3 Top Growth Stocks to Buy in the First Half of 2026

The new year isn't looking so new now. January is already nearly halfway over. Before you know it, we'll be looking ahead to 2027.

No one can slow down the hands of time. It's important to seize great opportunities as soon as possible. That's why I believe the following three top growth stocks are excellent choices to consider buying in the first half of 2026.

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1. Meta Platforms

I really like the growth prospects Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) has with its Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses. They're the first artificial intelligence (AI) glasses with a private in-lens display and a neural band wrist control. I view Meta's first-mover advantage as a big plus.

Is Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg correct that glasses are "the ideal form factor for AI"? Yep. No other device can process everything a user sees and hears. It isn't surprising to me in the least that Meta is selling so many of its glasses in the U.S. that it had to delay the global rollout.

As excited as I am about Meta's newest AI glasses, though, they're not the main reason to buy this stock right now. That honor belongs to the company's massive user base that gives it pricing power with advertisers. An astounding 3.54 billion people used Meta's apps on average each day in September 2025. This number reflected an 8% year-over-year increase. It's also nearly 43% of the world's population.

Those users don't appear to be going away. As long as that remains the case, Meta will generate billions of dollars in revenue and profits – and the company's stock is likely to perform well. AI glasses and Meta's big bet on AI superintelligence (ASI) are just icing on the cake.

2. Micron Technology

If you're looking for a steal of a deal among AI stocks, though, you might want to buy shares of Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU). Its forward price-to-earnings ratio is 10.8. Micron's price-to-earnings-to-growth (PEG) ratio, based on analysts' five-year earnings growth projections, is a remarkably low 0.6.

Why is Micron's stock so cheap? It's priced based on an outdated paradigm that views memory as merely a cyclical commodity. That perspective was correct until high-bandwidth memory (HBM) became such a critical component of AI chips and the demand for AI chips exploded.

Micron disclosed in its fiscal 2026 first-quarter earnings call that its entire projected HBM supply for the year is already fully allocated. The future looks bright, too. Management estimates that the total addressable market for HBM will increase by a compound annual growth rate of around 40% through 2028.

The good news isn't limited to HBM, either. Micron expects roughly 20% shipment growth for both DRAM (dynamic random access memory) and NAND (not and) memory in 2026. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra believes "that the aggregate industry supply will remain substantially short of the demand for the foreseeable future."

3. Mirum Pharmaceuticals

Mirum Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: MIRM) is the oddball on the list. This drugmaker's market cap of $4.5 billion is only a fraction of that of Meta and Micron. However, I predict that 2026 will be a big year for Mirum.

The company is coming off a tremendous performance in 2025. Mirum's shares skyrocketed 91% last year. 2026 is also off to a good start so far. Investors should keep a close eye on three key developments this year.

First, the market momentum for Mirum's rare liver disease drug Livmarli should continue. Sales increased 56% year-over-year to $92.2 million in the third quarter of 2025. I believe that Livmarli is on track to become Mirum's first blockbuster drug.

Second, Mirum expects to report results from its clinical study evaluating voloxibat in primary sclerosing cholangitis in the second quarter of 2026. If all goes well, the company could file for U.S. regulatory approval in the second half of the year.

Third, Mirum's pending acquisition of Bluejay Therapeutics could begin to pay off quickly. This deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026. Bluejay plans to report phase 3 results for chronic hepatitis delta virus (HDV) therapy brelovitug later in the year. I believe these results could provide a significant catalyst for Mirum's stock.

Keith Speights has positions in Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Meta Platforms and Mirum Pharmaceuticals. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.