In this article, we will take a detailed look at the 10 AI Analyst Calls You Should Pay Attention To.
Byron Deeter, Bessemer Venture Partners partner, said in a latest program on CNBC that he believes the notion that the AI boom is similar to the dot-com bubble is wrong. He believes AI spending and stock valuations are high but not “irrational.”
“I think the anxiety is well-founded as people are trying to figure these cycles out, but I absolutely refute the dot-com analogy. We’re looking at a market here where the revenue numbers and the pull-through from consumers and application partners are staggering. And so as we’re getting into the hundreds of billions of dollars of enterprise value for these private companies, it’s unprecedented, but I don’t think irrational.”
The analyst then talked about the unprecedented revenue growth of OpenAI and Anthropic and said their margins are starting to look “attractive.”
“Both of those business models can be incredibly successful, and we’re seeing it through their monetization. And so, it’s early, it’s disruptive, it’s scary in some ways, but when you’re looking at entirely rebooting the software stack and addressing services dollars that historically had never been accessible by tech, I don’t think these market size estimates are unfounded.”
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For this article, we picked 10 popular analyst calls Wall Street is paying attention to. With each stoc,k we have mentioned the number of hedge fund investors. 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 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
10. Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 82
Christopher Danely, Citi semiconductor analyst, explained in a recent program on CNBC why he downgraded Intel to sell. The analyst said Nvidia’s $5 billion investment in Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC) is “no big deal” and is not enough to “move the needle” for the stock. Here is how the analyst explained his reason:
“Obviously, there’s a lot of political pressure going on with various parts of the market right now. I think that has to be somewhat of a factor, but as far as Nvidia goes, it’s no skin off their back. So, they gave Intel $5 billion. They’re down to their last $67 billion in cash. I don’t think that’s a big deal. They already have some products called Grace that offer an ARM core. So now they’re offering an Intel core with that and then they’re going to loan their graphics capabilities out to Intel to let Intel integrate the graphics in their own laptop chip. So for us, the $5 billion is no big deal. Intel is still behind AMD in terms of processors and if you have a better graphics chip it doesn’t necessarily help the actual core processor. Then on the AI product offering, that might end up being 500 million, a billion, maybe two billion at best to Intel, but that’s years out. Intel’s a $53 billion company, so again not enough to move the needle, and more importantly we think this continues to keep Intel in this perpetually money-losing foundry business, which we think they should get out of. If they did get out of that, i.e., making chips for other companies, we think that unlocks a dollar to $2 in earnings power and we’re loving that. But this sounds like this is just going to keep them in this perpetual cycle of trying to make chips for other companies.”
9. Oracle Corp (NYSE:ORCL)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 124
Sarah Kunst, Managing Director at Cleo Capital, said in a recent program on CNBC that the market is getting overexcited about Oracle Corp (NYSE:ORCL) $10 billion revenue forecast from OpenAI. The analyst believes this figure does not represent realized revenue, and she sees no “clear path” for OpenAI to even “afford” this spending.
“The problem is a lot of it is OpenAI and there’s no real clear path to OpenAI being able to afford that booked revenue, being able to afford that promised revenue to pay out. And then on the other side, it’s sort of a conglomeration of mystery customers that they’re implying are kind of those really big tech names, but we don’t know for sure. A lot of these big tech names actually have the infrastructure to do this inhouse. So the question is in 2030, are they really going to be outsourcing all of this? I just don’t see the same parallels.”
Asked about Oracle Corp (NYSE:ORCL) ability to really collect AI revenues, here is what the analyst said:
“I think the question is, is it actually going to happen some years from now because you have a business where, yes, if the big tech names need that overflow for data centers, they certainly will go with Oracle Corp (NYSE:ORCL), but they don’t have to and they might not need it. One big thing that scares me in this is that we are not yet at a point where a lot of companies are making a lot of revenue from AI. And we’re starting to hear this on the street. We’re starting to hear frustration of, okay great, but when are people actually going to be bringing in a lot of revenue? And so I just don’t know how real it is right now, how accurately anyone can forecast what their AI data center spend is going to be in 2030. It is not realized revenue. And I think the market’s reacting as though it is currently personally sitting on Larry Ellison’s island, and it’s just not there yet.”
