The Next Winners May Not Be the Stocks You Expect
The biggest AI gains of the next two years may come from names most investors overlook entirely. Six stocks spanning cloud infrastructure, memory, connectivity, and quantum each have a credible path to round-number targets that leave Wall Street consensus in…
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When investors think about AI winners, the conversation usually starts and ends with a familiar handful of mega-caps. I think the more interesting bull cases for 2027 sit one layer deeper: in GPU clouds, memory, connectivity silicon, and quantum.
The buildout has to be powered, cooled, and wired by somebody, and we pulled seven of those infrastructure names into a free report on the AI stocks that aren’t chipmakers. Six more names stand out here. Here is how each could hit a round-number target above Wall Street’s consensus over the next year.
CoreWeave: A Path to $175
CoreWeave (NASDAQ:CRWV) is up 42.91% year to date at $102.34. Q2 revenue jumped 112% year over year with a $104 billion backlog, plus over $25 billion in new commitments in early Q3.
CEO Mike Intrator says “demand continues to exceed supply across sectors, geographies, and generations of infrastructure.” Consensus sits at $144.46. A push to $175 requires the market to reward accelerating margins (adjusted EBITDA margin already at 59%) and Vera Rubin ramp economics.
Nebius Group: Why $350 Is In Play
Nebius Group (NASDAQ:NBIS | NBIS Price Prediction) has ripped 197.65% YTD to $249.15. Q2 revenue grew 454% YoY, and CEO Arkady says Nebius could sell its entire 2027 capacity under mid-term contracts today. A capacity auction cleared 15% above its prior Blackwell high.
With Wall Street at $286.69, a $350 print would require the 5 GW contracted-power target and the asset-light model to translate into 2027 guidance that eclipses today’s numbers.
Micron: The Case for $1,750
Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) posted fiscal Q3 revenue of $41.456B, +345.7% YoY, its seventh consecutive EPS beat. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra flagged 16 Strategic Customer Agreements covering roughly $100 billion in minimum revenue.
Fiscal 2027 EPS estimates have climbed from $102.72 ninety days ago to $155.02. At $1,750, MU would trade near 11x FY27 EPS. Consensus target is $1,513.11; another HBM4 upgrade cycle could get us there.
IonQ: Charting a Route to $80
IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) delivered a fifth consecutive record quarter with revenue up 286.8%. CEO Niccolo de Masi says the SkyWater and Nexus closes “extend IonQ’s full-stack quantum platform.”
Shares at $43.28 are essentially flat YTD despite a $67.68 analyst target. The 256-qubit commissioning slated for 2027 plus White House quantum executive orders could catalyze a move to $80.
Rigetti Computing: Why $35 Isn’t Crazy
Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) at $15.86 is down 28.42% YTD. The 108-qubit Cepheus system hit 99.9% median single-qubit fidelity, and a Department of Commerce LOI targets up to $100 million in CHIPS Act funding. Cash sits at $541.29M with no debt.
Consensus is $28.81. Converting the LOI, plus the HPE/PSC delivery in 2027, could carry shares to $35, a level RGTI has traded well above as recently as October 2025.
Astera Labs: How $500 Happens
Astera Labs (NASDAQ:ALAB) has logged eight consecutive EPS beats. Q2 revenue grew 104.5%, and CEO Jitendra Mohan sees Scorpio becoming the largest product family, “one quarter ahead of our prior expectations.”
Future Scorpio X content per XPU is targeted above $1,000. FY27 EPS estimates jumped from $4.20 to $6.39 in 90 days. Consensus target is $389.95; a $500 print implies roughly 78x FY27 EPS, rich but consistent with hyper-growth peers.
Bottom Line on the Next Winners
Each of these six sits at a different point in the AI stack, and each has a credible path to a round-number bull-case target above Wall Street consensus over the next year. Returns of this magnitude should not be expected every year. But between accelerating backlogs, rising estimates, and 2027 product cycles, we have outlined the blueprint for how the next AI winners could break out.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Vandita Jadeja is a financial publisher with over a decade of experience writing about financial topics, including investment, savings, retirement, insurance and banking. Vandita is a Chartered Accountant who loves to debunk financial concepts for readers.
Her work has appeared on sites that include The Motley Fool, InvestorPlace, and Benzinga. She covers investing and focuses on stock picks and price prediction for 24/7 Wall St.
When not looking for the next stock investment opportunity, she can be found traveling, reading, chasing sunsets and enjoying her iced latte.
