Newmont (NEM 2.44%) is the largest gold miner in the world with sites in the Americas, Australia, Africa, and Asia. The company's financial results lean heavily on gold prices, and since gold had its best year in over four decades, Newmont stock followed suit.
The gold miner's shares surged by more than 160% in 2025. However, gold miners don't always enjoy those types of rallies and can underperform the precious metals that they accumulate. For instance, Newmont only delivered a 69% return over the past five years, which lags gold and the S&P 500 during that time.
While last year was a strong year for the miner, there is no guarantee that 2026 will hold the same success. It is possible for Newmont to underperform even if gold prices continue to go up.
Investors may want to shift their attention to AI stocks instead, and Micron (MU 5.00%) looks like a strong case for investors who want to triple their money within the next five years. Here's what makes the AI play compelling.
Image source: Getty Images.
The late bloomer has become impossible to ignore
Micron didn't get as much love as other AI stocks like Nvidia and Broadcom, but the tide is changing quickly. The company produces high-bandwidth memory and storage solutions that are critical for AI chips to retain data.
NASDAQ: MU
Key Data Points
More investors have been connecting the dots, and that resulted in Micron stock more than tripling in 2025. Despite those impressive gains, Micron still remains significantly undervalued due to its 9 forward P/E ratio. The stock also has a 0.50 PEG ratio, further demonstrating how undervalued it is. A stock is typically considered undervalued if it has a PEG ratio below 1, and this ratio considers a company's financial growth rates, not just its price and recent earnings.
Many tech companies have committed to higher AI spending in 2026. That means more AI chips, and each of those chips needs Micron's technology to store memory and function under intense workloads. Micron isn't the only competitor in this industry, but it is one of the leaders in the industry.
Revenue growth is accelerating
Being a critical company in the AI industry doesn't guarantee soaring revenue. However, Micron has been silently delivering results without as much fanfare as the trillion-dollar tech giants.
The memory solution provider grew its revenue by 57% year over year in Q1 FY26, with net income almost tripling as well. Most of the growth came from Micron's Cloud Memory Business Unit, which almost doubled year over year.
That part of the business has gained significant demand due to AI chipmakers needing memory solutions. It also represented more than one-third of Micron's total business. Accelerating revenue growth for the Cloud Memory Business Unit should translate into higher revenue growth rates for Micron moving forward.
The 57% year-over-year revenue growth in Q1 FY26 may have been a teaser for what investors can expect for the rest of the year. Micron already forecast substantial records across revenue, gross margin, EPS, and free cash flow in Q2 FY26. Despite this guidance, Micron still trades at a valuation that suggests growth is slowing down.
As more investors realize Micron's potential, it should make a strong push toward a $1 trillion valuation by the end of the decade. Shares would have to almost triple from current levels to reach that milestone.