Loomis Sayles Growth Fund stated the following regarding Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:
“Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) is a leader in the enterprise software market with a strong market position in database, infrastructure and application software, and cloud-based software and services. We believe the company’s competitive advantages include its large and experienced direct sales force, a founder-driven management team that reinvests relentlessly to maintain a leading intellectual property (IP) portfolio and differentiated product suite, and a large installed base of clients with high switching costs where it consistently achieves renewal and retention rates in the mid-90% range. We believe Oracle is well positioned to benefit from the continuing growth in data storage and enterprise application software, as well as the shift to cloud-based solutions.
A long-term fund holding, Oracle reported strong quarterly financial results that were above management guidance and consensus expectations on most measures, including remaining performance obligation (RPO) bookings, a forward-looking measure of revenue. As a result, the company expects revenue growth to accelerate and raised its guidance to at least 16% revenue growth in its 2026 fiscal year, driven by cloud growth in excess of 40%. Oracle is the world leader in its largest business segment, enterprise database software used in customer on-premise IT environments. However, the company continues to focus on transitioning its business from a traditional on-premise, up-front software licensing and maintenance revenue model to a cloud computing subscription-based model where software revenue is recognized over the life of the client’s contract. While there has been pressure on year-over-year overall revenue comparisons during this transition, which started over a decade ago as Oracle released cloud versions of its applications and infrastructure software, as up-front license revenue shifts to subscription revenue, we have long expected this to lead to faster growth over time due to a higher customer lifetime value as the transition progresses. We believe the cloud model also allows Oracle to monetize its services and technology more efficiently and yield savings to the customer… (Click here to read the full text)
8. Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 115
Stephen Weiss, the Chief Investment Officer and Managing Partner of Short Hills Capital Partners, said in a recent program on CNBC that Tesla valuation makes “zero, zero sense.”
“You can’t disagree with the fundamentals. The fundamentals have been atrophying. But it’s a cult stock and I’ve not been shorted. I short it periodically here and there. But valuation makes zero zero sense. Robotics, robots, humanoids. It’s a crowded space already. But you’ve got a company, another company, private company literally has no revenues that’s now trying to raise capital at $38 billion, you know, and so it’s bizarre and that’s what people looking for. The next great thing. Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA). Tesla’s sales have atrophied also. So robo taxis, that’s crowded before they even launch them. So what do you own here?
Baron Focused Growth Fund stated the following regarding Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:
“Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) designs, manufactures, and sells electric vehicles (EVs), solar products, and energy storage solutions, while also developing advanced real-world AI technologies. Despite ongoing macroeconomic challenges and regulatory complexities, shares climbed after Tesla completed a limited commercial rollout of its highly anticipated robotaxi business in Austin—following more than a decade of development and billions of dollars in investment. This milestone signals a potentially transformative shift in the automotive industry and opens up a sizable new market beyond the company’s core operations. Investor sentiment also improved after Elon Musk stepped back from government-related engagements, boosting confidence in Tesla’s near-term execution. Tesla introduced a refreshed Model Y globally, featuring design and performance upgrades, and outlined plans to unveil new mass-market models starting next quarter. Meanwhile, the company is progressing toward scaling production of its humanoid robot, adding another dimension to its long-term growth story.”
7. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 156
Daniel Newman, The Futurum Group CEO, said in a recent program on Schwab Network that things are “tough” for Apple because the market might not be excited to invest in the stock despite its new iPhone 17.
“I think the problem with Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) is that everything that’s showing up today is in fact pretty incremental. Yes, the phone is thinner and yes, it looks great. We haven’t had a big super cycle in four years. We were sort of told that, hey, Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) intelligence last year was going to drive this big cycle. It didn’t really accomplish that. Now we’ve got the thinnest phone ever, longest battery, does that drive a super cycle? And of course, we’re waiting for price because we want to know, do these phones slightly longer battery, slightly nicer screen, maybe a bit more durable, are people going to run out and buy them? And if they’re going to charge more, if tariffs are going to start to impact, that may be a problem, too. So, I think it’s a tough position. The announcements have been good, but I think with everything Nvidia is doing and everything Google’s doing right now, it’s hard for that investor to say, ‘I want to put a dollar here into Apple.'”
Early indicators point to a strong consumer response to the latest iPhone 17. However, can this enthusiasm lift the stock in the long term, especially when the company is falling behind in the AI race?
Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) can only do so much in innovation to revolutionize its iPhone each year. A UBS survey shows that the iPhone upgrade cycle has reached 35 months in the US. A separate report from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners says about 63% of iPhone users keep their smartphones for more than two years. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) is losing its pricing edge as it has to put a cap on its price tags to compete in key markets like China. Samsung, Xiaomi and other companies can launch advanced hardware and software features to compete with Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) and keep the company under pressure in Asia.
