Retail investors talked up five hot stocks this week (Jan. 12 to Jan. 16) on X and Reddit’s r/WallStreetBets, driven by retail hype, AI buzz, and corporate news flow.
Nebius Group NV (NASDAQ:NBIS), IREN Ltd. (NASDAQ:IREN), D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NYSE:QBTS), Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Oklo Inc. (NYSE:OKLO), spanning data center, semiconductor, AI, quantum computing, and nuclear, reflected diverse investor interests.
Nebius Group
- NBIS bullish momentum from its early adoption/implementation plans for Nvidia Corp.’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) Vera Rubin platform in the second half of 2026. Also, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on the AI infrastructure stock, highlighting the company’s aggressive scaling targets and its strategic positioning within the AI infrastructure sector as pivotal factors, pointing to a potential 23.55% upside.
- The bullish sentiment saw retail investors adding NBIS to their portfolio.
- The stock had a 52-week range of $18.31 to $141.10, trading around $103 to $105 per share, as of the publication of this article. It advanced by 176.36% over the year and 94.87% in the last six months.
- The stock had a stronger price trend in the short, medium, and long term, with a poor value ranking, as per Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings.
IREN
- IREN focused on renewed analyst enthusiasm, reinforcing its AI infrastructure pivot, highlighted by a massive prior Microsoft hyperscaler contract and execution momentum. H.C. Wainwright double-upgraded the stock from to Buy with a raised price target to $80, citing its leveraged exposure to AI demand via the MSFT deal, as per an Investing.com report. Bernstein reiterated IREN as a top AI pick for 2026, as per a Motley Fool report, tying into broader post-CES optimism on compute demand.
- Some retail investors were concerned about missing the upside in IREN.
- The stock had a 52-week range of $5.12 to $76.87, trading around $51 to $53 per share, as of the publication of this article. It returned 353.19% over the year and 199.77% in the last six months.
- Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings showed that the stock had a stronger price trend in the short, medium, and long terms, with a poor value score.
D-Wave Quantum
- QBTS news revolved around a key technical breakthrough: the successful demonstration of scalable on-chip cryogenic control of gate-model qubits, validating D-Wave’s annealing-derived control tech for gate architectures, reducing wiring complexity for thousands of qubits, and accelerating its dual-platform roadmap toward error-corrected systems.
- Some retail investors were bullish on quantum stocks despite the positive news flow.
- The stock had a 52-week range of $4.45 to $46.75, trading around $28 to $30 per share, as of the publication of this article. It was up by 394.32% over the year and 69.84% over the last six months.
- It maintains a stronger price trend over the short, medium, and long terms, as per Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings.
Microsoft
- Sentiment around MSFT was positive despite a near-term decline as the Donald Trump administration reportedly proposed that the largest power grid operator in the U.S., PJM Interconnection, will hold an emergency auction allowing tech giants and hyperscalers to bid on 15-year contracts for building new power plants. Amid this development, Futurum Group CEO Daniel Newman predicted that MSFT was on a trajectory to reclaim a $4 trillion valuation as it was already on the way to absorbing the massive power costs associated with its expanding infrastructure.
- Some retail investors were still pessimistic about MSFT’s growth and loaded up on put options.
- The stock had a 52-week range of $344.79 to $555.45, trading around $456 to $458 per share, as of the publication of this article. It rose 7.56% over the year and declined by 9.68% over the last six months.
- The stock had a weaker price trend in the short, medium, and long terms, with a solid quality ranking, as per Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings.
Oklo
- OKLO built on the momentum from its early-January multi-billion-dollar agreement with Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) to advance a 1.2 GW nuclear power campus in Pike County, Ohio. There were follow-up details on Meta’s prepayment/funding structure for early fuel procurement and Phase 1 development, pre-construction starting in 2026, first power as early as 2030, and scalable expansion to full capacity by 2034, creating thousands of jobs and validating Oklo’s role in hyperscaler energy needs.
- Retail investors were contemplating going the OKLO “way,” indicating buying the stock.
- The stock had a 52-week range of $17.42 to $193.84, trading around $91 to $93 per share, as of the publication of this article. It surged by 277.42% over the year and 277.42% over the last six months.
- According to Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings, it was maintaining a weaker price trend over short and medium terms but a strong trend in the long term.
Retail focus blended meme-driven narrative with earnings outlook and corporate news flow, as the S&P 500, Dow Jones, and Nasdaq largely witnessed volatile market action during the week.
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