4 Stocks to Buy for 2026 That Are Better Bets Than Crypto

Cryptocurrencies are having a volatile 2025, with bitcoin, the largest in terms of market cap, making it a proxy for the whole crypto market, down roughly 30% from the high it hit in October. Bitcoin began the year at $93,615.04 but dropped to a yearly low of $76,270.13 in April. It gradually recovered to hit an all-time high of more than $126,000 in early October but retraced quickly and is now hovering below $90,000.

The volatility is reflected in the performance of iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT), which BlackRock has ranked among its top three 2025 investment themes, per Quartz. IBIT has dropped 6.9% in a year, while it has declined a whopping 26% in the past three months. Bitcoin’s prospects are expected to remain chaotic in 2026 due to the growing threat of a crypto winter and sluggish demand despite growing interest from enterprises. Bitcoin’s inherent volatility makes it risky for investors. Instead, we pick four stocks — Robinhood Markets HOOD, Micron Technology MU, Ciena CIEN and Credo Technology CRDO — which are better bets in 2026.

Price Performance

Each of these four stocks sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and a Growth Style Score of either A or B. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Top Picks That are Better Bets Than Crypto

Robinhood offers trading services in crypto, stocks, options and ETFs, cash management, margin, securities lending and Robinhood Gold. HOOD is benefiting from higher transaction revenues driven by growing retail market participation. In the third quarter of 2025, trading volumes were up double to triple digits across equities, options and crypto. Interest-earning assets were up more than 50%, driven by strong margin and cash sweep growth. Robinhood Gold jumped 75% year over year to 3.9 million subscribers.

Robinhood’s digital-native strategy has enabled the company to scale rapidly across the United States. HOOD’s majority stake in MIAX Derivatives Exchange is a noteworthy development. Acquisitions of PT Buana Capital Sekuritas and PT Pedagang Aset Kripto accelerate Robinhood’s APAC expansion plan. Strategic acquisitions and product expansion efforts aimed at active traders are expected to benefit this company’s prospects in 2026. 

HOOD has a Growth Style Score of B. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 earnings is pegged at $2.40 per share, up 5.7% over the past 30 days, suggesting 20.6% growth from 2025’s consensus earnings estimate of $1.99 per share.
 

Robinhood Markets, Inc. Price and Consensus

Robinhood Markets, Inc. price-consensus-chart | Robinhood Markets, Inc. Quote

Micron Technology is a leading memory chip manufacturer, producing DRAM and NAND flash memory chips. The company is benefiting from the rapidly expanding AI-driven memory and storage markets. The surging demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and robust DRAM pricing recovery is expected to aid significant revenue and earnings growth for MU in the coming quarters. Micron currently has a Growth Style Score of A.

Memory demand is expected to remain strong in 2026, with DRAM and HBM seeing particularly tight supply relative to demand. HBM carries higher margins than conventional DRAM, which should support profitability as volumes scale. Micron is poised to be the key beneficiary of surging AI-related infrastructure spending, as companies continue to build out GPU clusters and AI data centers that require advanced memory solutions, which is expected to boost prospects in 2026. 

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2026 earnings is pegged at $31.36 per share, up $14 over the past 30 days. Micron reported earnings of $8.29 per share in fiscal 2025.
 

Micron Technology, Inc. Price and Consensus

Micron Technology, Inc. price-consensus-chart | Micron Technology, Inc. Quote

Ciena is a leading provider of optical networking equipment, software and services. The company is benefiting from improvements in customer spending owing to the rapid proliferation of AI applications. CIEN continues to benefit from higher network traffic and demand for bandwidth, which are mainly attributed to increasing AI technology use cases. Ciena’s Cloud and Service Provider customers are prioritizing network investments to support AI-driven traffic growth, highlighting long-term opportunities for its Systems and Interconnects businesses. 

In fiscal 2025, Ciena saw accelerating demand from its cloud customer providers that include hyperscalers and the emerging neoscalers, a trend expected to continue in fiscal 2026. The majority is expected to be driven by investments in networks, including 5G and Managed Optical Fiber Networks. Ciena lifted its fiscal 2026 revenue outlook to $5.7-$6.1 billion, nearly 24% growth at the midpoint. Ciena currently has a Growth Style Score of A.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2026 earnings is currently pegged at $5.15 per share, up 18.1% over the past 30 days, suggesting 95.1% growth from fiscal 2025’s reported figure. 
 

Ciena Corporation Price and Consensus

Ciena Corporation price-consensus-chart | Ciena Corporation Quote

Credo Technology is benefiting from a strong footprint in the active electrical cables (AEC) segment, which is its fastest-growing business. CRDO noted that AECs, now scaling to 100-gig per lane and transitioning to 200-gig per lane architectures, have become the “de facto” standard for inter-rack connectivity and are now replacing optical rack-to-rack connections up to 7 meters. The rapid adoption of zero-flap AECs, which are 1,000 times more reliable than traditional laser-based optical modules with 50% lower power consumption, is a key catalyst in fiscal 2026.

Credo expects significant optical DSP growth in fiscal 2026, driven by 50-gig and 100-gig per lane deployments, with longer-term growth driven by its 200-gig per lane solutions. These factors benefit the IC business. A strong and innovative product pipeline that includes zero-flap optics, ALCs and OmniConnect gearboxes is a key catalyst over the long term. Credo currently has a Growth Style Score of B.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2026 earnings is pegged at $2.66 per share, up 30.4% over the past 30 days. CRDO reported earnings of 70 cents per share in fiscal 2025.

Credo Technology Group Holding Ltd. Price and Consensus

Credo Technology Group Holding Ltd. price-consensus-chart | Credo Technology Group Holding Ltd. Quote

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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