Morgan Stanley Reiterates Buy Rating on Arista Networks (ANET), Citing Strong Cloud Networking Demand

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 Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) stands against the other trending AI stocks on investors’ radar.

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.

READ ALSO: These 29 AI Electricity and Infrastructure Stocks Are Crashing Due to DeepSeek News and 10 AI Stocks to Watch Amid the DeepSeek Buzz

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.

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Arista Networks, Inc. (ANET): Growth Fueled by AI Networking Solutions

A technician in a server room managing a large-scale network of computers.

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 70

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) develops, markets, and sells cloud networking solutions. On January 30, Morgan Stanley analyst Meta Marshall maintained a Buy rating on Arista Networks and retained the price target of $118.00. Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) has robust prospects that have led to the reiterated buy rating. According to the firm, Celestica’s networking business, which reported a 64% year-over-year increase in the Communications segment, has been a major driver. This robust networking growth highlights a healthy demand for cloud networking, particularly in Ethernet. This, in turn, fares well for Arista Networks’ (NYSE:ANET) business outlook. Moreover, data center demand is expected to persist beyond 2026, further supporting the company’s growth outlook. The expected increase in demand for training and inference use cases also reinforces the Buy rating, reflecting on the company’s ability to maintain a strong market presence and deliver value to investors.

Overall ANET ranks 5th on our list of the trending AI stocks on investors’ radar. While we acknowledge the potential of ANET 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 ANET but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stock To Buy Now and Complete List of All AI Companies Under $2 Billion Market Cap.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.