1 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock That Could Surprise Investors in 2026

It's harder than ever to find bargains among artificial intelligence (AI) stocks. Top AI stocks, like chipmaker Nvidia and hyperscaler Microsoft, already have multitrillion-dollar valuations. Meanwhile, smaller AI companies, like memory-chip maker Micron Technology and data center infrastructure specialist Vertiv have seen their share prices skyrocket by 200% or more over the last year alone.

That's been great for existing shareholders, but not so good for those hoping to buy in now. Instead, it may be worth looking at an AI company that the market has left for dead for the past six months: AI cloud provider CoreWeave (NASDAQ: CRWV). Here's how this beaten-down AI stock could surprise investors in 2026.

Image source: Getty Images.

What CoreWeave does

CoreWeave is a pure-play AI company that provides AI-specific cloud infrastructure, sometimes referred to as a "neocloud" platform. Neocloud platforms were developed to handle heavy-duty, data-intensive computing tasks, like training an AI model or developing an agentic AI workflow.

The company's neocloud platform offers software services optimized for AI use. For example, its Slurm product is specifically tailored to speed up AI training by reducing start-up latency, improving data throughput, and increasing runtime utilization.

CoreWeave supports its platforms through a purpose-built network of 43 (and growing) AI data centers across the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Owning the data center infrastructure gives CoreWeave optionality to offer services like renting access to top-of-the-line Nvidia Blackwell GPUs, which many smaller companies wouldn't otherwise be able to access.

The company has been growing revenue at breakneck speed. Revenue jumped from just $229 million in 2023 to $5.1 billion in 2025. Management is predicting at least another 235% jump in 2026. So why is the stock trading down 55% from its 52-week high?

What the market's missing

Some investors are concerned that CoreWeave still isn't profitable, even though its revenue is growing like gangbusters. In fact, its trailing-12-month (TTM) net loss just hit a record high of $1.2 billion. That's partly due to the massive infrastructure investments that the company is making.

Because CoreWeave's business model relies on owning data centers, it spent $8.2 billion on capital expenditures in Q4 alone to support its continued customer growth. In 2026, it plans to spend at least $30 billion.

The market is concerned that if AI spending turns out to be a bubble, CoreWeave will be stuck with a lot of expensive data center capacity that nobody's using.

Image source: Getty Images.

CoreWeave has argued convincingly that the demand it's seeing speaks for itself. It has a contracted revenue backlog of $66.8 billion, and its planned infrastructure buildout will directly support that demand. The market may also be worried that CoreWeave's biggest customer, Microsoft, accounted for 67% of its 2025 revenue.

That's certainly a number to keep an eye on. Given the number and diversity of CoreWeave's customer base, I'd like to see that percentage trending downward, especially considering that the company increased its million-dollar-plus CoreWeave Cloud customers "by nearly 150%" in 2025. However, Microsoft isn't giving up its AI ambitions anytime soon, so having it as a major customer is more of a plus for CoreWeave right now than a minus.

Especially at this share price, CoreWeave stock looks like a potential 2026 AI blockbuster.

John Bromels has positions in Micron Technology, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Micron Technology, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Vertiv. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.