While the efficacy of AI stock-picking remains a subject of debate, there is no denying that the technology’s applications in personal finance and investing are increasingly popular. Dozens of apps and websites offer AI stock advice, and even more aim to help users improve their financial skills.
Since July 2025, Money has been tapping into those platforms to see which stocks — and the sectors in which they operate — are being recommended by AI right now. Going one step further, we conducted our own research to determine whether any trends or notable takeaways could be gleaned from those suggestions (and then theoretically applied to investors’ portfolios).
This month, we refined our prompt. We asked several AI models to identify under-the-radar stocks that could outperform the market in January and February. Here’s what we found.
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AI’s stock picks for 2026 support energy demand, entertainment and… pawn shops?
Last year, the market was driven by AI enthusiasm. Hyperscalers (aka cloud service providers) and chipmakers dominated the narrative, but AI adoption grew beyond tech and into other S&P 500 sectors. Concerns about circular financing and an emerging AI bubble weren’t enough to deter investors from pouring funds into stocks with direct or indirect exposure to AI.
That theme is forecast to continue in 2026, as companies are committing hundreds of billions of dollars to AI capital expenditures, or CapEx, in an effort to remain competitive. As a result, when picking stocks that are likely to outperform the S&P 500 in the next two months, ChatGPT and Gemini both narrowed down their lists to one company with AI exposure.
ChatGPT and Gemini lean into AI data centers’ energy needs
Advanced Energy Industries designs and manufactures precision power conversion and control solutions that serve industries focused on semiconductors, data centers and industrial automation. With a market cap of $7.85 billion, the mid-cap stock was favored by ChatGPT for its ability to create “pricing power and margin leverage” for power-hungry AI data centers, which are expected to see their electrical consumption increase 133% by 2030.
Gemini, meanwhile, highlighted two short-term catalysts for Advanced Energy Industries.
First, management expects high-volume production programs for AI data centers to ramp up in the first quarter. Second, the company will report earnings on Feb. 10 amid speculation that its data center revenue more than doubled last year.
Advanced Energy Industries is a textbook pick-and-shovel play. It’s an investment in a company that provides essential tools, services or infrastructure to a burgeoning industry rather than an investment in the high-profile, pure-play companies directly involved in the finished product.
Gemini also highlighted another mid-cap company that is forecast to grow its earnings by 21.8% in 2026. FirstCash is a leading international operator of pawn shops that focus on serving financially-constrained consumers. In late 2025, the company acquired H&T Group, a leading pawnbroker in the U.K. Early 2026 will be the first full quarter where investors see the financial results of that deal materialize.
Why Danelfin thinks Roblox will outperform the S&P 500
Danelfin’s AI is not an LLM. It provides a list of stocks likely to outperform over the next 90 days. While the platform’s current top 10 stocks includes household names like Meta Platforms, Oracle and Newmont — the world’s largest gold miner — its under-the-radar pick is online gaming platform Roblox.
While that isn’t a surprise to the parents of the nearly 382 million active users who flock to the site each month, Roblox is lesser-known as being a high-growth stock. The company’s primary source of revenue is selling a virtual currency, Robux, which users can apply to in-game experiences and customized digital assets. Roblox also sells premium subscriptions and brand sponsorships, creating a veritable virtual economy.
Since its all-time high in September, the stock is down 49%, suggesting that Danelfin’s AI picked the stock as a buy-the-dip candidate. Investors should note that Roblox has yet to achieve quarterly or full-year profitability since its IPO in March 2021.
Still, Danelfin assigns the stock an AI Score of 9 out of 10 — translating to a “buy” rating — along with a 62% probability of outperforming the S&P 500 over the next 90 days.
How AI’s stock picks have performed
Prior to tailoring our prompt to identify under-the-radar stocks in 2026, our parameters asked AI tools for stocks that had the potential to beat the market. As a result, the picks routinely fell into the large- and mega-cap categories, with members of the Magnificent Seven routinely receiving preferential treatment.
While that methodology often proved successful, it demonstrated LLMs’ reliance on big-name, trending stocks that benefited from strong investor conviction. Danelfin was an exception in that the platform uses a propriety AI that generates picks representative of the broader market, including mid-cap stocks and less fashionable companies in niche industries.
Still, AI proved prescient in most cases. September was a particularly strong month for AI-selected stocks, with 8 of 9 outperforming the S&P 500. That success continued in October and November, the latter of which saw 6 of 9 stocks chosen by AI outpace the market, including all three of Danelfin’s picks posting double-digit gains.
But in December, a rotation out of tech resulted in just 4 of 9 stocks picked by AI outpacing the S&P 500. That marked the worst performance for AI stock-picking since Money began tracking it in July 2025.
Despite that market rotation, all three of Danelfin’s picks outperformed in December, with aerospace manufacturer and launch services provider Rocket Lab being the big winner with a 72.8% gain versus the index’s 0.48% gain. Meanwhile, 5 of the 6 picks made by ChatGPT and Gemini — each of which had exposure to AI — failed to beat the benchmark.
With a narrower focus moving forward, we will see how AI performs in its attempt to identify less conspicuous and smaller market cap stocks and their ability to outperform the S&P 500.
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More from Money:
I Let AI and My 5-Year-Old Pick My Stocks. Who Did Better?
Stock Market Outlook 2026: Will the Bull Run Continue or the AI Bubble Burst?
Why You No Longer Have to Own AI Stocks to Get AI Exposure
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