A couple of years ago, the chief investment strategist at Bank of America Global Research — a fellow by the name of Michael Hartnett — borrowed the title of a classic film to identify a hot new group of tech stocks that had been lifting the entire U.S. market on their shoulders throughout the early 2020s: the “Magnificent Seven.” That group includes:

1. Nvidia (NVDA 1.28%)
2. Microsoft (MSFT 1.58%)
3. Apple (AAPL 0.53%)
4. Amazon (AMZN 1.62%)
5. Alphabet (GOOG 0.51%) (GOOGL 0.54%)
6. Meta Platforms (META 0.73%)
7. Tesla (TSLA 0.04%)

Moving forward, I expect some of these stocks will be less dominant than they were when Hartnett labeled them, but I still think a few could easily outperform the market: Nvidia, Alphabet, and Meta Platforms. While there will likely be some other strong performers in the “Magnificent Seven,” these three are my top picks.

Image source: Getty Images.

Nvidia

At this time, Nvidia is the world’s largest company by market cap, and it rose to that position thanks to the incredible growth of its graphics processing unit (GPU) business. GPUs are designed to handle specific types of computationally intense processing tasks that can be easily broken down into a slew of smaller ones that can be solved simultaneously, rather than in sequence.

As it happens, AI model training and inference are heavy on just those types of tasks, so the growing use of AI has driven a surge in demand for GPUs. And as Nvidia makes some of the most powerful ones — and certainly the most popular ones — its revenue increased rapidly over the past few years.

NVDA Revenue (TTM) data by YCharts.

That growth is far from over. In Q1, Nvidia delivered an impressive 69% year-over-year growth rate and gave guidance for 50% growth in Q2. There has never been a company of Nvidia’s size delivering such rapid growth, and it has pretty much defied all investment notions about large companies not being able to grow rapidly.

There are no signs of the AI infrastructure build-out slowing, which means more and more Nvidia GPUs will be used. This is an incredibly bullish time for Nvidia, and I believe it will continue to outperform the market.

Alphabet

Alphabet is on the opposite side of the AI business from Nvidia. Many investors expect that generative AI systems will replace Google’s search engines, but that hasn’t happened.

In Q1, Google Search revenue rose 10% year over year, which isn’t indicative of a segment that’s failing. Furthermore, Alphabet has already deployed its AI search overview tool in a bid to supplement its results, and that will likely be sufficient for many average users’ needs.

Due to the market’s current aversion to Alphabet’s stock, it trades at a significant discount to many of its major tech peers.

GOOGL PE Ratio (Forward) data by YCharts.

At 18.6 times forward earnings, Alphabet stock is far cheaper than most of its big tech peers, which trade around 30 times forward earnings. Furthermore, the broader market, as measured by the S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.83%), trades at 23.2 times forward earnings.

I believe Alphabet’s stock will gain more respect from the market as it continues to deliver solid results quarter after quarter.  This should cause the valuation to rise, delivering shareholders market-crushing returns.

Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms is probably better known by the social media platforms under its umbrella: Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads, and Messenger. These platforms generate revenue by selling advertising space, and Meta is investing significant resources to ensure that its ad tools are best in class.

With its top-notch tools and popular platforms, Meta provides some of the best returns on investment in the advertising space, making nearly every business on Earth a potential customer. Moreover, Meta is working on an AI tool that will take information from a business about its offerings and its target audience, and create an ad campaign for it. It’s also utilizing AI to enhance content and streamline business operations.

It has been no secret that Meta Platforms is offering substantial signing bonuses to the top AI engineering talent available, and I believe this is an excellent strategy for Meta to utilize its vast resources in assembling a dream team. This could pay off significantly in the next few years as AI tools become more widespread and Meta is recognized as a leader in its space.

I believe that the value Meta will deliver to shareholders over the next few years, due to its significant AI investments, will be substantial and lead to a market-crushing stock.