5 Top Stocks to Double Up on Right Now

The U.S. equity market is sending mixed signals right now. Inflation could stay higher for longer as war-driven energy price spikes push costs up across the board and delay central bank interest rate cuts. Despite these challenges, many stock valuations are becoming more reasonable. Corporate earnings have also remained resilient, especially in artificial intelligence-powered sectors.

Against this backdrop of macro uncertainty and long-term opportunity, here are five fundamentally strong, high-quality stocks to double down on right now.

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1. Advanced Micro Devices

Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) provides the second-most-popular AI computing platforms behind Nvidia. Its top-line growth is increasingly driven by sales to AI data centers and by a multigeneration Instinct accelerator roadmap that extends into 2027. Platforms in that family include the MI300 (now in production), the MI350 (now scaling deployments), the MI450 and the broader MI400 platform (rolling out through 2026), and the MI500 (planned for 2027). In short, AMD appears committed to keeping pace with Nvidia's rapid cadence of product updates.

AMD's execution capability is also strong. The company's data center segment generated $5.4 billion in the fourth quarter, driven by both Instinct GPU deployments and continued adoption of its EPYC server CPU. EPYC processors are increasingly being used alongside GPUs to manage and orchestrate AI workloads, making them a critical part of modern AI infrastructure. Multiyear engagements with hyperscalers and AI developers such as Meta Platforms, Oracle, and OpenAI are also improving AMD's visibility into future demand. And it appears well positioned for continued growth over the next few years.

2. Apple

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is positioning itself as a differentiated AI player, focused on on-device capabilities rather than large-scale cloud infrastructure. With a global installed base of over 2.5 billion active devices, Apple has a significant opportunity to monetize its AI capabilities. The company's high-margin services segment, which generated roughly $30 billion in fiscal first-quarter revenue, plays a crucial role in monetizing the AI features it has integrated across its ecosystem. The majority of users on AI-enabled iPhones are already actively using Apple Intelligence features.

Additionally, Apple is expected to introduce deeper AI integration and a more capable Siri at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June. The company's core business is resilient, with iPhone demand remaining strong globally and a 20% surge in shipments of the smartphones to China in Q1, even as overall shipments of smartphones to that market fell. The company is pursuing a hybrid AI approach, combining on-device intelligence with private cloud computing.

For Apple's fiscal 2026 second quarter, which ended in late March, analysts expect it to report revenue growth of roughly 15% year over year to $109.7 billion, and earnings per share growth of 18.4% to $1.95. While AI monetization is evolving, its ecosystem strength, its services business, and its upcoming leadership transition in September could support steady long-term growth.

3. Micron Technology

Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) is emerging as a major beneficiary of the global AI infrastructure build-out, as high-bandwidth memory (HBM) is a critical component in AI systems, enabling faster data processing and higher performance. The company expects the total addressable market for HBM to expand from around $35 billion in 2025 to $100 billion in 2028. Micron has already secured pricing and volume agreements for its entire 2026 HBM supply and has strong visibility into HBM demand into 2027. The company is also signing multiyear strategic customer agreements, which will further improve revenue predictability.

Overall memory demand is outpacing supply, which is supporting Micron's pricing power and margins. The company is investing in a large-scale U.S. production capacity expansion to capture more of this opportunity.

Hence, Micron seems well positioned to evolve from a cyclical memory player into a more stable AI infrastructure company.

4. ARM Holdings

Arm Holdings (NASDAQ: ARM) is benefiting from a solid rise in CPU demand, as the rapid growth of AI inference (real-time use of AI models) and agentic AI workloads increases the need for orchestration and scheduling across data centers. Management estimates that as workloads become more complex, AI data centers may need up to four times more CPU capacity, rising from about 30 million to 120 million cores per gigawatt.

Arm is expanding beyond its traditional business of licensing CPU architectures and chip designs. Now, it's developing and supplying its own AI data center CPUs. Meta Platforms has emerged as an early customer for these chips, validating demand from hyperscalers building in-house AI infrastructure. Arm CEO Rene Haas expects this business to generate around $15 billion in annual revenue by 2031, contributing to a broader target of $25 billion in annual revenue and $9 in earnings per share.

Arm's core business remains strong, supported by the adoption of its newer, higher-value chip designs, which are contributing to rising royalty revenue. With more than 1.25 billion data center cores (processing units) already deployed, the company is well positioned to benefit from expanding demand for AI infrastructure.

5. Applied Digital

Applied Digital (NASDAQ: APLD) builds large-scale, high-power data centers and leases them to hyperscaler clients under long-term contracts. For its fiscal 2026 third quarter, which ended Feb. 28, the company reported revenue of $126.6 million, up 139% year over year. The company also reported adjusted EBITDA of $44.1 million, highlighting the early monetization success of its AI data center model.

The AI infrastructure specialist has already secured around $16 billion in total contracted revenue across its campuses, providing strong multiyear revenue visibility. A substantial portion of its nearly 1 gigawatt of capacity is already leased, driven by robust demand from hyperscalers. The company's first 100-megawatt liquid-cooled AI data center is now fully operational, and two additional 150-megawatt facilities are expected to come online over the next year.

Applied Digital expects its broader opportunity to be driven by power and infrastructure constraints. Hence, if it can maintain its execution and secure additional hyperscaler contracts, Applied Digital could emerge as a cash-rich AI infrastructure player over time.

Manali Pradhan, CFA has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Apple, Meta Platforms, Micron Technology, Nvidia, and Oracle. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.