3 No-Brainer Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks to Buy for 2025 With $200 Right Now
Sunday, Dec 29, 2024 6:54 pm ET
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the hottest trend in the stock market, with companies like NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) leading the way. However, these stocks can be expensive, and investors may be looking for more affordable options. Here are three AI stocks that are well-positioned for growth in 2025 and can be bought with just $200 right now:
1. C3.ai (NYSE: AI)
C3.ai is an enterprise AI platform-as-a-service (PaaS) company led by billionaire founder Tom Siebel. Despite its strong revenue growth and expanding customer base, C3.ai's stock has underperformed compared to its peers. This presents an opportunity for investors to buy the stock at a discount.
C3.ai's platform enables businesses to deploy AI applications to replace legacy enterprise processes. The company has seen accelerating revenue growth, with revenue increasing 18% year-over-year (YoY) in its most recent quarter. This growth has been driven by an explosion of interest in generative AI and the company's expanding government business.
C3.ai's business model is consumption-based, which allows the company to start smaller with new clients and grow their business over time. This model has proven successful for other companies like Snowflake (NYSE: SNOW) and Twilio (NYSE: TWLO).
C3.ai has also expanded its industry diversification, with applications in financial services, healthcare, and other sectors. The company has strong partnerships with major cloud providers like Amazon AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure, giving it broader reach across potential customers.
At current share prices near $22, C3.ai trades at a market cap of $2.74 billion. After netting off the $723.4 million of cash on its most recent balance sheet, the company's resulting enterprise value is $2.02 billion. Wall Street analysts expect the company to generate $367.5 million in revenue for the upcoming fiscal year, representing an acceleration to 19% YoY revenue growth. This puts C3.ai's valuation at a mere 5.5x EV/FY25 revenue, which is well below Palantir's valuation despite a similar growth trajectory.
2. NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA)
NVIDIA is a leading provider of graphics processing units (GPUs) used in AI applications. The company's GPUs are widely used in AI training and inference, making them a key player in the AI market. NVIDIA's strong brand and reputation have allowed it to maintain a significant market share, despite competition from other companies like AMD.
NVIDIA's data center segment, which includes its AI-focused GPUs, has been growing rapidly. In the third quarter of 2024, data center sales rose 122% year-over-year to $3.5 billion. The company's AI accelerators, such as the Instinct series, play a crucial role in training and operating large language models (LLMs), which are expected to continue growing in demand.
NVIDIA's strong financial performance supports its long-term growth potential. The company's revenue growth rate was 94% in the third quarter, and net income growth was 109% year-over-year. NVIDIA's forward P/E ratio is 30.94, which is lower than its historical average and the industry average, suggesting that the stock is relatively undervalued.
3. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)
Microsoft is a technology giant with a strong presence in the AI sector. The company's Azure cloud platform is a key player in the AI market, offering a range of AI services and tools for developers and businesses. Microsoft's partnership with OpenAI has allowed it to gain a competitive advantage in the AI sector, as the two companies work together to develop and deploy AI technologies.
Microsoft has been integrating AI into its cloud services, productivity tools, and business solutions to improve automation, security, and overall user experience. The company's AI initiatives span advanced cloud offerings, AI-driven business software, and innovative language processing and computing technologies.
Microsoft's strong financial performance supports its long-term growth potential. The company's revenue growth rate was 0.16% in the third quarter, and net income growth was 10.6% year-over-year. Microsoft's forward P/E ratio is 28.67, which is lower than its historical average and the industry average, suggesting that the stock is relatively undervalued.
In conclusion, C3.ai, NVIDIA, and Microsoft are three AI stocks that are well-positioned for growth in 2025 and can be bought with just $200 right now. These companies have strong competitive advantages, solid financial performance, and attractive valuations. Investors should consider adding these stocks to their portfolios to capitalize on the growing AI market.
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