We recently published a list of 20 AI News You Probably Missed. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) stands against the other AI news you probably missed.
The AI industry continues to demonstrate remarkable growth, underpinned by advancements in generative AI, machine learning, and data analytics. Analysts across major research firms and financial institutions remain optimistic about the growth trajectory of AI, predicting sustained expansion through 2025 and beyond. For example, according to Gartner, the AI software market is expected to reach $135 billion by the end of 2025, reflecting a 21% year-over-year growth. This surge is driven largely by the adoption of AI in various sectors such as healthcare, finance, and retail. Research by McKinsey similarly indicates that AI could add as much as $13 trillion to the global economy by 2030, making it a critical driver of economic growth.
A Bloomberg report also echoes these projections, highlighting that venture capital investment in AI startups has continued at a rapid pace, even amid broader economic downturns in technology. In the first half of 2024, over $40 billion in venture capital was funneled into AI-focused firms. Much of this funding targets generative AI, a subfield of AI that has gained attention for its ability to produce human-like text, images, and designs. According to a Goldman Sachs analysis, generative AI could boost global productivity by 7% over the next decade, contributing an additional $4.4 trillion to the global economy. The ability of generative AI to handle complex tasks like legal document drafting and even medical diagnoses has led experts to view it as a game-changer across industries.
Read more about these developments by accessing 33 Most Important AI Companies You Should Pay Attention To and 20 Industrial Stocks Already Riding the AI Wave.
Big Tech CEOs are hyper-focused on AI development right now. Satya Nadella has famously remarked that AI is the defining technology of our time, emphasizing the role of generative AI tools that his company markets, such as Copilot and Azure OpenAI, in revolutionizing work processes and enhancing productivity. Meanwhile, Sundar Pichai has stressed the importance of setting up responsible AI development, remarking that the potential of AI is immense, and noting that it could prove to be more profound for human society than electricity or fire. Andy Jassy has claimed that with cloud cost optimization programs largely in the rearview, companies are now turning their attention to investments in generative AI that is already a multi-billion-dollar business.
Read more about these developments by accessing 30 Most Important AI Stocks According to BlackRock and 10 Unsexy AI Stocks According to Goldman Sachs.
Our Methodology
For this article, we selected AI news that has not received significant media coverage but is important to the AI market nonetheless. The companies discussed in the news are also popular among hedge funds.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
A technician in a clean room assembling a semiconductor chip using a microscope.
Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 77
Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) provides equipment, services, and software for the semiconductor industry. All the hype around the AI potential of the firm has resulted in a loss of focus on the fundamentals. For example, few AI investors realize that in addition to being a top AI play, Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) has an impressive dividend history, with 18 uninterrupted years of payouts and consistent growth for six years. The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.40, in line with previous. The forward yield was 0.87%.
Overall AMAT ranks 14th on our list of AI news you probably missed. While we acknowledge the potential of AMAT as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than AMAT but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.