Top S&P 500 Stocks of 2026 So Far: Moderna Up 639% Through October 16
So far in 2026, the top S&P 500 stock is Moderna, up 639% in price from the December 31, 2025 close to the October 16, 2026 close. The S&P 500 index rose 11.9% over the same period.
The rest of the top ten mixes chipmakers, memory makers and two oil refiners. Sandisk is second at 447%, Dell third at 259% and Micron fourth at 208%. Intel is tenth at 143.5%. All figures are price changes for S&P 500 members as of October 15, 2026, dividends excluded.
On August 19, 2026, Moderna and Merck reported that a Phase 3 trial of their experimental personalized cancer vaccine for melanoma, a skin cancer, after surgery with Merck's Keytruda, met its main goal. The vaccine, intismeran autogene, is investigational. Moderna closed at $174.38 that day, up 177% from $62.96 on August 18.
Sandisk was ahead of Moderna on every trading day from January 2 to October 8 and was up 884% at its June 25 close. Moderna passed it on October 9. By October 16, Sandisk was 44% below that closing peak. In its fiscal year to July 3, 2026, Sandisk reported revenue up 175% to $20.25 billion, and the company says about two-thirds of its latest quarterly growth came from higher prices.
In the week to the October 16 close, Sandisk fell 18% and Dell 23%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Lumentum and Seagate dropped out of the top ten, and Marathon Petroleum, Valero and Intel moved in.
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