Top 10 Stocks to Buy According to Whale Rock Capital Management

In this article, we will discuss the Top 10 Stocks to Buy According to Whale Rock Capital Management.

Whale Rock Capital Management marked two decades of operations on May 1, 2026, a moment that the fund celebrated in a LinkedIn post and noted is “a rare milestone in an industry where the median firm lasts only five and a half years.” The fund started as a three-person operation under the stewardship of Alex Sacerdote with around $40 million of capital. As of this writing, the fund manages more than $14 billion for over 450 investors.

The reason Whale Rock has endured for that long, and also grown the value of assets under management 350-fold, comes down to its investment framework built around S-curves, competitive advantage, and underappreciated earnings power. This is according to Sacerdote, who laid the framework out in detail on the Invest Like The Best podcast hosted by Patrick O’Shaughnessy on June 9. Sacerdote explained that his fund identifies technology S-curves early, finds companies with durable competitive advantages, and spots underappreciated long-term earnings power that markets fail to price in exponentially.

Whale Rock has now trained that framework on artificial intelligence. Sacerdote made this point clear at the Sohn Investment Conference on May 28, where he stated that the AI boom is not even close to its peak. He argued that while hundreds of millions of people are already using the technology, they are using what amounts to AI 1.0; that is, a search engine on steroids. Sacerdote added that the truly transformative phase, which is one where AI agents are plugged into all enterprise data sources, building skills and running autonomously, has barely begun.

“We’re in the first batter’s box of AI… Of course we haven’t seen any major productivity gains… But if you look carefully at what these people are doing, it’s astonishing,” he said.

That conviction explains why a good number of Whale Rock’s holdings are tech companies with operations deeply embedded in the AI stack. In that light, this article explores the top 10 names to buy from the fund’s perspective.

Source:Pexels

Our Methodology

For this list, we sifted through Whale Rock Capital Management’s Q1 2026 portfolio and picked the fund’s top holdings based on the stake value. From the portfolio, we selected top stocks and narrowed the list to companies with recent noteworthy developments likely to influence investor sentiment. We also ensured that the stocks have an upside potential of at least 20%, which was based on Wall Street analysts’ 12-month price targets as of July 2, 2026. We also considered the overall hedge fund sentiment for each stock using Q1 2026 13F holdings data from Insider Monkey’s database. The list is in ascending order of Whale Rock’s stake in each stock.

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).

Top Stocks to Buy According to Whale Rock Capital Management

10. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Whale Rock’s Stake Value: $19,933,655

Stock Upside: 47.45%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 282

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is one of the top stocks to buy according to Whale Rock Capital Management. On June 29, Haleon, a consumer health company, announced a new five-year collaboration with Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) to expand the use of cloud, data, and artificial intelligence tools across Haleon’s global operations.

Haleon said the deal builds on its current use of Microsoft 365 Copilot and is designed to speed up the company’s wider “Win as One” strategy. The strategy is the company’s global plan for growth and digital transformation. The expanded collaboration entails Haleon continuing to use Microsoft Azure as its main cloud platform and expanding its use of Copilot. As such, Haleon will get access to broader computing power, data analytics, and enterprise security tools.

A major focus of the partnership is agentic AI, where Haleon plans to use this technology to help teams manage and secure digital AI agents across the business. To that end, the two companies will jointly build AI applications across several parts of Haleon’s operations. This includes consumer research, product innovation, supply chain management, marketing, and commercial execution. Microsoft will also provide stronger identity management, governance, and threat protection tools, which Haleon said will let it scale AI use safely across its systems and workflows.

Haleon framed the expanded AI push as supporting two long-term business goals: reaching one billion additional consumers by 2030 and improving shareholder returns.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a technology company. It develops and supports software, services, devices, and solutions worldwide, including the Microsoft 365 productivity suite, Azure cloud computing platform, Windows operating system, and Xbox gaming products.

9. Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN)

Whale Rock’s Stake Value: $89,784,787

Stock Upside: 23.02%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 73

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) is one of the top stocks to buy according to Whale Rock Capital Management. On June 23, Ciena Corporation’s (NYSE:CIEN) Blue Planet division and Telefónica Deutschland announced they had completed a joint proof of concept, or PoC, showing how AI agents can speed up the design of 5G network slicing services.

The companies stated that the project tested whether agentic AI could help engineers manage the entire lifecycle of building a network slice, which is from initial design through to cataloging and final setup. For context, network slicing lets telecom operators carve a single physical network into multiple virtual ones, and each tailored with different speed, capacity, or reliability levels for specific business customers or use cases. However, designing these slices typically demands specialized engineering skills and significant manpower.

