
SanDisk is benefiting more than peers from AI data center operators’ demand for NAND. The company signed three multi-year supply deals worth $42 billion to date. As unit demand rises, pricing is also going up. Gartner estimates that NAND flash memory prices will increase by much as 234% in 2026.
2. Western Digital (WDC)
- Revenue (3/30/26): $3.3 billion
- Revenue Growth (last year): 45.5%
- Net Margin (trailing 12 months): 55.3%
- Free Cash Flow (3/30/26): $978 million
WDC Business Overview
Western Digital Corporation develops, manufactures and sells data storage devices and solutions based on hard disk drive technology in the United States, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Why WDC Stock Is A Winner In 2026
WDC stock is a winner this year due to AI data growth. Hyperscalers need more storage as AI models create “more training data, logs, synthetic data and inference outputs,” per TIKR. Since HDDs store large amounts of data at a lower cost, demand is high. This unit demand is so high that WDC raised its prices 46% in the last four months of 2025.
3. Micron Technology (MU)
- Revenue (q2 2026): $23.86 billion
- Revenue Growth (q2 2026): 196%
- Net Margin (trailing 12 months): 41.5%
- Free Cash Flow (q2 2026): $5.9 billion
MU Business Overview
Micron makes commodity and AI-specialized memory chips. These include commodity products such as dynamic random-access memory and NAND flash. The company’s AI chips, called high bandwidth memory, are stacked DRAM cubes that sit beside Nvidia’s GPUs and feed them data at terabyte-per-second speeds. Micron began shipping them in February 2024.
Why MU Stock Is A Winner In 2026
Micron has already done well in 2026 due to strong demand from AI hyperscalers and it may have further to go. The stock is undervalued for two reasons. First, it could tap many long-term chip manufacturing contract opportunities with partially fixed pricing. Second, the company’s price-earnings multiple – which is lower than that of other chipmakers benefiting from AI capital spending – is likely to increase.
4. Intel (INTC)
- Revenue (q2 2026): $13.6 billion
- Revenue Growth (q2 2026): 7%
- Net Margin (trailing 12 months): -5.9%
- Free Cash Flow (q2 2026): -$3.2 billion
INTC Business Overview
Intel makes technology for consumer and enterprise markets. Its Client Computing Group develops processors, graphics chips and connectivity solutions for notebooks, desktops and mobile devices. Its data center and AI business provides workload-optimized platforms, server CPUs and networking products. Its Intel Foundry unit manufactures semiconductors and its Network and Edge business delivers chips for connected devices and embedded solutions for retail, manufacturing and healthcare companies.
Why INTC Stock Is A Winner In 2026
Intel has received considerable outside capital. For example, the U.S. government converted $8.9 billion of CHIPS Act funding into a roughly 433M-share equity stake at $20.47 and Nvidia made a $5 billion investment in the company. In addition, the company has benefited from a preliminary chip-making agreement with Apple, and strong demand for its Xeon server-CPU.
The Stock Market’s Biggest Losers Of 2026
The stock market’s biggest losers so far this year are mostly software companies being disrupted by AI. But the biggest loser was a sports gaming company suffering numerous problems, including an abrupt CEO departure.
1. Flutter Entertainment (FLUT)
FLUT Business Overview
- Revenue (q1 2026): $4.3 billion
- Revenue Growth (q1 2026): 17%
- Net Margin (trailing 12 months): -2.2%
- Free Cash Flow (q1 2026): $153 million
Flutter Entertainment is an Irish-American multinational sports betting and gambling company. Its brands include Betfair, FanDuel, Paddy Power, PokerStars, Sky Betting & Gaming and Sportsbet.
Why FLUT Stock Is A Loser In 2026
Flutter stock has fallen due to slower than expected growth. For example, the company offered investors cautious full-year guidance. It faces intense competition from the prediction markets and is suffering from margin pressures due to higher international taxes and the slowdown in the U.S. sportsbook market.
The surprise exit of FanDuel CEO Amy Howe, coupled with downward revisions, such as Citi’s double-downgrade, have lowered investor sentiment regarding near-term U.S. profitability.
2. Figma (FIG)
FIG Business Overview
- Revenue (q1 2026): $333.4 million
- Revenue Growth (q1 2026): 46%
- Net Margin (trailing 12 months): -123.8%
- Free Cash Flow (q1 2026): $88.6 million
Figma is a cloud-based collaborative design platform used by businesses to brainstorm, wireframe, UI/UX design and prototype digital products. It enables teams to centralize design workflows, build scalable component libraries and transition from the first idea to coded output.
Why FIG Stock Is A Loser In 2026
There are many reasons Figma’s stock has fallen. Figma faces competition directly from Anthropic’s Claude Design tool which was launched in April. In addition, board member Mike Krieger resigned just beforehand, per TIKR.
Figma’s margin guidance was lowered after the company implemented an AI-credit pricing model and a greater than $6 billion lock-up expiration in August 2026 could cause a wave of insider selling, according to Seeking Alpha.
3. Atlassian (TEAM)
TEAM Business Overview
- Revenue (3/31/26): $1.8 billion
- Revenue Growth (3/31/26): 32%
- Net Margin (trailing 12 months): -3.5%
- Free Cash Flow (3/31/26): $561 million
Atlassian makes software for collaboration between teams developing software and managing projects.
Why TEAM Stock Is A Loser In 2026
Atlassian was among the hardest-hit names in the SaaSpocalypse. Investors feared that AI tools could displace the company’s seat-based products like Jira kanban boards.
To some extent, the decline was due to sentiment — and a high multiple, not a fundamental miss — as revenue growth actually accelerated. The stock has recovered 79% since bottoming out for the year on April 10.
4. Reddit (RDDT)
RDDT Business Overview
- Revenue (3/31/26): $663 million
- Revenue Growth (3/31/26): 69%
- Net Margin (trailing 12 months): 24%
- Free Cash Flow (3/31/26): $311 million
Reddit is a social news aggregation and forum social media platform. Registered users submit content to the site such as links, text posts, images and videos, which are then voted up or down by other members. Posts are organized by subject into user-created boards called “subreddits.”
Why RDDT Stock Is A Loser In 2026
A variety of fears have sent Reddit stock down. The most significant concern is that an overhaul of Google’s AI search algorithm will reduce referral traffic, which accounts for 40% to 50% of Reddit’s visits, per Seeking Alpha. According to 24/7 Wall St, sentiment was also shaped by significant executive selling from CEO Steve Huffman and COO Jennifer Wong and a UK regulatory fine.
What To Watch For During The Rest Of 2026
Investors should keep their eye on the forces driving the market already, notably:
- Oil and the Strait of Hormuz: This remains the biggest force affecting global inflation. There does not appear to be any near-term end to the standoff.
- AI capex durability: As long as hyperscalers keep spending more on capital expenditures, the top performing stocks – SanDisk, Micron, and Western Digital – are likely to keep rising.
- Software/AI-disruption rotation: Whether SaaS names (Atlassian, Figma, Reddit) stabilize depends on evidence AI augments rather than replaces their economics, per CNBC.
- Interest rates: With a new Fed chair, there is likely to be a change in policy, favoring a more lax attitude towards inflation. With oil prices rising, inflation is way above the 2% target that prevailed prior to Kevin Warsh. If the Fed does not raise interest rates to control inflation, investors may get nervous.
The biggest stock winners of 2026 are suppliers of memory chips enjoying so much demand that pricing is rising at triple-digit rates. The losers are companies that investors fear could suffer a drop in revenue as AI takes their customers.