The First Half of 2026 Is Over. These 2 Spectacular Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks Can Soar in the Second Half
Keithen Drury, The Motley Fool
Mon, July 6, 2026 at 2:56 AM GMT+5:30
5 min read
So far, 2026 has been another year during which Wall Street was dominated by stocks in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector. However, the biggest winners were not the same old names from prior years. Companies in the memory chip space have soared, with stocks like Micron and Sandiskposting unbelievable gains
Additionally, comeback stories in the processor chip space such as AMD and Intel have delivered solid returns. However, the AI stocks that have been mostly poor performers were the ones that were the best performers in 2023, 2024, and 2025. This could signal the start of a regime change, or it could simply reflect the market becoming interested in new parts of the AI narrative
Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a “Double Down” signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same “Total Conviction” signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »
I think the latter is more likely, as the companies that dominated during the three previous years are still doing well as businesses; they’re just not trading at the same premiums they used to. I think that two in particular are the best bets to soar over the rest of this year
1. Nvidia
Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) may be the world’s largest company, but it isn’t getting the respect it deserves on Wall Street. I think there’s a bit of market hesitancy to send shares of Nvidia too much higher, though if it traded at its normal valuation level, it would be 50% higher today
Over the past two years, Nvidia stock has averaged about 34 times forward earnings. Today, it’s sitting at 21.7 — about the same forward ratio as the S&P 500(SNPINDEX: ^GSPC)
If that were the only information you had, you might assume that Nvidia’s best days were behind it and that its growth was slowing. But that’s far from the case. Next quarter, Wall Street analysts project revenue growth of 96% year over year — an acceleration from its current levels, and faster than it was growing at this point last year
As a result, I don’t see any reason Nvidia shouldn’t trade at that higher valuation. Peer chipmaker AMD, which is growing more slowly, trades at 73 times forward earnings. So Nvidia is undervalued both on a historical and a peer-group basis, and I think a rise could be coming in the latter half of this year as the market realizes that Nvidia’s growth story will easily last beyond 2027
2. Meta Platforms
Nvidia’s stock is in positive territory for 2026, though just barely. Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) is not. Its stock has declined about 12% so far this year. Once again, this isn’t a question of whether Meta is doing well as a business, because it is
