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The artificial intelligence boom already has its poster child: Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA).<\/p>\n
The chip giant\u2019s graphics processors are now the beating heart of the AI buildout, powering everything from large language models to cloud data centers. And the numbers have been staggering.<\/p>\n
Top Picks <\/p>\n
In its latest quarter, Nvidia reported record revenue of $81.6 billion (1), up 85% from a year earlier, while data-center revenue surged 92% to $75.2 billion.<\/p>\n
Wall Street has rewarded that growth in spectacular fashion. Over the last five years, Nvidia shares have skyrocketed more than 1,100%, turning the company into the most valuable business on Earth, with a market cap of more than $5 trillion.<\/p>\n
But after such a breathtaking run, some investors may be wondering whether the next stage of the AI boom could spread beyond the obvious winner.<\/p>\n
The good news? AI is not just about chips. It also requires data centers, voice interfaces, automation tools, defense applications and the digital infrastructure needed to bring the transformative tech into the real world.<\/p>\n
For investors willing to look beyond the mega-cap names, here are three AI stocks that recently traded below $50 a share \u2014 and Wall Street sees big upside in all of them.<\/p>\n
Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) <\/p>\n
If Nvidia sells the high-powered engines of the AI race, Applied Digital is trying to build the garages where those engines run.<\/p>\n
The company designs, builds and operates digital infrastructure for high-performance computing applications \u2014 a business that has become increasingly important as AI models demand enormous amounts of computing power and energy.<\/p>\n
Applied Digital also has a direct Nvidia connection. In 2024, the company announced (2) a $160 million private placement involving a group of investors that included Nvidia and Related Companies.<\/p>\n
More recently, Applied Digital said (3) a new 15-year take-or-pay lease brought its total contracted baseline revenue to $31 billion, or $73 billion if all renewal options are exercised. That gives the company a powerful \u201cAI factory\u201d story at a time when hyperscalers are racing to secure more data-center capacity.<\/p>\n
Applied Digital shares currently trade at $44.70 apiece as of this writing. Craig-Hallum analyst George Sutton has a \u201cBuy\u201d rating on the APLD and recently raised his price target to $75 \u2014 about 68% above the current levels (4).<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re looking for research on individual stocks, tools like Moby<\/a> can come in handy. Their team of former hedge fund analysts does the heavy lifting \u2014 breaking down the market, flagging quality stocks, and making the research easy to digest.<\/p>\n In fact, across nearly 400 stock picks over the past four years, Moby\u2019s recommendations<\/a> have beaten the S&P 500 by almost 12% on average. Their research keeps you up-to-the-minute on market shifts, and takes the guesswork out of choosing investments.<\/p>\n Plus, their reports are easy to understand for beginners, so you can become a smarter investor in just five minutes<\/a>.<\/p>\n Read More: Here\u2019s the average income of Americans by age in 2026. Are you falling behind?<\/a><\/p>\n SoundHound AI (NASDAQ:SOUN) <\/p>\n Not every AI winner needs to live inside a data center.<\/p>\n SoundHound AI is focused on voice and conversational artificial intelligence \u2014 the kind of technology that can help cars, restaurants, call centers, hotels and other businesses interact with customers through natural language.<\/p>\n That gives SoundHound a simple pitch: As AI moves into everyday life, companies will need software that lets people talk to machines more naturally.<\/p>\n The company has been growing quickly. In the first quarter of 2026, SoundHound reported (5) record revenue of $44.2 million, up 52% from a year earlier. It also reaffirmed its full-year 2026 revenue outlook of $225 million to $260 million.<\/p>\n SoundHound has also been pushing deeper into agentic AI. Its planned acquisition of LivePerson (6) is aimed at combining voice AI with digital messaging, creating an end-to-end omnichannel conversational AI platform for automated customer interactions.<\/p>\n SoundHound shares haven\u2019t been hot commodities lately \u2014 they\u2019re down 23% year to date. But Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Thomas Blakey sees a major rebound on the horizon. Blakey has a \u201cBuy\u201d rating on SoundHound and a price target of $15 \u2014 86% above where the stock sits today (7).