We recently compiled a list of the 10 Trending AI News Updates on Investors’ Radar. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) stands against the other trending AI stocks.
President Xi Jinping recently held a rare meeting at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People with some of the biggest names in China’s technology sector. Four years back, tech regulations in China and the government’s approach toward the tech sector were quite different than what it is shaping up to be today. Jack Ma, in particular, was once a high-profile target of Chinese regulators, disappearing from public view for several months after his criticizing speech against Xi in 2020.
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According to analysts, this change implies how policymakers are now concerned about slowing growth and the US’s efforts to limit China’s technological development. Meeting with tech leaders such as Alibaba’s Jack Ma, Jinping strongly urged them to “show their talent” and remain confident in the power of China’s model and market.
“The line-up of entrepreneurs suggests that Xi’s priority for the private sector is for it to support his goals of achieving technological self-reliance and supply-chain security”
– Neil Thomas, a fellow on Chinese politics at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis.
Gathering business leaders has been a pro-move by the President that underscores the importance of private sector innovation and the role it is playing in the global AI arms race. In light of this, Jinping has noted that private businesses have “broad prospects and great promise” to create wealth and opportunity. There is an inherent advantage in developing new industries with China’s governance and the scale of its market.
“It is the right time for the majority of private business and entrepreneurs to show their talent”.
-President Xi Jinping
Analysts note how gaining ground in technology is crucial for China as it races against the US for AI supremacy.
“It’s a tacit acknowledgement that the Chinese government needs private-sector firms for its tech rivalry with the United States. The government has no choice but to support them if it wants to compete with the United States.”
-Christopher Beddor, deputy China research director at Gavekal Dragonomics in Hong Kong.
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 Q3 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 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
A customer service team in an office setting using the company’s Customer 360 platform to communicate with customers.
Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 116
Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) is a cloud-based CRM company that has gained popularity after the launch of its AI-powered platform called Agentforce.
On February 19, Redburn Atlantic analyst Omar Sheikh initiated coverage of the stock with a “Buy” rating and a $400 price target. On the same day, Stifel Nicolaus analyst J. Parker Lane maintained a “Buy” rating on the stock and set a price target of $425.00.
Lane’s buy rating stems from the growing interest and optimism around Salesforce’s AI-powered Agentforce. Albeit still being tested and deployed by customers, the analyst stated that it has garnered significant attention.
Salesforce is doing everything it can to promote Agentforce’s broader adoption, including promoting it in its customer base, dedicating resources to research and development (R&D), and implementing go-to-market strategies.
Overall CRM ranks 5th on our list of the AI stocks on investors’ radar. While we acknowledge the potential of CRM 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 CRM 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.