We recently compiled a list of the 11 AI Stocks That Should Be On Your Watchlist. In this article, we are going to take a look at where KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) stands against the other AI stocks.
With only a few days in, President Donald Trump’s administration has been making significant strides in advancing artificial intelligence technology. Reuters reported on Tuesday that he has announced a private sector investment of up to $500 billion to fund infrastructure for artificial intelligence, aiming to outperform rival nations in the critical technology.
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In this regard, Trump has also emphasized the importance of keeping the technology within the country.
“What we want to do is we want to keep it in this country. China is a competitor, and others are competitors… It’s technology and artificial intelligence all made in the USA”.
-Trump said in remarks at the White House.
According to Trump, ChatGPT’s creator OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle, are planning a joint venture called Stargate. The venture is expected to build data centers and create more than 100,000 jobs in the United States. With other equity backers, these companies have committed $100 billion for immediate deployment. Meanwhile, the remaining investment will occur over the next four years.
Following the news, global shares rose today, January 22nd, driven by a rise in technology stocks. Even though the global market is near record highs, investors are optimistic that they may rise even further.
“We prefer taking risk in stocks and expect corporate earnings to keep driving returns as the fourth-quarter reporting season starts”.
-Jean Boivin, the head of BlackRock Investment Institute.
He also noted that Treasury yields might jump.
“We are in a world of higher interest rates and expect them to stay above pre-pandemic levels. Even with the jump in yields, we still see more room to run, if at a slower pace”.
Speaking of the Stargate initiative, OpenAI’s Sam Altman is also thrilled that they get “to do this in the United States of America”. He thinks this is going to be the most important project of this era. Moreover, according to multiple news sources, the move may signal that the Trump administration will be striving to work with some tech companies.
After all, the President has been proactive in advancing AI technology. One of the first moves that he took returning to office has been to revoke a Biden-era executive order regarding AI guardrails. Overall, spending and focus on artificial intelligence in the US is in full swing. Billionaire businessman Hussain Sajwani also pledged to spend $20 billion or more on AI data centers in the U.S. earlier this month.
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).
The inner workings of a semiconductor manufacturing facility, neon hued machines humming with activity.
KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 61
KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) markets process control and yield management solutions for the semiconductor industry. On January 22, Susquehanna analyst Mehdi Hosseini raised the firm’s price target on KLA Corporation to $655 from $620 and kept a “Neutral” rating on the shares. The firm had updated its outlook for the semiconductor industry which revealed that spending on wafer fab equipment, which is used to make computer chips, is expected to be around $94 billion in 2025, down 6% year-over-year. Nevertheless, the firm forecasts spending to increase in 2026 by 6%. It also stated that wafer fab equipment is expected to remain in the $90B-$100B range through 2026. The analysts also told investors in their research note that increased test time and end-market demand diversification are likely to help.
Overall KLAC ranks 4th on our list of the AI stocks that should be on your watchlist. While we acknowledge the potential of KLAC 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 KLAC 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.
