Nasdaq Set to Skyrocket in 2026: Wall Street’s Top 2 AI Stocks to Buy Immediately

History repeats itself - and smart money's betting the Nasdaq's about to make another epic run.

The Pattern Never Lies

Market cycles don't just suggest growth - they scream it. Every historical indicator points toward 2026 becoming another banner year for tech stocks, with artificial intelligence leading the charge.

Wall Street's AI Darlings

Two names keep surfacing in analyst reports and hedge fund conversations. These aren't speculative plays - they're established players positioned to dominate the coming AI revolution. Institutional money's already positioning itself, because when the tide rises, these ships won't just float - they'll fly.

Timing Beats Everything

The window for entry-level pricing won't stay open forever. As one fund manager quipped - 'The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese in this manipulated market.' Get positioned before the herd arrives and turns solid fundamentals into overhyped bubble talk.

Image source: Getty Images.

1. The Trade Desk

The Trade Desk is the largest independent demand-side platform (DSP). Its adtech software helps brands plan, measure, and optimize digital campaigns across the open internet. Its most recent platform upgrade, called Kokai, features sophisticated artificial intelligence tools that help brands manage budgets, customize bids, and dynamically target audiences to improve campaign outcomes.

The Trade Desk's independence, meaning it does not own advertising inventory that could bias spending on its platform, promotes transparency and objectivity. While competitors likeandhave a clear incentive to steer brands toward their own ad inventory on platforms like Google Search and Amazon Marketplace, The Trade Desk avoids those conflicts of interest.

Frost & Sullivan analysts recently recognized The Trade Desk as the best DSP on the market for the second straight year, awarding the company the highest scores in both categories (i.e., growth and innovation). The report highlighted its independence, robust omnichannel capabilities, advanced AI features, and an extensive number of third-party data providers as key strengths.

Nevertheless, The Trade Desk stock has declined 57% year to date because the market is worried about slowing growth and increased competition from Amazon. Earlier this year, Amazon added features to its DSP that help brands optimize campaigns across third-party websites and connected TV -- areas where The Trade Desk has historically been dominant.

However, The Trade Desk remains a likely winner in the long run due to its independence and capacity for innovation. Wall Street expects the company's adjusted earnings to grow at 11% annually through 2026, which makes the current valuation of 28 times earnings look expensive. But I think analysts are overly pessimistic. The Trade Desk beat the consensus earnings estimate by an average of 11% in the last four quarters.

2. Atlassian

Atlassian develops work management software. Its best known product is Jira, which helps businesses plan, organize, and track projects across technical teams (development) and nontechnical team (marketing). But its portfolio also includes other major products like Confluence for knowledge management and Jira Service Management for IT support.

Atlassian is unique in its ability to connect technical and nontechnical teams with work management tools. The company also eschews traditional sales and marketing tactics in favor of freemium self-service software. That not only reduces friction for prospective customers, but also lets Atlassian outspend its competitors on research and development.

Consultancyrecently ranked the company as a market leader in DevOps platforms, which facilitate collaboration between development and operations teams. Andrecently ranked Atlassian as a leader in knowledge management software, which facilitates teamwork by creating a centralized location where documents are organized and shared.

Atlassian last year introduced Rovo, a conversational AI product that features intelligent search and agentic capabilities. It surfaces personalized insights by analyzing data from internal and third-party applications. And it automates workflows across products like Jira and Confluence. Gartner recently ranked Atlassian as an emerging leader in generative AI technologies. Andsees it as one of the companies best positioned to profit from AI agents.

Wall Street expects Atlassian's adjusted earnings to increase at 19% annually through the fiscal year ending in June 2027. That makes the current valuation of 41 times earnings look relatively reasonable, especially when the company beat the consensus earnings estimate by an average of 16% in the last four quarters.