In this article, we will take a detailed look at the 10 Buzzing Tech and AI Stocks Everyone’s Talking About.
Several market analysts have started talking about market froth amid the stock market’s new highs and rising valuations driven by new AI business deals. However, some market experts believe the AI boom is still in its early stages and the “bubble” many are talking about is likely years away. Jim Lebenthal, a partner at Cerity Partners, said during a recent discussion on CNBC that we are not in an AI bubble yet and mentioned some examples from history to prove his point:
“Let me cut to the chase. We will eventually be in a bubble in AI. We are not there yet. We just are not. If you want to know what a bubble looks like, look at the multiple of Cisco in 1998. It was around 30 times, shot up over the next 2 years to 120 times. That’s not what’s been happening for the most.
In the same program, Joshua Brown, co-founder and CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management, said if someone is looking for “signs” of a bubble, they will not find it in companies like Nvidia and Oracle.
“I’m just saying if you’re looking for signs that it’s an egregious bubble, I don’t think you’re going to find them in Nvidia and and Oracle, per se, I think you’re going to find them in companies that we’ve given 30, 40, $50 billion market caps to that have no earnings and in some cases have no revenue.”
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For this article, we picked 10 stocks analysts are talking about. With each stock, 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. KLA Corp (NASDAQ:KLAC)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 58
Joseph Terranova Senior Managing Director, Virtus Investment Partners, in a latest program on CNBC praised KLA and said the company is sitting “right next to” companies like Nvidia and Broadcom. Here is why the analyst likes the stock:
“In the case of…. KLA Corp (NASDAQ:KLAC), the reason that you’re owning these stocks, the buyback’s good, but that’s not the reason that you own these stocks. You own these semi-equipment names because they are fully participating in the buildout of the artificial intelligence infrastructure. And they’re in the right place. They’re sitting next to companies like Nvidia and Broadcom. They have direct relationships with both of them and they’re seeing significant expansion in terms of profit margins and earnings growth, and it’s one of the reasons why we have ownership with them.”
Parnassus Core Equity Fund stated the following regarding KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“We also added several new positions, including two in Information Technology: Workday, a category leader for enterprise cloud applications for finance and human resources, and KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC), a leader in semiconductor process control. KLA, a leader in semiconductor process control, benefits from inherently high switching costs, structurally higher demand for advanced semiconductors and increasingly complex semiconductor manufacturing. The company has a strong management team that is positioning it well for long-term growth. Concerns about weaker demand in China have impacted KLA’s stock price recently, but we believe the secular growth in other regions could offset the risk in the longer term.”
9. ASML Holding NV (NASDAQ:ASML)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 78
Mehdi Hosseini, senior equity research analyst at Susquehanna, said in a recent program on CNBC that he likes ASML because the company is expected to benefit from spending by Taiwan Semiconductor.
“I like, which has had a nice run over the past couple of weeks, is ASML Holding NV (NASDAQ:ASML). Taiwan Semi is going to be the largest spender in 2026, and ASML Holding NV (NASDAQ:ASML) is also overindexed to Taiwan Semi spend.”
Artisan Value Fund stated the following regarding ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:
“ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) is a Dutch manufacturer of advanced semiconductor equipment, with a near-monopoly in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography market. Every chip on every node on the planet is made with an ASML lithography machine. The world is consuming ever more chips, and the leading edge is moving to more complex architectures, driving capital intensity higher for manufacturing. ASML sells into this increasing demand with machines that allow innovation at the leading edge and ever-increasing efficiency in trailing nodes. EUV lithography systems are the only ones capable of producing advanced chips, with the smallest nanometer values. ASML’s high-NA EUV(high numerical aperture EUV) machine can cost over $400 million per unit and already has a decade-long roadmap with customers. With significant net cash on the balance sheet and a large backlog for arguably the most important machine in the world, we have little doubt ASML will exist on the other side of this trade war. When we took our position in April, ASML’s valuation was the cheapest in years, pricing in a slowdown from a recession and other turbulence.”
8. Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 82
Thomas Hayes from Great Hill Capital said in a recent program on Schwab Network that he likes Intel because he believes the US government having a stake in the company will boost the chipmaker’s sales globally. He also believes Nvidia needs Intel.
“You think President Trump is selling Boeing planes to all these countries around the world? Now that he owns $9 billion of stock, or we own $9 billion of stock, he’s going to be selling Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC) chips. So this $5 billion from Nvidia starts with CPUs and is going to lead to GPUs. Why? Not because Nvidia is doing charity work, but because Nvidia is capped at Taiwan Semiconductor’s $4 billion per quarter growth. They’re not demand-constrained—they’re supply-constrained. They need Intel to succeed. They need Intel’s fabs to succeed with advanced chips so they can supply all the unlimited demand for this around the world. So Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC) could be a multi-multi-bagger from here, and no one’s paying attention to it.”
7. Lam Research Corp (NASDAQ:LRCX)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 85
Mehdi Hosseini, senior equity research analyst at Susquehanna, said in a latest program on CNBC that he likes Lam Research because the company is linked to spending on memory. The analyst believes memory spending will increase in the second half of 2026.
“I do like Lam Research Corp (NASDAQ:LRCX) because they’re overindexed to memory spend, and I think at some point in the second half of 2026, memory spend would have to pick up — just we’re not going to have enough supply. And then on top of that, what you get with Lam Research Corp (NASDAQ:LRCX) is increased market share. They have a new product; there’s a new material used in making semiconductor chill, and that’s the gravy on top of everything. I think Lam Research Corp (NASDAQ:LRCX) is well positioned.”
Artisan Value Fund stated the following regarding Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:
“Booking Holdings and Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX) were the top contributors in the consumer discretionary and information technology sectors, respectively. Lam Research is a global leader in wafer fabrication equipment used in the production of semiconductors. Lam was a new purchase, made on April 9 near depths of the post-Liberation Day market selloff. As value investors, conditions of fear and uncertainty are fertile ground for creating attractive long-term buying opportunities. Few areas of the market were under greater pressure than semiconductors & semiconductor equipment stocks to start the year. We had been researching Lam since 2023, so we knew the company well and were able to act quickly when the stock plunged. At our initial purchase, Lam was selling for ~$60, almost 50% below its July 2024 highs. Lam is one of the key global suppliers of chip equipment serving the memory (NAND and DRAM) and foundry/logic markets. The financial condition is rock solid as it has a net cash balance sheet, and the company returns 100% of earnings to shareholders via share repurchases and dividends. Shares were selling for a 17X P/E on cyclically depressed earnings at the time of initial purchase, which we believed was an attractive valuation given the compounding nature of the business.”
6. Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 94
Mehdi Hosseini, senior equity research analyst at Susquehanna, said in a latest program on CNBC that Nvidia “has to buy” from Micron and this places the memory company in a strong position in terms of pricing power.
“I think the most important takeaway here, which I don’t think Sanjay (Micron CEO) is going to elaborate on a live interview, is who is actually doing a lot of buying. Unlike prior cycles, which were driven by distributors and the OEMs and ODMs, this cycle it is Nvidia, it is AMD, it is Broadcom that are actually doing the buying. And when you look at the AI, what Nvidia charges, which is about 80% of the AI server, the majority of that is going towards memory. So it is Nvidia that has to buy from Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU), and this is what gives Sanjay pricing power. The future of AI compute requires advanced memory, and that’s where the premium comes in, which is why this cycle is sustainable throughout 2016 and may even sustain into 2027.”
Parnassus Investments, an investment management firm that focuses on owning a concentrated portfolio of U.S. large-cap stocks, released its Parnassus Value Equity Fund second-quarter 2025 investor letter. Here is what they have to say about Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) in their investor letter:
“Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) shares advanced due to the company’s strong position in the AI-driven memory market. Management noted robust demand in its latest quarter.”
5. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd – ADR (NYSE:BABA)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 101
Thomas Hayes from Great Hill Capital said in a latest program on Schwab Network that Alibaba is the “cheapest” way to play AI “in the entire world.” Here is why the analyst is bullish on the stock:
“We started buying this over $100. It dropped to $60. We pounded the table while all the sell sides were saying China is uninvestable, and all we saw was $25 billion of free cash flow and $80 billion on the balance sheet. Number one, China middle-class e-commerce retailer; number one in cloud; and the cheapest way to play AI in the world. We brought our basis down to $82. It’s a $175 stock right now, and it’s going a lot higher. This story hasn’t even begun—they just launched Qwen 3.0 Max, which is the large language model with 1 trillion parameters. I’m telling you, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd – ADR (NYSE:BABA) is the cheapest way to play AI in the entire world.”
Conventum – Alluvium Global Fund stated the following regarding Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:
“Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) was down 12.8%. Bear in mind, this comes off a stunning 55.3% March quarter return. Alibaba reported full year results, and by all accounts they were pretty good. Market chatter suggests some were disappointed by the Cloud revenue, but with 18% growth over the last year, we are not complaining. We liked the continuation of share buybacks, noting that for the year ended 31 March 2025, it bought back over 5% of its shares. Our Alibaba holding accounts for 3.3% of the Fund. We wrote last quarter that we were closely monitoring the position (hinting toward selling). We chose not to act, largely because we see it as one of the cheaper and most direct ways for the Fund to benefit from AI initiatives and Cloud infrastructure growth, and at the same time it provides geographic and economic diversity.”
4. Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 121
Dan Niles, Niles Investment Management founder and portfolio manager, talked about his concerns about the lack of strong ROI on AI investments. The analyst talked about multiple recent studies that suggest companies have yet to see significant results from their AI investments. Niles mentioned Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) to prove his point:
“If you remember late last year, Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) was talking about Agentic AI and they were the poster child for Agentic AI, and their stock was at an all-time record high. In August, the stock was at a 52-week low because this stuff’s not getting deployed at the rate that the CEO there thought.”
Oakmark Fund stated the following regarding Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:
“Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) is a leading technology company that offers a collection of software products aimed at providing businesses with a full front office productivity suite. We believe Salesforce is a wonderful business going through a transformation into a profitable, shareholder-focused enterprise. Since management announced their renewed focus on operating discipline a couple years ago, Salesforce’s margins have increased substantially. In our view, there is further room to improve as the company leverages its unique position to help businesses deploy AI and continues to restructure its sales organization. Since exiting our position in Salesforce in December, the stock price has declined by over 30% despite continuing to report fundamental results that are in line with our expectations. We were pleased to buy the stock, but we first established our position using a put writing strategy to lower our entry price. We believed the puts were overvalued as they implied that Salesforce was among the most volatile large companies, which was completely at odds with our assessment of its business value.”
3. Oracle Corp (NYSE:ORCL)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 124
Gil Luria, D.A. Davidson managing director, said in a latest program on CNBC that the market is overestimating the positive impact of Oracle’s deal with OpenAI. He said OpenAI may not be able to “pay their obligations.”
“One is if you go back to the transcripts from Oracle Corp (NYSE:ORCL) for the last few quarters, you’ll see that it’s not just the last deal from OpenAI that increased their backlog. It’s actually been several quarters where it’s really OpenAI that’s been driving all of this. Having that is the only thing that’s added value to Oracle Corp (NYSE:ORCL) is very risky. That’s not a customer that can pay all their obligations. They’re double, triple booking, maybe quadruple booking capacity. They will not be able to live to those obligations. So if you’re adding $400 billion of market cap to Oracle Corp (NYSE:ORCL) based on that, I think we should revisit the math.”
Why are some analysts reluctant about the Oracle-OpenAI deal? OpenAI is expected to burn about $115 billion over the next four years and is not projected to be profitable until 2030. Even after Nvidia’s latest $100 billion investment by Nvidia, OpenAI will likely need to raise over $200 billion in total funding to cover its commitments. Some analysts believe Oracle may need to borrow tens of billions to build enough data centers for the deal.
ORCL is up 70% so far this year, and its P/E (TTM) is about 80% higher than the sector median of 24.4, according to data from SeekingAlpha.
