Behind the video
The 5 Stocks with THE MOST upside for 2026
Overall Thesis
Tom Nash highlights five growth stocks (Vertiv, CrowdStrike, Arista, Zscaler, Datadog) with strong fundamentals that he believes are positioned to benefit from AI and data-center infrastructure growth in 2026, having not yet had their explosive 'Nvidia/Palantir moment.' He contrasts these with three overhyped stocks (EOS Energy, BigBear.ai, TeraWulf) whose share prices he says have run far ahead of weak underlying fundamentals.
Narratives
Vertiv sits at a key data-center cooling bottleneck and should benefit significantly as compute and data-center density grow through 2030. The host added it to his top stocks list and expects strong operating income growth, though the stock has not yet had an explosive run.
Key Arguments
- Immersion cooling addresses one of the two biggest AI data-center bottlenecks (power and cooling)
- TAM expected to grow from ~$9B currently to $70-90B by 2030
- 80% revenue growth over two years, currently growing 28% annually
- Free cash flow up 440% over two years
- Low forward P/E of ~33 and minimal short interest (2.7%)
- Stock MVP score of 80/100
Risks acknowledged
- 2025 performance was good but not parabolic like Nvidia or Palantir
Predictions (1)
CRWDCrowdStrikeCrowdStrike's recurring-revenue cybersecurity model and dominant market share should let it keep benefiting as AI-driven cyber threats and digital transformation increase, per the host's long-held top-stocks-list position.
Key Arguments
- Owns about 20% of its market
- Recurring, mission-critical revenue model via the Falcon platform
- TAM projected to grow from $6B currently to $85-100B by 2030
- 124% revenue growth over three years, currently growing 22% annually
- Free cash flow up 95% over three years with low debt
- High Stock MVP score
Risks acknowledged
- Forward P/E of 144 is not cheap, though justified by recent profitability turn
Predictions (1)
ZSZscalerZscaler's cloud-native security model complements CrowdStrike and should see non-discretionary spending increase as cloud and cyber complexity grow, prompting the host to newly add it to his top stocks list.
Key Arguments
- Best-in-class shift from legacy firewalls to cloud-native security
- TAM projected to grow from ~$3B currently to $70-80B by 2030
- 133% revenue growth over three years, currently growing 23% annually
- Free cash flow of $850M and expanding
- Stock MVP score of 75/100
Predictions (1)
Despite a plausible long-term grid-battery growth story tied to data-center power demand, the host views EOS Energy as insanely overvalued given weak fundamentals, heavy losses, and massive share dilution.
Key Arguments
- Stock up 134% in 2025 despite weak fundamentals
- $3B market cap on only $60M in sales (~50x sales)
- Negative $2B net income in 2025, burning ~$250M in free cash flow
- Debt nine times cash
- Share count grew 300% over two years
- Stock MVP score of 50/100
Risks acknowledged
- The grid-battery demand thesis is not unreasonable and could play out eventually
Predictions (1)
TeraWulf's pivot from Bitcoin mining to AI data centers may have logical merit, but the host views the underlying fundamentals as extremely weak relative to its 2025 stock gains.
Key Arguments
- Stock up 133% in 2025 despite weak fundamentals
- 29% short interest
- Negative $560M net income in 2025, burning ~$700M a year in free cash flow
- Share count grew 270% over three years
- Stock MVP score of 50/100
Risks acknowledged
- The Bitcoin-miner-to-AI-data-center conversion story may have logic and could prove true
Predictions (1)
Arista dominates high-speed data-center networking needed for AI compute scaling, and the host expects continued growth in operating income as the networking TAM expands, despite a more muted 19% return in 2025.
Key Arguments
- Holds about 20% of the AI data-center networking market
- TAM projected to grow from $8.5B currently to $50-60B by 2030
- 115% revenue growth over two years, currently growing 28% annually
- Free cash flow up 538% in two years
- Low forward P/E of 39 with minimal debt
Risks acknowledged
- 2025 return of only 19%, roughly in line with the S&P 500, not an explosive year
Predictions (1)
Datadog's cloud monitoring and observability become mission-critical as AI complexity grows, giving it high switching costs and a large runway versus its current revenue, prompting a new addition to the host's top stocks list.
Key Arguments
- High switching costs from mission-critical cloud monitoring role
- TAM projected to grow from ~$3B currently to $60-70B by 2030
- 109% revenue growth over three years, currently growing 26% annually
- Free cash flow up 158% over two years with ~25% FCF margin
- Stock MVP score of 75/100
Risks acknowledged
- Forward P/E of 57 is not inexpensive
Predictions (1)
Despite being framed as a next Palantir on government/defense AI contracts, BigBear.ai's declining revenue, large losses, heavy dilution, and insider selling lead the host to view its 2025 rally as unjustified by fundamentals.
Key Arguments
- Stock up only 42% in 2025 versus hype
- Short interest above 20%
- Revenue down 7% in 2025
- Negative $400M net income, burning ~$40M in free cash flow
- Share count grew 254% over three years
- Heavy insider selling (37M sold vs 2.5M bought)
- Stock MVP score of 25/100
Risks acknowledged
- The government contracts and defense AI narrative is acknowledged as the bull case
Predictions (1)
Hedges & Caveats
- Nothing in this video constitutes investment advice
- This is not necessarily the single best list of stocks, just the host's picks
- The host acknowledges his opinion on the overhyped trio could be wrong