Stock Market Today, Jan. 15: Nokia Rises After Morgan Stanley Upgrade on AI and Cloud Growth Potential

Nokia (NYSE:NOK), a provider of mobile, fixed, and cloud network solutions worldwide, closed Thursday at $6.61, up 3.93%. The stock moved higher after reports that Morgan Stanley upgraded shares to “overweight” on AI and cloud/data center growth potential. Trading volume reached 49.9 million shares, nearly 15% above its three-month average of 43.5 million shares. Nokia IPO'd in 1994 and has grown 401% since going public.

How the markets moved today

S&P 500 added 0.27% to finish Thursday at 6,945, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.25% to close at 23,530. Among communication equipment peers, Ericsson closed at $9.5 (+1.28%), and Cisco Systems ended at $75.25 (+1.13%).

What this means for investors

Nokia received a vote of confidence from Morgan Stanley today after the firm added the stock to its "Top Picks" list for 2026, giving it an "overweight" rating. The Wall Street firm highlighted Nokia's successful diversification away from telecom operators, which previously accounted for all of the company's revenue. Following its $2.3 billion acquisition of optical networking solutions specialist Infinera in early 2025, Nokia beefed up its optical networking business, readying the company to capitalize on booming AI, data center, and cloud computing capital expenditures.

This burgeoning AI and Cloud segment already accounts for 6% of Nokia's sales, and Morgan Stanley believes it has been growing by one percentage point each quarter. Nokia predicts the AI and Cloud market to grow by 16% annually through 2028, making the company a "quiet" AI stock for tech-savvy investors to monitor.

Josh Kohn-Lindquist has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Cisco Systems. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.