This Under-the-Radar AI Stock Is Already Up 87% in 2026

Few investors know Nebius Group (NASDAQ: NBIS) stock, but they should. It has been one of the top-performing stocks so far this year, rising around 87% as of the time of writing. It has been an incredible stock pick, but it could have even more room to run, despite its stock already rising so much.

If you dive into Nebius's growth projections for this year, it's clear that it's in a booming industry. Although the stock has nearly doubled in value already in 2026, I wouldn't be surprised to see it nearly double again before 2026 is over.

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Demand for Nebius' cloud computing services is taking off

Nebius is a neocloud company. That means it's a cloud computing provider, but its services are tailored specifically for artificial intelligence (AI). Nebius offers a full-stack computing solution, so users have everything that they need to train and run AI models on Nebius' infrastructure. This has attracted customers of all sizes, including giants like Meta Platforms. This was one of the factors that caused Nebius' stock to spike, but the full impact of the deal may not be felt for a few more years. The total agreement has a contract value of about $27 billion, and really doesn't start to kick in until 2027.

Even without this new deal with Meta, Nebius is seeing tremendous growth. By the end of 2026, management believes its annual run rate will be between $7 billion and $9 billion. For reference, at the end of 2025, it was $1.25 billion. That's a monster jump in a short time frame, and with Meta's deal starting in 2027, it could experience a similar growth pattern next year as well.

Wall Street is also on board with these monstrous growth projections, as the average analyst expects 523% revenue growth in 2026 and 206% in 2027. Few stocks in the market can match that growth rate, making Nebius an obvious stock to consider right now.

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However, one thing inventors must be careful with is profitability. Nebius is seeing incredible demand, so it's spending every dollar it can get its hands on to build out its footprint and capture market opportunity. There will be plenty of time to become maximally profitable once the AI build-out is done, but it will take a strong stomach to invest in Nebius and watch it lose money due to high initial input costs. Still, if Nebius can grow like it's projecting and become a fully profitable company, it will be an incredible investment and deliver far greater returns than just the 87% it has delivered so far in 2026.

Keithen Drury has positions in Meta Platforms and Nebius Group. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.