Tech stocks have done much better than expected in the past two years, and if the economy continues to grow and AI hype continues, it is likely that the next two years could also see better-than-expected growth in the technology sector.
Large tech companies have been spearheading the development of data centers and AI and these have delivered the most gains in recent years. This doesn’t seem to be changing as growth has remained solid and more tailwinds could be in play as companies double down on AI.
It is worth looking into which ones have delivered the most gains so far this year, as they could end up being the ones delivering the most gains for the full year.
An engineer offering a demonstration of the ultra-low power FPGA technology.
Methodology
For this article, I screened the top-performing large tech stocks ($10 billion+ market cap) year-to-date. Stocks that I have covered recently will be excluded from this list.
I will also mention the number of hedge fund investors in these stocks. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds invest in? 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).
15. GitLab Inc (NASDAQ:GTLB)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 43
GitLab Inc (NASDAQ:GTLB) is an AI-powered DevSecOps platform and it streamlines the entire software development cycle.
The stock is up significantly year-to-date as it has been seeing AI-driven growth after its integration of generative AI into the platform. This drove a 31% year-over-year increase in Q3 FY2025 revenue to $196 million.
KeyBanc named GTLB a top 2025 pick, citing 20%+ growth potential due to AI monetization and market share gains.
Moreover, its Q4 FY2025 revenue guidance of $205 million to $206 million implies 25-26% year-over-year growth. Operating margin also improved to -15%.
The consensus price target of $76.42 implies 9.5% upside.
GTLB stock is up 23.85% year-to-date.
14. Affirm Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:AFRM)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 45
Affirm Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:AFRM) is a fintech company that specializes in buy now, pay later (BNPL) services.
The stock is up significantly so far this year as it posted a second-quarter earnings beat last week. Revenue increased 47% year-over-year to $866 million and surpassed estimates of $807 million.
EPS also came in at $0.23 vs. estimates that expected a loss of $0.16. Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) is at $10 billion, up 35% year-over-year, and active customers grew 19% to 21 million.
It raised its FY2025 guidance and forecasts revenue of $3.13–$3.19 billion and GMV of $34.7–$35.3 billion.
The consensus price target of $70.24 implies 7.17% downside.
AFRM stock is up 24.24% year-to-date.
