Roughly 30 years ago, the advent and proliferation of the internet changed corporate America forever. It opened sales and marketing channels that didn't previously exist, as well as kicked off the retail investor revolution.
For three decades, investors have been waiting for Wall Street's next "internet" moment -- and they look to finally have it with the rise of artificial intelligence (AI). Software and systems having the tools to make split-second decisions without human oversight are a potential game changer for most industries around the globe. It's also a technology that has a multitrillion-dollar addressable market.
Image source: Getty Images.
This enormous opportunity isn't lost on Wall Street's financial institutions or their analysts. While there's a laundry list of public companies that can benefit from the rise of AI, select analysts have identified three of the hottest and widely owned AI stocks that can skyrocket by up to 109% in 2026.
Nvidia: Implied upside of 89%
When it comes to the face of the AI revolution, Nvidia (NVDA 1.46%), optimism is almost universal. As of January 2026, 64 Wall Street analysts have weighed in on Nvidia, with 60 rating it as the equivalent of a strong buy or buy.
But arguably no analyst is more bullish than Mark Lipacis of Evercore ISI, the institutional equities division of Evercore, who set a $352 price target on Nvidia. If accurate, it would imply up to 89% upside in Nvidia stock and lift its market cap to nearly $8.6 trillion.
NASDAQ: NVDA
Key Data Points
Lipacis and Evercore ISI are particularly excited about advancements in parallel processing, where Nvidia is leveraging its market-leading graphics processing units (GPUs) to run simultaneous tasks/computations through its CUDA software platform. Faster and more efficient chips, coupled with steady improvements to CUDA, have given businesses ample reason to choose Nvidia's umbrella of products and services.
CEO Jensen Huang has also done a phenomenal job of ensuring that his company maintains its position atop the compute pedestal. Most external competitors are struggling to keep pace with the capabilities of Nvidia's prior-generation GPUs, such as Hopper and Blackwell. Huang has his company on track to debut an advanced GPU annually, with the Vera Rubin chip set to be shipped in the latter half of this year.
However, even Wall Street's most influential businesses contend with headwinds. Although Nvidia does have a path to head higher, it'll have to overcome several historical headwinds pertaining to next-big-thing technology bubbles and its premium valuation, as evidenced by its price-to-sales ratio topping 30 in early November.
Image source: Getty Images.
Oracle: Implied upside of 109%
A second ultra-popular AI stock that at least one Wall Street analyst believes will soar in the new year is integrated cloud applications and cloud infrastructure services provider Oracle (ORCL 2.01%). Jefferies analyst Brent Thill foresees Oracle shares climbing to $400, representing upside of 109% from where they ended the Jan. 16 trading session.
To begin with, Thill believes investors have overreacted to concerns about Oracle's hyperscaler concentration. While Thill recognizes that Oracle's five-year, $300 billion contract to provide cloud infrastructure to OpenAI accounts for a sizable percentage of its remaining performance obligation (RPO), it closed out its fiscal second quarter (Nov. 30, 2025) with $523 billion in RPO. In other words, it has substantial future contract revenue beyond just OpenAI.
$ORCL RPO growth is absolutely wild.
-- Shay Boloor (@StockSavvyShay) December 10, 2025
Oracle is taking on the most aggressive capex plan in the industry & building a data-center footprint that looks oversized relative to its revenue base but if OCI actually earns a seat in the AI economy the upside is absurd. pic.twitter.com/mTOcbRquve
Jefferies' analyst also feels investor worries about Oracle's debt are overblown. In a research note, Thill highlighted the company's "modular capex model," which primarily focuses on installing equipment and software inside enterprise AI data centers rather than actual data center ownership (the latter of which can be quite costly).
Some investors may find that Oracle offers an intriguing value proposition, as well. Shares have declined by 42% since mid-September, with the company's forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio dipping to 24. Though this is more or less in line with the benchmark S&P 500's forward P/E, it's fairly attractive given the expectation of sales growth acceleration for Oracle.
Nevertheless, Oracle's growth rate implies smooth sailing, which is rarely ever the case when investing in game-changing technological innovations.
Super Micro Computer: Implied upside of 93%
The third hot artificial intelligence stock that one Wall Street analyst expects to skyrocket in 2026 is customizable rack server and storage solutions specialist Super Micro Computer (SMCI 2.64%), which is also known as "Supermicro." Northland Securities analyst Nehal Chokshi is looking for Supermicro shares to reach $63, marking potential upside of 93% this year.
NASDAQ: SMCI
Key Data Points
The optimism surrounding Supermicro has been, in part, fueled by its ties to Nvidia. Its customizable rack servers incorporate Nvidia's highly sought-after GPUs, thereby increasing demand for its data center infrastructure. Nvidia's aggressive innovation cycles have enticed businesses to open their wallets, leading to a healthy demand backlog for Super Micro Computer.
To build on this point, world-leading chip fabricator Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing is doing its part to accelerate Supermicro's sales growth. The only thing holding back AI data center infrastructure sales from rocketing even higher is the physical supply of GPUs. Taiwan Semi has been rapidly expanding its monthly chip-on-wafer-on-substrate capacity, which is going to lead to more available GPUs and the ability for Supermicro to better satisfy its customers' demands.
Similar to Oracle, there's a value case to be made with Supermicro stock following a sizable decline. Shares are trading for less than 11 times forward-year earnings, with projected sales growth in fiscal 2026 of 64%, based on the initial revenue guidance of "at least $36 billion" from management. AI stocks with sustained double-digit sales growth and forward P/E ratios of 10.8 don't grow on trees.
The prevailing concern with Supermicro is its margins. As GPUs become less scarce, the expectation would be for Super Micro Computer's margins to deflate over time. But with its ultra-low forward P/E, given its sales growth potential, this modest risk looks well worth the potential reward.
