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AI Stocks: Speculative Hype or Disciplined Growth?
Although many AI stocks finished 2025 on a sour note, 2026 is starting the opposite way. Several bullish signals are appearing for AI stocks, including:
AI Valuations Are Reasonable
Numerous leading AI stocks, such as Nvidia have been consolidating for several months. Nvidia shares peaked in October (as of now) and have moved sideways. However, the company's fundamentals have only become stronger. The result? Nvidia's valuation metrics, such as its price-to-sales ratio have retreated dramatically, making the stock attractive to a wider swath of Wall Street institutions, including those that focus on valuations. NVDA, which had a P/S of 200x in 2023, now has a P/S of just ~24x.
Taiwan Semi: A Good Barometer of the AI Industry
Taiwan Semiconductor is arguably the most important AI barometer in the market. The company is a pure-play manufacturer who supplies parts that are indispensable to companies like Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia. Thursday, TSM shares rallied on news that the company beat earnings and raised forward guidance. Most notably, TSM's management team made a point of dispelling AI bubble fears. Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest double-digit EPS growth in 2026.
Google Search Cannibalization Fears Are Unfounded
Several Wall Street analysts expressed concerns that Alphabet's AI business could eat into its dominant, lucrative search business. However, the data shows that not only has Google's 'Gemini' search integration not negatively impacted its search business, it's strengthened it.
Deregulation will Spur AI growth
President Trump has issued numerous executive orders that reduce regulatory red tape. AI companies will benefit dramatically from the administration's focus on procuring innovation and reducing stringent oversight.
Price and Volume Action Provides Clues
On Thursday, several AI stocks moved higher on heavy volume turnover. For instance, CoreWeave gained nearly 10% on Thursday as volume turnover surged. Heavy volume on strong green days is a hallmark of accumulation.
Bottom Line
The narrative surrounding artificial intelligence is shifting from speculative hype to disciplined growth. Reasonable valuations, robust earnings, and a supportive regulatory landscape suggest AI stocks have room to run.
Free: Instant Access to Zacks' Market-Crushing Strategies
Since 2000, our top stock-picking strategies have blown away the S&P's +7.7% average gain per year. Amazingly, they soared with average gains of +48.4%, +50.2% and +56.7% per year.
Today you can tap into those powerful strategies – and the high-potential stocks they uncover – free. No strings attached.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performancefor information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
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Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights: Nvidia, Taiwan Semiconductor, AMD, Alphabet and CoreWeave
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – January 16, 2026 – Today, Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights Nvidia (NVDA - Free Report) , Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM - Free Report) , Advanced Micro Devices (AMD - Free Report) , Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) and CoreWeave (CRWV - Free Report) .
AI Stocks: Speculative Hype or Disciplined Growth?
Although many AI stocks finished 2025 on a sour note, 2026 is starting the opposite way. Several bullish signals are appearing for AI stocks, including:
AI Valuations Are Reasonable
Numerous leading AI stocks, such as Nvidia have been consolidating for several months. Nvidia shares peaked in October (as of now) and have moved sideways. However, the company's fundamentals have only become stronger. The result? Nvidia's valuation metrics, such as its price-to-sales ratio have retreated dramatically, making the stock attractive to a wider swath of Wall Street institutions, including those that focus on valuations. NVDA, which had a P/S of 200x in 2023, now has a P/S of just ~24x.
Taiwan Semi: A Good Barometer of the AI Industry
Taiwan Semiconductor is arguably the most important AI barometer in the market. The company is a pure-play manufacturer who supplies parts that are indispensable to companies like Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia. Thursday, TSM shares rallied on news that the company beat earnings and raised forward guidance. Most notably, TSM's management team made a point of dispelling AI bubble fears. Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest double-digit EPS growth in 2026.
Google Search Cannibalization Fears Are Unfounded
Several Wall Street analysts expressed concerns that Alphabet's AI business could eat into its dominant, lucrative search business. However, the data shows that not only has Google's 'Gemini' search integration not negatively impacted its search business, it's strengthened it.
Deregulation will Spur AI growth
President Trump has issued numerous executive orders that reduce regulatory red tape. AI companies will benefit dramatically from the administration's focus on procuring innovation and reducing stringent oversight.
Price and Volume Action Provides Clues
On Thursday, several AI stocks moved higher on heavy volume turnover. For instance, CoreWeave gained nearly 10% on Thursday as volume turnover surged. Heavy volume on strong green days is a hallmark of accumulation.
Bottom Line
The narrative surrounding artificial intelligence is shifting from speculative hype to disciplined growth. Reasonable valuations, robust earnings, and a supportive regulatory landscape suggest AI stocks have room to run.
Free: Instant Access to Zacks' Market-Crushing Strategies
Since 2000, our top stock-picking strategies have blown away the S&P's +7.7% average gain per year. Amazingly, they soared with average gains of +48.4%, +50.2% and +56.7% per year.
Today you can tap into those powerful strategies – and the high-potential stocks they uncover – free. No strings attached.
Get all the details here >>
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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performancefor information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.