2 Stocks Under $30 to Buy in 2026

By Marc Guberti – Feb 21, 2026 at 1:07AM ESTKey PointsBuying stocks that are under $30 per share can lead to significant growth if you make the right picks.Cipher Mining is at the forefront of the energy bottleneck that has plagued many tech giants.SoFi's crypto expansion should pay off in the long run despite Bitcoin's poor year-to-date performance. These 10 Stocks Could Mint the Next Wave of Millionaires ›NASDAQ: CIFRCipher MiningMarket Cap$5.8BToday's Changeangle-down(-7.41%) $1.17Current Price$14.63Price as of February 20, 2026 at 3:58 PM ETNot every stock under $30 is cheap, but these two winners look ready to soar in the long run. A stock's price doesn't tell you everything about value. Some companies trade at under $5 per share and could be extremely overvalued. Likewise, you can find undervalued growth stocks that trade above $500 per share. That said, true opportunities do exist: low-priced stocks backed by real, long-term growth potential. And while fractional shares make it easy to own even the priciest companies, there's still something psychologically powerful about owning whole shares, be it one or thousands, in a company you believe in. Here are two attractive businesses with real long-term growth potential whose share prices are also easy on your budget: Cipher Mining (CIFR 7.41%) and SoFi Technologies (SOFI 1.45%). Cipher Mining is powering AI innovations Cipher Mining addresses one of the biggest roadblocks in artificial intelligence (AI), the technology that has produced generational investing opportunities like Nvidia (NVDA +1.02%) and Palantir (PLTR +0.24%). The company creates AI data centers that can handle intense workloads, and big tech needs these data centers to fuel their AI ambitions just as they require AI chips. Image source: Getty Images. Morgan Stanley projects a 44 gigawatt shortage by 2028, and that will result in existing gigawatts trading at lofty premiums, including Cipher Mining's 3.4 gigawatt pipeline. However, those gigawatts aren't ready yet. It takes time for Cipher Mining to energize its AI data centers, and that delay may be the reason why the stock has been flat for a few months. It has long-term deals with Amazon and Alphabet that translate into high annual recurring revenue. Cipher Mining has allocated 244 megawatts to Google-backed Fluidstack and 300 megawatts to Amazon. That means the company has tapped into less than 20% of its total pipeline. The revenue from AI data centers hasn't shown up yet because Cipher Mining has to put the finishing touches on sites that have secured long-term deals. Cipher Mining's crypto revenue reached $71 million in Q3 2025, and the Amazon deal alone will more than double the company's total revenue. ExpandNASDAQ: CIFRCipher MiningToday's Change(-7.41%) $-1.17Current Price$14.63Key Data PointsMarket Cap$5.8BDay's Range$14.40 - $16.1552wk Range$1.86 - $25.52Volume911KAvg Vol32MGross Margin-5486.31% Cipher Mining wrapped up the third quarter of 2025 with $1.2 billion in cash on its balance sheet. That capital will give it enough resources to build out more AI data centers, which will eventually help the company secure more deals. Cipher Mining can attract new customers or expand its existing agreements with Amazon and Alphabet. Crypto is turning into a growth engine for SoFi SoFi is a high-growth online bank that has delivered tremendous results despite the stock being down by almost 30% year to date. Revenue was up by 37% year over year in Q4 2025, and that also came with the company's relaunch of crypto trading. The fintech enabled crypto trading on Dec. 22, 2025, and in less than 10 days, more than 63,000 SoFi customers had bought crypto in some capacity on the platform. CEO Anthony Noto told investors that the fintech company is moving with urgency to be a leader in crypto and blockchain innovation. While crypto hasn't done too well over the past few months, it could ignite long-term growth. ExpandNASDAQ: SOFISoFi TechnologiesToday's Change(-1.45%) $-0.28Current Price$19.02Key Data PointsMarket Cap$24BDay's Range$18.52 - $19.1952wk Range$8.60 - $32.73Volume69MAvg Vol55MGross Margin61.06% SoFi should benefit significantly from the next crypto bull market, but it has a lot going for it even if Bitcoin takes longer than expected to heat up again. SoFi has diversified beyond interest revenue from loans, which was up by 30% year over year. An increase in consumer deposits played a key role in rising interest income. The company has 13.7 million members. Crypto is a promising growth engine, but SoFi's wide range of financial products implies robust growth in the years ahead.Read NextJan 23, 2026 •By Marc Guberti1 AI Stock That Could Quietly Compound Wealth Over the Next DecadeJan 5, 2026 •By Marc GubertiPrediction: These Mid-Cap AI Stocks Could Outperform the "Magnificent Seven" by 2030About the AuthorMarc Guberti is a Certified Personal Finance Counselor and has been a contributing Motley Fool stock market analyst since 2025. He has written for several finance publications. Marc graduated from Fordham University with a finance degree. He is an avid marathon runner who aims to complete more than 100 marathons in his lifetime. His fastest marathon time is 2:40.TMFmarcgubertiStocks MentionedCipher MiningNASDAQ: CIFR$14.63 (7.41%) $1.17NvidiaNASDAQ: NVDA$189.82 (+1.02%) $+1.92Palantir TechnologiesNASDAQ: PLTR$135.22 (+0.24%) $+0.33BitcoinCRYPTO: BTC$68220.00 (+0.09%) $+59.07SoFi TechnologiesNASDAQ: SOFI$19.02 (1.45%) $0.28*Average returns of all recommendations since inception. Cost basis and return based on previous market day close.