Since at least 2020, I have recognized the tremendous power of artificial intelligence to change our world in general and companies’ financial results in particular.
My belief in the power of AI led me to recommend and, in some cases, buy the shares of Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM), Stem (NYSE:STEM), iCAD (NASDAQ:ICAD), Micron (NASDAQ:MU), Schrodinger (NASDAQ:SDGR), Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST), Lemonade (NYSE:LMND), and, yes, even C3.ai (NYSE:AI) stock.
Unfortunately, largely (but not completely) due to the market’s aversion towards growth stocks since early 2021, those picks (except IBM) worked out poorly. But the times are changing, increasing the likelihood that investors who find good AI stocks to buy will profit over the medium term and the long term.
For one, the market is, at last, becoming friendlier to high-tech growth stocks. And, of course, the huge amount of publicity surrounding ChatGPT has made Street and retail investors aware of the vast power of AI.
Here are three AI stocks to buy. I believe these three names will benefit meaningfully over the long term from their focus on and exploitation of AI.
| Ticker | Company | Price |
| STEM | Stem | $9.74 |
| INTC | Intel | $28.20 |
| MU | Micron | $60.05 |
AI Stocks to Buy: Stem (STEM)
As I explained in an August 2021 column, “Stem’s AI platform, Athena, increases the efficiency of energy storage systems that work in tandem with renewable energy ‘by automatically switching between battery power, onsite generation and grid power.’”
Given the electrification of transportation, the extremely rapid proliferation of storage batteries and renewable energy, and the huge power of AI, Athena should be able to save companies loads of money.
Morgan Stanley is also upbeat on STEM stock. Last month, the firm raised its rating on the shares to “overweight” from “equal weight.” As reasons for its bullishness, the bank cited “improvement in global battery supply, Inflation Reduction Act support and Stem’s focus on driving higher-margin software sales.” Stem’s emphasis on software should serve it well, added MS, which has a $15 price target on the name.
Stem recently announced a joint venture with America’s leading EV charger operator, ChargePoint (NYSE:CHPT). That deal looks poised to boost Stem’s financial results considerably in the longer term.
In the first nine months of 2023, Stem generated $260.3 million of revenue, versus $127.4 million for all of 2021.
Intel (INTC)
Amid Intel’s current troubles, the chip maker is looking to cut costs, but it does not appear to be scaling back its efforts to produce semiconductors that enable AI. Indeed, according to a website called HPC wire, Intel is moving “full-speed ahead” on developing its new Gaudi AI chip, Gaudi3, which “will have much more memory, compute and networking than its predecessor,” the website reported.
And impressively, “Gaudi has shown potential to handle large language models powering applications like ChatGPT,” while Gaudi2 trained AI systems faster than a competing Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) chip. Nvidia’s latest offering surpassed Gaudi2, but INTC is, as mentioned earlier, working on Gaudi3, and the chip maker’s ability to, apparently, nearly keep pace with NVDA is very encouraging.
Moreover, Intel is looking to combine the Gaudi line with its existing GPU chips that are also used to facilitate AI. The combination could be much better than the two individually.
Micron (MU)
Micron is another chip maker that’s well-positioned to benefit from the tremendous growth of AI.
Specifically, the company reports that its memory storage products “and multi-chip packages” are enabling the AI revolution.
And, driven partly by data centers’ ability to process much more data as a result of using AI, Micron expects individual servers’ memory requirements to double between 2021 and 2025. Moreover, due to the same trend, it expects individual servers’ storage capacity to triple during those same years. Of course, that’s great news for MU since the company specializes in selling memory and storage solutions.
Micron’s earnings per share, excluding some items, soared 38% in its fiscal year that ended in September. While that marked a big slowdown from the 114% adjusted EPS growth it enjoyed in its prior fiscal year, the 38% increase is still very impressive for such a large, well-established company amid the decline of consumers’ purchasing of computing products.
Despite Micron’s strong growth drivers and its rapid EPS growth, MU stock has a very low price-earnings ratio of just 11.25.
As of the date of publication, Larry Ramer owned shares of STEM. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.