AI (Artificial Intelligence) isn’t just a buzzword anymore—it’s becoming a part of our everyday lives, from the apps we use to how businesses operate. For investors, that means opportunity. As AI continues to grow, some companies are leading the charge and showing real potential for long-term gains. Whether you’re looking to diversify your portfolio or tap into the future of tech, this article will walk you through some of the best AI stocks worth watching right now. AI stocks saw incredible gains over the last couple of years, particularly in 2024, as AI applications burgeoned. The current weakness in AI stocks, caused by geopolitical tensions, may be a good opportunity to load up on AI stocks.
AI is Likely to Have a Myriad of Applications
In an interview with CNBC, the CEO and CIO of Ark Invest, Cathie Wood, underscored her bullishness on the AI sector despite the recent weakness in those stocks. According to Wood, AI has a massive runway. She compared the current AI position to the internet in the early to mid-90s. Wood is optimistic about robotaxis in the near term and the application of humanoid robots in the long term. However, the most under-appreciated application of AI, according to Wood, is healthcare, as AI will accelerate the curing of diseases. Within the medical application of AI, Cathie Wood is particularly bullish on sequencing technology, which is used to read DNA. AI is a great application in sequencing as it helps analyze, interpret, and act on that genetic data much quicker and more accurately than traditional methods.
A segment within AI that is hot right now is Generative AI. Generative AI creates customized answers for the user based on real underlying data. Gen AI has created a massive investment cycle of over $200 billion annually, led by the ‘magnificent 7’. The tech behemoths are competing intensely over leadership in Gen AI. Meanwhile, an upcoming AI theme centers on how large language models (LLMs). According to Morgan Stanley, leading companies behind the most advanced LLMs are prioritizing high-performance chips and top-tier software to deliver AI solutions that are becoming essential for both businesses and consumers. While initial LLM use cases primarily included content creation, summarization, and categorization, industry leaders believe that the greatest yet-to-be-realized opportunity lies in applying AI reasoning to enterprise data.
Source: unsplash
Our Methodology
To compile the list of AI stocks that will skyrocket, we reviewed AI ETFs to compile a preliminary list of stocks and then selected the ones with the highest upside potential based on Wall Street analysts’ average price targets. We have also mentioned the hedge fund sentiment around each stock, as of Q4 2024.
Note: All data was recorded on April 21, 2025.
At Insider Monkey, we are obsessed with 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 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
10 AI Stocks That Will Skyrocket
10. ServiceNow, Inc. (NASDAQ:NOW)
Upside Potential: 38.76%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 110
ServiceNow, Inc. (NASDAQ:NOW) is primarily an information technology service management (ITSM) company. However, it is increasingly becoming an AI company by embedding automation and AI into its core products and services. The company uses AI to optimize and automate workflows across IT, customer service, HR, and other business functions. The company’s Now Assist offers a suite of Gen AI tools, including text-to-code, AI chat assistants, and generative summaries. ServiceNow, Inc. (NASDAQ:NOW) is integrating Large Language Models (LLMs) directly into the platform and making them available through its Now Platform.
ServiceNow, Inc. (NASDAQ:NOW) is building AI-powered tools designed to streamline business operations and boost customer satisfaction. This effort targets a massive market opportunity estimated at $275 billion by 2026. At the same time, it’s Now Platform is incorporating AI features, helping drive wider usage and growth.
On April 14, Wells Fargo analyst Michael Turrin reduced his target price for the stock from $1,250 to $1,100 while maintaining an Overweight rating on the stock. Wells Fargo anticipates that upcoming events like the Analyst Day and significant headlines from the Fed and DOGE markets will serve as more impactful catalysts for the company’s narrative. Despite the lowered price target, the analyst remains optimistic about the company’s potential moving forward, emphasizing the positive outlook.
9. ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML)
Upside Potential: 42.47%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 86
ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) manufactures lithography machines, which are complex equipment used to manufacture microchips. The Dutch company leads the market in Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, which enables the creation of the smallest, yet most powerful, chips. Generative AI needs a massive amount of computing power. This computing power comes mostly from NVIDIA’s chips. NVIDIA designs the GPUs manufactured by TSMC. ASML supplies TSMC with the tools to manufacture these chips at a nano scale. Hence, ASML plays a massive role in the computing power needed in Gen AI. As a result, with big tech likely to spend hundreds of billions of dollars for Gen AI going forward, ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML), is likely to reap huge benefits.
ASML reported solid Q1 2025 results with total net sales of €7.7 billion, matching guidance, up 45.2% year-over-year. However, this was boosted by a lower base effect. Gross margin came in at 54%, helped by better productivity and product mix. CEO Christophe Fouquet said ASML had a strong start to 2025, with solid Q1 results driven by continued AI demand in the chip industry. ASML expects Logic revenue to rise, Memory to stay strong, and Installed Base Management revenue to grow due to higher service needs and EUV use. The company has a near-monopoly in EUV, with companies like TSMC, Intel and Samsung depending on ASML for its EUV machines. Despite global uncertainty and ongoing tariff talks, ASML maintains its 2025 revenue outlook of €30–35 billion and sees more growth ahead in 2026.
8. Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)
Upside Potential: 50.33%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 262
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META), a social media giant, is pivoting heavily into AI. Artificial Intelligence is central to almost everything it is building, right from its user-facing products to its ambitions in the metaverse and beyond. Meta’s feed ranking and reels recommendations use deep learning and large AI models. Meta is emerging as a key player in AI by developing advanced open-source language models through its LLaMA series, a rival to ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. These models power AI tools across Meta’s platforms and are set to drive future innovations in productivity, content creation, and search.
Piper Sandler analyst Thomas Champion gave Meta stock an Overweight rating and set a $610 price target. He highlighted the company’s strong advertising trends and healthy revenue outlook, with Q2 estimates ranging from $42.5 billion to $45.5 billion. Despite some challenges in e-commerce and exposure to China, Champion believes Meta remains financially solid and undervalued. Meta’s AI assistant is becoming the most widely used globally, reaching over a billion users and reinforcing Meta’s lead in personalized AI. Additionally, Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is expanding its infrastructure, aiming to add 1 gigawatt of capacity next year and build a 2-gigawatt AI-focused data center.
7. Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)
Upside Potential: 51.66%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 126
Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) is not merely an electric-vehicle company. It is pretty much an AI company, given its ambitions. Its foremost foray into AI is its autonomous driving technology, the Full Self-Driving (FSD), which uses massive amounts of real-world driving data, computer vision, and Dojo supercomputer, the company’s in-house AI training supercomputer, which processes video data from millions of vehicles. Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) is also working on Optimus, which is a humanoid robot built to perform repetitive and dangerous tasks. The EV-maker also uses AI to optimize production line, quality-control, and to predict equipment maintenance needs.
Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) reported poor Q1 2025 results on April 22. The EV giant’s revenue fell 20% year-over year. Its EPS sank 40% to 27 cents per share while revenue fell 9% to $19.34 billion. Meanwhile, auto gross margins excluding regulatory tax credits came in around 12.5%, marking the lowest auto gross margins since Q2 2012. However, the Tesla’s stock still rose 5.17% on April 23.
On April 24, Stifel analysts revised the price target for Tesla to $450 from the previous $455, while keeping a Buy rating on the stock. The firm cited increased sales from the new Model Y, the introduction of lower-priced vehicles to the market, and the anticipated deployment of Tesla’s unsupervised Full Self-Driving feature in Austin, Texas, in June as catalysts for the stock. Its scalable AI system allows robotaxis to operate in various cities, unlike location-specific rivals. Meanwhile, the company said in its Q1 2025 earnings call that the Optimus humanoid robot is advancing quickly, with thousands expected in Tesla factories by late 2025 and a goal of one million units annually by 2030.
6. Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NASDAQ:BABA)
Upside Potential: 52.54%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 107
Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NASDAQ:BABA) is an e-commerce and cloud giant that has deeply integrated AI across most of its business. It’s not just selling stuff online, it’s using AI to power how it does that at scale. Like Amazon, Alibaba uses AI to analyze user behavior and recommend products in real time. The Chinese company uses AI heavily in logistics. The company’s smart warehouses use robotics and computer vision to sort and move packages. Alibaba’s cloud offers AI services like image recognition, speech recognition, natural language processing (NLP), and machine learning platforms. Alibaba also has its own LLMs like Tongyi Qianwen.
Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NASDAQ:BABA) has committed over $52 billion to AI and cloud computing infrastructure over the next three years. This move highlights the company’s ambition to lead in AI development.Alibaba’s Qwen AI model is gaining major traction, with over 90,000 spin-off models created and 290,000+ users accessing its APIs via Alibaba Cloud. This has helped drive six straight quarters of triple-digit growth in AI-related revenue. Its AI tools are already seeing real-world success: the Accio B2B search engine hit 1 million users in five months, offering features like automated market analysis and advanced product sourcing, which support global business needs. Meanwhile, Ant Group, an Alibaba affiliate, is reducing AI training costs by mixing U.S. and Chinese chips — cutting computing costs by 20%.
5. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Upside Potential: 57.14%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 339
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is an e-commerce and cloud behemoth that has been spreading its wings into almost every sector known by mankind! Artificial Intelligence runs under the hood of nearly everything it does — from how it delivers packages to how it recommends products, runs Alexa (which is now powered by Gen AI), powers AWS, and more. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is a major AI infrastructure provider through Amazon Web Services (AWS). Amazon is also entrenched in AI through its warehouse robots, delivery systems, and Amazon Go stores. The company has launched its own family of Titan large language models for text generation and image creation.
