Back to News
investment

2 AI Stocks That Didn't Get the Memo That the Bull Market Hit a Speed Bump

newsfeedback@fool.com (Geoffrey Seiler)
Loading...
4 min read
0 likes
⚡ Quantum Brief
Two AI-driven tech stocks—Palantir and Sandisk—defied 2026’s market pullback, trading near all-time highs amid broader economic uncertainty. Palantir’s AI Platform (AIP) fueled 70% revenue growth last quarter by structuring disparate data into clean ontologies, reducing AI "hallucinations" and positioning itself as an AI operating system for defense and commercial sectors. Geopolitical tensions with Iran boosted Palantir’s government contracts, its largest revenue source, while commercial demand for AIP accelerated across industries, though its 51x forward P/S ratio raises valuation concerns. Sandisk surged as the sole pure-play NAND flash memory stock, benefiting from supply constraints and AI-driven demand for high-performance SSDs, with prices spiking after pandemic-era overproduction corrections. The company’s new high-bandwidth flash (HBF) technology, developed with SK Hynix, targets AI inference markets, though cyclical NAND risks persist despite its low 8x forward P/E for fiscal 2027.
AI Audio Summary
0:00 / 0:00
Click to play
kevin-ku-w7ZyuGYNpRQ-unsplash.jpg
Quantum News · Media Library

By Geoffrey Seiler – Mar 21, 2026 at 12:02PM ESTKey PointsPalantir Technologies has seen its revenue surge since the introduction of its AI Platform. Sandisk is benefiting from surging flash memory prices. While the market has pulled back from its all-time highs in 2026 over concerns about the broader economy, not all stocks have gotten the memo. In the tech sector, there are at least two artificial intelligence (AI) stocks still trading near their highs. Let's take a closer look at these two stocks that apparently didn't get the memo to pull back in this uncertain economy. Image source: Getty Images. 1.

Palantir Technologies Given its role in the defense and intelligence segments of the U.S. government, perhaps it should be no surprise that the stock of Palantir Technologies (PLTR 3.29%) has rallied to trade near all-time highs, given the current U.S. conflict with Iran. The U.S. government is the company's largest customer, and Palantir is arguably its most important vendor in helping modernize its systems. However, Palantir is far more than just a government defense contractor. The company's largest area of growth has come from the U.S. commercial sector, as its Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) has become one of the most important layers in implementing AI. Its platform is able to gather data from a variety of sources and then organize it into an ontology, which it then links to physical assets and workflow processes. This gives AI models the clean, structured data that they need to help avoid costly hallucinations (data that is inaccurate or doesn't make sense), in essence making Palantir's platform an AI operating system. ExpandNASDAQ: PLTRPalantir TechnologiesToday's Change(-3.29%) $-5.12Current Price$150.56Key Data PointsMarket Cap$360BDay's Range$149.09 - $156.6052wk Range$66.12 - $207.52Volume1.4MAvg Vol48MGross Margin82.37% AIP can be used across industries to help customers solve a wealth of problems, which has led the company to see accelerating revenue growth over the past 10 quarters. This was topped off with a 70% increase last quarter. That said, the stock is very expensive, trading at a forward price-to-sales (P/S) multiple of 51 times. I think Palantir can eventually grow into this multiple, but I'm not chasing the stock up at these levels. 2. Sandisk Another tech stock trading near all-time highs is Sandisk (SNDK 8.11%). The stock has been on fire since it was spun off from Western Digital early last year, making its triumphant return to the public markets as a stand-alone company. The company is the only pure-play way to invest in the hot NAND (flash) memory market, which has seen prices skyrocket due to current supply constraints in the market. After the market became oversupplied due to a pull-forward in electronics demand stemming from the pandemic, most big memory makers cut NAND production, which has not returned. ExpandNASDAQ: SNDKSandiskToday's Change(-8.11%) $-62.60Current Price$709.49Key Data PointsMarket Cap$105BDay's Range$698.60 - $777.0052wk Range$27.89 - $777.60Volume600KAvg Vol18MGross Margin34.81% Instead, these companies are now focused on high-bandwidth memory (HBM), a special form of DRAM (dynamic random-access memory) that AI chips are required to be packaged with for optimal performance. Meanwhile, NAND has also seen demand skyrocket due to the need for massive, high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) that use flash memory to store training data. Sandisk's stock is cheap, trading at a forward P/E of 8 times fiscal 2027 analyst estimates. NAND is a notoriously cyclical business, but if high-bandwidth flash (HBF), a new technology it developed with SK Hynix to address AI inference, takes off, the stock could still have strong upside. Still, I think the stock falls a bit more into the speculative category at this point. Read NextMar 21, 2026 •By Rick OrfordBetter AI Stock: Palantir vs. BigBear AIMar 20, 2026 •By Rick OrfordIs It Too Late to Buy Palantir, or Is the Market Still Missing Something?Mar 20, 2026 •By Manali Pradhan, CFAPalantir vs. CrowdStrike: Which AI-Powered Software Stock Will Dominate 2026?Mar 19, 2026 •By Johnny RicePalantir Stock Is 2,500% More Expensive Than the S&P 500 Average.

History Is Clear About What Happens Next.Mar 19, 2026 •By Lawrence NgaWhere Could Palantir Be in 3 Years?

The Base Case.Mar 19, 2026 •By Danny Vena, CPAPalantir Stock Investors Just Got Great News from Wall StreetAbout the AuthorGeoffrey Seiler is a contributing Motley Fool stock market analyst covering technology, consumer goods, healthcare, energy, and materials stocks. Prior to The Motley Fool, Geoffrey was a senior equity analyst at Raging Capital Management, a $600 million long-short hedge fund. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Haverford College.TMFFindProfitStocks MentionedPalantir TechnologiesNASDAQ: PLTR$150.68(-3.21%)-$5.00SandiskNASDAQ: SNDK$709.49(-8.11%)-$62.60*Average returns of all recommendations since inception. Cost basis and return based on previous market day close.

Read Original

Tags

aerospace-defense
government-funding

Source Information

Source: The Motley Fool

Discussion

0 professional contributions

Sign in to join this professional discussion.

Be the first to add a constructive contribution.