Networking equipment and software provider Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) is one of Cramer’s favorite stocks. In fact, as far back as February 2025, the CNBC TV host remarked that going against Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) and its CEO meant an “invitation to your funeral.” The shares are up by 49% over the past year and by 52% year-to-date. Over the month, they are up by 11.5% and closed 3.6% higher on August 5th, the day after Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s second quarter earnings report. Yet, as the shares dipped on the 6th, Cramer called the move profit taking:
“I was talking to Jayshree Ullal yesterday, for ANET, which is just a fantastic company, had an amazing quarter. And she’s on the board of Snowflake. And I just said, no one noticed that Snowflake just goes up and up and up. That’s the kind of thing that is coming up for profit taking taking today. As is ANET. As is Arista. And I just say, okay, wait a second, this is a take your breath moment. These companies are all doing really, really well. Or they have, like the long term agreement kind of thing with Western Digital. This is a profit taking thing, Carl. And I think that this is blessed. You want this.”
Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) reported $3.04 billion in revenue and $1.02 in earnings per share for its second quarter and beat analyst estimates for both. The firm’s third quarter revenue forecast of $3.3 billion also beat the estimates. With Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) counting tech giant such as Microsoft and Amazon, the healthy results indicated the strength of the ongoing AI buildout. The strength of the buildout and the firm’s role in it is also key to the investment debate. With Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s competency in Ethernet networks, a faster switch to the technology can help the firm. Additionally, the firm also benefits from strong margins (63.4% non-GAAP gross margin in Q2) courtesy of its software model. Yet, at the same time, the fact that Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) relies on a few big-tech customers, which might switch to custom products creates risk that might not be reflected through the forward P/E of 46.73.
Snowflake Inc. (NYSE:SNOW), on the other hand, is a classic software-as-a-service (SaaS) firm. It enables data management and warehousing. Its data business benefits the firm in today’s AI era, as it enables users to use their own data to create AI models. Consequently, Snowflake Inc. (NYSE:SNOW)’s net revenue retention (NRR) was 126% in its FY27Q1. Additionally, the firm had 779 customers with trailing 12-month product revenue greater than $1 million in the same quarter. While these figures point towards a robust business, if spending slows due to concerns about AI’s returns or if platforms such as DataBricks and Google’s BigQuery step up competition, the firm could struggle. For a firm with a forward. P/E of 169, there’s little room for error.
What do the hedge funds think? Well, during Q1 2026, 80 funds tracked by Insider Monkey had held a stake in Snowflake Inc. (NYSE:SNOW). The figure marked a dip from the 90 funds in Q4 2025. For Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET), sentiment was slightly better as 91 funds had held a stake, to indicate that perhaps the funds are stronger believers in the potential of networking technology. Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s short interest of 1.23% of the float is also lower than SNOW’s 5.60%.
While Insider Monkey acknowledges the risk and potential of ANET as an investment, 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 ANET that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None.
