In this article, we will look at the 11 Best SaaS Stocks to Buy Right Now.
On December 10, Ashley MacNeill from Vista Equity appeared on a CNBC television interview to discuss her outlook on the software industry amidst market weakness in the sector. MacNeill highlighted that the main reason behind the software market lagging in 2025 is that we are still in the early stages of software adapting to AI. She noted that during the year, the market was essentially looking for proof points of software adapting to AI advancements. The AI adoption cycle happens in waves, and MacNeill noted that in 2025, we saw the hardware companies linked with AI, including hyperscalers, chip manufacturers, and other mega-cap stocks, realize the economic benefits. However, now the market is setting up for phase 3 of the AI cycle, which entails software adapting AI to its fullest.
Macneill noted that currently, the market is trying to understand how the SaaS model transforms to an agentic model. She believes that in 2026, the market will define some proof points or KPIs to gauge the effectiveness of early adopters of the agentic model within the software space. She noted that we are going to see two types of software providers. One like Salesforce that provides agentic solutions as its core services. Secondly, there are going to be companies that do not provide direct agentic solutions but use AI to provide software solutions.
With that, let’s take a look at the 11 Best SaaS Stocks to Buy Right Now.
Our Methodology
To come up with the 11 Best SaaS Stocks to Buy Right Now, we used ETFs, including iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF, Invesco AI, and Next Gen Software ETF. Using these ETFs, we aggregated a list of SaaS stocks for which analysts expect positive upside. Lastly, we ranked these stocks based on the number of hedge fund holders sourced from Insider Monkey’s Q3 2025 database. Please note that the data was recorded on December 12.
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 427.7% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 264 percentage points (see more details here).
11 Best SaaS Stocks to Buy Right Now
11. Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY)
Analyst Upside Potential: 24.98%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 64
Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) is one of the Best SaaS Stocks to Buy Right Now. The share price of Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) fell by more than 7.85% a day after its fiscal Q3 2026 earnings release on November 25. The stock also remains down by 10.73% on a year-to-date basis. On December 1, Robert Simmons, CFA from Rosenblatt Securities, initiated a Hold rating on the stock with a price target of $45.
Analyst Simmons maintained a cautiously optimistic outlook on the stock based on the company’s future prospects and the market position. He noted that Workday, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:WDAY) core business, Human Capital Management, is expected to grow at a slower rate due to increased competition and market saturation. On the other hand, while the other businesses of the company are expected to grow at a faster pace, Simmons argues that they haven’t shown any substantial impact on the overall growth of the company.
Simmons highlighted that he remains optimistic regarding Workday’s future prospects, driven by its strong margins. However, the stock currently trades at a premium to its peers. Therefore, Simmons initiated a Hold rating on the stock and is waiting for a better entry point.
During fiscal Q3 2026, Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) grew its revenue by 12.59% year-over-year to reach $2.43 billion, surpassing estimates by $14.54 million. The EPS of $2.32 also topped consensus by $0.15. Management attributed the performance to its diversity of businesses and momentum across its AI portfolio.
Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) offers an enterprise AI platform that manages people, money, and agents.
10. Datadog, Inc. (NASDAQ:DDOG)
Analyst Upside Potential: 46.43%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 72
Datadog, Inc. (NASDAQ:DDOG) is one of the Best SaaS Stocks to Buy Right Now. Wall Street maintains a positive outlook on Datadog, Inc. (NASDAQ:DDOG) despite a 21.49% decrease in share price over the past month. Analysts’ 12 month price target reflects more than 46% upside from the current level.
Recently, on December 3, Datadog, Inc. (NASDAQ:DDOG) announced the expansion of its partnership with AWS and also launched a series of products at AWS re:Invent. Management unveiled more than a dozen new product features across AI observability, storage costs, serverless infrastructure, and security. The company already integrates more than 1,000 services, including 100 AWS-specific features, allowing customers a single pane view. Some of the key features highlighted at re:Invent include LLM Observability, New Kiro powers, and Bits AI enhancements, among others.
That said, earlier on November 24, William Power from Robert W.Braid reiterated a Buy rating on Datadog, Inc. (NASDAQ:DDOG) with a $220 price target. The analyst noted that the company’s share price has fallen mainly due to concerns regarding its competitor’s acquisition of Chronosphere. William Power argues that the company’s strategic position in the observability market remains strong, driven by its recent contract extensions from AI players.
Power remains optimistic regarding Datadog, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:DDOG) growth trajectory and finds the recent weakness in the share price to be a buying opportunity.
Datadog, Inc. (NASDAQ:DDOG) integrates monitoring, logging, application performance insights, and AI-driven tools through its unified SaaS platform. The company helps organizations manage and secure complex cloud environments in real time.
