We recently published a list of 15 AI News That Broke The Internet This Week. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) stands against other AI news that broke the internet this week.
Entrepreneurship in the United States has been surging since the pandemic and AI trends have served to bolster this phenomenon. Technology startups associated with AI have reached valuations in the tens of billions. Underpinning this situation is the rise in small businesses. According to the US Department of Treasury, an average of 430,000 new business applications were submitted monthly in 2024 — a 50% increase from 2019. However, the number of accountants needed to balance the books at these startups is diminishing. Per a report by tech news platform TechCrunch, nearly 75% of CPAs are projected to retire within a decade, and fewer graduates are pursuing accounting due to higher-paying opportunities in tech and finance.
Read more about these developments by accessing 10 Best AI Data Center Stocks and 10 Buzzing AI Stocks According to Goldman Sachs.
David Phillips, a serial entrepreneur, has addressed this gap through his venture Fondo. Fondo uses AI, software, and accounting experts to offer a subscription-based bookkeeping platform tailored to startups and small businesses. The platform has already gained traction, securing 1,200 customers, achieving $6 million in annual recurring revenue, and becoming profitable. It recently closed a $7 million seed funding round led by Tokyo-based Money Forward, with investors like Y Combinator and Motley Fool Ventures. The round values Fondo at $66 million.
READ ALSO: 30 Most Important AI Stocks According to BlackRock and Beyond the Tech Giants: 35 Non-Tech AI Opportunities.
For this article, we selected AI stocks by combing 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)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 47
Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) provides cybersecurity and convergence of networking and security solutions worldwide. The Fortinet SecOps platform offers the broadest range of sensors that utilize AI and other advanced analytics to continuously assess cyberthreats. The firm recently released the 2024 Security Awareness and Training Global Research, stressing the importance of training employees to identify and prevent attacks like phishing. Per the report, these schemes often exploit AI to appear more credible, targeting individuals directly.
Overall, FTNT ranks 13th on our list of AI news that broke the internet this week. 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 time frame. 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.