We recently published a list Forget Magnificent 7: Analysts are Talking About ‘Big 10’ AI Stocks in 2024. Since Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) ranks 2nd on the list, it deserves a deeper look.
When the AI revolution started with the launch of ChatGPT, investors started pouring money into a handful of companies that are leading AI technology development, thanks to their industry position and unending free cash flows. Market analysts soon started pointing to the concentration of gains phenomena in the market, where just a few stocks accounted for most of the broader market gains. This tech concentration remains strong as of today, as all important AI and Cloud technologies that we see in the news are developed, acquired or marketed by mega-cap tech companies we’re all familiar with. Bank of America analyst Michael Hartnett recently said in a report that the S&P 500 has gained about 12% so far in the year, but if we remove 10 technology companies from the equation, these gains shrink to just 3.6%. Hartnett calls these companies the “AI Big Ten” group.
What about the Magnificent Seven group of stocks that kept making headlines in 2023 and early 2024? Hartnett calculated that the broader market gained just 4.9% so far this year if these seven stocks are taken out of the equation. There is a third group of stocks that most investors are unaware of: Hedge Fund Top 30. These 30 stocks include the Magnificent Seven as well as 23 other promising stocks. These 30 stocks returned 53.2% in 2023, 20.2% during the first 5 months of 2024 vs. 11% for the S&P’s large cap index. You can check out the latest list here: 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds.
In this article we will take a look at the Big 10 AI stocks Bank of America analyst Michael Hartnett highlighted in his report. With each stock we have mentioned the number of hedge fund investors, as of the end of the March quarter. 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).
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Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 293
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares have gained about 15% so far this year. It is one of the Big 10 AI stocks highlighted by BofA recently.
Many Wall Street analysts are bullish on MSFT. 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.
Baron Fifth Avenue Growth Fund stated the following regarding Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:
“Our second largest purchase during the quarter was the software platform, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which we continued to add to, after initiating a position in the fourth quarter of 2023. Microsoft continues to report strong quarterly results, with revenue growth of 16% year-over-year in constant currency thanks to better-than-expected demand in its intelligent cloud segment, which saw revenue growth of 19% year-over-year, driven by Azure growth of 28% with AI contributing 6pts to growth compared with 3pts in the prior quarter. While the adoption of GenAI remains in its early stages, Microsoft has disclosed positive initial data points with 53,000 Azure AI customers as of its December quarter up from 18,000 in the prior quarter, 1.3 million paid GitHub Copilot subscribers (up 30% sequentially) and more than 230,000 organizations who have used AI capabilities in the power platform (up 80% sequentially). Management also noted that large cloud optimizations that started a year or so ago have largely finished. Profitability also continues to be strong with 44% non-GAAP operating margins, which was 120bps better than expected.”
Overall, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) ranks 2nd on Insider Monkey’s list titled Forget Magnificent 7: Analysts are Talking About ‘Big 10’ AI Stocks in 2024. While we acknowledge the potential of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), our conviction lies in the belief that 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 Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) 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 on Insider Monkey.
