In this article, we will look at the 7 Best Performing Agentic AI Stocks to Buy.
On July 1, Dan Ives, Wedbush Securities’ global head of tech research, appeared on a Bloomberg Television interview to discuss the tech trade, AI growth, and more. Ives has been opposing the general investor concern regarding the huge capital expenditure from the hyperscalers. Ives noted that hyperscalers are essentially funding the whole AI evolution, and if you throw memory and semiconductors out of the AI trade, there will be nothing left. He noted that this capital expenditure is just the first phase, as this is the buildout. Ives gave the example of AI buildout as the Vegas Strip back in 1955.
He noted that after the buildout comes the monetization and gave examples of Meta, Microsoft, and Alphabet, which have started to show signs of AI revenue streams. Ives addressed that bears of the AI trade argue that the AI capital expenditure is a spending into nowhere. He noted that the reality is the total opposite, as AI capital expenditure is essentially building a new economy for the US with new companies, software, agentic and physical AI.
With that, let’s take a look at the 7 Best Performing Agentic AI Stocks to Buy
Our Methodology
To curate the list of Best Performing Agentic AI Stocks to Buy, we surfed through various reputable financial media rankings and aggregated a list of Agentic AI stocks. Next, we checked the 6-month performance of each stock and selected only those that had gained more than 50% over the past 6 months, and ranked the stocks in ascending order of performance. We have also added the number of hedge fund holders sourced from Insider Monkey’s database.
For this list, agentic AI stocks include not only companies developing AI agents directly, but also companies providing the cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, AI compute, semiconductor testing, robotics, and autonomous-system software needed to deploy, secure, and scale agent-enabled workflows.
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’s 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).
7 Best Performing Agentic AI Stocks to Buy
7. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)
6-Month Performance: 96.26%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 87
Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) has gained more than 96% over the past 6 months and roughly 24% since the release of its fiscal Q3 2026 earnings on June 3. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) is one of our 7 Best Performing Agentic AI Stocks to Buy. The company ranks among Agentic AI stocks as it builds security for agentic AI and also embeds agents to its platform, for instance, Prisma AIRS 3.0 is designed to secure Agentic AI lifecycles.
During the quarter, the company posted $3 billion in revenue and topped the expectations of $2.94 billion. The EPS of $0.85 also topped the expectations of $0.80. Notably, the company’s next-generation security ARR grew 60% year-over-year to reach $8.1 billion. Moreover, the total platform customers grew to 2,280 compared to 1,250 a year ago. The company raised its fiscal year 2026 revenue guidance to between $11.415 billion and $11.425 billion, alongside an increased non-GAAP EPS outlook of $3.77 to $3.79.
Recently, on July 1, Wells Fargo raised its price target on Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) to $420 from $325, keeping an Overweight rating. The firm noted adding the company to its Q3 tactical ideas list and cited a clear catalyst path ahead. The firm expects the long-running debate over organic versus inorganic growth to fade. It sees new reporting segmentation as a move made from strength, not necessity. Wells Fargo noted that with clearer segment disclosure, investors will be better able to align the narrative with the actual numbers.
Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) is a leading cybersecurity company that provides a variety of products such as firewalls, malware protection, and cloud security.
6. Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)
6-Month Performance: 104.13%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 52
Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) has surged more than 104% over the past 6 months; much of the gains came after the company reported strong fiscal Q1 2026 earnings in May. The triple-digit gains over the past 6 months make Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) one of our Best Performing Agentic AI Stocks to Buy. Fortinet’s ranks among the Agentic AI stocks due to its FortiSOC + FortiAI-Assist, which is a unified cloud-delivered security operations center platform powered by agentic AI.
During the fiscal Q1 2026, the company not only topped revenue estimates by 6.68%, but the EPS of $0.82 also exceeded the consensus of $0.62. Notably, during the quarter, the company grew its total billings by 31% year-over-year to $2.09 billion, with standout performance in the Operational Technology segment, which saw billings surge over 70%. Moreover, product revenue surged 41% year-over-year to $645 million, driven by robust demand for high-performance FortiGate appliances used in AI data center deployments.
Despite the gains, recently, on June 30, HSBC downgraded the stock from Hold to Reduce and raised the price target from $98 to $102. The firm noted that the rating change is based on valuation concerns rather than fundamentals. Analyst Bersey noted Fortinet trades at a 2026 P/E of 46.1x, in line with cybersecurity peers, despite a much slower 11.6% EPS growth rate. He noted that the mismatch makes the risk-reward unattractive at current levels. The firm also flagged a large-scale device security event as a near-term risk, potentially slowing product and billings momentum as customers scramble to assess exposure. Moreover, HSBC raised its target multiple to 31x from 30x, reflecting AI-led re-rating across the sector, but kept it well below the peer median of 46x.
Fortinet Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) provides cybersecurity and convergence of networking and security solutions worldwide.
While we acknowledge the potential of FTNT 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 FTNT and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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