The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the price-weighted index that tracks the 30 most prominent companies in America, is a benchmark of the U.S. economy. It's not as broadly diversified as the market cap-weighted S&P 500, but it's still a good starting point for finding a few blue chip stocks that can deliver dependable long-term returns.
The Dow is often associated with slower-growth blue chip stocks like Verizon Communications and Caterpillar, but it also houses plenty of higher-growth tech stocks. Let's take a look at three of them -- Nvidia (NVDA 0.52%), Microsoft (MSFT +0.14%), and Amazon (AMZN +0.38%) -- and see why these Dow components could soar higher in 2026 and beyond.
Image source: Getty Images.
Nvidia
Nvidia, the world's largest producer of discrete GPUs, is still the easiest way to profit from the secular expansion of the artificial intelligence (AI) market. Its data center GPUs are used to process complex AI tasks, and most of the top tech companies -- including OpenAI, Microsoft, and Amazon -- use its chips. Nvidia also locks in its customers with CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture), a proprietary software platform developers use to create Nvidia-optimized AI applications.
NASDAQ: NVDA
Key Data Points
Nvidia faces some competition from cheaper data center GPU makers like AMD and custom AI accelerators, but it should continue to sell the best picks and shovels for the AI gold rush for the foreseeable future.
From fiscal 2025 (which ended this January) to fiscal 2028, analysts expect Nvidia's revenue and earnings per share (EPS) to both grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 45% as the AI boom continues. At 26 times next year's earnings, Nvidia still looks surprisingly cheap relative to its long-term growth potential.
Nvidia is already the world's most valuable company with a market cap of $4.4 trillion, so it probably won't replicate its 21,400% rally from the past decade. But its core engines are firing on all cylinders -- and it could remain one of the best-performing stocks in the Dow next year.
Microsoft
Over the past decade, Microsoft has expanded its cloud infrastructure platform, Azure; transformed most of its on-premise software into cloud-based services; ported its top productivity applications to iOS and Android devices; and upgraded its software with AI-powered services.
NASDAQ: MSFT
Key Data Points
The "mobile first, cloud first" evolution -- which accelerated after its cloud chief Satya Nadella took the helm in 2014 as its third CEO -- transformed Microsoft from a slow-growth tech company into a high-growth one that was well diversified across the cloud, AI, mobile, and gaming markets. It also became OpenAI's biggest single investor, and it integrated the AI start-up's generative AI tools into its own cloud infrastructure platform and productivity services.
From fiscal 2025 (which started this July) to fiscal 2028, analysts expect Microsoft's revenue and EPS to grow at a CAGR of 16% and 17%, respectively. That robust growth should be fueled by the ongoing AI boom as more companies upgrade their cloud infrastructure services to support the latest AI applications.
Microsoft is already the world's third most valuable company with a market cap of $3.65 billion, but it doesn't seem overvalued at 26 times next year's earnings. So if you're looking for a no-brainer way to profit from the growth of the cloud and AI markets, Microsoft checks all the right boxes.
Amazon
Amazon, the world's largest e-commerce and cloud infrastructure platform company, is still growing. Its e-commerce business continues to expand into more overseas markets, and its cloud business is profiting from the AI boom. It's also expanding its advertising business -- which sells promoted listings and integrated ads across its platforms.
NASDAQ: AMZN
Key Data Points
Amazon generates most of its revenue from its e-commerce business, but most of its profits come from its higher-margin Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud platform. By expanding AWS, it can subsidize the expansion of its Prime ecosystem with loss-leading discounts, free shipping options, cheap hardware devices, and more streaming content. It's already locked in over 240 million Prime members worldwide, which gives it a wide moat against its retail competitors. Its growing advertising business could also eventually become its second profit engine (alongside AWS) and give it even more room to expand its ecosystem.
From 2024 to 2027, analysts expect Amazon's revenue and EPS to grow at a CAGR of 11% and 20%, respectively. It's the fifth most valuable company with a market cap of $2.5 trillion, but it still looks reasonably valued at 29 times next year's earnings. Therefore, I wouldn't be surprised if Amazon easily outperforms the Dow in 2026 and beyond.
