In this article, we will take a detailed look at the 7 Best AI Value Stocks That are ‘Money Machines’ According to NYU’s Aswath Damodaran.
Aswath Damodaran is a Professor of Finance at the Stern School of Business at New York University. His thoughts on economy and stock valuations are given a lot of weight by analysts. Damodaran in his recent interview with CNBC said that Magnificent Seven stocks have become the “value stocks for investors who care about earnings and cash flows.”
“We look at the last year and a half, they’ve added $8.8 trillion in market cap… just these seven companies. Just to give you perspective, the second-largest market in the world, China, has a market cap of $12.1 trillion. These seven stocks alone have added more in market cap than the entire German market, the French market, the Swiss market.”
Damodaran’s comments are important because he’s been repeatedly saying in the past that major technology companies are fully or overvalued. In September, he said on CNBC that if you go through the list of top tech stocks, “you are more likely to be overvalued than undervalued.”
But in his latest interview, Damodaran said that before we “dismiss” Mag. 7 stocks as “risky tech companies,” we should keep in mind that “these are the money machines in this market.”
However, when asked whether he believes we are not in any kind of “danger zone,” the professor said we are in the danger zone not just in terms of these seven stocks, but the market overall.
In this article we take a look at the Mag 7. stocks and their AI-related growth catalysts. With each stock we have mentioned the number of hedge fund investors. 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).
Aswath Damodaran
7. Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 74
Tesla is one of the notable companies in the Magnificent Seven group of stocks which according to Aswath Damodaran have become money machine value stocks.
Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) has a forward P/E of 102 while its 14-day RSI value is 85, worse than 99% of 1342 companies in the Vehicles & Parts industry, according to data from GuruFocus.
However, some Wall Street analysts believe Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) is undervalued.
Cathie Wood recently set a $2600 price target on Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) for 2029, which present a whopping 1300% upside potential from the current levels. Wood thinks the robotaxi project has the potential to deliver $8 to $10 trillion in revenue by 2030.
However, many believe Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) won’t be able to live up to the hype around its robotaxi plans. Each robotaxi is expected to have a price target of around $150K to $200K, with some estimates suggesting Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) would need about $35 billion to develop a global feet of such cars. Amid inflation and lack of preference for electric cars, American families will probably stay away from spending a fortune on robotaxis, which could cause a blow to Tesla Inc’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) plans in the future.
Baron Partners Fund stated the following regarding Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:
“The vast majority of the Fund’s underperformance this quarter stemmed from the Fund’s 10-year investment in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA). Tesla’s shares fell 29.3% during the period and detracted 13.41% from the Fund’s first quarter results. Although Tesla has contributed importantly to the Fund’s performance since 2014, on occasion it has detracted from quarterly performance. In previous instances when Tesla shares have underperformed during a discrete period, they have shortly afterwards reflected the strong growth of the underlying business and the stock has appreciated considerably. We believe that will be the case again, although cannot guarantee it.
A significant decline also occurred at the end of 2022. In that instance, investors had become concerned about a host of external factors. Investors believed the company founder, visionary, and CEO Elon Musk was distracted by his acquisition of Twitter. They also believed a weak Chinese economy emerging from COVID and U.S. government policies would curtail the purchases of Tesla vehicles. These fears proved to be overblown. As the company achieved milestones in the succeeding year, the stock subsequently doubled over the next 12 months.
6. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 150
Aswath Damodaran believes Apple, which is part of the Mag. 7 group of stocks, has become a money machine. In October last year, while talking to CNBC, the professor recommended investors to hold on to Apple shares. He said at the time that the biggest risk for Apple is not being able to catch up on the next upgrade cycle of iPhone. However, he reiterated that Apple has become the company for “all seasons.”
Apple is among the top picks of Wedbush’s Dan Ives for the second half of 2024.
TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo also said in a fresh note that Apple has a competitive edge over others with its on-device AI.
Notable Wall Street analyst and Deepwater Asset Management Managing Partner Gene Munster recently made waves when he said in a post on Twitter that Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) is a better investment than Nvidia for the long term. Munster believes owning Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) over the next year will have a higher return because the market is in “denial” about Apple’s AI potential.
Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) is trading at 26X its 2025 EPS estimate ($7.22). This multiple, though higher than the industry average of 30, does not show the stock’s overvalued, given Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) sales growth of 6.40% for fiscal 2025 and 10.50% growth for the next five years on a per-annum basis.
