Last week, Sam Altman, CEO of AI company OpenAI, expressed his confidence that US President-elect Donald Trump’s administration will support the artificial intelligence sector, ensuring the United States and its allies continue their lead. Altman told US broadcaster Fox News that AI technology needed massive infrastructure support and that Trump would be ideal in providing it.
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“We need to build that here and we need to be able to have the best AI infrastructure in the world to be able to lead with the technology and the capabilities. I believe President-elect Trump will be very good at that”.
-Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO
Trump has already picked out Silicon Valley venture capitalist David Sacks as his AI and Crypto czar, stating that Sacks will ensure the legal framework for the token has “clarity” to empower the crypto industry to “thrive”. Trump’s decision to appoint Sacks demonstrates his industry-friendly stance toward emerging technologies.
“David will focus on making America the clear global leader in both areas. He will safeguard Free Speech online, and steer us away from Big Tech bias and censorship”.
-Trump said in a post on his social network, Truth Social.
Meanwhile, SpaceX founder Elon Musk emerged as a key advisor to Trump after the elections. Musk has also been appointed to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which is responsible for streamlining government bureaucracy.
Musk having a potential political influence in the administration, particularly when it comes to AI, could get some people worried. However, prominent figures such as Sam Altman say they aren’t. Altman brushed off suggestions that Musk, the owner of X, would use legal tactics to shut down competitors. Matt Calkins, CEO of Appian, is also confident about Musk’s influence on the Trump administration, stating how the influence is positive because Musk “deeply” knows artificial intelligence.
The growing momentum of AI, underscored by recent government developments, has brought attention to other key players in the sector, including Anthropic, a leading AI-focused company. Anthropic is collaborating with Amazon to develop one of the world’s most powerful AI supercomputers. The mega-project, codenamed “Project Rainer,” will be five times larger than the cluster used to build Anthropic’s current most advanced model. As reported by WIRED, the announcement was made at the company’s Re:Invent conference in Las Vegas by Matt Garman, CEO of AWS. Once it is completed, the supercomputer will be the world’s largest AI machine featuring hundreds of thousands of its latest Trainium 2 AI training chips.
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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10. Asana, Inc. (NYSE:ASAN)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 18
Asana, Inc. (NYSE:ASAN) is a leading enterprise work management platform, having announced significant demand for its AI Studio, a no-code builder enabling teams to design workflows with the help of AI agents. On December 6, Jefferies analyst Brent Thill maintained Asana with a “Hold” and raised the price target from $13 to $16. Following its earnings, the analyst said that there are signs of stabilization, along with an “encouraging early response” to the AI Studio. Nevertheless, the firm said that the macro environment remains a headwind and that Asana continues to lose share to Monday.com and Smartsheet. It will take some time for the AI Studio to “move the needle”.
9. Verint Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:VRNT)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 19
Verint Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:VRNT) is a CX (customer experience) Automation Company™ leveraging the Verint Open Platform and its team of AI-powered bots for delivering tangible AI business outcomes. On December 4th, the company announced the introduction of its latest AI-assisted “scoring bot” running in the Verint Open Platform, a cloud-based AI-driven contact center platform for increasing customer experience (CX) automation. The scoring bot uses unique and proprietary AI models to offer insight into customer experience, agent satisfaction, and the emotional connection between customers and agents. By allotting a score for both customer experience (CX) and employee experience (EX) for every call, contact center teams can enhance agent interactions and customer satisfaction.
“You can’t improve what you don’t measure. The Verint CX/EX Scoring Bot delivers a unique approach to measuring the human experience. These richer CX and EX insights provide the accurate and timely data needed to deliver strong AI business outcomes driven by elevated customer satisfaction, reduced customer churn and increased efficiency in the contact center.”
– Josh Feast, Verint’s general manager, AI-powered Real-time Coaching.
8. Box, Inc. (NYSE:BOX)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 31
Box, Inc. (NYSE:BOX) enables organizations of various sizes to manage and share their content from anywhere on any device. It is a key player in the “intelligent content management” space, leveraging artificial intelligence through its Box AI platform. On December 4th, Citi maintained its Buy rating on Box, Inc. (NYSE:BOX) and increased its price target to $40 from $34. The firm is optimistic about the company’s future financial performance, following the fiscal Q3 report.
Some figures highlighted from the earnings report include Box’s consistent revenue growth which saw a 6% year-over-year increase on a constant currency basis, and a significant outperformance in Remaining Performance Obligations (RPO), witnessing a 14% year-over-year growth, also on a constant currency basis. The demand environment remains robust as evident from the company’s strong RPO figures, with particular strength in the Japan and U.S. enterprise sectors.
Additionally, the analyst also expressed optimism about Box’s positioning for enhanced growth. This growth is driven by the introduction of its new Enterprise Advance tier, potentially leading to a 20-40% pricing uplift, and Box AI, which is anticipated to contribute to a recovery in Net Revenue Retention (NRR).
7. SentinelOne, Inc. (NYSE:S)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 37
SentinelOne, Inc. (NYSE:S) is one of the leading artificial intelligence-powered cybersecurity providers. On December 5, Morgan Stanley analyst Hamza Fodderwala assigned a “Hold” rating on the stock and a $29.00 price target. Fodderwala’s hold rating comes from the company’s recent performance in FQ3 2025 and future outlook. Even though the company reported strong annual recurring revenue (ARR) growth, outperforming expectations, its earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) fell short of anticipated levels.
This implies ongoing challenges in achieving profitability. Moreover, there are some concerns regarding margin and pricing pressure going into 2025. This is despite Sentinel One’s wins against competitors and growth in products like cloud security and AI solutions. The firm also noted that the company’s guidance for future ARR growth appears conservative, suggesting challenges in sustaining the current momentum.