To test a faster approach, Blue Planet integrated its AI Studio platform into Telefónica Deutschland’s existing Multi-Domain Service Orchestration environment. The trial focused on tasks such as writing technical specifications for a network slice and generating the standardized data packages needed to activate it. According to Blue Planet, these tasks typically take weeks, but were completed in minutes once AI agents took over the repetitive, rules-based portions of the process.

The PoC showed that the AI agents could translate complex technical standards into simpler guided steps. The system then reused pre-built components already stored in Telefónica Deutschland’s service catalog rather than building each slice from scratch.

Beyond speed, the PoC showed that the approach also improved consistency and accuracy. The reason was that automated, repeatable workflows reduce the chance of human error compared to manual configuration.

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) is a network technology company. It provides hardware, software, and services for network operators, including optical networking, routing, and switching products, as well as automation and analytics platforms.

8. Viavi Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAV)

Whale Rock’s Stake Value: $115,586,499

Stock Upside: 36.13%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 44

Viavi Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAV) is one of the top stocks to buy according to Whale Rock Capital Management. On July 1, Susquehanna analyst Mehdi Hosseini raised his price target on Viavi Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAV) to $66 from $60, while maintaining his Positive rating on the stock.

The reason for the call, according to Hosseini, was that Susquehanna was updating its estimates to reflect a higher Field Instrument revenue contribution. Viavi’s Field Instrument business is a product line within its Network and Service Enablement segment that supplies handheld and portable testing tools used by technicians to install, troubleshoot, and maintain fiber and network equipment in the field. Hosseini’s team lifted its revenue estimates for this business because they now expect a stronger ramp in data center interconnect, or DCI, deployments at two of Viavi’s major optical networking customers; that is Nokia and Ciena.

DCI refers to the high-capacity optical links that connect data centers to each other. The analysts noted that demand for this technology has been surging as hyperscale cloud providers race to expand AI computing capacity. They added that Nokia and Ciena are both racing to supply next-generation coherent optical equipment for these DCI links, and that Nokia recently unveiled a new suite of pluggable optical transceivers specifically built for DCI.

As these vendors ramp production and deployment of their new DCI and scale-across optical gear, they generate more business for Viavi, the analysts noted.

Viavi Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAV) is a network test, monitoring, and assurance company. It provides testing, monitoring, assurance, and security solutions for telecommunications, cloud, enterprise, military, aerospace, and critical infrastructure networks across the Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

7. Klaviyo Inc. (NYSE:KVYO)

Whale Rock’s Stake Value: $132,818,509

Stock Upside: 92.05%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 43

Klaviyo Inc. (NYSE:KVYO) is one of the top stocks to buy according to Whale Rock Capital Management. On June 30, Klaviyo Inc. (NYSE:KVYO) announced that Composer, its AI marketing agent, moved into public beta, alongside major upgrades to its existing Customer Agent. Both tools are built directly into Klaviyo’s customer relationship management platform and now share the same real-time customer data, which means actions taken by one agent make the other smarter over time, the company said.

Klaviyo designed Composer to solve two common problems marketing teams face, starting with figuring out where to focus their efforts and not having enough time to act on opportunities. The tool also identifies high-value opportunities, builds the campaigns needed to capture them, and carries out the work automatically rather than just offering suggestions.

On the other hand, Customer Agent handles customer service and support. The tool works across multiple channels, including web chat, email, text messages, and WhatsApp, and users can set it up once to run consistently everywhere or embedded into a brand’s own custom interfaces.

According to Klaviyo, most companies investing in AI have not yet seen meaningful returns. As such, the company is positioning its dual-agent approach as a way to close that gap by connecting marketing and service functions instead of running them separately.

Klaviyo, Inc. (NYSE:KVYO) is a technology company. It provides a cloud-native software-as-a-service platform for marketing automation, including email campaigns, short message services, push notifications, and customer data management tools.

6. Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (NASDAQ:TSEM)

Whale Rock’s Stake Value: $187,191,009

Stock Upside: 22.97%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 54

Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (NASDAQ:TSEM) is one of the top stocks to buy according to Whale Rock Capital Management. On June 18, Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (NASDAQ:TSEM) announced that it has shipped more than five million coherent photonic integrated circuits (PICs) to global customers of its partner Marvell Technology.

