ZACKS·2026-01-15 14:15Market Overview - U.S. stock markets have started 2026 positively, with all three major stock indexes trading in positive territory, supported by strong domestic economic fundamentals, solid fourth-quarter 2025 earnings projections, and the Fed's accommodative monetary policies [1] Investment Recommendations - Investing in growth stocks is recommended to strengthen portfolios in January, focusing on stocks with aggressive earnings or revenue growth [2] Selected Growth Stocks - Five growth stocks highlighted are Micron Technology Inc. (MU), MongoDB Inc. (MDB), Samsara Inc. (IOT), Ciena Corp. (CIEN), and Kinross Gold Corp. (KGC), all rated Zacks Rank 1 (Strong Buy) with a Growth Score of A [3] Micron Technology Inc. (MU) - Micron is a leader in the AI infrastructure boom, driven by strong demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) solutions, with record sales in the data center market [6] - The growing adoption of AI servers is reshaping the DRAM market, increasing demand for high-capacity DIMMs and low-power server DRAM, which Micron is capitalizing on [7] - Micron's expected revenue and earnings growth rates are 89.3% and over 100%, respectively, for the current year, with a 64.2% improvement in the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings over the last 30 days [9] MongoDB Inc. (MDB) - MongoDB has expanded its Atlas platform into analytics, targeting agile development and modern workloads, benefiting from the generative AI trend [10] - The company has seen continued platform adoption across enterprises, with a focus on larger enterprises supporting deal sizes and sales efficiency [11] - MongoDB's expected revenue and earnings growth rates are 17.5% and 17%, respectively, for the next year, with a 29.6% improvement in the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings over the last 60 days [13] Samsara Inc. (IOT) - Samsara connects physical operations data to its connected operations cloud, developing sensor systems that utilize wireless sensors and cloud-based analytics [14] - The expected revenue and earnings growth rates for Samsara are 19.8% and 12.9%, respectively, for the next year, with a 1.8% improvement in the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings over the last 60 days [15] Ciena Corp. (CIEN) - Ciena reported a 20% year-over-year top-line gain and 69.5% EPS growth, driven by AI-led demand from cloud and service provider customers [16] - The company expects fiscal 2026 revenue of $5.7-$6.1 billion, nearly 24% growth at the midpoint, up from a prior estimate of 17% [17] - Ciena's expected revenue and earnings growth rates are 24.2% and over 100%, respectively, for the current year, with a 19.7% improvement in the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings over the last 30 days [19] Kinross Gold Corp. (KGC) - Kinross Gold has a strong production profile and a promising pipeline of exploration and development projects expected to boost production and cash flow [20] - The company is focusing on organic growth through its Tasiast mine, with expansions expected to increase throughput and production [21] - Kinross Gold's expected revenue and earnings growth rates are 11% and 35.2%, respectively, for the current year, with a 12.9% improvement in the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings over the last 60 days [22]