AI Stocks Are Taking a Beating. What to Buy Instead.

A look at the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Friday. (ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images)

Key Points

• Healthcare stocks have seen a resurgence in November, with Eli Lilly leading the S&P 500 with a gain of more than 20% gain.
• Beyond tech, other sectors like industrials, insurance, and waste management have also shown strong performance this month.
• Analysts suggest diversifying AI investments beyond major tech companies into infrastructure firms benefiting from data center and grid modernization.

November has been NO-vember when it comes to tech stocks.

Investors are shunning artificial-intelligence leaders and other momentum names. But if you look beyond Nvidia and the rest of the Magnificent Seven, there are actually plenty of winners.

Healthcare has been a top-performing sector. Investors seem to be embracing drug stocks, insurers, and medical equipment companies again. The shares had been beaten down as a result of worries about UnitedHealth’s earnings woes, as well as how the regulatory environment in Washington will affect drug prices and approvals for new medications.

According to Dow Jones Market Data, Eli Lilly is the best-performing stock in the index this month, up more than 20%. The company, which topped the $1 trillion market capitalization threshold Friday, has been a big winner thanks to its GLP-1 drugs.

But other top healthcare stocks, such as 3M healthcare spinoff Solventum, biotech Regeneron, dental supplies company Henry Schein, Amgen, Merck, Biogen, and veterinary testing company Idexx Laboratories are all up more than 10% this month as well.

Other prominent stocks are rallying too. Lithium miner Albemarle, cloud firm Akamai Technologies, insurers Allstate and Progressive, and the online travel leader Expedia are a few examples.

Investors have also embraced less sexy names, companies in boring industries like garbage collection and recycling. Waste Management and Republic Services have both rallied this month and over the past week.

Diversification has clearly helped investors this month given the big wobbles in tech stocks. But experts argue that traders shouldn’t abandon the AI trade entirely. They just need to look beyond the Magnificent Seven, Oracle, Broadcom, and other AI stars.

Analysts at J.P. Morgan recommend that investors consider smaller, lesser-known names in infrastructure, companies that can benefit from the buildout of more data centers and more modernization efforts for the electrical grid, including increased investments in nuclear power.

“AI-driven electricity demand and data center expansion are fueling a multi-year infrastructure supercycle,” the J.P. Morgan analysts wrote in a report Friday.

The analysts said that industrial firms Valmont, Mirion, Gates Industrial, and Regal Rexnord are examples of smaller companies “well positioned to benefit from grid modernization, nuclear momentum, and rising data center investments, making them attractive plays in the
evolving industrial landscape.”

Mizuho analyst Jordan Klein also thinks investors need to ride the AI data center boom. He said in a report Thursday that he continues to like Bloom Energy and Teradyne, which he said “feel like home runs” for 2026.

And Klein reminded investors that some stocks are worth owning for the long haul, regardless of short-term volatility. He said that Nvidia, Taiwan Semiconductor, and Broadcom are “names you just hold and never sell” and that Amazon.com “looks crazy attractive.”

The bottom line? AI is probably a multidecade investing theme. So don’t sweat the big tech stock declines of the past month.

But don’t forget that the market is bigger than AI too. The rebound in healthcare and other cyclical sectors is a reminder that diversification is ultimately the smartest and safest strategy.

Write to Paul R. La Monica at paul.lamonica@barrons.com