Not all that long ago, a Nasdaq listing of a stock was met with a bit of derision. While it wasn't as lowly as the "pink sheets," the up-and-coming exchange - which was more of a telecommunications network and less of an actual trading floor - just didn't have street cred. Thus, Nasdaq stocks weren't taken as seriously as the tickers associated with the New York Stock Exchange.

But a funny thing happened as the 1990s turned into the 2000s. Largely thanks to the explosive growth of Microsoft (MSFT) and Apple (AAPL) - both of which were listed on the Nasdaq exchange - the little tech-heavy exchange began to be recognized as the place where investors could participate in the technology evolution.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Little has changed in the meantime. The Nasdaq still is a technology-oriented exchange, and still home to some of the stock market's most rewarding names. So rewarding, in fact, that they have driven the Nasdaq composite to numerous fresh highs in 2018.

Here's a rundown of 10 of the most compelling Nasdaq stocks. Some are familiar, some not so much. In all cases, though, these companies offer something special their peers don't.

MKS Instruments

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Market value: $5.4 billion

Most investors might not be familiar with MKS Instruments (, $97.95), but Wall Street analysts certainly are, and they love what they see. It's one of