1. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 259
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is of course one of the most notable AI and chatbot stocks to buy now since the company has huge plans to tap into the AI sector and disrupt several industries. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s CEO Satya Nadella has been relentless when it comes to AI. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is brining ChatGPT-based language learning models to power Bing search. It is rolling out updates to make it easy for Windows 11 users to access the Bing chatbot from task bar. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is bringing a new AI-based Cloud platform for telecom companies, called Azure Operator Nexus.
Recently, BofA analysts listed 15 companies that stand to benefit from the AI wave. As expected, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) made it to the list, as the firm believes the Redmond software company is well positioned in the space due to its OpenAI integration.
At the end of the fourth quarter of 2022, 259 hedge funds had stakes in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT).
Baron Opportunity Fund made the following comment about Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in its Q4 2022 investor letter:
“Shares of mega-cap software company Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) outperformed despite a mixed fiscal first quarter due to macro challenges that negatively impacted results and guidance, including foreign exchange headwinds, weakening PC demand, and a cyclical slowdown in advertising spending. Total revenue beat Street expectations at 16% constant-currency growth (vs. estimates of 14%), but its Azure cloud computing business missed analyst projections by 1% for the second straight quarter, though it still grew a robust 42% year-over-year, as Microsoft helped its customers optimize existing workloads due to the macro backdrop. While the optimization of workloads is a short-term headwind, we believe it is the right thing to do and should help drive more consumption with customers over time. Our research continues to indicate that the longer-term secular trend of cloud computing remains healthy and intact. For example, in its fourth quarter CIO survey report, Morgan Stanley showed, among other things, that cloud computing was the second highest CIO spending priority (behind only security software), that cloud application workloads were expected to increase from 27% of total workloads today to 46% by the end of 2025, and that Azure was listed as the preferred cloud vendor and likely to take share over the short and long term.9 Additionally, Microsoft is positioned to be a prime beneficiary of ChatGPT. Microsoft invested $1 billion in OpenAI in 2020 and is rumored to be considering investing an additional $10 billion for a 49% stake in the company. Moreover, ChatGPT runs on Microsoft’s Azure platform, and Microsoft recently announced the general availability of its Azure OpenAI Service enabling Azure customers to access advanced AI models, including ChatGPT itself soon. We remain bullish on Microsoft’s long-term opportunity in the cloud, and believe AI has the potential to be additive to growth for years to come.”
You can also take a peek at 15 Best Short-Term Stocks to Buy and 10 Best Stocks to Buy for High Returns.