6. Shopify Inc. (NYSE:SHOP)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 56
Shopify Inc. (NYSE:SHOP) is a subscription-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that integrates artificial intelligence through tools like Shopify Magic, automating tasks and enhancing personalized shopping experiences for merchants. An underrated AI play, one Wall Street analyst recently stated that the company is winning with artificial intelligence. On December 6, Loop Capital analyst Anthony Chukumba upgraded Shopify to “Buy” from Hold and increased the price target to $140 from $110.
According to the analyst, investors are underestimating Shopify’s use of artificial intelligence in serving merchants. From personalized response recommendations to instantly generated emails and even internally using it in areas such as customer support, sales, and human resources, Shopify is doing so much with AI. This is why the firm considers AI as a key driver of margin expansion and long-term growth for the company.
“Thus, we believe Shopify will be able to grow its revenue at a much faster rate than its operating expenses for the foreseeable future, which will result in operating and free cash flow margin expansion and a higher valuation”.
-Loop Capital analyst Anthony Chukumba
5. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (NYSE:HPE)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 64
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (NYSE:HPE), an American multinational technology company, provides high-performance computing (HPC) systems, AI software, and data storage solutions for running complex AI workloads. On December 6, Citi upgraded HPE to “Buy” from Neutral with a price target of $26, up from $23. The company is expected to benefit from growing demand in servers and enterprise networking, along with expanding opportunities in AI.
Its fiscal Q4 results beat estimates. Moreover, even though AI orders “can be lumpy”, stronger contributions from enterprise AI and government contracts “bodes positively for revenue momentum and margins ahead”, the analyst told investors in a research note. The firm also noted an improving demand outlook in enterprise infrastructure spending and potential benefits from acquiring Juniper (JNPR).
4. Marvell Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRVL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 70
Marvell Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRVL) develops custom application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and other semiconductor solutions. It is establishing itself as a key player when it comes to the demand for artificial intelligence processors. On December 4, Benchmark analyst Cody Acree raised the price target on Marvell to $135.00 from $115.00 and maintained a “Buy” rating. The company’s previous two earnings results demonstrate how it has started reaping the benefits of delivering custom AI chips. Analysts believe the company’s potential client list includes Google, Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft, as those companies are seeking alternatives to Nvidia’s hardware.
“We believe Marvell offers investors a unique, non-Nvidia, alternative to gain leverage to the AI/Data Center trade, with 73% of its revenue currently derived directly from the AI and Data Center markets”.
-Benchmark Research analyst Cody Acree.
3. Snowflake Inc. (NYSE:SNOW)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 71
Snowflake Inc. (NYSE:SNOW) is an enterprise software giant and an artificial intelligence-data cloud company. On December 6th, Barclays raised the firm’s price target on Snowflake Inc. (NYSE:SNOW) to $190 from $172 and kept an “Equal Weight” rating on the shares. According to the analyst, software is “back in favor” again, which is why the company’s valuation levels have now caught up to historical averages.
Salesforce, the world’s leading AI CRM, recently posted earnings for FQ3 2025 that demonstrate how demand for software has remained strong in the latest quarter, with enterprises spending big on artificial intelligence. Salesforce’s strong results highlight robust demand for software, offering a positive signal for companies like Snowflake, as reflected in the analyst’s insights. Moreover, the firm suggested there may be further upside considering estimates haven’t moved higher yet and as base valuations shift out another year to 2026.
2. CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 74
CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD) is a leader in AI-driven endpoint and cloud workload protection. On December 6th, the company announced that it has been named a Leader in the 2024 Frost Radar™: Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) for the third consecutive year. The leader in cloud security offers a single, unified platform, known as CrowdStrike Falcon® Cloud Security which empowers customers to stop cloud breaches across every area of enterprise cloud risk and secure workloads. Recognizing this approach, Frost & Sullivan highlighted that “CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security delivers excellent capabilities to address modern cloud security challenges,” with broad coverage across cloud-native and Windows-based environments. It also said that the Falcon platform “offers advanced runtime protection, CDR, extensive platform support, and seamless integration with its XDR and MDR services, making it a leading choice for organizations seeking real-time cloud threat management.”
“Adversaries are evolving faster than ever, exploiting the gaps created by tools marketed as CNAPPs that only scratch the surface with basic CSPM or vulnerability management. CrowdStrike’s recognition as a Leader in the Frost CNAPP Radar for the third consecutive year validates our ability to deliver a comprehensive solution that doesn’t just identify risks—it actually stops breaches. Falcon Cloud Security empowers organizations to close critical gaps, outpace threats, and scale their security for the future on a single, unified platform”.
-Raj Rajamani, head of products at CrowdStrike.
1. ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 78
ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) is a cloud-based platform that leverages AI and machine learning to enable enterprises to streamline workflow automation, enhance IT service management, and optimize other enterprise applications. On December 5, Analyst Michael Turrin of Wells Fargo assigned a “Buy” rating on ServiceNow with a price target of $1,250.00. Gina Mastantuono, company CFO, expressed cautious optimism regarding 2025 IT budgets, indicating potential growth beyond 2024. The company is well-suited to provide clients with both revenue-generating and cost-saving solutions.
In particular, ServiceNow’s strong focus on artificial intelligence, predominantly through initiatives such as its early adoption through the Xanadu initiative and the Now Assist platform, puts it on track for future growth. The company’s focus on enhancing customer service through AI and database offerings, including RaptorDB Pro and Knowledge Graph, further emphasizes innovation and efficiency. Lastly, increased operating leverage and ongoing cost efficiencies solidify the buy rating.
While we acknowledge the potential of NOW 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 NOW but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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