Western Digital Emerged as the Unexpected AI Champion of 2025: 7 Stocks That Might Surprise in 2026.
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: Dec 29 2025
0mins
Should l Buy GOOG?
Source: Barron's
- AI Trade Focus: Chip makers, cloud giants, and energy stocks have dominated the spotlight in the artificial intelligence sector.
- Emerging Winners: Two previously overlooked technology stocks have emerged as significant players in the AI market.
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Analyst Views on GOOG
Wall Street analysts forecast GOOG stock price to rise
15 Analyst Rating
14 Buy
1 Hold
0 Sell
Strong Buy
Current: 309.370
Low
255.00
Averages
336.08
High
400.00
Current: 309.370
Low
255.00
Averages
336.08
High
400.00
About GOOG
Alphabet Inc. is a holding company. The Company's segments include Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets. The Google Services segment includes products and services such as ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Google Maps, Google Play, Search, and YouTube. The Google Cloud segment includes infrastructure and platform services, collaboration tools, and other services for enterprise customers. Its Other Bets segment is engaged in the sale of healthcare-related services and Internet services. Its Google Cloud provides enterprise-ready cloud services, including Google Cloud Platform and Google Workspace. Google Cloud Platform provides access to solutions such as artificial intelligence (AI) offerings, including its AI infrastructure, Vertex AI platform, and Gemini for Google Cloud; cybersecurity, and data and analytics. Google Workspace includes cloud-based communication and collaboration tools for enterprises, such as Calendar, Gmail, Docs, Drive, and Meet.
About the author
Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
Alphabet Reasserts AI Leadership Amid Market Challenges
- AI Investment Surge: Alphabet plans to invest between $175 billion and $185 billion in AI by 2026, a significant increase from $91 billion in 2025, demonstrating its commitment to AI and expected to drive future revenue growth.
- Revenue Diversification: While digital ads still account for 73% of revenue, Google Cloud's contribution has risen from 12% to 15%, indicating substantial progress in diversifying revenue sources and enhancing market competitiveness.
- Waymo's Growth Potential: As a leading autonomous driving platform, Waymo has provided 20 million rides to date, and as it expands into new markets, it is expected to become a critical revenue source for Alphabet, further boosting overall profitability.
- Valuation Remains Attractive: Despite recent stock price gains, Alphabet's P/E ratio of 30 closely aligns with the S&P 500 average, suggesting it still holds potential to attract investors and likely achieve market-beating returns over the next five years.
See More
Three Tech Giants Set to Benefit from AI Surge
- Nvidia's Market Leadership: As a leading designer of AI processors, Nvidia is poised to benefit from the increasing spending on AI data center infrastructure, particularly as Alphabet and Meta ramp up capital expenditures to $185 billion and $135 billion respectively, driving demand for Nvidia's processors.
- Alphabet's Gemini Success: Alphabet's Gemini chatbot now boasts 750 million monthly active users, a 67% increase from nine months ago, and has secured a partnership with Apple to make Gemini the underlying AI model for an upcoming version of Siri, which is expected to generate billions in revenue for Alphabet.
- Taiwan Semiconductor's Market Share: Taiwan Semiconductor holds a 70% share of the global semiconductor manufacturing market, with revenue projected to increase by 30% to $122.4 billion by 2025, and diluted earnings expected to rise by 47% to $10.65 per ADR, showcasing its strong performance amid surging AI processor demand.
- Long-Term Competitive Advantage: Research from Morningstar indicates that TSMC's organic growth driven by major tech trends could last for decades, with management confidently forecasting a 30% increase in sales this year, further solidifying its market position.
See More
Three Tech Stocks Worth Holding Long-Term
- Nvidia's Market Position: As the leading designer of AI processors, Nvidia's stock remains attractive despite bubble concerns, with a current P/E ratio of 47, slightly above the tech sector average of 43, indicating strong demand amid increasing AI infrastructure spending.
- Alphabet's AI Success: Alphabet's Gemini chatbot has reached 750 million monthly active users, a 67% increase in nine months, and its collaboration with Apple to integrate Gemini into Siri is expected to generate billions in revenue, further boosting its cloud computing growth.
- Taiwan Semiconductor's Competitive Edge: Holding a 70% market share in the global semiconductor market, TSMC's advanced chip manufacturing and high yield rates position it well, with projected revenue growth of 30% to $122.4 billion by 2025, reflecting strong performance amid surging AI processor demand.
