Speaking on CNBC, Dan Ives, Global Head of Technology Research at Wedbush Securities, and Wilma Burdis, Research Analyst at Raymond James, said that AI spending and resilient private credit continue to underpin markets despite volatility and misleading headlines.
The analysts noted how private credit performance remains solid, and that AI infrastructure investments appear to be tracking ahead of expectations even though markets may be experiencing heightened anxiety as investors navigate individual headlines.
Tech megacaps have reinforced this narrative, announcing major increases in capex for 2026. The four hyperscalers now anticipate combined spending of close to $700 billion, a 60% increase from the historic levels reached in 2025.
The most aggressive spending plan has been of Amazon, expected to reach up to $185 billion in capex this year, and Alphabet not so far behind.
Despite concerns around cash flow pressure, analysts have kept their buy recommendations on these stocks. Longbow Asset Management CEO Jake Dollarhide is also bullish, acknowledging how investing in AI means pressuring cash flow while management balances funding and risk.
If you’re going to pour all this money into AI, it’s going to reduce your free cash flow,” Dollarhide said. “Do they have to go to the debt markets or short-term financing to find the optimal mix of equity and debt? Yeah. That’s why CEOs and CFOs are paid what they’re paid.
That said, let’s dive into the top AI stocks in focus on Wall Street.
For this article, we selected AI stocks by going through news articles, stock analysis, and press releases. These stocks are also popular among hedge funds. The hedge fund data is as of Q3 2025.
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).
10. CoreWeave, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWV)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 62
Shares of CoreWeave plunged on Friday, February 20, after Morgan Stanley reiterated the stock as Equal Weight with a price target of $99. The investment bank said it is cautious on CRWV ahead of earnings on Feb. 26.
Analyst Keith Weiss cited concerns over the company’s ability to meet ambitious growth targets amid operational delays. Recent legal complaints regarding service shortfalls have further fueled investor skepticism regarding CoreWeave’s capacity to deliver on customer commitments.
According to Weiss, future rating improvements for CRWV will largely depend on significantly scaling power capacity, addressing data center delays, conversion of projects under construction into spending, and growing the backlog and customer base.
CoreWeave has secured and expanded large contracts from the most demanding GenAI users, though easing investor concerns regarding management’s ability to consistently execute on stated goals will require 1) exiting the year with > 850 MW of active power, 2) resolving prior data center delays, and 3) outlining a credible path to securing an additional 5 GW of capacity.
CoreWeave, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWV) is a cloud platform provider that provides equipment for AI and other computing purposes.
9. Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 62
Despite delivering fourth-quarter 2025 results that exceeded both market expectations and own guidance, Freedom Capital Markets analyst Almas Almaganbetov downgraded Fortinet (NASDAQ: FTNT) from Buy to Hold with a price target of $90.00 on February 17.
The firm flagged valuation constraints for FTNT despite Q4 outperformance, mainly due to margin risks from memory prices, FX volatility, and rising competition. It noted how FTNT’s robust results were propelled by the launch of a large-scale network equipment refresh cycle.
The service segment, it highlighted, also posted steady growth backed by expanding Unified SASE cloud solutions and integration of recent acquisitions. This is despite noting customer caution regarding contract durations.
The firm further pointed out that long term growth rates may face challenges from potential margin compression risks, which in turn come from rising memory prices, currency volatility and competitive pressures that are further intensifying.
We maintain our $90 price target for FTNT shares but are downgrading our recommendation from “Buy” to “Hold” given current valuation levels.
Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT), a cybersecurity company, provides enterprise-level next-generation firewalls and network security solutions, leveraging artificial intelligence across its cybersecurity products.
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