2 Best Stocks to Buy in the Market Right Now

Bloom Energy is seeing demand traction from AI data centers, with more than half of its current data-center backlog tied to hyperscalers, AI cloud providers, and colocation operators; revenue jumped 130.4% year over year to $751.1 million and FY2026 revenue guidance is $3.4 billion to $3.8 billion. Oneok is also benefiting from data-center gas demand, with more than 40 counterparties representing over 5 billion cubic feet per day of potential demand and Q1 FY2026 adjusted EBITDA up 13% to nearly $2 billion. The article is constructive on both companies, though Bloom carries project-timing risk after a paused 1.8 GW project.

Analysis

The market is starting to separate “AI beneficiaries” into two very different cash-flow archetypes: BE is a high-beta, project-conversion story, while OKE is a lower-beta toll-road on the gas side with more visible downside protection. That distinction matters because the current bottleneck is not demand discovery but delivery timing; any company that can shorten the path from signed LOI to energized load deserves a valuation premium, but only if execution remains clean through the next 2-3 quarters.

For BE, the second-order issue is that backlog quality now matters more than backlog size. If large projects slip, the market will likely compress the multiple before revenue recognition catches up, because investors are effectively underwriting a conversion curve rather than a traditional recurring revenue stream. The near-term setup is therefore asymmetric: positive surprises from milestone conversion can re-rate the stock quickly, but any pause or permit/grid delay can erase weeks of optimism in a single session.

OKE looks more durable because AI demand is additive to an already constructive gas/LNG/NGL backdrop, which reduces single-theme dependency. The overlooked angle is that hyperscaler gas demand may force larger, more capital-intensive pipeline builds, which can lengthen payback periods but also raise barriers to entry for smaller midstream peers. That should modestly improve OKE’s competitive moat and pricing power, especially in Texas/Oklahoma where right-of-way and interconnect access are becoming scarce assets.

The contrarian view is that consensus may be overestimating how quickly AI electricity demand translates into equity upside. In the next 6-12 months, the winners will likely be the names with the best contracting structure and lowest execution risk, not necessarily the purest AI narrative. If power availability improves or data-center buildouts slow, BE’s multiple is vulnerable first; if gas demand broadens beyond AI, OKE’s upside is more gradual but more defensible.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Long OKE vs short BE as a pair trade for the next 3-6 months: express a view that infrastructure monetization beats project-conversion risk; target 15-20% relative outperformance if BE experiences any schedule slippage.
• Add OKE on pullbacks over the next 1-2 weeks: favor a defensive long in a still-cyclical tape, with a thesis that AI-related gas demand becomes a multi-quarter backlog enhancer rather than a one-off headline.
• Avoid chasing BE after strength; instead, buy only on post-announcement weakness or confirmation of milestone conversion. Use a staggered entry over 1-2 quarters because the stock’s near-term risk is execution-driven drawdown, not valuation support.
• For more aggressive accounts, buy BE call spreads 3-6 months out, funded by selling upside in a weaker data-center proxy. The trade works only if the market gets a clean revenue conversion update; otherwise theta and event risk dominate.
• Monitor OKE’s project pipeline disclosures and permitting updates in Texas/Oklahoma as the key catalyst window over the next 2-4 quarters; if counterparties continue to scale up demand per connection, the stock can grind higher without needing commodity outperformance.