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The Nasdaq Is Approaching All-Time Highs. Is It Too Late to Buy These Artificial Intelligence (AI) Growth Stocks?

Motley Fool - Sun Apr 26, 7:50PM CDT

Key Points

  • The Nasdaq has been surging in April, up 14%.

  • Sandisk stock has returned more than 3,000% over the past year, and it still has room to run.

  • Micron is up nearly 600% over the past year, and it is actually a value stock right now.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index has been surging in April after officially entering correction territory at the end of March.

But so far this month, as of April 22, it has wiped out the year-to-date losses, rising nearly 14%. The index hit an all-time high on April 22, rising to over $24,545, and is now up about 5% year to date.

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The sharp April increase is mostly from hopes that the conflict in Iran is perhaps drawing to a conclusion, although the markets may be a little overly exuberant there, because it doesn't appear that a whole lot of real progress has been made outside of rhetoric. The bigger factor is investors buying back in on the dip, as many of the top artificial intelligence (AI) and growth stocks saw their valuations drop, signaling to investors a good buying opportunity.

Two friends or perhaps a couple standing next to each other, cheering while looking at a phone.

Image source: Getty Images.

Those who were able to buy at the dip are no doubt pleased. But those who did not may be wondering if they missed the boat and now it's too late. The past month or so has been a prime example of why it is difficult to time the market, because if you sold to stem your losses in the first quarter, you may have missed the huge 14% rally that followed the Q1 correction.

The good news is, it is never too late to buy good AI stocks, because, even with the 14% April gain and the Nasdaq near an all-time high, there are some great buys out there -- even among AI stocks. Here are two great options that remain good values.

1. Sandisk

It seems almost insane that a stock that has risen 304% year to date and a ridiculous 3,142% over the past 12 months is still a good value, but that is the case with Sandisk(NASDAQ: SNDK).

The company has become an AI juggernaut since it spun off of Western Digital early in 2025. Since then, as the 3,100%-plus return would indicate, it has taken off.

Back in February, I wrote about Sandisk, and at that point it was only up 131% year to date. I said it still had room to run, and here it is, two months later, doubling its return to 304%. Can it still go even higher? Yes, it can.

Sandisk makes NAND flash drives and solid state drives for large applications, like data centers, mobile phones, AI computing, and gaming devices, among others. As one of the established leaders in this niche, it is benefiting from the memory supercycle where AI is moving so fast, the demand for these drives, which provide memory storage, is through the roof. In fact, the supply can't keep up with demand, which drives prices higher.

That supercycle remains in full swing, with no signs of slowing down. In the most recent quarter, Sandisk boosted revenue 31%, sequentially, meaning from the last quarter, not year over year. And net income surged 617%, sequentially.

The projections for the current quarter are even more amazing, with revenue expected to rise 46% sequentially.

The earnings power is so massive that it justifies the incredibly high and rising stock price, as the forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is only 17. Sandisk is still a good deal and has more room to run.

2. Micron

Memory and storage stocks are the place to be right now, and another major player in this space, Micron Technology(NASDAQ: MU), is near the top of the class.

Micron is also a memory and storage stock, and it is benefiting from the same supercycle as Sandisk. While there is some overlap, as Micron also provides NAND flash drives, most of its revenue comes from its dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and high bandwidth memory (HBM) storage for data centers and other applications.

In this area, it is one of only three major players, along with Korean companies Samsung and SK Hynix, so it is seeing huge demand for its products.

In fact, demand is so high that Micron has already sold out its supply of HBM memory chips for 2026.

Micron has not quite had the returns of Sandisk, as the stock is only up 70% year to date (YTD) and 593% over the past 12 months. However, like Sandisk, its earnings power is so great that it is still a downright value with plenty of room to run. It is trading at just 21 times earnings and has a ridiculously low forward P/E ratio of 9. That's in value territory.

So, no, it is not too late to buy these AI juggernauts.

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Dave Kovaleski has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Micron Technology and Western Digital. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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