Mar Vista Focus strategy stated the following regarding Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:
“Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock was pressured in the quarter as investors fretted over softening demand for smartphones, regulatory action from the US Department of Justice, and the Chinese government mandates restricting iPhone use by government officials. Despite these near-term headwinds, we continue to believe the company remains competitively advantaged and benefits from the Apple ecosystem, which has an installed base of over 2 billion devices and over 1 billion paying subscribers. We believe the Apple ecosystem will support a more predictable cash flow stream, which should grow intrinsic value high-single-digits over our investment horizon.”
5. Alphabet Inc Class C (NASDAQ:GOOG)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 165
Alphabet is a key part of the Mag. 7 group of stocks which Aswath Damodaran believes are money machine value stocks.
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) bulls believe the company is just getting started with AI product launches. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is indeed in a strong position to develop an AI ecosystem around its products. For example, demos have shown that Gemini app will help people perform daily personal tasks like note taking, appointments, writing, etc. These features could easily be integrate with other Google apps. Alphabet Inc.’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) app is to urge users to sign up for ‘Google One AI Premium’ plan, which has a $19.99 price tag. Google saw advertising revenue accelerate in Q1 2024, boosted by YouTube in particular growing by almost 21% last quarter. Analysts also believe Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is in a strong position to offset any headwinds or lost market share in Google search with YouTube, which saw its ads revenue reach $8.1 billion in the first quarter, a 21% growth. Alphabet Inc.’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) net income in the period came in at $23.66 billion, up 57%, or $1.89 per share.
Oakmark Global Select Fund stated the following regarding Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) was the top contributor during the quarter. The stock price rose after the U.S.-based communication services company reported first-quarter operating income growth of 31% versus the prior year. We believe management’s cost reduction initiatives will improve operating efficiency and lead to faster earnings growth. In addition, we expect the company’s new AI-powered features showcased at the recent Google I/O conference will increase the value of its products to users. At the current share price, we continue to see upside to our estimate of Alphabet’s intrinsic value.”
Lakehouse Global Growth Fund stated the following regarding Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in its April 2024 investor letter:
“Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) delivered a strong quarterly result that came in well ahead of analysts’ expectations. Revenue grew 15.4% (16.0% constant currency) to $80.5 billion and operating income grew 46.0% to $25.5 billion. Revenue growth accelerated across Search, YouTube Ads, and Google Cloud, all whilst the company delivered its highest operating margin since 2021 – showing meaningful progress in the company’s efforts to durably re-work their cost structure. On the Generative AI front, management emphasised the company’s infrastructure advantages including 5th generation TPUs(chips developed by Google specifically for AI training and inference), high performance data centre architecture, and AI models that are 100x more efficient versus 18 months ago. Overall, we believe that Alphabet is well placed for the AI opportunity ahead and still has significant latent earnings power. When combined with a relatively undemanding valuation of 21x forward net profit and over $100 billion of cash on the balance sheet, it’s not hard to see why we remain positive on the range of outcomes in the years ahead.”
4. NVIDIA Corp Inc (NASDAQ:NVDA)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 186
Aswath Damodoran has been skeptical about NVDA over the past several months, saying repeatedly that the stock looks overvalued. In March, when he was asked about his predictions (that proved wrong) about NVDA valuation, the professor said that either he has “no idea what I’m talking about” or it’s the market that just does not understand.
Aswath Damodoran at the time said that while Nvidia was in the “driving seat” of the AI bandwagon, its path to profits won’t be as easy as the market assumes.
Recently, Oppenheimer’s Rick Schafer joined the NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) chorus, raising the chipmaker’s price target to $150 from $110 following the 10-1 stock split.
NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) is one of the stocks accounting for a huge chunk of the total market returns, thanks to its AI-fueled rally that seems to have no end in sight. NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) shares have gained about 206% over the past one year.
Recently, Barclays Tom O’Malley gave bullish comments on the stock, with a $145 price target and an Overweight rating. The analyst pointed to a potential $25 billion opportunity from countries building up their AI capabilities. O’Malley expects NVIDIA Corp’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) earnings at $3.62 per share in fiscal 2026, while Wall Street analysts on average have a $3.55 per share estimate for NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) earnings for 2026.
NVIDIA Corp’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) latest product announcements and its plans revealed at the Computex 2024 show that NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) has much more in its arsenal to power its growth engine. Analysts like NVIDIA Corp’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) shift to new AI architecture known as Rubin (R100) and think its powerful H100 and Blackwell chips easily beat competitors.
NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) will start shipping H200 in the second half of this year. At its GTC conference NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) revealed three accelerators – B200, GB200 and GB200 NVL72. All of these products provide growth catalysts for NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) shares and justify its P/E multiple of 71, given NVIDIA Corp’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) growth expectation of over 100% this year and 32% next year. Based on 2026 EPS estimate set by Wall Street, NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) is trading at a forward P/E multiple of 35.74, which makes the stock’s valuation attractive given the growth catalysts it has.
Meridian Hedged Equity Fund stated the following regarding NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:
“NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) is a leading designer of graphics processing units (GPUs) for the gaming and professional markets, as well as system-on-a-chip units for the mobile computing and automotive markets. The company has experienced strong performance recently due to booming demand for its data center products, particularly those related to artificial intelligence. A major driver of Nvidia’s recent success has been the growing adoption of its GPU accelerators for AI training and inference across various end markets. The company’s GPUs have become an industry standard for training large language models (LLMs), and its networking solutions, such as NVLink and InfiniBand, are critical to maximizing the performance of AI systems. Nvidia’s latest Blackwell GPU platform is expected to further extend its lead in the AI accelerator market, with significant performance and total cost of ownership benefits over its predecessors. As the AI market continues to expand with growing adoption across enterprises and sovereign nations, we expect Nvidia to maintain its dominance and experience sustained growth in its data center business. Beyond data centers, Nvidia has also benefited from strong demand in its gaming business, which has recovered after a period of inventory digestion in 2022. The company’s gaming GPUs have been well-received, and its focus on the high-end market has supported growth in average selling prices. Looking ahead, we expect the gaming market to remain healthy with ongoing growth potential. Nvidia also sees opportunities to diversify its business and foray into new markets, such as automotive and robotics. We continued to hold our position in Nvidia.”
3. Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 246
META is one of the top names in the Mag. 7 group of stocks which Aswath Damodoran recently called money machine value stocks.
META could offset volatility this summer as investors will flock to Mag. 7 stocks in case market begins to waver, according to a latest report by Wolfe Research.
The social media giant is using AI for optimizing ad targeting and recommendation systems to boost engagement and ads revenue. In the first quarter, Meta Platforms Inc’s (NASDAQ:META) revenue jumped 27% to $36.5 billion. A whopping 97% of this revenue came courtesy of ads. In 2024, Meta Platforms Inc’s (NASDAQ:META) ads revenue is expected to rise by 17%. Reels, which is posting solid numbers and engagement lately, saw a 20% ad load in the first quarter, compared with 16.2% in the same quarter last year. Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) recently posted speculator Q1 results but the stock slipped after the company revealed that Meta Platforms Inc’s (NASDAQ:META) CapEx will come in the range of $35 billion to $40 billion, higher than the previous forecast of $30 billion to $37 billion. However, long-term analysts believe since most of this spending will go into AI projects, it’ll bode well for the stock down the road.
Based on its 2025 EPS estimate of $23.11 set by Wall Street, Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is trading at a forward P/E of 21, which makes the stock attractively valued given Meta’s earnings are expected to grow 14.50% next year and by 30% over the next five years on a per-annum basis.
RGA Investment Advisors stated the following regarding Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:
“We believe this section is crucial for highlighting some of the key lessons we have learned since 2022. At the outset, let us clarify that Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) remains one of our three largest positions, fluctuating based on daily market movements. As you read this, it might in fact be our largest holding. In the closing remarks of our Q4 2022 commentary, we noted that we had “made…META substantially larger” during the quarter. Never did we expect the stock to generate such substantial returns in a short period of time. Between Mark Zuckerberg’s “Year of Efficiency,” a recovery in the digital ad market and an improving macro backdrop, META’s key multiples recovered to a comfortable level within their long-term ranges:
Although these multiples are now back to “normal” levels, they are hardly expensive for a company whose top line growth re-accelerated into the double digits, with operating leverage and despite ongoing heavy investments in the Reality Labs segment. These are the reasons why we continue to hold a large position in META. As for why we did some selling, we want to emphasize a few key points”
2. Microsoft Corp Inc (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 293
MSFT is one of the top members of the Mag. 7 group of stocks which Aswath Damodoran called AI “value” stocks that have become “money machines.” In September last year, he said MSFT was one of the direct beneficiaries of AI and that’s why “some” of its stock rally was “justified.”
New Street Research started covering the stock with a Buy rating. The firm said that Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) is well positioned to grow profit in the “low teens for years to come” even if the AI revolution fails to pan out. New Street Research has a $570 price target on Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT).
Analysts believe Microsoft Corp’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) AI ecosystem around its products would strengthen its Cloud division thanks to Microsoft Corp’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) integration of AI into its Cloud products. Microsoft Corp’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Intelligent Cloud segment’s profit in the latest quarter totaled $12.51 billion, a whopping 32% growth on a YoY basis.