These chips are used in coherent optical transceivers, which are specialized components that transmit data over fiber optic cables. According to Tower, these components are increasingly needed to link data centers as AI computing drives up demand for network bandwidth and speed. It added that coherent PICs are harder to build than simpler chip types because they must precisely control both the phase and polarization of light. Tower has been working with Marvell to push this technology forward, including combining silicon with other specialized materials, stacking electronic components in three dimensions, and using an advanced packaging method known as V-Grooves to improve how light is guided through the chip.

Dr. Ed Preisler, who leads Tower’s RF Business Unit, said the company’s photonics manufacturing platforms need to keep evolving alongside the requirements of coherent optical transceivers, and that Tower is proud of its partnership with Marvell in this area.

For Dr. Radha Nagarajan, Marvell’s chief technology officer for optical engineering, the shipment is a milestone that proves the strength of the two companies’ collaboration. Nagarajan added that Marvell intends to keep working with Tower to develop next-generation coherent technology suited to large-scale data center networks.

Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (NASDAQ:TSEM) is a specialized semiconductor foundry. It provides technology, development, and process platforms for integrated circuits, including SiPho, SiGe, CMOS image sensor, RF CMOS, mixed signal CMOS, non-imaging sensors, and integrated power management technologies.

5. Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Whale Rock’s Stake Value: $228,152,820

Stock Upside: 38.98%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 173

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) is one of the top stocks to buy according to Whale Rock Capital Management. On June 30, Jefferies analyst Blayne Curtis reiterated his Buy rating and $550 price target on Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO). The analyst cited an improving outlook for the company’s AI chip business.

A key pillar of Curtis’ thesis is Broadcom’s improving visibility into FY2028 earnings. In fact, Jefferies ran a scenario analysis that points to earnings per share of between $30 and $40 for that year, which translates into a valuation multiple of roughly 10 times earnings.

Curtis also pointed to an on-track roadmap for Broadcom’s custom Tensor Processing Units, the AI chips it co-designs with Google. He noted that this partnership now extends through 2031 under a long-term agreement that guarantees minimum revenue and offers potential upside of more than $500 billion over that period.

Beyond Google, Jefferies highlighted a broadening customer base for Broadcom’s application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). These are the custom chips built for individual AI customers. According to the analyst, the broadening customer is an encouraging sign that the company is diversifying away from reliance on a single buyer. One example of such diversification is Broadcom’s new partnership with OpenAI, through which the two companies unveiled Jalapeno. This is OpenAI’s first custom AI accelerator chip designed specifically for running large language model inference workloads.

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) is a semiconductor and infrastructure software company. It designs, develops, and supplies semiconductor devices and software solutions, including networking connectivity products, wireless device connectivity components, server and storage system solutions, and broadband access technologies.

4. Carvana Co. (NYSE:CVNA)

Whale Rock’s Stake Value: $275,885,427

Stock Upside: 41.29%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 79

Carvana Co. (NYSE:CVNA) is one of the top stocks to buy according to Whale Rock Capital Management. On June 24, Carvana Co. (NYSE:CVNA) announced plans to bring Inspection and Reconditioning Center (IRC) capabilities to its existing ADESA Sarasota wholesale auction site in Bradenton, Florida.

The move adds extra vehicle reconditioning capacity to Carvana’s national network, which means it can inspect more used cars, repair, and prepare them for sale. Carvana stated that because of the new IRC, customers along the Florida Gulf Coast could receive their vehicles as soon as the same day once the new inventory pool is running.

Brian Boyd, Senior Vice President of Inventory at Carvana, stated that he expects the IRC integration to create around 100 new jobs in inspection, reconditioning, and vehicle fulfillment. These positions do not require a college degree and come with full benefits, and that hiring for the roles has already started, Boyd said. Boyd added that the expansion strengthens the company’s national network and its customer offering.

ADESA Sarasota has operated as a wholesale auto auction facility for 20 years. It sits on roughly 60 acres with over 3,000 parking spaces, which gives Carvana enough room to run both the IRC and the existing wholesale auction side without disruption. The company detailed that its proprietary software platform, CARLI, will manage the site’s shift into an IRC-enabled facility.

Carvana Co. (NYSE:CVNA) is an e-commerce platform company. It operates an online marketplace for buying and selling used cars in the United States, offering vehicle acquisition, inspection, and reconditioning; online search and shopping; financing; complementary products; and logistics network services.

3. Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Whale Rock’s Stake Value: $293,256,102

Stock Upside: 45.34%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 262

Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is one of the top stocks to buy according to Whale Rock Capital Management. On June 30, Reuters reported that a federal judge in Oakland, California, rejected Meta Platforms Inc.’s (NASDAQ:META) attempt to dismiss a lawsuit filed by dozens of US state attorneys general, who accuse the company of intentionally designing Facebook and Instagram to be addictive to children while hiding the resulting harm from the public.

US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers issued the ruling late on Monday (June 29) night, said Reuters. It added that the judge denied Meta’s motion to dismiss claims tied to deception, unfair business practices, and violations of the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). COPPA requires companies to get parental consent before collecting data from children under 13.

On the COPPA issue specifically, the judge found that it was undisputed that Meta failed to properly notify parents or obtain their consent as the law requires. The 38-page ruling stated that there remain real factual disagreements that a jury needs to resolve, including whether Meta’s platforms are actually addictive, whether the company falsely denied designing them that way, and whether it partly targeted children with these features, Reuters noted.

Reuters added that the judge pointed to internal Meta statements claiming its platforms were not built to cause compulsive use among teens. The judge said a jury could reasonably conclude those statements were misleading if evidence shows the platforms were in fact engineered that way.

This decision means the case will move forward toward trial. As such, both parties will get the chance to present evidence and expert testimony on how Facebook and Instagram’s design affects young users.

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is a technology company. It develops products that enable people to connect and share through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables. The company operates through the Family of Apps and Reality Labs segments.

2. Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Whale Rock’s Stake Value: $378,934,561

Stock Upside: 34.26%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 353

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is one of the top stocks to buy according to Whale Rock Capital Management. On July 1, NiCE, a leader in CX AI, announced that Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), a component of Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), had selected the company as a launch partner for the AWS European Sovereign Cloud. This is a newly established independent cloud region built specifically for Europe.

As part of the deal, NiCE will make its agentic AI-powered customer experience platform, CXone, available within this sovereign cloud environment. The goal is to allow European businesses in regulated industries to use AI-driven customer service tools while keeping their data within EU borders.

NiCE said the collaboration is particularly aimed at organizations in heavily regulated sectors such as the public sector, financial services, and healthcare. In these areas, strict rules govern how customer data can be stored, processed, and moved. NiCE added that the setup will enable businesses to deploy NiCE’s AI agents, real-time copilots, workflow automation, and AI-driven analytics tools.

Dorothy Copeland, NiCE’s Chief Partner Officer, said the company’s AI is built specifically for organizations that cannot compromise on reliability, security, and compliance. She added that extending it to AWS’s sovereign cloud lets Europe’s most regulated organizations adopt advanced AI while meeting their sovereignty requirements.

Commenting on the development, independent analyst Oru Mohiuddin of IDC noted that sovereign cloud environments are shifting from being a mere compliance checkbox to becoming a genuine driver of innovation. The driver for this change is organizations increasingly wanting systems that satisfy data rules while still delivering modern AI capabilities, Mohiuddin said.

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is a retail and technology company. It engages in the retail sale of consumer products, advertising, and subscription services through online and physical stores. The company also operates Amazon Web Services, which provides compute, storage, artificial intelligence, database, analytics, and machine learning services.

1. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Whale Rock’s Stake Value: $768,308,847

Stock Upside: 20.32%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 265

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is one of the top stocks to buy according to Whale Rock Capital Management. On June 30, Google, an Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) subsidiary, officially shut down the Tenor API. The company said via a post on its developer support site that it was discontinuing the tool that developers used to let third-party apps like Bluesky, X, WhatsApp, and Discord pull animated GIFs from Tenor’s library.

Tenor is a GIF search engine that Google acquired in 2018. The company said the service will keep running as a consumer-facing website and app, so ordinary users can still browse and save GIFs directly through Tenor.com or its dedicated apps.

Google first announced the wind-down in January 2026, when it stopped accepting new API sign-ups and new integrations. It gave existing developers roughly five months to prepare before the final cutoff. The company then terminated all API and advertising distribution agreements tied to Tenor on June 30.

Google explained that the shutdown will allow it to concentrate engineering resources on improving its core Tenor product. It added that its own products are unaffected by the shutdown and that integrations within Gboard, Google Messages, and Google Chat will keep working normally.

An ARS Technica report noted that third-party platforms have had to scramble to replace the lost functionality. X’s head of product, Nikita Bier, posted on the platform saying that they have migrated their GIF picker away from Tenor.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is a technology holding company. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments, offering products and services including YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Drive, Gmail, Google Photos, Google Maps, Google Play, Search, ads, and devices.

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