We recently published a list of 10 AI Stocks Poised for Big Moves. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stands against other AI stocks poised for big moves.
Last month, President Xi Jinping held a rare meeting with some of the biggest names in China’s technology sector, urging them to “show their talent” and believe in the power of China’s model and market.
Following this guidance, tech leaders in China are raising billions and betting on the AI race. In the latest news, Chinese artificial intelligence startup Zhipu AI has raised more than 1 billion yuan ($137.22 million) in fresh funding, only months after securing a 3 billion yuan investment.
READ ALSO: 10 AI Stocks to Watch Now and 10 AI Stocks Gaining Momentum Right Now
According to Zhipu AI, state-backed Hangzhou City Investment Group Industrial Fund and Shangcheng Capital are among the investors in the round. The move comes amid intense competition in China’s AI sector, particularly after DeepSeek emerged with its AI models, claiming to match Western competitors’ capabilities at lower costs.
In another news article, Chinese smartphone maker Honor reported that it will spend $10 billion over the next five years on developing AI for its devices. This comes as the former Huawei unit prepares for a public listing, its CEO James Li has revealed.
The company no longer wants to be merely a smartphone company. Rather, Li said in a speech at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) trade show in Barcelona that it is now aiming to develop a system of AI-powered PCs, tablets and wearables.
Similar to Zhipu AI, Honor’s announcement comes amid a boom in Chinese AI investment after DeepSeek emerged with its acclaimed cheaper and efficient AI models. Back in August, Reuters had also reported how Honor has been receiving a high level of support from the Shenzhen local government in terms of research and development funding, tax breaks and support in expanding overseas.
President Xi has been stressing continuity in China’s economic development strategy. However, he believes that its private business had “broad prospects and great promise” to create wealth and opportunity. Sure enough, it seems as if his efforts and vision are rapidly coming to fruition.
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 Q4 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 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
A wide view of an Apple store, showing the range of products the company offers.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 166
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is a technology company. On March 3rd, Jefferies analysts led by Edison Lee noted about Apple Inc. that China’s smartphone growth momentum is stalling and Apple’s new iPhone 16e is likely underwhelming. Industry checks have revealed how Chinese yuan, or CNY, posted negative growth for four weeks in a row, leading to deteriorated sales growth for smartphones and rising discounts last week for both iPhone (mainly 16 series) and Android flagship models.
Discussing the iPhone 16e, the analysts stated that even though sales data isn’t out yet, specifications and price comparison with iPhone 14/15 show that the former is unattractive, and that AI has no traction. The firm remains cautious about the demand for iPhone 16e. It also anticipates iPhone 14 and 15 base models to cost less than 16e.
However, the 14/15 offer two cameras (16e has only one) and largely similar hardware specifications, except for the application processor, or AP, and artificial intelligence, or AI. Regardless, the firm stated that consumers generally care less for AI, which is why it does not expect strong demand for the 16e. It maintains its “Underperform” rating on the stock with a $202.33 price target.
Overall, AAPL ranks 4th on our list of AI stocks poised for big moves. While we acknowledge the potential of AAPL 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 time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than AAPL 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.
