We recently published a list of 10 AI Stocks on Analysts’ Radar Right Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE:NET) stands against other AI stocks on analysts’ radar right now.
According to a report from Technavio, the global artificial intelligence (AI) market size is estimated to grow by USD 237.4 billion from 2024-2028. The major factors driving market growth are the prevention of fraud and malicious attacks, with a trend toward cloud-based AI services. The report further noted that a shortage of AI experts may pose a challenge.
Amid these developments, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the recent emergence of DeepSeek has led US officials to look at the national security implications of the Chinese artificial intelligence app. According to President Donald Trump’s crypto czar, it is possible that intellectual property theft could have been at play.
READ ALSO: 12 Must-See AI News and Ratings You Might Have Missed and 10 AI Stocks to Watch Amid the DeepSeek Buzz
According to Leavitt, the National Security Council is reviewing the app’s implications.
“This is a wake-up call to the American AI industry”.
Last Monday marked a significant broad market reaction from investors over the emergence of DeepSeek’s cheaper and more efficient AI models, raising questions on the major investments and power needs of leading tech companies in the US. Here is what White House artificial intelligence and crypto czar David Sacks had to say when he was asked by Fox News about intellectual property theft involved in the emergence of DeepSeek.
“Well, it’s possible. There’s a technique in AI called distillation, which you’re going to hear a lot about, and it’s when one model learns from another model. I think one of the things you’re going to see over the next few months is our leading AI companies taking steps to try and prevent distillation … That would definitely slow down some of these copycat models”.
-David Sacks
Joe Biden, during his administration, had placed several export restrictions to prevent such things from happening. However, the emergence of DeepSeek and Baidu’s AI models reveals how they haven’t been as effective. Donald Trump, who has been at the forefront of AI advancements with the Stargate initiative, noted that it is good that companies in China are coming up with a cheaper and more efficient method of artificial intelligence.
“The release of DeepSeek AI from a Chinese company should be a wake-up call for our industries that we need to be laser-focused on competing to win”.
-Donald Trump.
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).
A close-up of a server array powering a cloud-services system.
Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE:NET)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 44
Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE:NET) is a cloud services provider that powers AI workloads through its Workers AI platform. On February 3rd, Baird analyst Shrenik Kothari downgraded Cloudflare Inc. from Outperform to “Neutral” but raised the price target to $140 from $125. According to the firm, Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) is the most expensive stock that they are covering on a relative basis. Its previous 2025 outlook indicated that Cloudflare’s valuation may lead to a pushback from investors. However, the firm has believed that the premium was justified given its strong positioning in artificial intelligence and improved go-to-market execution. Despite these positive developments, the firm has also expressed concern regarding the company. It stated that the stock is now more fairly valued which makes the risk and rewards more balanced. Due to this, they have updated the price target and rating.
Overall, NET ranks 7th on our list of AI stocks on analysts’ radar right now. While we acknowledge the potential of NET 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 time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than NET but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
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