The First Half of 2026 Is Over. These 2 Spectacular Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks Can Soar in the Second Half.

So far, 2026 has been another year during which Wall Street was dominated by stocks in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector. However, the biggest winners were not the same old names from prior years. Companies in the memory chip space have soared, with stocks like Micron and Sandisk posting unbelievable gains.

Additionally, comeback stories in the processor chip space such as AMD and Intel have delivered solid returns. However, the AI stocks that have been mostly poor performers were the ones that were the best performers in 2023, 2024, and 2025. This could signal the start of a regime change, or it could simply reflect the market becoming interested in new parts of the AI narrative.

I think the latter is more likely, as the companies that dominated during the three previous years are still doing well as businesses; they're just not trading at the same premiums they used to. I think that two in particular are the best bets to soar over the rest of this year.

Image source: Getty Images.

1. Nvidia

Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) may be the world's largest company, but it isn't getting the respect it deserves on Wall Street. I think there's a bit of market hesitancy to send shares of Nvidia too much higher, though if it traded at its normal valuation level, it would be 50% higher today.

Over the past two years, Nvidia stock has averaged about 34 times forward earnings. Today, it's sitting at 21.7 -- about the same forward ratio as the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC).

NVDA PE Ratio (Forward) data by YCharts.

If that were the only information you had, you might assume that Nvidia's best days were behind it and that its growth was slowing. But that's far from the case. Next quarter, Wall Street analysts project revenue growth of 96% year over year -- an acceleration from its current levels, and faster than it was growing at this point last year.

NVDA Revenue (Quarterly YoY Growth) data by YCharts.

As a result, I don't see any reason Nvidia shouldn't trade at that higher valuation. Peer chipmaker AMD, which is growing more slowly, trades at 73 times forward earnings. So Nvidia is undervalued both on a historical and a peer-group basis, and I think a rise could be coming in the latter half of this year as the market realizes that Nvidia's growth story will easily last beyond 2027.

2. Meta Platforms

Nvidia's stock is in positive territory for 2026, though just barely. Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) is not. Its stock has declined about 12% so far this year. Once again, this isn't a question of whether Meta is doing well as a business, because it is.

In Q1, its revenue rose 33% year over year, the fastest growth among the big tech companies that aren't directly involved with AI chips. Its strength stemmed from a booming ad market, which has delivered even better results for marketers now that Meta has integrated AI tools into its social media sites' advertising platforms. However, that's not what the market is focused on.

Instead, the market is worried about Meta's elevated spending on AI infrastructure. It's considered one of the big four AI hyperscalers alongside Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon. These other three have cloud computing businesses that generate income and help offset some of the costs of the AI data centers being built. It also gives investors a clear return on investment.

Meta doesn't have a cloud business yet. Though it has spent hundreds of billions of dollars on AI data centers, that sum has gone entirely toward building out capacity for its internal needs. That heavy spending has investors worried, which is why Meta stock is on sale. Last week, though, Meta announced it was going to start selling some of its excess capacity to outside clients, which sparked a bit of an uptick in the stock. And it still has a long way to go.

Even after that pop, investors can scoop up Meta's for a dirt cheap 19.5 times forward earnings. I think that's a screaming deal, because one of two things will happen. Either Meta's AI investments will pan out, and the company will gain a new business unit that makes all of the investments worth it in the end. Or Meta's AI strategy will be a flop, in which case it will sell much of the infrastructure it has built, take the loss, and then maintain its status as an incredible social media business with strong ad revenue.

Either way, long-term investors will be all right in the end.

Keithen Drury has positions in Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Alphabet, Amazon, Intel, Meta Platforms, Micron Technology, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.