There’s a particular kind of stock that Wall Street loves to forget about. It had its moment, faded into irrelevance, and became the punchline of a Reddit meme cycle that made things worse before they got better. Nokia (NOK) was that stock.
For years, owning Nokia felt like holding onto a souvenir from a different era of tech. A company that once dominated mobile phones got disrupted, pivoted to telecom infrastructure, and then watched even that business stagnate as 5G spending slowed and Chinese competitors undercut it on price.
Then something unexpected happened. The AI buildout arrived, and it turned out Nokia had quietly positioned itself at the center of it. Jim Cramer noticed. On Tuesday, April 28, during lightning round on CNBC’s “Mad Money,” the host didn’t mince words about what he’s seeing in the stock.
“I think it’s a winner. It’s back. I can’t believe it. It finally did come back, and I got to hand it to those guys for sticking around because, wow, I think it’s got a lot of good technology,” Cramer said, according to CNBC.
Nokia shares have surged to a 16-year high. And the earnings behind the rally are starting to justify the enthusiasm.
How Nokia’s AI and cloud pivot drove a 49% revenue surge
No one saw this coming. The number that changed the narrative on Nokia came from its first-quarter 2026 (Q1FY26) earnings report on April 23, and it wasn’t subtle.
AI and cloud infrastructure revenue grew 49% year over year in Q1, now accounting for 8% of group sales, according to Nokia’s interim report. The company booked more than €1 billion in new orders from AI and cloud customers in the quarter alone, building on billions in orders accumulated through 2025.
Nokia’s Q1 2026 results included:
Total net sales of €4.5 billion ($5.2 billion), up 4% year over year on a constant currency basis
Comparable operating profit of €281 million ($328 million)
Comparable gross margin expanding 320 basis points year over year to 45.5%
Comparable operating margin increased by 200 basis points to 6.2%
Free cash flow of €0.6 billion; net cash balance of €3.8 billion
Optical Networks division showing 20% growth in the quarter Source: Nokia Interim Report for Q1 2026
Nokia President and CEO Justin Hotard framed the company’s direction clearly on the earnings call.
“We are increasing our growth assumption for Optical and IP Networks, and we are investing to capture accelerating demand from AI and cloud customers,” Hotard said.
The company’s full-year outlook remains unchanged, targeting €2.0 to €2.5 billion in comparable operating profit, the interim report confirms.
Nokia now expects the addressable market in AI & Cloud to grow at a 27% CAGR (2025-2028), compared to the 16% it estimated in November 2025.Shutterstock
Nokia’s AI Pivot came from Infinera acquisition and Nvidia partnership
Nokia’s real infrastructure muscle and AI pivot didn’t happen by accident. Two strategic moves in recent years changed the company’s positioning in ways the market is only now fully pricing in.
The first was the acquisition of U.S.-based Infinera, which dramatically expanded Nokia’s optical transport capabilities, giving it the hardware foundation needed to serve the data center interconnect market that AI workloads are driving at scale.
Related: Bank of America reassesses Nvidia stock, sets new forecast
Management confirmed on the Q1 earnings report that the Infinera integration is running ahead of schedule. Nokia’s Optical Networks division, the primary beneficiary of that acquisition, grew 20% in the quarter.
The second was a major partnership with Nvidia (NVDA), which disclosed a $1 billion stake in Nokia. That investment brought two things simultaneously: capital validation from the most important name in AI infrastructure, and a commercial relationship that deepened Nokia’s exposure to the hyperscale data center buildout Nvidia is powering.
Nokia also updated its addressable market forecast for AI and cloud infrastructure to a 27% compound annual growth rate through 2028, according to the earnings report statement. That figure is up sharply from the 16% estimate made in November 2025.
Hotard acknowledged what that revision signals about the pace of the buildout. “Across the supply chain, demand is accelerating and lead times are extending, reflecting the scale of investment underway,” he said.
Nokia stock also just hit a 16-year high
Nokia shares hit a 16-year high after an earnings beat, according to Reuters, a run that has taken the stock to its highest levels since April 2010.
Despite that move, Nokia trades at approximately 25 times forward earnings. To bulls making the case for further upside, the multiple, given the 49% AI and cloud revenue growth and a 27% CAGR addressable market outlook, looks reasonable rather than stretched.
What Nokia’s comeback means for investors
You thought this story was over? Nokia’s revival carries a lesson that goes beyond one company’s turnaround.
The 5G spending slowdown that hurt Nokia between 2022 and 2024 masked a structural repositioning that management quietly executed.
More Tech Stocks:
Specifically, it moved from commodity telecom hardware toward the high-performance optical networking infrastructure that AI data centers require at massive scale.
That transition took time and required acquisitions, partnerships, and patience from investors who were watching the stock go nowhere.
Cramer’s lightning-round endorsement won’t be the last word on Nokia. But it reflects a shift in how the stock is being perceived, from legacy relic to legitimate AI infrastructure play.
With Infinera integration ahead of schedule, Nvidia’s billion-dollar vote of confidence on the cap table, an addressable market growing nearly twice as fast as Nokia estimated six months ago, and a 16-year high in the share price, the burden of proof has shifted.
The people who stuck around, as Cramer put it, are having their moment.
Related: Bank of America revamps Nvidia-backed CoreWeave and Nebius stocks
This story was originally published by TheStreet on Apr 29, 2026, where it first appeared in the Investing section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Leave a Reply