Buy 5 Construction Stocks Set to Soar on AI-Powered Data Center Boom

AI-powered data centers are a booming industry now. This space remains rock solid supported by an extremely bullish demand scenario. The demand for AI-driven data center capacity surged to manage and store the vast amount of cloud computing-based data.

Dell'Oro estimated that global data center capital expenditure (capex) is expected to reach $1.7 trillion by 2030, driven by intense investment from hyperscalers. McKinsey projected that approximately $5.2 trillion to $6.7 trillion in capex will be required by 2030 to support the AI data center build-out.

Here, we have narrowed our search to five construction companies likely to benefit immensely from the AI-powered data center frenzy. These are: MasTec Inc. MTZ, EMCOR Group Inc. EME, AECOM ACM, Jacobs Solutions Inc. J and Sterling Infrastructure Inc. STRL. Each of our picks currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The chart below shows the price performance of our five picks year to date.

MasTec Inc.

MasTec is an infrastructure construction company providing engineering, building, installation, maintenance, and upgrade services for communications, energy, utility, and other infrastructure primarily in the United States and Canada. 

MTZ is helping lead the charge in the once-in-a-lifetime expansion of the energy industry, which has only just begun, to support power-hungry AI, reshoring, and more. The company is a major beneficiary of the AI-powered data center boom. 

MTZ is a leading solution provider for design, construction, and maintenance services in the wireless network space. High-speed wireless network connectivity is of utmost importance as both enterprises and households use more AI-driven products. 

MTZ operates four segments: Communications (wireless and wireline/fiber infrastructure), Power Delivery (utility transmission and distribution), Pipeline Infrastructure (natural gas pipeline and distribution services) and Clean Energy and Infrastructure (renewable energy and heavy civil/industrial projects).

The power-hungry AI age, electrification, and the reshoring of critical manufacturing such as semiconductors are all happening at the same time. MTZ’s entire portfolio is growing directly alongside the converging infrastructure spending megatrend.

MasTec has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 9.2% and 29.9%, respectively, for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has improved 1.5% in the last seven days.

EMCOR Group Inc.

EMCOR Group is a leading provider of critical infrastructure to AI-powered data centers. Major offerings of EME are electrical infrastructure, mechanical and cooling systems and fire protection and safety. 

EME is gaining solid traction in the fast-growing data center construction market, which has become an important contributor to its expanding remaining performance obligations (RPOs). EME is actively building on its expertise to manage complex data center projects that involve multiple trades and diverse customer needs. 

With a focus on operational efficiency, planning and execution discipline, EME is strengthening its ability to capture new opportunities in this segment. The growing demand for data centers from multiple regions is not only driving consistent project wins but also supporting a more visible and stable flow of future work.

The growing scale of data center construction work is likely to remain a key support for its order book and future revenue visibility, reinforcing the company’s steady performance momentum in 2026.

EMCOR Group has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 5.4% and 8.6%, respectively, for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has improved 0.01% over the last 60 days. 

AECOM

AECOM continues to benefit from robust demand across transportation, water, environmental, energy and advanced-facilities markets, supported by government-funded infrastructure programs, alongside opportunity alignments in the Middle East, which are backing up ACM’s revenue visibility. 

During the first quarter of fiscal 2026, ACM highlighted the company’s investments in AI, digital delivery capabilities and technology-enabled engineering solutions, which are increasingly resonating with clients seeking to improve asset design, delivery efficiency and long-term infrastructure resilience. 

These capabilities contributed to major project wins — including large water-infrastructure and transportation programs — where ACM demonstrated the ability to combine technical expertise, advisory capabilities and technology-driven solutions to create measurable value for clients. ACM supports next-gen compute workloads, including AI and HPC, with efficient, scalable cooling systems.

AECOM has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 4.8% and 13.5%, respectively, for the current year (ending September 2026). The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has improved 5.4% over the last 30 days. 

Jacobs Solutions Inc.

Jacobs Solutions ended the last reported quarter with a record backlog of $26.3 billion, and exposure to long-term infrastructure, advanced manufacturing and digital consulting. J is benefiting from rising demand for higher-margin digital and advisory services through PA Consulting, which is strengthening earnings quality and diversifying the business mix. Strong cash generation and shareholder returns further reinforce J’s financial strength.

Fiscal first-quarter 2026 performance was led by life sciences, advanced manufacturing and critical infrastructure, with notable project wins spanning large-scale storm surge protection, airport modernization and AI-focused data center development. These markets are supported by long-term public funding priorities and private-sector capital investment, giving J’s exposure to multi-cycle growth themes rather than short-term construction volatility.

Jacobs Solutions has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 9.4% and 16.5%, respectively, for the current year (ending September 2026). The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has improved 1.6% over the last 30 days. 

Sterling Infrastructure Inc.

Sterling Infrastructure operates in E-Infrastructure, Building and Transportation Solutions principally in the United States, primarily across the Southern, Northeastern, Mid-Atlantic and the Rocky Mountain States, California and Hawaii. 

STRL specializes in constructing complex data centers, e-commerce distribution facilities, and manufacturing sites. The company is a major provider of high-density, AI-Powered data centers. STRL is a notable beneficiary of the massive AI data center boom.

E-Infrastructure Solutions projects develop advanced, large-scale site development systems and services for data centers, e-commerce distribution centers, warehousing, transportation, energy and more. 

Building Solutions projects include residential and commercial concrete foundations for single-family and multi-family homes, parking structures, elevated slabs and other concrete work. Transportation Solutions includes infrastructure and rehabilitation projects for highways, roads, bridges, airports, ports, light rail, water, wastewater and storm drainage systems.

Sterling Infrastructure has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 18.8% and 17.2%, respectively, for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has improved 0.3% over the last seven days. 

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

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