In this article, we will look at the 15 Best Trending AI Stocks to Watch in 2026.
On June 23, Andrew Slimmon, Morgan Stanley Investment Management senior portfolio manager, appeared on CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box’ to talk about the latest market trends, ongoing tech selloff, and state of the AI trade, among other things.
He was of the view that the AI beneficiaries are the sellers. He doesn’t think they are expensive, but they are rather crowded. In other words, they have captured the zeitgeist of the momentum traders. When that happens, we get sharp selloffs, quite like the ones we are having. Slimmon argues that this is healthy and “good for the markets” because ultimately, what you don’t want to see is kind of so much euphoria that it ends badly. He added that the likelihood that the Fed has gone from for sure cutting to maybe raising is probably cause for the bubble to deflate.
He also believes that a pullback like this can be an opportunity to buy, because the earnings revision story has validated these stocks. The stocks have gone up a lot, but so have their earnings and earnings revisions. If you look at some of these memory and chip stocks, they are not selling at high multiples because the market is acting rationally, knowing that these are very cyclical earnings. That doesn’t strike him as euphoria where people act irrationally, as the market is pricing them appropriately.
With these broader market trends in view, let’s look at the best trending AI stocks to watch in 2026.
Our Methodology
We used stock screeners and online sources to identify the best AI stocks that are trending for 2026 and then selected the top 15 stocks most popular among hedge funds as of Q1 2026, using the hedge fund sentiment data from Insider Monkey’s database. The stocks are arranged in ascending order of hedge fund sentiment.
Note: All data was recorded on June 20.
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. Insider Monkey’s quarterly newsletter strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 599.2% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 372 percentage points (see more details here).
15 Best Trending AI Stocks to Watch in 2026
15. Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 64
Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) is one of the best trending AI stocks to watch in 2026. Susquehanna cut the price target on Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) to $140 from $186 on June 22 and reaffirmed a Neutral rating on the shares, with the firm updating its model after meetings with management following the company’s earnings release. It stated that the discussion provided valuable context to explain the general slowdown in IT Services and their strategy to accelerate growth going forward. The firm believes that Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) is making the right moves, but EPS is growing just about 7%, well below the historic average of roughly 13%.
Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) also received a rating update from Truist on June 22, with the firm lowering the price target on the stock to $150 from $210 and maintaining a Hold rating on the shares. The rating update came after the company’s fiscal Q3 earnings report, with the firm telling investors in a research note that the impact of the Middle East emerged with around a $100 million revenue headwind that is expected to extend into fiscal Q4 and beyond.
Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) is a global professional services company that combines technology and leadership in data, cloud, and AI with functional expertise, industry experience, and global delivery capability. The company’s services include Strategy & Consulting, Technology, Operations, Industry X, and Song, and its operations are divided into the following geographical segments: North America, EMEA, and Growth Markets.
14. QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 71
QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) is one of the best trending AI stocks to watch in 2026. BofA lifted the price target on QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) to $195 from $165 on May 23 and maintained an Underperform rating on the shares. The rating update came ahead of the company’s investor day on Wednesday, June 24, with the firm stating that it is rolling forward in its valuation to calendar year 2028 estimates. However, it maintained an Underperform rating on the shares as it believes the company is re-entering a fast-growing but hyper-competitive AI market that is full of large incumbents as the company works to diversify away from handsets toward a broader AI compute platform spanning edge, auto/IoT, and data center.
In another development, Bloomberg reported on June 22 that according to people familiar with the matter, QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) is in advanced talks to acquire Modular Inc, the AI infrastructure software company, in a transaction valued at around $4 billion. It further reported that a transaction may be announced as soon as the upcoming week. Bloomberg added that the people asked not to be identified since the information is private.
QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) develops and commercializes foundational technologies for the wireless industry, including 3G, 4G, and 5G wireless connectivity and high-performance and low-power computing, including on-device AI. The company operates across various high-growth markets, including autonomous vehicles and smartphones. QUALCOMM’s Snapdragon augmented reality technology is the next generation of mobile computing.
