We recently compiled a list of the 35 AI News You Should Not Miss. In this article, we are going to take a look at where SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:SBAC) stands against the other AI stocks you should not miss.
The AI industry is constantly evolving and investors are keeping a close eye on investments, advancements in AI capabilities, and new partnerships to keep pace with the continued rise of generative AI and integration into key industries. One of the most exciting developments in the field of AI over the past week has been the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics, which was awarded to scientists John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton for their pioneering work in the field of machine learning. Hopfield, a researcher at Princeton University, gained recognition for developing an associative memory system, a neural network model capable of storing and reconstructing images or other data patterns. His work revolutionized how data patterns can be represented and recalled, marking significant progress in the field of artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, Hinton, a professor at the University of Toronto, pioneered a method for autonomously discovering data properties, enabling machines to perform tasks such as identifying specific elements within images. His contributions have been pivotal in advancing AI capacity for image recognition and pattern identification.
Another notable report worthy of mention is a recent Reuters study into the funding that AI startups have attracted so far this year. The study highlights the $6.6 billion funding round for AI startup OpenAI recently that pushed the valuation of the company to more than $157 billion. It also spotlights other AI startups that have received more than $500 million in funding this year. These include xAI, CoreWeave, Scale AI, Figure AI, Groq, Mistral AI, and Cohere. They have raised $6 billion, $1.1 billion, $1 billion, $657 million, $640 million, $600 million, and $500 million in funding so far this year, respectively. The startups are all valued at more than $2.5 billion, with xAI, founded by Tesla chief Elon Musk, worth over $24 billion. A recent report by Goldman Sachs reveals that businesses worldwide are projected to spend nearly $1 trillion in the coming years on building AI infrastructure. The report underscores the massive scale of investment needed to meet the growing demand for AI technologies across various industries. In 2024 alone, venture capital firms have already completed around 200 deals with AI companies, pouring in nearly $22 billion in funding. The average size of these funding rounds exceeds $100 million, reflecting the increasing valuation of AI startups, which now often surpass $1 billion.
Read more about these developments by accessing 30 Most Important AI Stocks According to BlackRock and Beyond the Tech Giants: 35 Non-Tech AI Opportunities.
Our Methodology
For this article, we selected AI stocks by combing 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).
Aerial view of tall antenna towers and the landscape around them.
SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:SBAC)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 45
SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:SBAC) is a leading independent owner and operator of wireless communications infrastructure including towers, buildings, rooftops, distributed antenna systems (DAS) and small cells. The firm plays a critical role in supporting the infrastructure necessary for AI-driven technologies and services, especially those related to telecommunications and data processing. JPMorgan recently raised the price target on the stock to $250 from $228 and kept a Neutral rating on the shares. The advisory highlighted in a research note that the Federal Communications Commission had granted EchoStar its extension requests, which was positive news for the tower companies. EchoStar committed to increase its 5G sites by 60% to 24,000 by June 2025, the advisory told investors in a research note. JPMorgan estimates the additional buildout could add up to two percentage points of incremental gross leasing revenue growth for the tower companies by Q2 of 2025.
Overall SBAC ranks 29th on our list of the AI stocks you should not miss. While we acknowledge the potential of SBAC 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 SBAC 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.
