The Hidden Gem AI Networking Stock That Could Own the Next 5 Years
The Hidden Gem AI Networking Stock That Could Own the Next 5 Years
Manali Pradhan, CFA, The Motley FoolSun, February 8, 2026 at 3:50 AM UTC
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Key Points -
Arista Networks is becoming a crucial artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure player by selling ultra-fast Ethernet switches that connect large GPU clusters inside modern AI data centers.
Customers are increasingly adopting open-source, high-speed Ethernet over proprietary Infiniband for AI backend networking.
Arista is also expanding in enterprise and campus networking.
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Arista Networks (NYSE: ANET) is a prominent artificial intelligence (AI) data center networking player, providing ultra‑fast Ethernet switches and other cloud-networking solutions that help large clusters of GPUs and custom accelerators communicate efficiently within AI data centers.
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Here's why the company can prove to be an underappreciated AI networking play.
Growth catalysts
Cloud giants such as Microsoft and Meta Platforms are investing tens of billions of dollars to expand their AI infrastructure. In fact, according to BNP Paribas, the total addressable data center networking market will be around $120 billion by 2028.
Arista is well positioned to capitalize on this opportunity, as customers are increasingly adopting high‑speed, open-source Ethernet in back-end AI networks (to connect GPUs across servers in AI clusters) rather than Nvidia's proprietary InfiniBand. This helps clients prevent vendor lock-in over time.
Arista's 400G and 800G high-speed Ethernet switching platforms were increasingly being deployed in next‑generation AI cluster networks in 2025, while the company expects a mix of 800G and even faster 1.6T platforms to be used in 2026. This directly ties Arista's growth prospects to continued AI spending over the next five years.
Arista is also investing heavily in enterprise and campus networking. This is a part of its "client to branch to campus to data and now cloud and AI centers" strategy, which means that Arista wants to serve the networking needs of customers everywhere.
Arista boasts a solid 20%‑plus revenue growth, 60%‑plus gross margins, and a cash‑rich balance sheet.
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Analysts expect the company's revenues to grow from an estimated $8.9 billion in fiscal 2025 to nearly $21 billion in fiscal 2030. Assuming the company's price-to-sales multiple reverts to its five-year historical average of 15.4x by 2030 (a conservative estimate, given its growth prospects), we can expect Arista's market capitalization to reach around $323 billion. This is nearly 84% higher than its current market cap (as of Feb. 3), which is not exceptional but still solid for a high-quality AI company.
In this environment, Arista looks like a genuine hidden gem.
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Manali Pradhan, CFA has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Arista Networks, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Source: “AOL Money”
