Goldman Sachs Upgrades Accenture plc (ACN) to ‘Buy,’ Highlights Leadership in Generative AI with $3B in Bookings

We recently compiled a list of the 10 Buzzing AI Stocks Making Headlines. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) stands against the other buzzing AI stocks.

This year, artificial intelligence played a key role in two Nobel Prizes for scientific achievement. One prize was awarded for developing the technology, while the other was for its application. These two Nobel Prize wins clarify that AI is here to stay. However, key issues such as regulations, ethical use, and other potential risks, still need to be resolved for responsible and sustainable integration into society.

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On Saturday, December 7, Physics Nobel Prize winner Geoffrey Hinton and Chemistry laureate Demis Hassabis asserted the need for strong regulation of artificial intelligence, having played a key role in their awards.

“AI is a very important technology to regulate but I think it’s very important that we get the regulations right and I think that’s the hard thing at the moment is it’s such a fast moving technology”.

-Hassabis told a news conference in Stockholm.

According to Hassabis, having jointly won the Nobel Prize with Americans David Baker and John Jumper for revealing the secrets of proteins through AI,  the main issue is defining the purpose, deployment, and making sure that artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity.

In this regard, British-Canadian Hinton, considered the “Godfather of AI”, said he wished he had thought about safety earlier, reflecting his worries about how AI could potentially escalate the arms race. He gained attention last year after he left Google to warn against risks of AI outsmarting people someday, and was awarded a Nobel Prize along with American John Hopfield for work on artificial neural networks.

President-elect Donald Trump has vowed deregulation and also shared his views to rescind President Joe Biden’s executive order on AI after he takes office in January. Nevertheless, it is still yet to unfold how he will approach AI regulation in particular. Trump has already appointed David Sacks as the AI and crypto czar, showcasing his proactive stance on advancing artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency innovation.

In light of this, Axios reported that the US government has approved the export of advanced artificial intelligence chips to a facility in the United Arab Emirates as part of the company’s highly-scrutinized partnership with Emirati AI firm G42. There were concerns raised about the transfer of sensitive technology to China, and the approved export license includes strict conditions to prevent access to the facility by personnel from nations under U.S. arms embargoes or those listed on the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security’s Entity List.

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.

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 data experts gathered around a computer monitor analyzing customer data.

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 60

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) offers strategy and consulting, industry X, song, and technology and operation services. The company’s artificial intelligence consulting services and industry-specific solutions are high in demand. On December 6, Goldman Sachs analyst James Schneider upgraded Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) to “Buy” from Neutral with a price target of $420 up from $370. The firm said that the professional services company has the best-in-class artificial intelligence use. Accenture has experienced substantial growth in its generative AI (Gen AI) business throughout the fiscal year 2024, achieving $3 billion in new Gen AI bookings that demonstrate its leadership in the Gen AI space.

Overall ACN ranks 4th on our list of the buzzing AI stocks that are making headlines. While we acknowledge the potential of ACN 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 ACN 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.