In this article, we discuss 11 trending AI stocks on news and ratings.
China’s Growing Influence in the AI Race
The rise of Chinese open-source AI models highlights their growing influence in the global AI landscape, challenging traditional proprietary systems. Their accessibility and competitive capabilities signal a shift in the balance of AI innovation. On December 17, CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal reported that Chinese AI models are advancing rapidly, with several matching or exceeding the performance of U.S. models despite chip restrictions imposed by Washington.
Open-source models, referred to as “open weight,” are key to this growth. These models, such as Deepseek and Alibaba’s QN, are highly popular on platforms like Hugging Face, allowing developers worldwide to freely access and build applications without strict licensing. The strategy enables Chinese companies to distribute their technology widely and challenge proprietary systems from firms like OpenAI, which rely on closed ecosystems to monetize their models. The growing adoption and strong capabilities of Chinese large language models present a significant challenge to U.S. dominance in the AI sector.
READ ALSO: 12 AI News and Ratings Investors Are Watching Right Now and Jim Cramer’s Latest Lightning Round: 8 Stocks in Focus.
OpenAI’s o3 Surpasses Milestones, Challenging Global AI Competitors
While China is making significant moves in AI, US-based companies are also making strides. OpenAI concluded its 12-day “shipmas” event by unveiling o3, a new reasoning model and successor to o1, along with o3-mini, a smaller version tailored for specific tasks. CEO Sam Altman highlighted the advanced capabilities, including exceptional performance in coding, mathematics, and scientific problem-solving.
The o3 model achieved a groundbreaking 87.5% on the ARC-AGI benchmark, prompting plans to develop a more challenging evaluation. The score shows the model’s ability to perform well on tasks that require learning and adapting to new challenges. ARC-AGI is a benchmark used to evaluate how well an AI can acquire new skills beyond its training data. This high score suggests that o3 is advancing toward more general intelligence capabilities. With a strong focus on safety testing and future enhancements, o3 represents a major step forward for U.S.-based AI development.
OpenAI’s decision to skip naming the model o2 is linked to trademark concerns with a UK telecom company. While o3 is not yet broadly available, safety researchers can preview o3-mini now, with general availability expected in early 2025.
For this article, we selected AI stocks by going through news articles, stock analysis, and press releases. We listed the stocks in ascending order of their hedge fund sentiment taken from Insider Monkey’s database of 900 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).
11 Trending AI Stocks on Latest News and Ratings
11. ZenaTech, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZENA)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: N/A
ZenaTech, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZENA) specializes in AI-driven drones, quantum computing, and enterprise SaaS solutions for mission-critical business applications.
ZenaTech’s (NASDAQ:ZENA) subsidiary, ZenaDrone, has opened a new manufacturing facility in Phoenix, Arizona, to produce NDAA-compliant drones for the US military and NATO. The facility will focus on producing the ZenaDrone 1000, a multifunctional autonomous AI drone, and support R&D in Quantum Computing for defense applications. ZenaDrone plans to develop AI-powered drone swarms for military use in border control and perimeter security. The company is also working on its Sky Traffic project, using drones and Quantum Computing for advanced traffic management and environmental applications. ZenaTech aims to meet growing demand in the military drone market, expected to reach $47 billion by 2032.
10. Hyperscale Data, Inc. (NYSE:GPUS)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: N/A
Hyperscale Data, Inc. (NYSE:GPUS) is shifting focus to owning and operating data centers that support high-performance computing services for emerging AI ecosystems. The company also offers AI software platforms and other products across diverse industries through its subsidiaries.
Hyperscale Data (NYSE:GPUS) has sold its St. Petersburg development property for $13 million through its subsidiary, Third Avenue Apartments LLC. The sale is part of the company’s strategy to focus solely on its data center operations, particularly to support the growing demand for high-performance computing services in AI. Approximately $11 million from the sale will be placed in a segregated account, bringing its balance to about $18.3 million. The company is in talks with its lender regarding a potential cash dividend for shareholders, with some funds also allocated for working capital.
