3 Stocks Cashing In on AI While Everyone Watches NVIDIA

While investors have been fixated on semiconductors and the Magnificent Seven, a quieter group of stocks has been doing something those names haven't: beating earnings, attracting institutional money, and pulling back just enough to offer a fresh entry point.

NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) and the rest of the Mag 7 are up less than 1% on the year. Meanwhile, the companies actually building the infrastructure that makes AI run—the power plants, data centers, and electrical grid expansions—have been putting up real numbers. Marc Chaikin of Chaikin Analytics says that's exactly where investors should be looking right now, and he has three names to make the case.

Where the AI Money Is Actually Going

The chip story had its moment. NVIDIA, Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD), and Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU)—those runs were real and well documented. Then the hardware layer caught up: Dell Technologies (NYSE: DELL) and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE) both posted blowout earnings as demand for data center servers surged. Those stocks doubled in a matter of weeks.

Chaikin's view is that the biggest gains in chips and servers have already been realized. The next layer of the trade is the infrastructure that houses and powers all of it—and that story is still early.

The data center buildout requires two things above everything else: construction expertise and electricity. The three stocks on his list sit directly in that path.

Argan: Small Cap, Specialized Play

Argan, Inc. (NYSE: AGX) is a construction and engineering firm focused on power plant development—a niche that puts it squarely in the path of data center expansion.

With roughly $1 billion in revenue, it's the smallest name on the list, but Chaikin says that's part of the appeal. Retail investors haven't found it yet, which means there could be another wave of buying still to come.

The stock spiked on its most recent earnings report before pulling back. Chaikin sees that pullback as the setup—strong fundamentals, a multi-year growth runway, and a price that's come in from its highs.

MasTec: Mid-Cap With a Trifecta of Bullish Signals

MasTec, Inc. (NYSE: MTZ) operates at a much larger scale—around $15 billion in revenue—providing infrastructure solutions across electrical, pipeline, and communications projects. It's not a household name in AI conversations, but its most recent earnings tell a different story.

Against an estimate of 98 cents per share, MasTec reported $1.39, beating by 41 cents and raising guidance for the rest of the year.

Chaikin points to what he calls a trifecta: a consistent pattern of positive earnings surprises across the last six quarters, analysts raising their estimates in response, and ratings upgrades following.

That combination—earnings surprise feeding analyst revision feeding price momentum—is exactly what his Power Gauge ranking system is designed to identify. MasTec has it.

The stock is also down about 20% over the past month, which Chaikin views as another opportunity to buy into a dip rather than chase a spike.

Quanta Services: The Largest Play With the Longest Runway

Quanta Services, Inc. (NYSE: PWR) is the anchor name on the list. With approximately $30 billion in revenue and a $100 billion market cap, it's a significantly larger company than the first two, and Chaikin argues it may have the longest-lasting tailwind of all.

Quanta doesn't build data centers. It expands the electrical grid capacity that data centers depend on. That distinction matters, because the grid upgrade story extends well beyond AI. U.S. electrical infrastructure is aging, vulnerable to extreme weather, and increasingly insufficient for a growing economy.

Quanta has been doing this work for decades and will continue doing it regardless of what happens with AI spending cycles.

The earnings track record reflects that durability. Quanta has posted positive earnings surprises in 18 of the last 20 quarters.

Most recently, it beat estimates by 35%, reporting $2.68 against a consensus of $2.04. The stock spiked 15% on the report, and has since pulled back, offering a nice discount relative to its all-time high.

The Pattern Retail Investors Keep Missing

The common thread is straightforward: strong earnings, institutional ownership, and recent pullbacks that Chaikin reads as buying opportunities rather than warning signs. These aren't speculative plays. They're companies with real revenue, real contracts, and exposure to a buildout that's expected to run for at least another three to five years.

The retail investor hasn't caught up to names like these yet. That's not a reason to ignore them—it may be exactly the reason to pay attention.

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