3 AI Stocks Poised to Surge on the January Effect

Recent declines in U.S. stocks may be concerning because they defy the historical Santa Claus rally. However, overall, the major indexes posted solid gains in 2025, despite the April sell-off triggered by President Trump’s sweeping tariff declarations.  

Now, they are even better positioned to build momentum due to the “January Effect,” a seasonal tendency for stocks to rise throughout January. Stock prices often gain momentum as investors reinvest year-end bonuses and engage in tax-loss harvesting, which leads to renewed buying in the markets. 

Therefore, it’s prudent for astute investors to capitalize on this bullish trend by investing in growth-oriented stocks. Many of these opportunities are concentrated in the technology sector, which has gained significantly from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, the main force driving market growth for some time. Notable among them are NVIDIA Corporation NVDA, Micron Technology, Inc. MU and Palantir Technologies Inc. PLTR. Let’s see why they are positioned for growth and what makes them a compelling buy –  

NVIDIA Set for Strong Growth on AI Demand and Trade Easing 

NVIDIA’s strong competitive edge in the AI hardware segment and persistent demand for its next-generation Blackwell chips and cloud graphics processing units (GPUs) are set to drive growth.  

Lately, the Trump administration has approved shipments of H200 AI chips to select customers in China ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, indicating solid growth prospects. This move also suggests that U.S.-China trade tensions have eased to some extent, a development welcomed by NVIDIA and other semiconductor companies.  

Meanwhile, NVIDIA expects global data center capital outlays to increase year after year, supporting strong demand for its sought-after computing hardware. All of this has led NVIDIA to project fiscal fourth-quarter 2026 revenues at around $65 billion, with a margin of plus or minus 2%, according to investor.nvidia.com.

The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 55.9%. The company’s $4.66 Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings per share (EPS) is up 12% year over year, and NVIDIA has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks Rank #1 stocks here.

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Micron Set for Growth on HBM Demand and Strong Cash Position

Micron’s high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips are in continuous demand because they handle large volumes of data while reducing power consumption. These chips were not only a growth driver for Sanjay Mehrotra-led semiconductor behemoth in 2025 but will continue to fuel growth this year.  

The company expects fiscal second-quarter 2026 revenues between $18.3 billion and $19.1 billion, citing investors.micron.com, nearly mirroring the revenue growth seen during the dot-com bubble. Additionally, Micron has a sufficient cash balance of $3.9 billion from its fiscal first-quarter 2026, providing ample resources to support its growth initiatives.  

Thus, the company’s projected earnings growth rate for the current year is 278.3%. The company’s $31.36 Zacks Consensus Estimate for EPS is up 185.9% year-over-year, and Micron has a Zacks Rank #1 (read more: Micron's Blowout Earnings: The Best AI Stock for 2026?).  

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Palantir Set for Growth as AIP Gains Traction 

Palantir is poised for growth due to the increasing adoption of its Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) among both U.S. government and commercial clients. AIP has become popular for its ability to seamlessly integrate AI with complex real-world data and workflows, enabling faster and more informed decision-making. 

Palantir expects revenue growth for both the U.S. government and commercial client segments and projects total revenues for 2025 between $4.396 billion and $4.400 billion, as cited on investors.palantir.com.

What’s more, Palantir expects growth to continue due to the expanding U.S. commercial and government clientele. As a result, the company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 42.5%. The company’s $0.73 Zacks Consensus Estimate for EPS is up 52.1% year over year, and Palantir has a Zacks Rank #2.

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

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