In this article, we will look at the 10 Best Data Center Stocks with Huge Upside Potential.
Data center stocks are getting more attention as the AI buildout moves beyond the chip trade and into the wider infrastructure stack. The theme includes cloud infrastructure, servers, storage, optical networking, custom semiconductors, backup power, cooling, and the mechanical and electrical systems needed to keep data center facilities running.
Fidelity says the AI infrastructure trade includes “chips, but also memory, interconnects, networking, and advanced packaging,” while also pointing to companies with “mechanical and electrical systems” and “significant exposure to data centers and related infrastructure.” BlackRock frames the pressure point more directly, saying the AI buildout is revealing “capacity constraints in many key inputs,” with “power being one of the most strained.” The firm estimates “approximately 148 gigawatts (GW) of additional power capacity” will be needed by the end of the decade to satisfy data center demand. Janus Henderson adds that “Supply at nearly every layer of the stack, from memory to compute to power, still cannot keep pace with demand,” while “Optical connectivity and advanced cooling systems face further strain.”
Against this backdrop, data center stocks with huge upside potential deserve a closer look. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the 10 Best Data Center Stocks with Huge Upside Potential.
Our Methodology
We used the Finviz screener to identify data center stocks that offer notable upside from analysts’ price targets. We then limited our final selection to companies that have recently reported noteworthy developments likely to impact investor sentiment. These stocks are also popular among analysts and elite hedge funds.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 498.7% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 303 percentage points (see more details here).
10. Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN)
On May 26, 2026, BofA analyst Tal Liani raised the firm’s price target on Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) to $660 from $550 and maintained a Buy rating on the shares. Liani said Cisco’s (CSCO) recent fiscal Q3 results and commentary around continued strong demand for Acacia keep BofA positive on the underlying demand environment for Optical Networking.
On May 18, 2026, Citi analyst Atif Malik raised the firm’s price target on Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) to $658 from $345 and maintained a Buy rating on the shares ahead of the April quarter report on June 4. Malik said the company’s fiscal 2027 and 2028 growth expectations have “materially increased” due to stronger demand for optical connectivity. Citi cited Ciena’s higher sustainable sales growth and improved profitability for the target increase.
Similarly, TD Cowen analyst Sean O’Loughlin raised the firm’s price target on Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) to $675 from $425 and maintained a Buy rating on the shares. O’Loughlin said AI capex continues to move higher as investors look for the next infrastructure “bottleneck.” TD Cowen said this has driven a “bifurcation within the infrastructure trade,” with optical names trading higher on expectations of future shortages. The firm now sees $1.3 trillion in data center silicon spending by 2030, up from $1.2 trillion previously.
Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) provides hardware, software, and services for network operators across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, Japan, and India.
9. Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)
On May 27, 2026, Barclays analyst Tom O’Malley raised the firm’s price target on Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) to $620 from $450 and maintained an Overweight rating on the shares. O’Malley said memory and storage remain the “most attractive vertical below accelerators” in the semiconductor group. Barclays expects continued pricing upside as the supply-demand imbalance persists through 2027, with the biggest hard disk drive pricing opportunity expected toward the end of the year as new contract pricing and products come into play and mix shifts toward 40TB drives.
Evercore ISI analyst Amit Daryanani also raised the firm’s price target on Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) to $575 from $500 and maintained an Outperform rating on the shares after hosting investor meetings. Daryanani said Western Digital and the hard disk drive industry remain a “critical and still underappreciated component” of the AI infrastructure buildout, while adding that the company’s revenue growth can outpace exabyte growth.
On May 18, 2026, Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) announced the integration of post-quantum cryptography into its newest high-capacity Ultrastar UltraSMR hard disk drives. The company said the move addresses next-generation infrastructure security as AI systems increasingly retain data across inference, training, and interactions. The drives are currently in qualification with multiple hyperscale customers, reflecting early interest in quantum-resilient storage architectures.
Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) develops, manufactures, and sells data storage devices and solutions based on hard disk drive technology across the United States, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
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