Microsoft Corp’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) huge investments to revive its Search business are also working. Bing’s market share has jumped to 3.64% as of April 2024, a 0.88 points gain on a YoY basis.
Wall Street expects Microsoft Corp’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) earnings to grow 12.50% next year. The stock’s forward P/E of 31 based on 2025 EPS makes it look attractive at the current levels. Average analyst estimate for Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) is $483, which presents a 14% upside potential from the current levels.
Aristotle Capital Value Equity Strategy stated the following regarding Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), a leading technology company specializing in software, hardware, cloud services, AI and digital applications, was one of the largest contributors during the quarter. The company continues to execute on a myriad of catalysts across its businesses, particularly within cloud‐based applications like Azure and platform‐based servicessuch as LinkedIn. For Azure, Microsoft detailed previously announced partnerships with NVIDIA and AMD to develop first‐party silicon chips and custom‐ designed infrastructure innovations, including its AI accelerator (Azure Maia) and CPU (Azure Cobalt). These advancements are part of Microsoft’s strategy to enhance AI performance and efficiency within the Azure ecosystem. LinkedIn, which has more than doubled its membership to over one billion in the past four years, is expanding its revenue streams across subscriptions and advertising and increasingly disrupting traditional recruiting and training functions. LinkedIn recently passed $16 billion in run rate annual revenue, which is only ~7% of total Microsoft revenue, but if it were a standalone business, it would be in the top half of S&P 500 constituents! The Azure and LinkedIn examples are just two of many that illustrate Microsoft’s ongoing transformation from an operating system to a total technology solutions provider.”
1. Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 302
AMZN is one of the top names in the Mag. 7 group of stocks which Aswath Damodoran recently called “money machines.”
Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) is one of the stocks Dan Ives of Wedbush thinks have the potential to grow based on the AI revolution.
Investment firm UBS in a latest report named Trainium and Inferentia as Amazon.com Inc’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) strengths in the AI Enabling layer to profit from the $1.16 trillion opportunity. Trainium is a machine learning (ML) chip that AWS purpose-built for deep learning (DL) training of 100B+ parameter models. Inferentia is an AI accelerator for deep learning (DL) and generative AI inference applications.
Amazon Web Services is another major factor that makes Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) well positioned in the Enabling layer of the AI value chain. However, UBS believes Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) doesn’t have any offering in the Intelligence layer of the AI value chain. The firm labeled “chatbot recommendations” as Amazon.com Inc’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) strength in the application layer of AI.
Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) is becoming an AI power house thanks to its AWS business, which saw operating margins cross 37% during the first quarter. AWS operating margins have now came in more than 30% for the past five straight quarters. Amazon.com Inc’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) revenue in the first quarter jumped 12.5% YoY and its adjusted EPS more than tripled. Revenue in North America and International segments grew as well. Analysts believe digital ads is another strong revenue stream for Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN), with revenue from the segment increasing 24% YoY to $11.8 billion in the first quarter.
Alphyn Capital Management stated the following regarding Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“In his annual letter to shareholders, CEO Andy Jassy underscores Amazon.com, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) commitment to “primitive services” over the last 20 years – creating foundational building blocks that empower rapid development of higher level products and services. Examples include developing core functionalities like payments and search, which eventually led to the Fulfilled by Amazon service, or developing logistics infrastructure, which led to the Buy with Prime service. Amazon is adopting the same approach to the next front, GenAI, from custom AI chips and training/deployment services to empower companies to construct their own core GenAI models, to their Bedrock service which allows customers to use pre-existing models to more quickly develop applications, to Amazon developing their own applications for internal use (think Alexa and a new shopping AI called Rufus).
Amazon’s dominance comes not just from its scale but also from a relentless “customer obsession,” exemplified by its focus on building services that empower customers. This positions Amazon to capture significant shares of the growing retail and cloud markets. With a 45% share of online retail, which only makes up 25% of total retail sales, Amazon is well-placed for growth. The company’s expansion into the grocery sector, backed by investments in same-day delivery, shows promise. Currently, Amazon holds a 20% share of the grocery market, a segment that constitutes 34% of US retail sales but is only 12% penetrated. As online retail trends towards 40-50% penetration, Amazon’s growth potential is meaningful. Similarly, in the cloud sector, only 10% of IT spending has shifted to the cloud, with AWS holding a 35% market share.”
While we acknowledge the potential of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), our conviction lies in the belief that under the radar AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than AMZN but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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