With Donald Trump having won the elections, it seems Elon Musk is going to be a powerful force in the administration.  After all, X CEO has played an outsized role in his comeback, contributing millions to his campaign, serving as policy advisor, and even using his social media platform as a Make America Great Again (MAGA) advocacy platform.

Now that his efforts have come to fruition Max Tegmark, a leading scientist, who has previously worked with the world’s richest person says Musk’s influence could lead to tougher safety standards for artificial intelligence, as reported by The Guardian.

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Tegmark says Musk’s backing of a failed AI bill demonstrated that Musk is still worried about the repercussions of uncontrolled AI development. The SB 1047 bill in California required companies to stress-test large AI models before releasing them.

Having frequently warned that such an unrestrained development can be catastrophic for humanity, Musk was one of the 30,000 others who had signed a letter calling for a pause on the development of advanced AI technology last year.

According to Tegmark, Musk could convince Trump to introduce standards that prevent the growth of artificial general intelligence (AGI), a term used for AI systems that match or surpass human levels of intelligence.

“I do think that if Elon manages to get Trump’s ear on AI issues we’re more likely to get some form of safety standards, something that prevents AGI. He might help Trump understand that an AGI race is a suicide race.”

– Tegmark, a professor specializing in AI at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Before Trump won the elections, Musk had predicted the development of artificial intelligence that would be smarter than the smartest human being by next year or by 2026.

“If you define AGI (artificial general intelligence) as smarter than the smartest human, I think it’s probably next year, within two years”.

– Elon Musk when asked about the timeline for the development of AGI.

For this article, we selected AI stocks by going through news articles, stock analysis, and press releases. These stocks are also popular among hedge funds.

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 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).

15. FiscalNote Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:NOTE)

Market Capitalization: $110.21 million

FiscalNote Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:NOTE) is a leading AI-driven enterprise SaaS technology provider of policy and global intelligence. On November 18, the company announced that it is licensing select subsets of its award-winning content to an AI search company called ProRata.ai. The agreement will include certain political and policy content from FiscalNote’s RollCall.com, including Factba.se, the company’s trusted AI database for past and present presidential remarks. ProRata.ai will ensure that the content used is properly attributed and that a share of revenue is generated when the content is used to provide answers.

“As activity following the U.S. presidential election heats up, we are excited to expand the availability of our valuable and proprietary data and analysis. The trusted, non-biased, award-winning news, data and insights from Roll Call and Factba.se are increasingly unique and essential. By leveraging additional innovative distribution channels like ProRata.ai, we intend to increase the breadth of our reach to continue to drive new opportunities for monetization and further enhance our reputation in this important area”.

– Josh Resnik, President and Chief Operating Officer, FiscalNote.

14. Bloom Energy Corporation (NYSE:BE)

Market Capitalization: $5.91 billion

Bloom Energy Corporation (NYSE:BE) designs, manufactures, sells, and installs solid-oxide fuel cell systems for on-site power generation. The company is a key player in meeting the rising energy demands of AI data centers.

On November 15, Piper Sandler analyst Kashy Harrison upgraded Bloom Energy Corporation (NYSE:BE) to “Overweight” from Neutral and raised the price target by $10 to $20. The analyst believes that its recent power supply deal with American Electric Power may position the stock for massive gains. Bloom Energy Corporation (NYSE:BE) has recently announced an agreement with AEP to power artificial intelligence data centers, supplying up to 1 gigawatt of its products. Harrison states that the scale of the agreement implies more opportunities for growth in the future, even though the current sentiment around the same remains soft. Moreover, with the AEP order and potential momentum from other domestic customers, Harrison expects revenue to reach $1.8 billion in 2025.

“Despite BE’s insistence that it was working on 100 MW deals and extremely bullish commentary from the [Chief Commercial Officer Aman Joshi] in a Taiwanese interview, the market has been generally skeptical on BE’s ability to deliver power to large data centers given prior grand unfulfilled promises,” he wrote in a Thursday note. “The 100 MW order from AEP is inline with prior commentary; however, upside potential to 1-GW is literally 10x what we were expecting,” the analyst continued. “Given the endorsement of BE’s technology from a large utility, agreements with other large players could materialize.

13. Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Market Capitalization: $11.72 billion

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) designs, develops, and sells network products and services, positioning itself in the AI realm with its networking and cybersecurity solutions.

In its latest efforts to leverage artificial intelligence, Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) announced on November 12 that it has invested in artificial intelligence firm Recogni as part of a $102 million late-stage funding round. The two companies will be collaborating with each other to build an AI inference system, creating a cost-effective and energy-efficient solution for running complex AI models in cloud and data centers.

“The market for multimodal GenAI inference is accelerating rapidly and Recogni is at the forefront of exploring power efficiency without compromising performance or accuracy. In this phase of inference innovation, cost-effectiveness and power efficiency—aligned with scalable fabric and network solutions—are extremely important. We were impressed with the team’s expertise and ability to approach complex issues with new ideas, so providing venture funding and collaboration made a great deal of sense”.

