{"id":242398,"date":"2026-01-20T10:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T10:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/242398\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T10:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T10:50:10","slug":"2-artificial-intelligence-stocks-to-buy-in-2026-that-could-be-better-picks-than-nvidia-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/242398\/","title":{"rendered":"2 Artificial Intelligence Stocks to Buy in 2026 That Could Be Better Picks Than Nvidia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Nvidia&#8217;s massive size could lead investors to seek gains in these comparatively smaller stocks.<\/p>\n<p>At first glance, contemplating stocks that could do better than Nvidia may seem at odds with current trends in tech. Nvidia is the undisputed leader of the lucrative <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fool.com\/terms\/a\/artificial-intelligence\/\" class=\"text-cyan-900 hover:text-cyan-800\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">artificial intelligence<\/a> (AI) accelerator market. With the AI chip market expected to grow at a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fool.com\/terms\/c\/compound-annual-growth-rate\/\" class=\"text-cyan-900 hover:text-cyan-800\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">compound annual growth rate<\/a> (CAGR) of 29% through 2030, Nvidia is likely to continue outperforming the market.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately for Nvidia, at a $4.6 trillion <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fool.com\/terms\/m\/market-cap\/\" class=\"text-cyan-900 hover:text-cyan-800\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">market cap<\/a>, doubling the stock price once would take the market cap to $9.2 trillion. This is significant, as Nvidia is the only company whose market cap ever exceeded $5 trillion.<\/p>\n<p>Thus, investors may want to consider smaller companies that can more easily achieve higher-percentage growth, and to that end, these companies could outperform Nvidia. Here are two to watch.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"An AI chip schematic.\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"880\" height=\"503\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"h-auto max-w-full rounded object-contain\" style=\"color:transparent\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768906209_402_.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"caption\">Image source: Getty Images.<\/p>\n<p>1. Micron<\/p>\n<p>Micron (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fool.com\/quote\/nasdaq\/mu\/\" class=\"font-bold hover:underline\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">MU<\/a> +7.76%) develops high-bandwidth memory (HBM), and this product is heavily in demand due to the boom in AI-capable data centers.<\/p>\n<p>Admittedly, the stock often struggled in past years, as the memory industry is objectively more cyclical than the tech industry at large.<\/p>\n<p>However, the aforementioned CAGR in AI chips should blunt the impact of industry cycles. Moreover, Micron is one of the &#8220;big three&#8221; companies manufacturing HBM, giving it a competitive advantage.<\/p>\n<p>Consequently, in the first quarter of fiscal 2026 (ended Nov. 27), revenue of $13.6 billion rose 57% compared to year-ago levels.<\/p>\n<p>Micron also kept costs and expenses in check over that time. As a result, its $5.2 billion in net income was far above the $1.9 billion earned in the same quarter last year. Additionally, analysts forecast a doubling of revenue during the fiscal year.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Micron Technology Stock Quote\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"64\" height=\"64\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"w-full flex-none object-contain\" style=\"color:transparent\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768906210_473_.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Today&#8217;s Change<\/p>\n<p>(7.76%) $26.12<\/p>\n<p>Current Price<\/p>\n<p>$362.75<\/p>\n<p>Key Data Points<\/p>\n<p>Market Cap<\/p>\n<p>$408B<\/p>\n<p>Day&#8217;s Range<\/p>\n<p>$352.04 &#8211; $365.81<\/p>\n<p>52wk Range<\/p>\n<p>$61.54 &#8211; $365.81<\/p>\n<p>Volume<\/p>\n<p>389K<\/p>\n<p>Avg Vol<\/p>\n<p>27M<\/p>\n<p>Gross Margin<\/p>\n<p>45.53%<\/p>\n<p>Dividend Yield<\/p>\n<p>0.13%<\/p>\n<p>Amid such conditions, the 250% rise in the stock price (which took its market cap to just over $340 billion) over the last year makes sense. With that, its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fool.com\/terms\/p\/pe-ratio\/\" class=\"text-cyan-900 hover:text-cyan-800\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">price-to-sales (P\/E) ratio<\/a> is at 34, barely above the S&amp;P 500\u00a0average of 31. Considering the company&#8217;s growth levels, that valuation implies the stock&#8217;s rapid growth should continue for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n<p>2. AMD<\/p>\n<p>Another AI giant that has a significant shot at outperforming Nvidia is Advanced Micro Devices (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fool.com\/quote\/nasdaq\/amd\/\" class=\"font-bold hover:underline\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">AMD<\/a> +1.72%), mainly because it is arguably best positioned to compete against the AI accelerator giant.<\/p>\n<p>AMD, which currently has a market cap around $380 billion, expects to release its MI450 AI accelerator later this year. According to the company, it could outperform Nvidia&#8217;s upcoming Vera Rubin platform, and since AMD&#8217;s accelerators are significantly less expensive than Nvidia&#8217;s, that could significantly increase AMD&#8217;s market share.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, AMD also operates client, gaming, and embedded segments, and those segment&#8217;s performances have improved significantly in recent quarters.<\/p>\n<p>Consequently, AMD&#8217;s $9.2 billion in revenue in the third quarter of 2025 grew by 36% yearly. That led to net income of $1.2 billion in the same quarter, and the 61% yearly profit growth was close to Nvidia&#8217;s 65% net income increase over an overlapping period.<\/p>\n<p>That also implies that if the MI450 makes competitive gains, it could begin to grow profits faster than its larger rival.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Advanced Micro Devices Stock Quote\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"64\" height=\"64\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"w-full flex-none object-contain\" style=\"color:transparent\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768906210_136_.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Today&#8217;s Change<\/p>\n<p>(1.72%) $3.91<\/p>\n<p>Current Price<\/p>\n<p>$231.83<\/p>\n<p>Key Data Points<\/p>\n<p>Market Cap<\/p>\n<p>$377B<\/p>\n<p>Day&#8217;s Range<\/p>\n<p>$228.86 &#8211; $234.49<\/p>\n<p>52wk Range<\/p>\n<p>$76.48 &#8211; $267.08<\/p>\n<p>Volume<\/p>\n<p>298K<\/p>\n<p>Avg Vol<\/p>\n<p>42M<\/p>\n<p>Gross Margin<\/p>\n<p>44.33%<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, its 115 P\/E ratio may not portray AMD&#8217;s valuation favorably. Nonetheless, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fool.com\/terms\/f\/forward-pe\/\" class=\"text-cyan-900 hover:text-cyan-800\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">forward P\/E<\/a> of 35 implies that AMD can grow its profits rapidly. That is also a low-enough valuation that could inspire investors to take its stock price to a much higher level.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nvidia&#8217;s massive size could lead investors to seek gains in these comparatively smaller stocks. At first glance, contemplating&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[365,363,364,111,139,69,145],"class_list":["post-242398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}