- Optimistic Industry Outlook: All three companies excel in the AI sector, with reasonable P/E ratios of 47, 30, and 34 for Nvidia, Alphabet, and TSMC respectively, suggesting that investors can expect substantial returns over the coming years.
See More
AI Turbulence Impacts Market Performance
- Increased Market Volatility: Last week, stocks in software, real estate, financial services, and logistics faced selling pressure due to concerns over AI-related disruptions, with the Nasdaq Composite falling 0.2% and a weekly loss of 2.1%, indicating market sensitivity to AI impacts.
- Consumer Spending Data Focus: This week's highlight will be the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report on Friday, which will provide insights into consumer spending in December and inflation trends, especially following last week's unexpected slowdown in the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
- Corporate Earnings in Spotlight: Walmart (WMT) is set to release its fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday, marking the first report under new CEO John Furner, making it a key indicator of consumer spending that the market is eagerly anticipating.
- Ongoing AI Impact: As AI tools' potential effects intensify across various sectors, software stocks like Salesforce (CRM) and ServiceNow (NOW) have seen significant declines, reflecting the market's heightened vigilance regarding AI disruptions, necessitating close monitoring of future industry developments.
See More
Nvidia Set to Report Strong Earnings with Promising Guidance
- China Market Recovery: Following the Trump administration's ban on Nvidia chip exports to China in April 2025, Nvidia is expected to resume exports, and if first-quarter revenue expectations reach $8 billion, it could lead to unexpected growth, significantly boosting market confidence.
- Surge in AI Giants' Investment: Major clients of Nvidia, including Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta, have announced capital expenditure plans for 2026, with expected spending of $175 billion to $185 billion, $200 billion, and $115 billion to $135 billion respectively, which will drive demand for Nvidia's chips and further solidify its market position.
- New Architecture Driving Growth: Nvidia's upcoming Rubin chip architecture offers significant efficiency improvements over the previous Blackwell generation, requiring only one Rubin chip for every four Blackwell chips for AI model training, which will encourage more companies to upgrade their GPUs, thus driving sustained growth for Nvidia.
- Attractive Stock Valuation: While Nvidia's stock is often deemed expensive, its forward P/E ratio of less than 25 times is near its lowest level in three years, and a projected 20% price increase would bring it to a more reasonable 30 times forward earnings, making it a prime buying opportunity now.
See More
Musk Envisions Tesla's Autonomous Vehicle Future
- Autonomous Vision: Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced on Sunday that he expects the company to have the largest fleet of autonomous vehicles in the future, aligning with Tesla's long-term goals in the autonomous driving sector.
- Robotaxi Trials: Tesla is currently conducting trials of its Robotaxis in Austin, showcasing its advancements in self-driving technology and potentially laying the groundwork for future business models.
- AI Investment: The company is increasing its investments in artificial intelligence and machine learning to enhance its vehicles' self-driving capabilities, a strategy that will further solidify Tesla's leadership position in the electric vehicle market.
- Technological Competition: While Tesla relies heavily on cameras for its self-driving technology, Musk's vision contrasts with competitors like Waymo, which emphasizes standards that surpass human driving capabilities.
See More
Alphabet Reasserts AI Leadership Amid Market Challenges
- AI Investment Surge: Alphabet plans to invest between $175 billion and $185 billion in AI by 2026, a significant increase from $91 billion in 2025, demonstrating its commitment to AI and expected to drive future revenue growth.
- Revenue Diversification: While digital ads still account for 73% of revenue, Google Cloud's contribution has risen from 12% to 15%, indicating substantial progress in diversifying revenue sources and enhancing market competitiveness.
- Waymo's Growth Potential: As a leading autonomous driving platform, Waymo has provided 20 million rides to date, and as it expands into new markets, it is expected to become a critical revenue source for Alphabet, further boosting overall profitability.
- Valuation Remains Attractive: Despite recent stock price gains, Alphabet's P/E ratio of 30 closely aligns with the S&P 500 average, suggesting it still holds potential to attract investors and likely achieve market-beating returns over the next five years.
See More
Three Tech Giants Set to Benefit from AI Surge
- Nvidia's Market Leadership: As a leading designer of AI processors, Nvidia is poised to benefit from the increasing spending on AI data center infrastructure, particularly as Alphabet and Meta ramp up capital expenditures to $185 billion and $135 billion respectively, driving demand for Nvidia's processors.
- Alphabet's Gemini Success: Alphabet's Gemini chatbot now boasts 750 million monthly active users, a 67% increase from nine months ago, and has secured a partnership with Apple to make Gemini the underlying AI model for an upcoming version of Siri, which is expected to generate billions in revenue for Alphabet.
