We recently compiled a list of the 10 Trending AI News Updates on Investors’ Radar. In this article, we are going to take a look at where AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP) stands against the other trending AI stocks.
President Xi Jinping recently held a rare meeting at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People with some of the biggest names in China’s technology sector. Four years back, tech regulations in China and the government’s approach toward the tech sector were quite different than what it is shaping up to be today. Jack Ma, in particular, was once a high-profile target of Chinese regulators, disappearing from public view for several months after his criticizing speech against Xi in 2020.
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According to analysts, this change implies how policymakers are now concerned about slowing growth and the US’s efforts to limit China’s technological development. Meeting with tech leaders such as Alibaba’s Jack Ma, Jinping strongly urged them to “show their talent” and remain confident in the power of China’s model and market.
“The line-up of entrepreneurs suggests that Xi’s priority for the private sector is for it to support his goals of achieving technological self-reliance and supply-chain security”
– Neil Thomas, a fellow on Chinese politics at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis.
Gathering business leaders has been a pro-move by the President that underscores the importance of private sector innovation and the role it is playing in the global AI arms race. In light of this, Jinping has noted that private businesses have “broad prospects and great promise” to create wealth and opportunity. There is an inherent advantage in developing new industries with China’s governance and the scale of its market.
“It is the right time for the majority of private business and entrepreneurs to show their talent”.
-President Xi Jinping
Analysts note how gaining ground in technology is crucial for China as it races against the US for AI supremacy.
“It’s a tacit acknowledgement that the Chinese government needs private-sector firms for its tech rivalry with the United States. The government has no choice but to support them if it wants to compete with the United States.”
-Christopher Beddor, deputy China research director at Gavekal Dragonomics in Hong Kong.
For this article, we selected AI stocks by going through news articles, stock analysis, and press releases. These stocks are also popular among hedge funds. The hedge fund data is as of Q3 2024.
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).
A close-up of a mobile device, showing an advertiser reaching out to a consumer via a software-based platform.
AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 51
AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP) provides a leading marketing platform powered by AI technology. On February 19, Citi raised the firm’s price target on the stock to $600 from $460 and kept a “Buy” rating on the shares. The firm noted how AppLovin has performed well in 2024. Indeed, the stock has soared more than 700% and outperformed even the biggest names in the AI space. In its earnings call, the company noted that it will be divesting its apps business as it aims to move into other verticals for its artificial intelligence-powered AXON advertising software.
Even though Citi has raised the price target on AppLovin, it said that it sees “one small risk,” potentially in the second half of 2025, as well as “many potential opportunities” beyond 2025. The small risk that the firm has highlighted is Unity’s new advertising technology solution within its Grow segment. The analyst told investors in a research note that if Unity’s Grow segment improves, the potential revenue headwind for AppLovin is likely to be small. Unity and AppLovin are competitors, and despite competitive pressure from Unity, the growth potential for AppLovin remains strong.
Overall APP ranks 7th on our list of the AI stocks on investors’ radar. While we acknowledge the potential of APP 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 APP but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.