We recently compiled a list of the 10 Trending AI Stocks on Investors’ Radar. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) stands against the other AI stocks.
The US is struggling to keep its technology within its borders, a goal that the US government and most of the country are determined to achieve to maintain dominance, particularly in AI. In this regard, ChatGPT maker OpenAI has recently complained that its competitors, including those in China, are using its work to advance in developing their own artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
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Bloomberg reported that Microsoft, a major investor in OpenAI, is currently investigating whether any data belonging to the AI startup has been used in an unauthorized manner. White House “AI and crypto czar”, David Sacks, seems to agree with OpenAI’s allegations. Sacks suggested that DeepSeek may have used OpenAI’s models to get better, a process known as knowledge distillation.
“There’s substantial evidence that what DeepSeek did here is they distilled the knowledge out of OpenAI’s models. 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
Nevertheless, DeepSeek’s AI models demonstrate how previous sanctions and export controls by the US have failed to curb competition. Investment firm Morgan Stanley, speaking of the broad market reaction on Monday following the emergence of DeepSeek’s cheaper and more efficient AI models, stated that the consequence may be a reduced spending interest or even tighter export controls.
“The DeepSeek release highlights evolutionary innovations in AI, some of which may be deflationary. That said, the stock market reaction is probably more important than the cause and could bring further export controls or reduce spending enthusiasm”.
It must be noted here that the technology behind DeepSeek’s r1 model Wall Street is raving over isn’t new, but what is surprising is the claim that it has been developed cheaply, and also using less powerful chips.
“The takeaway is that there are many possibilities to develop this industry. The high-end chip/capital intensive way is one technological approach. But DeepSeek proves we are still in the nascent stage of AI development and the path established by OpenAI may not be the only route to highly capable AI.”
-Xiaomeng Lu, director of Eurasia Group’s geo-technology practice.
That said, the road ahead for AI development looks enticing, and AI scientists broadly agree that these new developments are a positive step for the industry as a whole.
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 developers working in unison to create the company’s messaging application.
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 235
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is a global technology company. On January 29, the company reported its fourth-quarter earnings that beat on the top and bottom lines. Meta reported earnings per share of $8.02 on revenue of $48.4 billion, higher than expectations for EPS to reach $6.75 on revenue of $46.9 billion, according to Bloomberg estimates. The company’s shares were flat after the markets closed, but rose after CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressed optimism regarding Meta’s AI initiatives. He also addressed the launch of Chinese company DeepSeek’s AI models, stating that an open-source AI strategy is the right way to go.
“There’s going to be an open-source standard globally,” he said. “For our own national advantage, it’s important that it’s an American standard.”
Zuckerberg also praised the Trump Administration during the earnings call, quoting how 2025 will be big for “redefining” the company’s relationships with governments.
“We now have a U.S. administration that is proud of our leading companies, prioritizes American technology winning and that will defend our values and interests abroad. I am optimistic about the progress and innovation that this can unlock, so this is going to be a big year”.
Chief Financial Officer Susan Li also discussed Meta’s AI chatbot, stating that it had surpassed 700 million monthly active users, up from 600 million in December. Zuckerberg said he anticipates Meta AI to reach one billion users this year. Meta has also finished training a mini version of Llama 4. Zuckerberg further stated that the training for a larger version of the LLM “is making great progress”.
Overall META ranks 1st on our list of the trending AI stocks on investors’ radar. 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.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
