We recently published a list of 10 AI Stocks on Analysts’ Radar Right Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) stands against other AI stocks on analysts’ radar right now.
According to a report from Technavio, the global artificial intelligence (AI) market size is estimated to grow by USD 237.4 billion from 2024-2028. The major factors driving market growth are the prevention of fraud and malicious attacks, with a trend toward cloud-based AI services. The report further noted that a shortage of AI experts may pose a challenge.
Amid these developments, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the recent emergence of DeepSeek has led US officials to look at the national security implications of the Chinese artificial intelligence app. According to President Donald Trump’s crypto czar, it is possible that intellectual property theft could have been at play.
READ NOW: 12 Must-See AI News and Ratings You Might Have Missed and 10 AI Stocks to Watch Amid the DeepSeek Buzz
According to Leavitt, the National Security Council is reviewing the app’s implications.
“This is a wake-up call to the American AI industry”.
Last Monday marked a significant broad market reaction from investors over the emergence of DeepSeek’s cheaper and more efficient AI models, raising questions on the major investments and power needs of leading tech companies in the US. Here is what White House artificial intelligence and crypto czar David Sacks had to say when he was asked by Fox News about intellectual property theft involved in the emergence of DeepSeek.
“Well, it’s possible. There’s a technique in AI called distillation, which you’re going to hear a lot about, and it’s when one model learns from another model. I think one of the things you’re going to see over the next few months is our leading AI companies taking steps to try and prevent distillation … That would definitely slow down some of these copycat models”.
-David Sacks
Joe Biden, during his administration, had placed several export restrictions to prevent such things from happening. However, the emergence of DeepSeek and Baidu’s AI models reveals how they haven’t been as effective. Donald Trump, who has been at the forefront of AI advancements with the Stargate initiative, noted that it is good that companies in China are coming up with a cheaper and more efficient method of artificial intelligence.
“The release of DeepSeek AI from a Chinese company should be a wake-up call for our industries that we need to be laser-focused on competing to win”.
-Donald Trump.
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).
Photo by Alexander Shatov on Unsplash
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 235
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is a global technology company. On January 30, Benchmark analyst Mark Zgutowicz upgraded Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META) from “Hold” to Buy with a price target of $820.00. Zgutowicz cited a robust 2025 core business outlook as a reason for the rating upgrade. According to him, Meta’s AI infrastructure investments and core ad strength provide multiple growth catalysts for 2025 and beyond. Zgutowicz said he is “intrigued” by the initial development of AI engineering agents. This is because they can code and solve problems like “a good mid-level engineer.” As such, he looks forward to more discussion on how efficient these agents can be. Other firms such as RBC Capital are also bullish on Meta following its fourth-quarter results. According to the firm, Meta had a strong quarter and laid out several new product and monetization drivers into 2026. The company was also successful in defending and reiterating its ambitious AI spending plans amid the recent DeepSeek controversy.
Overall, META ranks 1st on our list of AI stocks on analysts’ radar right now. While we acknowledge the potential of META 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 META but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and Complete List of 59 AI Companies Under $2 Billion in Market Cap
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
