Analyst reveals 3 AI stocks to dominate 2026 – plus, Meta’s next move

Wall Street analysts see more room to run for four Club stocks that shattered records in 2025. Fresh commentary from a Rosenblatt Securities analyst shows how a new deal from Meta Platforms could be a financial windfall. Meanwhile, Wedbush details exactly why CrowdStrike , Apple , and Microsoft are winners from the artificial intelligence build-out in the year ahead. Here’s a breakdown of both reports, along with the Club’s take on each. News: Meta shares advanced Tuesday after the Facebook parent unveiled plans to buy Manus, a Singapore-based developer of AI agents. A Wall Street analyst also praised the acquisition. Although the financial terms weren’t disclosed, The Wall Street Journal reported late Monday that the deal was worth over $2 billion. Meta will sell the Manus service — the equivalent of a digital assistant — and integrate its tech into offerings such as the Meta AI assistant. “Manus is already serving the daily needs of millions of users and businesses worldwide,” Meta said in a statement. “We plan to scale this service to many more businesses.” In response, Rosenblatt reaffirmed its $1,117 price target on Meta shares, implying an upside of roughly 70% from Monday’s close and 40% above its August all-time highs. In an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, Rosenblatt analyst Barton Crockett said that Manus is not only a “great deal” but a “rocket ship growth story” for the company. In fact, it could be as successful as past “homerun” acquisitions like Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014. That’s because Manus “fits really beautifully” into WhatsApp’s growing footprint with small and medium-sized businesses, according to Crockett. These AI agents can make the customer experience more convenient and efficient. Rosenblatt has a buy rating on shares. Club take: The Manus deal furthers Meta’s AI ambitions, which we’ve been upbeat on for some time. It’s why the Club purchased more Meta shares last month on a pullback, our first Meta buy in three years. We also like that Meta has a world-class roster of engineers for TBD labs, the unit that oversees its large language models. That’s due to Meta’s aggressive efforts to poach the industry’s top AI talent. Plus, Meta reportedly plans to cut costs in its metaverse business, giving the tech behemoth more flexibility to invest in AI and other faster-growing areas . We’re not sure if the Manus acquisition will be as transformative as Rosenblatt argues. However, it will likely help monetize WhatsApp. The integration can help small businesses on the messaging platform, potentially boosting revenues as Meta helps customers leverage these agents. The Club has a price target of $825 on shares. META YTD mountain Meta Platforms (META) year-to-date performance News: Wedbush’s Dan Ives listed Microsoft, Apple, and CrowdStrike among the firm’s “top five names to play the AI revolution into 2026.” The other two were Palantir and Tesla . Analysts reiterated their buy-equivalent rating on each. In the case of Microsoft, Wedbush says Wall Street is “underestimating [the] growth story” of Azure, the company’s crucial cloud computing business. Analysts added that 2026 will be the “true inflection year” for Microsoft’s AI growth. Wedbush has a $625 price target on the tech stock, implying a 28% upside from Monday’s close. The price target is 12% above Microsoft’s July all-time high. Although Apple’s AI rollout has been rocky, analysts say the iPhone maker’s massive installed base will be a significant advantage once management delivers. “We believe the AI monetization piece could add $75 to $100 per share to the Apple story over the coming few years as it finally plays out after a head-scratching AI strategy this year in Apple Park,” Wedbush argued. Analysts maintained their $350 price target, which is nearly 28% above the stock’s Monday close. The firm’s PT is 21% below Apple’s record high set earlier this month. Finally, Wedbush says AI can be a tailwind for CrowdStrike by increasing deal count. AI integration not only improves a cybersecurity firm’s ability to automate threat detection but also makes cyberattacks more sophisticated. This boosts demand for CrowdStrike’s offerings. “We believe the Street is underestimating the growth potential for CrowdStrike with cybersecurity remaining a second/third derivative beneficiary of the AI Revolution which speaks to our bullishness,” wrote the analysts, who maintained a $600 price target on shares. The stock is up roughly 39% this year, last reaching a record high of $566.90 apiece in November. Wedbush’s price target implies a 26% upside from Monday’s closing price. Club take: Each of these stocks is a clear winner of the AI revolution. We don’t disagree with Wedbush on that, and we see each running higher in the new year, too. As for Microsoft, the tech company has successfully integrated AI across its suite of cloud tools, and its OpenAI partnership will likely continue to boost its cloud revenue. Plus, just because Apple’s late to the AI party, doesn’t mean it’s going to lose the race. We continue to hold out hope. Apple doesn’t have a track record of being first to market, but it does have one of being the best when it arrives. Just look at the iPhone. CrowdStrike is also a key beneficiary of the AI trade. CEO George Kurtz said so himself during the company’s post-earnings call in December. “Businesses every day are having jarring lightbulb moments, witnessing AI-powered adversarial tradecraft firsthand,” Kurtz added. “Now, just as anyone can use AI to vibe code and become a software engineer, anyone can also now vibe hack, becoming a sophisticated adversary with AI.” To the CEO and us, this just makes CrowdStrike’s offerings even more critical. (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust .) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. 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