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is deeply entrenched in AI through the suite of AI services provided by its cloud-computing unit, AWS. The company envisions a future where generative AI is embedded in nearly every application, powered largely by cloud infrastructure—especially AWS. To support this vision, AWS is investing across the full AI stack, including custom AI chips. Its new Trainium2 chip, launched in December, offers 30–40% better price-performance than current GPUs. Major companies like Adobe and Anthropic are already leveraging Trainium2, with even more powerful iterations like Trainium3 and Trainium4 already in development.
4. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)
Upside Potential: 25.26%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 234
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL), the parent company of Google, operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and other experimental ventures called “Other Bets.” The company focuses on making information universally accessible while supporting innovation through centralized AI research. Its powerful Gemini AI model enhances products like YouTube, Gmail, and Maps by understanding and combining text, images, and more. Google Cloud helps businesses leverage AI for growth. DeepMind, Alphabet’s AI arm, also made scientific breakthroughs like AlphaFold, which solved a long-standing protein-folding problem, showing Alphabet’s broad AI commitment.
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) ‘s Q1 2025 results show strong growth across its business, driven by AI advancements. Google Cloud revenue reached $12.3 billion, up 28%, while YouTube ad revenue grew 10% to $8.9 billion. The company’s AI model, Gemini 2.5, is powering products like Search and Cloud, driving significant user engagement and developer adoption. Waymo is seeing rapid expansion, with 250,000 weekly paid trips. Alphabet is investing heavily in AI infrastructure, including its custom Ironwood TPU, and continues innovating with AI-powered tools and services. AI-powered ad campaigns improved performance in Q1, according to the company, with businesses using Alphabet’s DemandGen seeing a 26% increase in conversions per dollar spent.
3. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD)
Upside Potential: 63.63%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 96
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) is a leader in high-performance computing, providing technology that powers critical services in data centers, PCs, AI, gaming, and edge computing. It offers a wide range of products, including CPUs, GPUs, AI accelerators, FPGAs, APUs, and embedded solutions.
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) is making strong strides with its Instinct MI400 series, which is tailored for AI workloads. The MI400’s adoption of CDNA Next architecture and chiplet design will enable AMD to compete with Nvidia’s dominance in AI accelerators. AMD’s EPYC server processors have already made substantial inroads in the data center market, and its GPUs in the Instinct line will to further fuel growth in cloud AI applications. AMD’s Waymo partnership highlights its commitment to autonomous driving and AI-powered transportation. As autonomous vehicle technology continues to evolve, AMD’s ability to power AI systems in cars will place it at the forefront of the automotive AI revolution.
2. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)
Upside Potential: 74.26%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 223
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) is a pioneer in accelerated computing, offering a comprehensive platform that includes GPUs, software, and development tools. The tech giant’s innovations drive advancements in AI, data processing, scientific research, and 3D visualization, serving a wide range of industries. NVIDIA’s GPUs are essential for powering AI technologies, including deep learning in autonomous systems. More than 75% of the world’s leading supercomputers rely on its GPUs. In the gaming sector, NVIDIA enhances the experience for both gamers and content creators. It is also investing heavily in AI for self-driving vehicles.
On April 16, Mizuho Securities maintained its “Outperform” rating on NVIDIA (NVDA) with a $168 price target, despite new US export restrictions affecting shipments of its H20 series products to China and other embargoed countries. These restrictions may impact around $5.5 billion in revenue from an estimated $16 billion in H20 orders. However, Mizuho analysts remain optimistic about NVIDIA’s near-term prospects, driven by the shipment of the GB200 series, increased GPU testing capacity, and significant capital investment in AI for 2026. With leadership in AI, data centers, and gaming, NVIDIA is well-positioned for long-term growth in multiple large markets, including AI and robotics.
1. AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP)
Upside Potential: 130.13%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 95
AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP) helps businesses find and reach the right customers through AI-powered advertising. The company offers a full suite of tools that help other companies promote apps, make money from ads, analyze performance, and optimize user engagement. It also owns and operates a large portfolio of mobile games, which gives it a deep understanding of the mobile app and ad space. The company makes most of its money through advertising. Some of AppLovin’s key AI-driven products include App Discovery, MAX, Adjust, and Wurl.
On April 8, Wells Fargo analyst Alec Bonello kept his “Overweight” rating on Applovin. However, he lowered the price target on the stock to $386 from $538. Bonelo noted healthy mobile game growth in Q1, robust ecommerce customer additions, and mid-single digital ad revenues upside. On the downside, though, the investment bank remains wary of tariffs ,which are likely to impact Q2 e-commerce ad spend. AppLovin is shifting from being known mainly for mobile gaming ads to becoming a broad advertising platform that can support brands across all industries, not just gaming. Their advertising platform, powered by AI (AXON), is now attracting ecommerce and other types of advertisers. The company is moving toward a self-service model to allow more businesses to easily use its platform.
While we acknowledge the growth potential of APP, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold great promise for delivering high returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than APP but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.
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