Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (CDNS) Initiated as Overweight by Wells Fargo with $350 Target, Citing AI Monetization and Hardware Growth

We recently compiled a list of the 15 AI Stocks Trending on Financial Media. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDNS) stands against the other AI stocks that are trending on financial media.

The AI revolution has disrupted the technology industry, propelling memory chip firms into the spotlight after decades spent in the shadows of semiconductors and software giants. In order to understand the importance of memory chips to AI, investors should reflect on the centrality of data storage to AI technology. Memory chips store data that is used by AI firms for training models and storing parameters. News agency Reuters recently reported that Kioxia, a Japanese memory chip firm, is set to debut on the stock market with an initial valuation of close to $5 billion. In October, the firm had postponed plans for an IPO at double this valuation.

Read more about these developments by accessing 10 Best AI Data Center Stocks and 10 Buzzing AI Stocks According to Goldman Sachs.

Private equity firm Bain Capital is one of the most prominent backers of Kioxia. The latter is among the largest makers of NAND flash memory in the world. NAND quality directly affects the processing speed and overall performance of AI models. Bain led a consortium to acquire Kioxia from Toshiba for $18 billion in 2018. The private equity firm has tried twice to get the memory chipmaker listed on the stock exchange, once in 2018 and then again earlier this year.

Read more about these developments by accessing 30 Most Important AI Stocks According to BlackRock and Beyond the Tech Giants: 35 Non-Tech AI Opportunities.

For this article, we selected AI stocks by combing through news articles, stock analysis, and press releases. These stocks are also popular among 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).

An office of software engineers and designers collaborating on a digital project.

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDNS)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 53     

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDNS) provides software, hardware, services, and reusable integrated circuit (IC) design blocks worldwide. On November 22, Wells Fargo initiated coverage of the stock with an Overweight rating and $350 price target. The advisory thinks a ramping hardware cycle into 2025 can drive accelerating revenue growth for Cadence, which is not fully factored into Street estimates. Cadence is well positioned longer term to benefit from artificial intelligence monetization, the advisory told investors in a research note.

Overall CDNS ranks 11th on our list of the AI stocks that are trending on financial media. While we acknowledge the potential of CDNS as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some 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 CDNS but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 8 Best Wide Moat Stocks to Buy Now and 30 Most Important AI Stocks According to BlackRock.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.