We recently compiled a list of the 15 AI News You Must Read Today. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) stands against the other AI stocks that are making waves.
Paul Hickey, Bespoke co-founder, joined CNBC’s ‘Closing Bell: Overtime’ to discuss the market’s reaction to the election results and earnings. According to Hickey, as the President-elect’s cabinet takes shape, it will provide insight into what to expect moving forward. However, he notes that election results can be overstated. Over the past 16 years, we’ve had some “very good” market returns for Obama, Trump, and Biden, he notes. Looking ahead, Hickey suggests that the AI bull market is likely to persist, driven by momentum, and will likely only change course if influenced by a significant external force.
READ ALSO: 10 AI Headlines Making Waves Today and 15 AI News That Broke The Internet
Hickey’s remarks demonstrate how the market is resilient in adapting to different administrations. The current AI boom stands to be a case in point, where innovations in artificial intelligence and machine learning have been attracting investors and consequently driven substantial capital inflows. Therefore, it is safe to say that companies harnessing AI for productivity gains, efficiency improvements, and new revenue streams have become the focal point of market optimism. As more industries integrate AI technology into their operations, the resulting growth potential could sustain the bull market for an extended period.
Developments in the AI Landscape
With AI momentum showing no signs of slowing down, there seemingly isn’t anyone who doesn’t want to reap all the benefits that AI delivers. Every year, more than a thousand startups join Station F, an iconic startup in Paris. Station F selects the top 40 most promising startups from the pool of 1000, sharing a list of what it calls the “Future 40”. 34 of the 40 startups this year have been using artificial intelligence, implying the significance of the technology.
Artificial intelligence is just as much a focal point nationally as it is at the local level. That said, OpenAI recently revealed its plans to work with the new administration on AI policy. Known as the official “blueprint for U.S. AI infrastructure”, it involves artificial intelligence economic zones, tapping the U.S. Navy’s nuclear power experience and government projects funded by private investors, notes CNBC. The blueprint also includes a North American AI alliance to compete with China’s initiatives and a National Transmission Highway Act “as ambitious as the 1956 National Interstate and Defense Highways Act.”
As per OpenAI, investment in the US AI is going to result in tens of thousands of jobs, GDP growth, a modernized grid that includes nuclear power, a new group of chip manufacturing facilities, and billions of dollars in investment from global funds. While Trump plans on repealing Biden’s executive order on AI, OpenAI has, in turn, highlighted a plan of AI economic zones co-created by state and federal governments “to give states incentives to speed up permitting and approvals for AI infrastructure”, amongst other things.
For this article, we selected AI stocks by going through news articles, stock analysis, and press releases. These stocks 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).
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Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)
Market Capitalization: $74.33 billion
Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) provides enterprise-level next-generation firewalls and network security solutions, leveraging artificial intelligence across its cybersecurity products.
On November 13, Baird raised the firm’s price target on Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) to $95 from $88 and kept an “Outperform” rating on the shares. The price target raise comes from increased optimism surrounding the company’s major FY25 refresh cycle. 2026 will witness a record number of FortiGate firewalls, which are next-generation firewalls backed by FortiGuard AI-Powered Security Services, reach end-of-support status. Consequently, customers will start the refresh cycle sometime in 2025, boosting the company’s performance. This optimism is crucial to the company given its cautious Q4 billings guidance.
Overall FTNT ranks 7th on our list of AI stocks that are making waves today. While we acknowledge the potential of FTNT 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 FTNT 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.