Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) has become the defining stock of the artificial intelligence era, with its graphics processors powering everything from large language models to cloud-scale data centers worldwide.
The chip giant’s most recent quarterly results underscored just how dominant its position has become, with record revenue of $81.6 billion, up 85% from a year earlier.
Data-center revenue alone surged 92% to $75.2 billion, reflecting the enormous capital being deployed across the industry to build out AI infrastructure at scale.
Over the past five years, Nvidia shares have climbed more than 1,100%, lifting the company to a market capitalization exceeding $5 trillion and making it the most valuable business on Earth.
With those gains already locked in, some investors are now asking whether the next phase of the AI boom could reward a broader set of companies still trading at accessible price points.
AI’s infrastructure needs extend well beyond chips, touching data centers, voice interfaces, defense applications, automation tools, and the broader digital backbone required to deploy the technology commercially.
Three stocks, all recently trading below $50 per share, stand out as candidates that Wall Street analysts believe carry significant upside as the AI buildout continues.
Applied Digital (NASDAQ: APLD), which designs, builds and operates digital infrastructure for high-performance computing, is positioning itself as a critical provider of the facilities AI models require to function at scale.
The company has a direct link to Nvidia, having announced a $160 million private placement in 2024 that included Nvidia and Related Companies among the participating investors.
Applied Digital recently said 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, giving the company a compelling long-term revenue story.
Shares traded at $44.70 at the time of publication, and Craig-Hallum analyst George Sutton carries a “Buy” rating on APLD with a price target of $75, implying roughly 68% upside from current levels.
SoundHound AI (NASDAQ: SOUN) is taking a different approach, focusing on voice and conversational AI technology for industries including automotive, restaurants, call centers and hotels.
The company reported record revenue of $44.2 million in the first quarter of 2026, up 52% year over year, and reaffirmed its full-year 2026 revenue outlook of between $225 million and $260 million.
SoundHound is also pushing into agentic AI through its planned acquisition of LivePerson, which is intended to combine voice AI with digital messaging into an end-to-end omnichannel conversational platform.
Shares are down 23% year to date, but Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Thomas Blakey has a “Buy” rating and a price target of $15, representing approximately 86% upside from where the stock currently trades.
BigBear.ai (NYSE: BBAI) rounds out the group with a focus on national security, defense and critical operations, applying artificial intelligence and data analytics to help organizations make faster decisions in complex environments.
The company reported revenue of $34.4 million in the first quarter of 2026, with backlog increasing 14% from the prior quarter to $281.9 million, and it reaffirmed its full-year revenue guidance while highlighting more than $60 million in national-security contracts.
Revenue did decline slightly on a year-over-year basis in the quarter, and BigBear.ai remains unprofitable, though H.C. Wainwright analyst Scott Buck maintains a “Buy” rating with a price target of $6, implying roughly 25% potential upside.
Investors eyeing these names should also keep broader market conditions in mind, as U.S. tech stocks now account for more than 39% of the S&P 500’s market cap, a concentration level that exceeds even the dot-com bubble era according to Reuters.
The S&P 500’s Shiller CAPE ratio has also climbed above 40, a threshold not seen outside the late 1990s tech mania, suggesting that stretched valuations could amplify volatility for high-growth AI names in either direction.
Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, told CNBC that “people don’t have, typically, an adequate amount of gold in their portfolio,” and that “when bad times come, gold is a very effective diversifier,” a reminder that portfolio balance matters even during the most compelling technology cycles.