-Rami Rahim, CEO of Juniper Networks

12. Skyworks Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: SWKS)

Market Capitalization: $13.41 billion

Skyworks Solutions, Inc. (NADAQ: SWKS) designs, produces, and markets semiconductor products. It is known for supplying semiconductor components that power AI-enabled smartphones and related technologies.

On November 13, Craig-Hallum lowered the firm’s price target on Skyworks Solutions, Inc. (NADAQ: SWKS) to $105 from $140 and kept a “Buy” rating on the shares. The firm believes Skyworks is poised for long-term success due to its growth in AI-enabled smartphones and strong growth in Broad markets. September quarter growth is attributed to Apple seasonality, with management highlighting ongoing strength in Broad markets.

11. Astera Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB)

Market Capitalization: $14.34 billion

Astera Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB) provides semiconductor-based connectivity solutions for data-centric systems, including AI and cloud infrastructure.

One of the stocks in focus on Monday, November 18 was Astera Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB). Citi initiated coverage on the company with a “Buy” rating and a $120 price target. The firm says it is bullish on the cloud/infrastructure company. This is because Astera Labs has direct ties to major players such as Nvidia, and hyperscalers such as AWS, which are expected to increase their use of accelerators. The company’s connections with industry giants offer it potential opportunities in the AI space.

10. Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG)

Market Capitalization: $16.34 billion

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) is an advanced data storage platform. Its advanced data storage solutions support artificial intelligence workloads.

On Monday, November 18, Pure Storage announced the certification of an Ethernet-based FlashBlade//S500 storage system with NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD, an AI data center infrastructure. The move made by the company will help businesses handle large-scale AI projects by offering a high-performance, flexible, and energy-efficient storage solution. The announcement enables Pure Storage to continue providing comprehensive AI infrastructure solutions to businesses with large-scale, high-compute, and data-intensive needs.

“AI is transforming industries at an unprecedented pace, and enterprises need powerful, validated solutions and infrastructure to achieve their AI strategies. The Pure Storage GenAI Pod with NVIDIA AI Enterprise software and the certification of FlashBlade//S500 with NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD can help organizations eliminate infrastructure complexity, speed deployments, and simplify operations”.

– Tony Paikeday, Senior Director of AI Systems, NVIDIA

9. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (NYSE:HPE)

Market Capitalization: $27.77 billion

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (NYSE:HPE) is an American multinational technology company. It offers high-performance computing (HPC) systems, AI software, and data storage solutions that help run complex AI workloads.

One of the biggest analyst calls on Monday, November 18, was about Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (NYSE:HPE). Raymond James upgraded Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (NYSE:HPE) to “Strong Buy” from Outperform, and raised the price target from $23 to $29. The upgrade of the stock comes amid “expanding multiple and server growths”. The firm is more bullish on HPE’s refined business model that now separates AI platforms from traditional servers, also leading to an increase in their sales estimates for FY25.

“We upgrade HP Enterprise to Strong Buy from Outperform. We have refined our model to break out AI platforms and traditional servers, and this leads us to increase our FY25 sales estimates.”

8. Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MPWR)

Market Capitalization: $28.67 billion

Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MPWR) is a global semiconductor company and a top Goldman Sachs AI stock. The company provides power control modules and similar power solutions that support AI servers and data centers.

On Monday, November 18, Loop upgraded Monolithic Power Systems (NASDAQ:MPWR) to “Buy” from Hold with a $660 price target. The rating follows a 10% selloff since the firm initiated coverage of the stock on November 11 and a 40% decline from the stock’s 52-week high. The share pressure stems from investor concern that Monolithic may not be able to keep its full market share for PMICs with Nvidia’s AI GPU systems and fluctuations in Nvidia’s orders. Analysts are confident in the FY25 revenue consensus of $2.6B and believe Nvidia’s Enterprise Data segment will support the expected 20% growth in revenue.

7. Snowflake Inc. (NYSE:SNOW)

Market Capitalization: $42.71 billion

Snowflake Inc. (NYSE:SNOW) is an artificial intelligence cloud data warehouse. It is an important AI stock considering data warehouses are a critical component in making AI useful for enterprises.

Snowflake Inc. (NYSE:SNOW) announced a range of new innovations to accelerate their AI initiatives and develop apps faster, all from within the security and governance boundaries of the AI Data Cloud. Snowflake’s Internal Marketplace, in particular, helps enhance collaboration and sharing within enterprises. Their Native App Framework Integration with Snowpark Container Services speeds up developers’ time-to-value for delivering sophisticated AI-powered apps, while Secure Model Sharing enables enterprises to develop, distribute, and monetize AI models to third parties.

“To keep up with the evolving data and AI landscape, enterprises need instant access to all of the data within their organizations, supplemented with their customers’ and partners’ data, in order to build powerful AI apps at scale for crucial decision-making. That’s where Snowflake’s industry-leading cross-cloud collaboration comes in, enabling organizations to not only access and share their most valuable data, but also apps and AI models, both internally and externally with third-parties. Snowflake’s latest innovations unlock new ways for teams to collaborate on these initiatives and bring AI and apps into production faster, while handling security and governance implications to reduce risk.”

– Prasanna Krishnan, Head of Collaboration and Horizon, Snowflake.

6. CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD)

Market Capitalization: $84.07 billion

CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD) is a cybersecurity technology company that uses artificial intelligence to automate and improve cyber protection, learning from more than 2 trillion incidents every day to enhance accuracy.

On Monday, November 18, Truist raised the firm’s price target on CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD) to $375 from $325 and kept a “Buy” rating on the shares. The analyst, rating the stock as part of a broader research note previewing Q3 results for the Infrastructure & Security Software names, notes that buyer behavior has been stabilizing and the firm is focused on visibility into 2025 when generative AI projects will have a “rubber meets the road” moment. In particular, the firm believes that Crowdstrike’s recent challenges, especially its global IT outage on July 19th, may lead to lower upsell revenue. There may also be a greater-than-normal decrease in business/ revenue due to longer-than-usual subscription durations following its global IT outage.

5. Palantir Technologies Inc. (NYSE:PLTR)

Market Capitalization: $139.43 billion

Palantir Technologies Inc. (NYSE:PLTR) provides data-driven solutions with its AI Platform (AIP) for testing, debugging code, and evaluating AI scenarios.

On November 18, investor Hataf Capital gave Palantir Technologies Inc. (NYSE:PLTR) a “Sell” rating, warning investors that the current valuation assumes flawless future execution. With a high forward P/E ratio of 158x and an EV/Sales multiple of 46x, he claims that the stock is overpriced and points to market euphoria. The heavy retail presence is also a point of concern, leading to higher volatility and sell-offs in case sentiment shifts. Previously, Monness analyst Brian White also reiterated a Sell rating on the stock with a price target of $18. The analyst contends that Palantir is well positioned to benefit from AI but the stock’s valuation is lofty, revenue recognition from government-related contracts has been uneven, and execution has been “spotty.”

4. Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Market Capitalization: $140.75 billion

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) is an American corporation that develops, manufactures, markets, and services semiconductor wafer fabrication equipment and related spare parts for the worldwide semiconductor industry. Companies rely on Applied Material’s cutting-edge technology to build some of their most advanced semiconductors.

On November 14, Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) forecast its first-quarter revenue below Wall Street estimates, implying stagnant demand for chip-making equipment apart from its AI-powered chips. Even though there remains a strong demand for advanced equipment that produces AI chips, weaker spending in some markets has been impacting companies such as Applied Materials. Analyst Brooks Idlet from CFRA noted that hints of slowing growth amidst the recent explosive AI-related growth are being penalized by investors. Additionally, tighter US export restrictions on high-end chips and certain equipment are adding a layer of uncertainty for both suppliers and chip firms. Nevertheless, Chief Executive Officer Gary Dickerson remains confident that AI and new types of chips will help keep the industry growing.

“Applied has leadership in all the advanced segments. AI is the big driver for the entire industry”.

3. International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM)

Market Capitalization: $192.41 billion

International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) is an information technology company that provides global hybrid cloud and AI, as well as consulting expertise. The company has been an AI leader for decades now, focusing on enterprise AI solutions.

On November 14, International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) and Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) announced new artificial intelligence-powered solutions. The solutions will enable decision-makers and policymakers to track and analyze urbanization, as well as identify energy and infrastructure needs, particularly in developing areas.

“At IBM, we’re proud to launch solutions that harness the power of artificial intelligence to have an impact for communities around the world. Collaborating with organizations such as Sustainable Energy for All through our IBM Sustainability Accelerator program helps us unlock innovation and work more closely in communities to tackle some of our biggest challenges, especially around energy and sustainable urban development.”

– John Matogo, Corporate Social Responsibility Leader for Africa & the Middle East at IBM.

2. Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM)

Market Capitalization: $308.07 billion

Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) is an American cloud-based CRM software company. The stock has gained significant attention after the launch of Agentforce, its AI-powered platform.

On November 15, Barclays raised the firm’s price target on Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) to $415 from $305 and kept an “Overweight” rating on the shares. The rating update comes amid an earnings preview note for the off-cycle software names, citing the recent rally in the software sector. According to the analyst, Salesforce shows “improving” data, and a “stronger than normal” outlook for Q4. Additionally, the analyst affirms that the current remaining performance obligations guidance will be a “closely watched metric in the quarter” due to bookings for Salesforce’s Agentforce AI product.

1. Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Market Capitalization: $1.06 trillion

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) is an American multinational automotive and clean energy company. Tesla is an AI player as it uses artificial intelligence to drive advancements in autonomous driving, robotics, and smart manufacturing.

On Sunday, November 17, Bloomberg reported that members of President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team have told advisers they plan to make a federal framework for fully self-driving vehicles. The framework would make it easier to obtain self-driving licenses and let autonomous cars cross state lines. Naturally, these rules will benefit Musk, and his company Tesla. Tesla uses AI to train its cars to drive themselves, and its highest-level driver assistance product, known as Full Self Driving or FSD, does most of the driving but still requires human supervision.

“This would be a huge step forward in easing U.S. rules…and be a significant tailwind for Tesla’s autonomous and AI vision heading into 2025”.

-Wedbush analyst Dan Ives

While we acknowledge the potential of TSLA as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than TSLA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

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