- Taiwan Semiconductor's Market Share: Taiwan Semiconductor holds a 70% share of the global semiconductor manufacturing market, with revenue projected to increase by 30% to $122.4 billion by 2025, and diluted earnings expected to rise by 47% to $10.65 per ADR, showcasing its strong performance amid surging AI processor demand.
- Long-Term Competitive Advantage: Research from Morningstar indicates that TSMC's organic growth driven by major tech trends could last for decades, with management confidently forecasting a 30% increase in sales this year, further solidifying its market position.
See More
Three Tech Stocks Worth Holding Long-Term
- Nvidia's Market Position: As the leading designer of AI processors, Nvidia's stock remains attractive despite bubble concerns, with a current P/E ratio of 47, slightly above the tech sector average of 43, indicating strong demand amid increasing AI infrastructure spending.
- Alphabet's AI Success: Alphabet's Gemini chatbot has reached 750 million monthly active users, a 67% increase in nine months, and its collaboration with Apple to integrate Gemini into Siri is expected to generate billions in revenue, further boosting its cloud computing growth.
- Taiwan Semiconductor's Competitive Edge: Holding a 70% market share in the global semiconductor market, TSMC's advanced chip manufacturing and high yield rates position it well, with projected revenue growth of 30% to $122.4 billion by 2025, reflecting strong performance amid surging AI processor demand.
- Optimistic Industry Outlook: All three companies excel in the AI sector, with reasonable P/E ratios of 47, 30, and 34 for Nvidia, Alphabet, and TSMC respectively, suggesting that investors can expect substantial returns over the coming years.
See More
AI Turbulence Impacts Market Performance
- Increased Market Volatility: Last week, stocks in software, real estate, financial services, and logistics faced selling pressure due to concerns over AI-related disruptions, with the Nasdaq Composite falling 0.2% and a weekly loss of 2.1%, indicating market sensitivity to AI impacts.
- Consumer Spending Data Focus: This week's highlight will be the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report on Friday, which will provide insights into consumer spending in December and inflation trends, especially following last week's unexpected slowdown in the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
- Corporate Earnings in Spotlight: Walmart (WMT) is set to release its fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday, marking the first report under new CEO John Furner, making it a key indicator of consumer spending that the market is eagerly anticipating.
- Ongoing AI Impact: As AI tools' potential effects intensify across various sectors, software stocks like Salesforce (CRM) and ServiceNow (NOW) have seen significant declines, reflecting the market's heightened vigilance regarding AI disruptions, necessitating close monitoring of future industry developments.
See More
Nvidia Set to Report Strong Earnings with Promising Guidance
- China Market Recovery: Following the Trump administration's ban on Nvidia chip exports to China in April 2025, Nvidia is expected to resume exports, and if first-quarter revenue expectations reach $8 billion, it could lead to unexpected growth, significantly boosting market confidence.
- Surge in AI Giants' Investment: Major clients of Nvidia, including Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta, have announced capital expenditure plans for 2026, with expected spending of $175 billion to $185 billion, $200 billion, and $115 billion to $135 billion respectively, which will drive demand for Nvidia's chips and further solidify its market position.
- New Architecture Driving Growth: Nvidia's upcoming Rubin chip architecture offers significant efficiency improvements over the previous Blackwell generation, requiring only one Rubin chip for every four Blackwell chips for AI model training, which will encourage more companies to upgrade their GPUs, thus driving sustained growth for Nvidia.
- Attractive Stock Valuation: While Nvidia's stock is often deemed expensive, its forward P/E ratio of less than 25 times is near its lowest level in three years, and a projected 20% price increase would bring it to a more reasonable 30 times forward earnings, making it a prime buying opportunity now.
See More
Musk Envisions Tesla's Autonomous Vehicle Future
- Autonomous Vision: Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced on Sunday that he expects the company to have the largest fleet of autonomous vehicles in the future, aligning with Tesla's long-term goals in the autonomous driving sector.
- Robotaxi Trials: Tesla is currently conducting trials of its Robotaxis in Austin, showcasing its advancements in self-driving technology and potentially laying the groundwork for future business models.
- AI Investment: The company is increasing its investments in artificial intelligence and machine learning to enhance its vehicles' self-driving capabilities, a strategy that will further solidify Tesla's leadership position in the electric vehicle market.
- Technological Competition: While Tesla relies heavily on cameras for its self-driving technology, Musk's vision contrasts with competitors like Waymo, which emphasizes standards that surpass human driving capabilities.
See More
