3 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks to Buy in May – Yahoo Finance
Although some investors may not agree, the recent price pullback in some artificial intelligence (AI) stocks may be the beginning of an opportunity instead of the end. With many of these stocks entering into their own little bear markets, their lofty valuations have fallen to more reasonable levels.
And while their stock prices may be falling, these companies continue to create and/or develop advancements that should enable them to better capitalize on AI. Instead of running away, investors might want to consider capitalizing on the falling prices of these stocks.
Here are three AI stocks in particular to take a closer look at this month.
1. Nvidia
Admittedly, Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) is arguably an overhyped investment right now. The stock made massive gains as it quickly emerged as the dominant AI chip company, giving it a valuation that was too expensive to touch. Or is it?
Nvidia currently trades at a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of around 74. That sounds high until one remembers the triple-digit revenue growth for fiscal 2024 (ended Jan. 31). That resulted in net income rising 581%! Although that level is not sustainable, Nvidia has a price-to-earnings-to-growth (PEG) ratio of just 0.1!
Moreover, a forward P/E of 35 confirms that the chip giant has become more of a bargain than many might expect.
Indeed, its chip-industry peers have developed competing AI chips of their own. Thus, investors should not expect it to sustain triple-digit growth. Nonetheless, Nvidia claims at least 80% of the AI chip market. Additionally, as competitors develop AI chips, Nvidia will likely hold on to most of its customers as its recently announced Blackwell platform runs large language models at up to 25 times less cost and energy consumption.
Ultimately, with investors able to buy this dominance at a lower-than-expected valuation, Nvidia provides an excellent opportunity for investors who did not buy earlier.
2. Tesla
While Nvidia is arguably overhyped, Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) might be a little too underhyped right now. Falling electric vehicle (EV) sales and the uncertainty of Tesla’s upcoming lower-priced cars appeared to have soured investors on the stock. The stock price is down close to 55% from its all-time high set in late 2022.
Moreover, the earnings report for the first quarter of 2024 confirmed troubles in the EV market as deliveries dropped by 9%. That meant that quarterly revenue fell 9% yearly to $21 billion. Furthermore, operating expenses rose 37% during that time, resulting in quarterly-net income falling 55% year over year to $1.1 billion.
Still, the stock’s P/E ratio of 43 is near record lows. Also, Tesla’s plan to release a lower-cost EV in the second half of 2025 reassured investors who saw that as necessary to stoke demand for its AI-supported robotaxi platform, which it claims will be released on August 8.
The robotaxi is also the product that Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest believes will emerge as its largest revenue source, taking the self-driving car stock to $2,000 per share by 2027, according to Ark Invest estimates. This is quite a change, considering EV sales accounted for 82% of revenue in Q1. However, even if the 2027 share price is closer to Ark Invest’s bear case of $1,400 per share, investors will likely be glad that they bought in May.
3. Microsoft
Investors widely understand Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) as one of the top three cloud companies in the world. Now the company is gaining increased recognition as a leader in AI.
Thanks to investor enthusiasm for its AI efforts, Microsoft stock is up nearly 26% over the last year. Additionally, these increases have taken the P/E ratio to 33, which is admittedly on the high end of the range for this stock. Still, The P/E drop may be due to revenue for the third quarter of fiscal 2024 (ended March 31) coming in at $62 billion, 17% higher than year-ago levels. Also, the $22 billion in net income grew by 20%.
Additionally, AI drives much of that growth as it becomes a full-fledged AI company. Like all major cloud platforms, Azure supports numerous AI functions, including the ability to build one’s own AI tools.
Its Bing search engine capitalizes on a partnership with OpenAI, the creator of the ChatGPT platform. Due to that alliance, investors are now questioning Google parent Alphabet‘s dominance in search.
Such competitive advantages have made and will continue to make Microsoft a top-level AI company. When also considering the company’s $80 billion in liquidity, it should have the technology and financial resources it needs to remain an industry leader.
Should you invest $1,000 in Nvidia right now?
Before you buy stock in Nvidia, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Nvidia wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $529,390!*
Stock Advisor provides investors with an easy-to-follow blueprint for success, including guidance on building a portfolio, regular updates from analysts, and two new stock picks each month. The Stock Advisor service has more than quadrupled the return of S&P 500 since 2002*.
*Stock Advisor returns as of April 30, 2024
Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Will Healy has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
3 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks to Buy in May was originally published by The Motley Fool
This post was originally published on 3rd party site mentioned in the title of the post.