Wall Street's most outspoken tech bull says these are his 5 top AI stocks for 2026
$ORBS)
- Dan Ives, Wall Street's most outspoken tech bull, recently gave his top five AI stocks for 2026.
- Surprisingly, Nvidia is not one of them, despite Ives' breathless praise throughout 2025.
- Microsoft is leading the pack as Wedbush's favorite large-cap tech name to own next year.
Wall Street's loudest tech bull has given his five top AI stock picks for next year, and Nvidia isn't one of them.
That's a bit of a surprise for Dan Ives, the Wedbush Securities analyst known for his vocal cheerleading for the stock as it climbed to records throughout the year.
He's instead focused on a handful of other mega-cap names heading into 2026, and sees AI approaching an "inflection point" next year, he write in a new note to clients.
"While Nvidia remains in our top tech names into 2026, there are 5 AI-focused names that we believe will be front and center heading into 2026," Ives said.
His picks are detailed below:
Microsoft
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Ticker: MSFT
2025 performance: +16%
Wedbush's price target: $625 (+28% upside)
Rationale: Wall Street looks like it's underestimating the growth Microsoft could see with Azure. The company also looks poised to make an "AI driven shift" next year, Wedbush said, adding that Microsoft was its favorite large-cap tech stock to own in 2026.
"While AI use cases built markedly in FY25, its clear FY26 for Microsoft remains the true inflection year of AI growth as CIO lines build for deployments."
Apple
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Ticker: AAPL
2025 performance: +11%
Wedbush's price target: $350 (+28% upside)
Rationale: Wedbush said it believed Apple would begin monetizing its AI products over the next few years. That could add $75 to $100 of value per share of company stock, Ives estimated.
"The elephant in the room remains the invisible AI strategy, with the biggest consumer installed base in the world of 2.4 billion iOS devices and 1.5 billion iPhones, the time is now for Apple to accelerate its AI efforts," he wrote.
Tesla
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Ticker: TSLA
2025 performance: +19%
Wedbush's price target: $600 (+32% upside)
Rationale: 2026 could be a "monster year" for Tesla as the EV company makes more ground on its AI and robotics initiatives, Ives suggested. He pointed to the company's ongoing development of its full self-driving technology and its Cybercab, which is expected to begin production in April next year.
"We believe Tesla could reach a $2 trillion market cap over the coming year and in a bull case scenario $3 trillion by the end of 2026," Wedbush said.
Palantir
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Ticker: PLTR
2025 performance: +140%
Wedbush's price target: $230 (+27% upside)
Rationale: Demand for Palantir's Artificial Intelligence Platform remains "unprecedented," Ives said.
"With the company making strategic moves to remain at the forefront of AI, we believe that PLTR has a golden path to become a trillion-dollar market cap company and will grow into its valuation as Karp and Co. remain one of the largest players in the AI Revolution."
CrowdStrike
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Ticker: CRWD
2025 performance: +36%
Wedbush's price target: $600 (+26% upside)
Rationale: CrowdStrike is gaining momentum in its AI deals. It also appears to be gaining market share as it expands its product suite.
"CrowdStrike remains one of our favorite tech names," Ives said. "We believe the Street is underestimating the growth potential for CrowdStrike with cybersecurity remaining a second/third derivative beneficiary of the AI Revolution which speaks to our bullishness."