<\/p>\n BigBear.ai (NYSE:BBAI) <\/p>\n BigBear.ai offers a very different AI angle: national security, defense and critical operations.<\/p>\n The company uses artificial intelligence and data analytics to help organizations make faster decisions in complex environments. That makes it a potential beneficiary as governments and large enterprises look for ways to use AI in defense, logistics, supply chains, border security and other mission-critical areas.<\/p>\n In the first quarter of 2026, BigBear.ai reported (8) revenue of $34.4 million. More importantly for the growth story, the company said backlog increased to $281.9 million, up 14% from the previous quarter. It also highlighted more than $60 million in national-security contracts and reaffirmed its full-year revenue guidance.<\/p>\n Like the other names on this list, BigBear.ai is not without risk. Revenue declined slightly year over year in the latest quarter and the company remains unprofitable. But H.C. Wainwright analyst Scott Buck has a \u201cBuy\u201d rating on BBAI stock and a price target of $6 \u2014 implying a potential upside of about 25% (9).<\/p>\n A golden hedge when AI gets frothy <\/p>\n As exciting as the AI boom has been, investors should remember that high-growth stocks can move sharply in both directions.<\/p>\n That is especially true in a market where enthusiasm around AI has helped push valuations to lofty levels. U.S. tech stocks now account for more than 39% of the S&P 500\u2019s market cap \u2014 an even higher level of dominance than during the dot-com bubble, according to Reuters (10). Meanwhile, the S&P 500\u2019s Shiller CAPE ratio has recently climbed above 40, a level not seen outside the late 1990s tech mania (11).<\/p>\n That does not mean AI stocks are doomed. But when a narrow group of market leaders drives so much of the action \u2014 and valuations are already stretched \u2014 investors may want to avoid putting all their eggs in one basket.<\/p>\n That is where gold can come in.<\/p>\n Gold has long been viewed as a go-to safe haven. It can\u2019t be printed out of thin air like fiat money, and because it\u2019s not tied to any single currency or economy, investors often flock to it during periods of economic turmoil, market stress or geopolitical uncertainty, driving up its value.<\/p>\n Ray Dalio, founder of the world\u2019s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, told<\/a> CNBC last year that \u201cpeople don\u2019t have, typically, an adequate amount of gold in their portfolio,\u201d adding that \u201cwhen bad times come, gold is a very effective diversifier.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite a recent pullback, gold prices have surged by more than 30% over the last 12 months.<\/p>\n One way to invest in gold that can also provide significant tax advantages is to open a gold IRA with the help of Goldco<\/a>.<\/p>\n Gold IRAs allow investors to hold physical gold or gold-related assets within a retirement account, thereby combining the tax advantages of an IRA with the protective benefits of investing in gold<\/a>, making it a compelling potential option for those wanting to ensure their retirement funds are diversified during rough economic times.<\/p>\n Goldco offers free shipping and access to a library of retirement resources. Plus, the company will match up to 10% of qualified purchases in free silver<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re curious whether this is the right investment to diversify your portfolio, you can download your free gold and silver information guide today<\/a>.<\/p>\n You May Also Like <\/p>\n Join 250,000+ readers and get Moneywise\u2019s best stories and exclusive interviews first \u2014 clear insights curated and delivered weekly. Subscribe now.<\/a><\/p>\n This article was written for informational purposes and is not intended as investment advice. The author does not hold positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article at the time of publication.<\/p>\n Article Sources <\/p>\n We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our ethics and guidelines<\/a>.<\/p>\n Nvidia (1<\/a>); Applied Digital (2<\/a>), (3<\/a>); TipRanks (4<\/a>), (7<\/a>), (9<\/a>); SoundHound (5<\/a>); SoundHound (6<\/a>); BigBear.ai (8<\/a>); Reuters (10<\/a>); Multpl (11<\/a>)<\/p>\n This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Moneywise and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue through links in the content below. 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