Sunday, 27 October 2024
by BD Banks
As incredible a year as 2024 has been for Artificial Intelligence (AI) stocks, it’s entirely possible that 2025 could be even better. There is still a lot of momentum and plenty of positive catalysts are on the horizon that can spur more growth. This is a market that most major players believe will be massive. Analysis from Statista puts the market at $826 billion by 2030.
So, as we approach the end of the year, what companies are poised to see serious growth? While I don’t have a crystal ball, here are my top two picks.
Yes, Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) still has room to run. The semiconductor giant is gearing up for another big year driven primarily by sales of the soon-to-be-released “Blackwell” architecture, the newest iteration of its flagship AI-powering chips.
A lot will be revealed in the company’s upcoming earnings next month and the guidance the company sets, but it seems that 2025 could see a significant jump in revenue as demand continues to be sky-high for its current “Hopper” chips despite Blackwell’s imminent release. The reported 12-month-long backlog for Blackwell orders should keep it so. Elon Musk, for instance, recently purchased 100,000 H100s — there is more than one version of each iteration of chip architecture — and plans on purchasing another 50,000 H200s soon.
Nvidia’s competitors are struggling to keep pace and I don’t see them materially eating into Nvidia’s market share in 2025. AMD is set to release its next-generation AI chip around the same time Blackwell finally ships. Here’s the catch: It will be a direct competitor of the H200, not the (Blackwell) B200. AMD is a full cycle behind at this point. This will likely narrow, but Nvidia has a lot of cash to fuel its pace of innovation that AMD can’t match. Last quarter, despite playing catch up, it spent about half of what Nvidia spent on research and development.
Take a look at this chart, which shows the massive amount of free cash flow (FCF) Nvidia has at its disposal to maintain its edge. Of course, money isn’t everything, but it sure helps.
NVDA Free Cash Flow data by YCharts
Meta (NASDAQ: META) has received a lot of flack in recent years because of Mark Zuckerberg’s insistence that the metaverse is going to be the next big thing. It doesn’t seem like he’s right about this one — the company’s metaverse division, Reality Labs, posted a $4.5 billion loss last quarter.
But I don’t think this is quite the folly that many do; the metaverse still could be big. The reason I bring this up, though, is that it shows Meta isn’t afraid to take risks and bet big. Zuckerberg is applying the same attitude to AI, investing heavily in building out its Meta AI and eventually incorporating that technology into the work Reality Labs does.
The fact is, whether Reality Labs pays off or not, the company is still extremely profitable, seeing strong user and revenue growth across its bevy of social media platforms — the company makes its money by selling targeted ads on its platforms, something AI could make more efficient. It’s also one of the cheapest stocks in big tech. Of the major players, only Alphabet has a lower price-to-earnings ratio (P/E). I think that makes Meta an extremely attractive pick, regardless of what happens with Reality Labs.
However, Meta has the chance to marry AI and the metaverse, something that, if done well, could be a game changer for the company. To be clear, this is conjecture, but its possible that 2025 will see the company release a demo of something in this vein.
Before you buy stock in Nvidia, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Nvidia wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $867,372!*
Stock Advisor provides investors with an easy-to-follow blueprint for success, including guidance on building a portfolio, regular updates from analysts, and two new stock picks each month. The Stock Advisor service has more than quadrupled the return of S&P 500 since 2002*.
*Stock Advisor returns as of October 21, 2024
Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Johnny Rice has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Alphabet, Meta Platforms, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.