The best stocks to buy for 2026 have something for everyone, whether you’re a tech or artificial intelligence (“AI”) investor, a dividend investor, or even a small-cap investor. You can find growth and value here, sometimes even in the same stock (check out the first stock in the list).
AI investments continue to be a huge driver of the market, and investors’ eyes are keenly on a variety of AI plays, whether that’s chipmakers, infrastructure plays, or pre-IPO chatbot makers.
But investors can find attractive investments in sectors beyond what has captured the market’s fancy. Small caps continue to be a great place to find mispriced stocks that are growing briskly. Even dividend stocks may be a place to play defense if that’s how you’re positioning your portfolio.
So these five stocks below offer a mix that can appeal to many types of investors.
Best Stocks to Buy for 2026
1. Nvidia (NVDA)
How can one of the world’s largest companies by market cap be a bargain? Yet, that’s just what the $4.5 trillion AI chipmaker Nvidia appears to be. Based on earnings expectations of $8.25 per share for this year, Nvidia trades for just 22 times earnings.
Yes, the very heart of the AI economy is growing briskly and yet trading for a bargain.
This undervaluation is just what my colleague Mike Barrett called out earlier this year: He points to AI fatigue as one cause of investors’ complacency. After all, Nvidia has been soaring for what seems like years. Surely, it can’t keep climbing… or can it?
Nvidia’s graphics processing units are the muscle behind the AI data centers being constructed at a furious pace by the planet’s biggest tech companies – Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), Meta Platforms (META), and Alphabet (GOOGL). These hyperscalers are increasing capital investment 71% this year, to some $650 billion… and Nvidia is going to get more than its share of it.
That’s not to say there isn’t skepticism or risk. Some investors look at Nvidia’s high margins and worry about how the company can maintain them. Last year’s gross margin of 70% is lower than the prior year’s 76%, but it’s back on par with what the company achieved two years before that.
But the intense demands of AI processing may help keep a tenaciously innovative leader in its top spot, earning those high margins… if it keeps delivering what its customers need.
2. Broadcom (AVGO)
Want another AI chip play? The $1.6 trillion Broadcom is also among the world’s largest companies, and it’s trading around 31 times this year’s estimated earnings. It’s growing quickly, too, as semiconductors are being snapped up to support the rapid build-out of data centers.
In the company’s fiscal year ending November 2025, sales surged nearly 24%. Margins expanded on the higher volume, and net earnings soared from $5.9 billion to $23.1 billion.
It should be another year of soaring sales, if the first quarter’s figures are indicative. Sales rose 29% year over year, and execs projected second-quarter sales to increase 47%.
Broadcom’s AI semiconductor solutions is a notable standout. Sales in that unit grew 106% year over year to $8.4 billion in the first quarter, and the CEO says sales are actually accelerating. These rapid gains in the AI unit make Broadcom an even more concentrated play on AI.
Its customers include the big names you’d expect: Alphabet, Meta, OpenAI, and Anthropic. These clients’ rapid capital spending on their own AI build-outs will come Broadcom’s way.
3. CrowdStrike (CRWD)
Like many software-focused companies, CrowdStrike was hammered to start the year. Investors were running scared as fears that AI would replace incumbent software firms drove selling. The stock held up better than most, since it actually benefits from the proliferation of AI.
AI can be great for businesses looking to increase productivity and efficiency, but it also offers bad actors a larger attack surface on organizations. For example, with the help of AI, phishing messages can now look more convincing… exposing companies to substantial loss.
By late 2025, AI phishing was already the top enterprise email threat, according to researchers. So, cybersecurity solutions like CrowdStrike’s products are becoming more valuable with AI, not less.
CrowdStrike uses AI-driven detection and behavioral analytics to protect firms from malware and other unauthorized activity. While the company suffered a reputational hit in mid-2024 when it caused an IT outage that swept across multiple industries, it’s still growing quickly.
For its fiscal 2026, CrowdStrike grew sales 22% to a record $4.8 billion and generated $1.24 billion in free cash flow. While it’s not an obvious bargain at 22 times sales, it earns high-margin subscription revenue and should benefit heavily as AI makes inroads into our daily lives.
4. Annaly Capital Management (NLY)
Annaly is a mortgage real estate investment trust (“REIT”), which means that it borrows money to buy mortgages. Then it pays out the difference between the interest it pays and receives to shareholders in the form of a meaty dividend. Annaly’s yield comes to a hefty 12.2% currently.
As a REIT, Annaly is not taxed on its earnings as long as it distributes 90% of its taxable income to investors. It also takes only modest credit risk, since most of its mortgages are residential and backed by the U.S. federal government, meaning that Uncle Sam picks up the tab on a default.
This year should be another good one for Annaly shareholders, especially those looking to clip a dividend coupon. The yield curve remains steep as short-term interest rates slowly decline.
Declining short-term rates lower Annaly’s funding costs, while mortgage rates have not fallen much at all, meaning Annaly continues to earn at relatively higher rates. This credit environment is positive for the company and should support Annaly’s well-known and significant dividend.
5. Sprouts Farmers Market (SFM)
Sprouts Farmers Market had a rough 2025, to say the least. The stock peaked at more than $180 a share. Now it’s just $77.79. And that discounted price is a huge part of the opportunity here.
Sprouts operates specialty grocery stores that focus on fresh, high-quality produce and vegetables, appealing to “health enthusiasts.” As of year-end 2025, the company has just 477 locations, and it expects to grow store count by about 10% annually, or about 50 locations.
In 2025, total sales grew 14% year over year, though that figure did slow to just 8% growth in the fourth quarter. Still, the company managed 7.3% same-store sales growth, an indication that its existing locations are performing well. Meanwhile, earnings per share soared nearly 42%.
The first quarter of 2026 will look less impressive if management’s projections of same-store sales declining by 3% to 1% are correct. For the year, execs project same-store sales growth of negative 1% to 1%. Disappointing, for sure, but the stock costs less than half what it did at its recent peak.
And the company has been a notable stock repurchaser, taking advantage of a low stock price. From 2023 through 2025, Sprouts bought $205 million, $241 million, and $476 million in stock, respectively. It has $836 million remaining on a recent $1 billion authorization.
Those are all huge figures for a company with a market cap of roughly $7.6 billion. Management is projecting earnings per share of $5.28 to $5.44 for the year, which would result in a forward price-to-earnings ratio of just 14.
Regards,
James Royal
Editor’s note: It’s no secret that artificial intelligence is gobbling up energy at an unprecedented rate… straining America’s already vulnerable power grid.
All the big players are racing to find a new way to meet AI’s power-hungry daily demands, pouring in billions of dollars for alternative energy sources.
Regular folks can still get in on this tech, too – but time is running out.
Because Amazon may have just cracked the code.
This breakthrough technology is being hailed as “the Holy Grail of Power,” and Amazon just went all-in on it…
Get the details right here, including how to prepare and what to buy.
