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 Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) 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).
A team of IT professionals working on a digital platform, indicating the company’s agile digital services.
Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 55
Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) is a California-based real estate trust that operates data centers and other technology assets. The firm helps AI businesses host AI infrastructure for AI model development and offers network-rich interconnected locations for AI inference. On November 21, Argus analyst Marie Ferguson raised the price target on the stock to $975 from $900 and kept a Buy rating on the shares. Equinix has sequentially topped consensus in 2024 and after the management upped its 2024 revenue and AFFO guidance the projected earnings growth rate for 2024 is at the top for the REIT peers the firm covers, the advisory noted. While shares have been volatile recently, reflecting Tech sector rotation, the advisory sees positive momentum for the shares based on fundamental growth and positive momentum in the income sector and thinks the data storage business is a good investment, with strong growth prospects in the EMEA and APAC regions offsetting slower growth in North America.
Overall EQIX ranks 10th on our list of the AI stocks that are trending on financial media. While we acknowledge the potential of EQIX 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 EQIX 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.
