In this piece, we discuss the 7 Best Memory Stocks to Buy According to Analysts.
Memory has emerged as one of the clearest winners from the artificial intelligence (AI) chip buildout. The oligopolistic memory market is led by Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology. These players control more than 90% of the DRAM market. On March 29, 2026, Counterpoint Research noted that the DRAM market recorded 30% quarter-over-quarter growth in Q4 2025, representing the second consecutive quarter of 30% QoQ growth amid increasing memory prices.
As training and inference workloads become more demanding, the appetite for high-bandwidth and advanced DRAM has grown accordingly, and the market has taken notice.
By March 2026, the story had moved beyond demand and into supply.
CNBC reported that the world’s leading memory producers were dealing with a market defined by tight supply and stronger pricing, with earnings coming in well above expectations. The message was straightforward: new capacity cannot be brought online quickly. Meanwhile, AI demand is not a temporary wave, CNBC further added. Instead, it appears to be rewiring industry fundamentals.
That thesis faced a real test on March 26, 2026, when CNBC reported that Google’s TurboQuant research rattled memory-chip stocks. The concern was simple. If AI models could be built to use far less memory, the demand story falls apart. Google said that TurboQuant, a new compression method, could reduce the memory required to run large language models by 6x.
But the selloff did not hold up under scrutiny.
Rather than signaling a simple collapse in demand, TurboQuant shifted the debate toward efficiency, architecture, and what the next phase of AI infrastructure may look like.
Against that backdrop, the memory stocks analysts favor most are those positioned to benefit from a market where AI is simultaneously squeezing supply, raising strategic value, and forcing investors to separate immediate volatility from the broader structural memory opportunity.
Our Methodology
To curate our list of the best memory stocks, we scanned financial media and stock screeners to identify memory-related stocks with upside potential exceeding 10%, as of April 20, 2026. These stocks are also popular among hedge funds.
To assess hedge fund sentiment, we used Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, which tracks more than 1,000 elite hedge funds as of the fourth quarter of 2025. We then ranked our final list in ascending order of upside potential.
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).
7. Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)
Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) secures a spot on our list of the best memory stocks to buy according to analysts.
As of April 20, 2026, analyst sentiment on Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) remains strong, with 79% of covering analysts maintaining “Buy” ratings. The street-high price target of $440 implies about 18% upside from the current share price of $372.9.
Much of that optimism traces back to two things: pricing has improved, and demand for AI and cloud storage keeps climbing.
On April 17, 2026, BofA analyst Wamsi Mohan moved his price target on Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) from $375 to $415 and maintained a “Buy” rating. He pointed to strong memory demand that is feeding through to better pricing and gross margins. His note also flagged expectations that fiscal third-quarter revenue, margins, and EPS may land above the high end of guidance, with enterprise and nearline demand both pulling their weight.
Beyond the near-term numbers, Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) has been quietly building out its position in AI storage.
At its Innovation Day in February 2026, Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) walked through a roadmap that included 100TB-plus HDDs, 40TB UltraSMR customer qualifications, active HAMR work with hyperscalers, and technologies in development to increase bandwidth, reduce power consumption, and lower storage costs at AI scale.
That is what makes Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) fit the memory theme. Demand is improving and showing up in results today, while the roadmap has the company angled toward the next round of AI-driven data growth.
Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) is a data storage hardware and infrastructure company. It designs and manufactures a broad range of HDD and flash-based storage solutions, from high-capacity data center platforms and NAS systems to portable consumer drives. Its products provide the foundational infrastructure for managing and archiving digital data at scale.
6. Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)
Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) secures a spot on our list of the best memory stocks to buy according to analysts.
As of April 20, 2026, Wall Street remained strongly positive on Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT), with 81% of analysts covering the stock assigning “Buy” ratings. The highest price target on the Street stands at $500, which implies roughly 27.2% upside.
Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) picked up fresh Wall Street backing on April 13, 2026.
B. Riley analyst Craig Ellis took the firm’s price target to $485 from $450 and kept a “Buy” rating on Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT). His case rested on a better outlook for semiconductor capital spending from 2026 through 2028, as chipmakers keep putting money into advanced-node capacity to build more complex processors.
The company’s own management commentary lines up with that view.
Customers are moving faster on node migrations and taking on more complex 3D scaling technologies. Meanwhile, spending at the leading edge, in advanced packaging, and in memory, specifically DRAM and HBM, has stayed firm.
How customers are spending is also influencing Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)’s internal priorities.
In its Q1 2026 earnings call, management said R&D funding and capacity expansion in key product lines will continue. Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) is also working on its supply chain, adding supplier qualifications, dual-sourcing where possible, localizing certain components, and tightening up operations. The R&D agenda covers gate-all-around, backside power, advanced packaging, EUV-related adjacencies, new scaling materials, and AI-enabled metrology and inspection work.
One other detail from the call: Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) said its line of sight into HBM-related tool demand now extends across multiple quarters.
Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) is the global leader in materials engineering solutions, providing the equipment, services, and software used to manufacture semiconductor chips and advanced displays. They also enable chipmakers to create smaller, faster, and more energy-efficient electronics, serving as foundational technologies for AI and consumer electronics.
While we acknowledge the potential of AMAT to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than AMAT and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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