Columbia Threadneedle Global Technology Growth Strategy stated the following regarding Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:
Software database company Oracle Corporation’s (NYSE:ORCL) quarterly results surprised to the upside, and the company ended the quarter by announcing a massive cloud deal that could generate up to $30 billion in annual revenue over the next few years. All in, shares re rated over 50% during the quarter. The company remains early in its accelerating growth inflection and is benefitting from a number of tailwinds across cloud, database and applications.
2. NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 235
Doug Clinton, Intelligent Alpha founder and CEO, said in a latest program on CNBC that the market perspective following NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) deal with OpenAI is wrong. He was referring to analysts raising concerns over Nvidia’s $100 billion deal with OpenAI, with many describing it as vendor financing, where companies provide financial support to their customers.
“And we’ve got all this stuff on X. If you spend two minutes on X looking at anybody with a finance account, feels like everybody wants to call the top. valuations are frothy. They see these deals where NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) is investing in ostensibly one of their biggest customers and they say, “We’ve seen this playbook before. This happened in the dotcom era. It has to be over.” I think that’s the wrong perspective though. I think it is a reminder that this is the biggest infrastructure build ever. And these companies like NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA), like OpenAI, they’re dealing with such big dollar numbers. It doesn’t move the needle if they invest in some small company. Nvidia needs to play big. the only way they can play big with a model builder is to invest in OpenAI.”
Nvidia’s latest deal with OpenAI and Intel, along with Oracle’s partnership with OpenAI are showing signs that companies are continuing to spend a fortune on compute, and AI demand won’t slow down anytime soon. But can NVDA shares keep gaining?
Nvidia’s Hopper Infrastructure and now Blackwell form the core of AI infrastructure for LLM training and inference. But Nvidia’s growth is slowing compared to previous quarters amid competition and capex spending limitations from major companies. In the recently reported quarter, Nvidia’s annual revenue growth came in at 56%, compared with nearly 100% YoY growth in the past.
With its strong position in the data center market and rising demand, Nvidia is likely to keep growing, though not at the same pace it has in the past. Increasing competition from major companies like Broadcom is also expected to impact Nvidia’s margins in the long term.
Nvidia recently impressed the market by signing an AI infrastructure deal with Intel. Nvidia will invest $5 billion in Intel. Jensen Huang said the deal would open up $50B in TAM for both companies in the data center and PC business.
Columbia Threadneedle Global Technology Growth Strategy stated the following regarding NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:
“Shares of core holding NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) surged during the quarter, after the company reported strong quarterly results driven by very strong demand for the company’s next-generation Blackwell architecture. The new Blackwell chips deliver compelling performance improvements, with up to 30x faster inference capabilities as compared with prior generations and, importantly, are much more energy efficient. The company also proved resilient against a backdrop of increasing geopolitical tension, as sovereign deals announced in parts of the world such as the Middle East and Taiwan helped to offset headwinds that resulted from U.S. export restrictions on China sales.”
1. Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 335
Ken Gawrelski, Wells Fargo senior internet analyst, said in a recent program on CNBC that while Amazon shares look “stuck in neutral,” they can gain in the coming days. Here is how the analyst explained his bullish case for the ecommerce and Cloud giant:
You’ve had accelerating industry growth at the same time that Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) has kind of been stuck in neutral, right? And this is why we upgrade the shares today: we think this is about to change. Anthropic has been a core, key partner of Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN). Note that OpenAI, which has been a very big spender in cloud and the subject of a lot of the headlines you’ve no doubt reported about over the last three to four weeks, is more aligned with Microsoft and also does some work with Google, but really not with Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN). So Amazon has not had that exposure. We do think Anthropic has great momentum as a business and will be accelerating its compute spend. Notably, we think there will be a big capacity project that the two are working on together, which will benefit next year. We see it as a nice driver to AWS and an accelerant to the business.
Mairs & Power Balanced Fund stated the following regarding Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:
“The Fund also started a new position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) in the second quarter, where the company is well positioned to continue capturing market share in retail while also growing its market leading cloud business. The Fund took advantage of weakness in the stock during April to start the position as tariff news and a precipitous market decline provided an opportunity to build a position.”
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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