Artificial intelligence (AI) stocks have been the key driver of stock market gains over the past few years. Investors have been eager to buy shares in companies developing the next cutting-edge technology, and this has been a wise bet. Players such as chip designer Nvidia and memory maker Micron Technology have climbed in the triple and quadruple digits.
But in recent months, some AI stocks have stumbled, and even certain strong players have seen momentum slow. This is as investors worry about the sustainability of big tech’s billion-dollar spending on the AI infrastructure build-out, and amid general concerns about the economic backdrop.
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This sluggishness may create opportunities to get in on future AI winners at more reasonable prices. The following two AI stocks have stumbled, but Wall Street expects them each to soar nearly 75% over the coming 12 months. This is according to the average analyst estimate. Let’s check them out.
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CoreWeave
CoreWeave (NASDAQ:CRWV) offers something that’s been in great demand in recent months, and the demand doesn’t seem ready to let up: capacity for AI workloads. The company is a cloud provider, but it’s somewhat different from cloud leaders like Amazon and Microsoft. CoreWeave specializes in AI workloads, while the big guys also offer non-AI services.
This focus, along with CoreWeave’s close relationship with chip leader Nvidia, has helped it to stand out and generate significant growth. The company delivered record revenue of $2.6 billion in the recent quarter and, last year, became the fastest cloud ever to reach $5 billion in annual revenue. CoreWeave is the third-biggest position in Nvidia’s stock portfolio, and the company has been the first to make Nvidia’s latest platforms generally available to customers.
This support from Nvidia is encouraging, considering Nvidia’s deep understanding of the AI market. CoreWeave is highly leveraged, as it relies on debt financing to build out infrastructure, so it’s best left to aggressive investors. But after its 37% decline since early May, and considering the points I’ve made here, these investors may find it a compelling buy — and a stock that could possibly soar over the coming 12 months as Wall Street predicts.
Cerebras Systems
Cerebras Systems (NASDAQ:CBRS) surged onto the scene with an initial public offering back in May. The stock jumped 68% in its first day of trading; since, it has dropped about 9%. This isn’t linked to any bad news from Cerebras, but instead is due to investors’ general caution regarding AI stocks.
Cerebras presents itself as a challenger to Nvidia and other GPU companies, as it offers a new way to accelerate workloads, and this is through its Wafer-Scale Engine (WSE). This chip is 58 times larger than Nvidia’s B200 and has more than 2,000 times the memory bandwidth of two Nvidia chips together. Cerebras says it has “the fastest inference platform on the market,” something that could drive significant growth moving forward as AI is applied more frequently to real problems.
In August, Cerebras launched its new CS-4 rack-scale solution, which includes three new WSEs, and says it’s up to 30 times faster than GPU-based systems. The company also reported earnings that beat its own guidance across metrics. Cloud and services revenue in the second quarter soared more than 200% to $126 million, and the company expanded its supply chain, and manufacturing and data center capacity.
Like CoreWeave, Cerebras carries a certain degree of risk. The company is a newish player in this market so doesn’t have the long-established relationships or earnings track record of a company such as Nvidia or Advanced Micro Devices. But Cerebras’ technology is compelling, and customers clearly are knocking on the door. So this stock may have what it takes to prove Wall Street right and soar over the coming 12 months.
Should you buy stock in CoreWeave right now?
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Adria Cimino has positions in Amazon. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Amazon, Micron Technology, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