Macquarie Core Equity Fund stated the following regarding Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:
“Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) declined in the quarter and meaningfully underperformed the S&P 500. The security contributed to relative performance due to our underweighting, approximately 50% lower than the benchmark weight. While Apple continues to have laudable attributes and strong repurchase intent, the company is failing to grow at historical rates given the maturation of many key products.”
6. Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ:AVGO)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 156
Ben Reitzes, Melius Research’s head of technology research, praised Broadcom CEO Hock E. Tan during a program in June on CNBC. He said the company will remain a winner due to the growing demand for custom chips.
“He’s one of the best operators in the business. He really tends to deliver and I think he’s also a great communicator. I think that one of the things that he’s done that’s pretty interesting is that he set targets for a serviceable addressable market that’s pretty large from his largest hyperscaler customers by 2027, 60 to 90 billion. And that’s just three customers. And he recently announced that they’re up to seven customers. So, if he can update any of the long-term addressable market from all these additional AI customers, that could be pretty good thing. And I think that this custom silicon trend where certain workloads are being run on companies that use Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ:AVGO) to design the chips is going to keep going and Hock’s a winner in that category and we see good things coming.”
The stock is up 26% since the analyst’s comments.
Macquarie Core Equity Fund stated the following regarding Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:
“Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) also had an exceptional run of over 65% in the quarter on renewed AI optimism and continued broadening of its customer base for custom AI silicon (chips). Our slight underweight of the security was consequential given the company’s strong return.”
5. Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 178
Steven Grasso, the CEO of Grasso Global Inc., said after the recent upbeat quarterly results from Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) that he still believes Google search is facing “existential” threats from AI. The analyst said he would not be a buyer of Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares and explained his bear thesis on CNBC:
“I still think there’s an existential threat and even though search is up and Gemini has helped search, you don’t get the clicks when you go through an AI search, you’re not getting the clicks that you would normally get when you go through a Google search. So when you go on a perplexity search for me, I just see the summaries. If you see the summary with Google, are you clicking on anything? And how does that affect revenue going forward? That’s something I’m concerned with. I wouldn’t be a buyer of Google.”
Pershing Square Holdings stated the following regarding Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:
“Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), the parent company of Google, is successfully executing on its vast AI potential. The company’s key advantages – stemming from industry-leading models, a full-stack approach to technical infrastructure (including proprietary chips), access to high-quality data, rapidly improving product launch velocity and a robust distribution ecosystem of seven different apps with over two billion users each – are beginning to meaningfully widen Google’s moat and competitive differentiation in AI.
In its core Search product, the company’s AI leadership is most evident in its broad roll-out of AI-powered summary responses, called “AI Overviews”. AI Overviews are now being served to more than two billion users across 200 countries, making it the most widely used consumer AI product. AI Overviews are resulting in users asking more detailed questions, clicking through at higher rates and searching with greater frequency. On the back of AI Overviews’ success, the company has also introduced “AI Mode”, which more closely resembles a chat-like user experience, directly onto the Search page…” (Click here to read the full text)
4. NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 235
Jason Ware, Albion Financial Group CIO, was recently asked on CNBC whether he is worried about the fact that 56% of NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) accounts receivables are accounted for by three companies. Here is what the analyst said:
“Yeah, we’re not worried at all because these are the companies with the most financial firepower and they continue to spend and that’s what they tell us every quarter. They’re hyperscalers. They’re saying we’re spending a ton of money. And to just put that into context, you know, Christina mentioned that, you know, Crest the CFO of NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) on the call mentioned that three to four trillion. If you look at that through the end of decade, that’s 6 to 700 billion a year. That’s almost a doubling of capex. So, you know, we think the money is still flowing and it’s flowing to the best chip within the AI complex and that’s NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA).”
Macquarie Core Equity Fund stated the following regarding NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:
“NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) performed strongly in the quarter on renewed AI optimism and reduced concern that an individual customer or two will moderate capital expenditures. Though the Fund’s weight was among our largest positions at over 4.5% during the quarter, the relative underweight (the benchmark weight averaged 6.3%) negatively affected relative returns.”
3. Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 260
In January, Jim Cramer said during a program on CNBC that he wanted to own Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) shares because of the company’s AI capabilities. Cramer said at the time that Meta was using AI to improve its ads business. The stock was trading at around $645 as of Cramer’s comments. As of September 22, Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) stock price stands at $778, having gained about 30% so far this year.
“I’ve got to tell you, you want to own this stock. New AI capabilities, capex, return on investment really terrific, and first time I’ve finally seen look potential for spend shift from TikTok disruption. I think they are going to be the big winner if it’s shut down or if the president owns it with another entity. They are using AI to be able to develop fabulous ad packages, and I think that if you want to build your business right now, Instagram has never been better. Individuals who want to live their dream, go to Instagram, start it, start your business, you’ll do well.”
First Eagle Global Fund stated the following regarding Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:
“Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)—the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, among other social-media platforms—reported strong revenue and earnings growth during the quarter, driven by increases in both ad impressions and price per ad. The company continued to aggressively invest and hire in AI, even as it develops its core advertising businesses. We believe these results demonstrate Meta’s ability to focus on both profitability and efficiency in conjunction with ongoing investments in the core ad business, the metaverse and other AI applications.”
2. Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 294
Seth Basham, Director of Equity Research at Wedbush Securities, said in a program on CNBC back in July that Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) was among his top AI picks.
“Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) is one of the leaders in the AI revolution. We think that they’re so well positioned to capture share going forward because they own the enterprise. Almost all companies use Microsoft’s services. The enterprise cloud is really where it’s at and 70% of Microsoft’s clients are likely to convert to the cloud leveraging their AI. So we think Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) is the name to own in the AI revolution.”
Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares are up about 2.8% since Basham’s comments.
Brown Advisory Large-Cap Growth Strategy stated the following regarding Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:
“Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), a global leader in software and cloud services, saw its shares trade higher in the second quarter following an earnings report and guidance update that exceeded consensus expectations. The company delivered strong performance across all business segments, with particularly robust growth in both core and AI-related Azure services. Management’s outlook for Azure remains especially positive, citing rising customer demand for AI solutions.”
1. Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 335
Josh Brown, CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management, said in a program on CNBC back in December 2024 that Amazon is a “clear” breakout story. Brown said at the time that Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) could touch $250.
“Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) is a clear and present breakout right now. One of the things that I try to do is understand the fundamental story, but it’s important where you get into a stock sometimes. I’ve been in Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) for a long time, so the question is where do I want to add more. Obviously, in a perfect world you have a genie come out of a bottle and say today is the bottom, but since none of us live in that world, the next best thing is to own it when the market has made up its mind that they want to take a name higher. That’s the idea behind averaging up or down into an actual technical breakout. That’s what I think is happening here. I think the stock could get to $250. That’s really like a $21 stock going to 25 — it’s not that big of a deal. This name has been building a base for a really long time, and I’m going to use this tactical breakout as the trigger to get larger.”
At the time of Brown’s call, Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) was trading at around $212, while the stock is hovering around $222 as of September 30.
Pershing Square Holdings stated the following regarding Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:
“Earlier this year, we initiated a position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), a company we have long studied and admired. Amazon operates two of the world’s great, category-defining franchises: its Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud business and its e-commerce retail operations. Both AWS and the company’s retail operations are supported by decades-long secular growth trends, occupy dominant positions in their respective markets, and have significant long-term opportunities for margin expansion. Moreover, despite operating in different industries, both businesses share the core tenets of Amazon’s ethos: a relentless focus on the customer, leveraging scale to be the lowest-cost provider, and continually reinvesting to improve their value proposition.
AWS, which accounts for approximately 60% of Amazon’s total profits, is the leader in the highly concentrated cloud hyperscaler market with over 40% market share. As the first mover in the space, AWS is exceptionally well-positioned to capitalize on the multi-decade shift of IT workloads from on-premise to cloud solutions. Currently, only about 20% of IT workloads are estimated to be hosted in the cloud, a percentage that is expected to steadily increase and eventually invert over time. Similarly, Amazon’s retail business is powered by strong secular growth in e-commerce adoption. In the U.S., for example, e-commerce sales penetration has doubled in the past decade yet still accounts for less than 20% of total retail sales. Within this rapidly expanding market, Amazon holds a leadership position by offering consumers the widest selection, the lowest prices, and the fastest delivery, all enabled by a one-of-a-kind logistics network that fulfills over $700 billion in gross merchandise value annually…” (Click here to read the full text)
While we acknowledge the potential of AMZN to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than AMZN and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
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