We recently published a list of 12 Best FAANG+ Stocks to Invest in Right Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) stands against other best FAANG+ stocks to invest in right now.
The group of stocks formerly known as FAANG were synonymous with technological prowess, market dominance, and high growth. These companies provided exponential returns and offered the chance to be part of the technological revolution. Their rise to dominance was fueled by innovation, digital transformation, the increasing use of the internet, and their insatiable hunger for growth. In the process, they reshaped industries, altered consumer behavior, and redefined customer engagement. However, over the past couple of years, the acronym has lost some of its relevance as some names have changed and new companies have encroached on the territories of these mega-caps. As a result, the market has started using the term “Magnificent Seven” to better represent the most valuable tech stocks. In this list, we include the ‘Magnificent Seven’ plus five interesting stocks that focus on the transformational technology growth trends such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, EV technology, and streaming.
Let’s begin by understanding the sheer magnitude of these stocks. We created an equal-weighted portfolio (equal investment in each stock) of all 12 mega-cap technology stocks in this list and compared their combined performance with the S&P 500 Index over the past 5 years. Astonishingly, the mega-caps portfolio has returned over 385% compared to the S&P 500 Index’s return of around 86%. Additionally, these 12 stocks now have a combined market cap of over $20.0 trillion, with around $14 trillion added in the past 5 years. In comparison, the total market cap of all US-listed stocks is approximately $60.5 trillion (as of December 2024; source: Wilshire 5000 Index), making these mega-caps account for nearly one-third of the total US market value. Although it’s not entirely fair to compare market caps to GDP, if we could, and if these 12 mega-caps formed a country, they would rival China as the second or third largest country by nominal GDP.
Despite recent intense competition, challenging market dynamics, and a difficult regulatory environment, these tech leaders still stand tall with their legacy of innovation and digital transformation. We believe their substantial investments in technology infrastructure, strategic acquisitions, international expansion, and continuous innovation have helped them maintain their dominance. Additionally, the rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning has opened new avenues for growth among these tech giants. With that, let’s explore these 12 stocks.
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Out Methodology
To identify the 10 best FAANG+ stocks, we compiled a list of U.S.-listed technology companies with largest market capitalization, along with the stocks from the FAANG acronym. Ultimately, the stocks were ranked in ascending order based on their market capitalization, with the stock having the highest market capitalization ranked at the top.
Note: All pricing data is as of market close on January 31.
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NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)
Number of hedge funds: 193
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) designs and manufactures graphics processing units (GPUs), system on a chip units (SoCs), and AI hardware and software. Over the years, NVIDIA has expanded its offerings from gaming GPUs to include data center solutions, AI computing, and deep learning technologies. The company’s GPUs are widely used in data centers for high-performance computing, AI training, and inference, making it a critical player in the data center ecosystem. NVIDIA’s products are essential for powering advanced applications in AI, machine learning, and data analytics. Its market cap currently stands at $2.9 trillion, up from $145 billion five years ago.
NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) has transitioned from a PC gaming GPU company to a dominant player in the accelerated computing space, offering full-stack computing infrastructure with data-center-scale solutions. The company’s strength is evident in its commanding over 80% market share in GPUs. NVIDIA has greatly benefited from the growing adoption of AI and machine learning technologies, driving strong demand for its chips. The company’s revenue, profitability, and market capitalization have surged since the introduction of GenAI models like ChatGPT.
Despite the recent selloff triggered by news related to Deepseek, the stock remains a consensus Buy among analysts, who still see an upside of around 36%. Theo Mass, portfolio manager at Northcape Capital, recently remarked that the 17% overnight plunge in Nvidia shares was ‘wildly overdone,’ as it did not fundamentally change the growth outlook for NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA). Addressing concerns about Deepseek potentially hampering demand, Northcape Capital remains optimistic about NVIDIA’s future. As Mr. Mass stated:
“The biggest game in town that these mega-cap tech companies and US chip suppliers are pursuing is still inference AI over the next five to 10 years. While training has been a significant start to the AI phenomenon, in five or 10 years, Deepseek will be a small start-up in the grand scheme of things. Nvidia has noted that 40% of their revenue is already related to inference AI, and they welcome some competition and optimization in these models. So, I’m still bullish on Nvidia.”
Overall, NVDA ranks 3rd on our list of best FAANG+ stocks to invest in right now. While we acknowledge the potential of NVDA to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than NVDA 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.
