Adam Levy, The Motley Fool
7 min read
In This Article:
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Artificial intelligence (AI) stocks have led the S&P 500 higher over the last two and a half years.
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These three stocks trade at relatively low valuations compared to other high-flying AI stocks.
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They each have meaningful upside across the board, from AI software to hardware to chip manufacturing.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has become one of the most-talked-about topics on Wall Street over the last two and a half years. More than 40% of S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) companies have cited "AI" on their earnings calls for five straight quarters, according to FactSet Insight. Practically every business is looking at how the recent innovations and influx of spending on AI can impact just about every aspect of their business.
But while AI is providing a ton of growth for some, it can be a cost center without a clear payoff for others. However, even if a company falls into the former camp, investors should be wary about overpaying for growth that could slow down as the business scales.
Finding good value in AI stocks isn't easy. And if you have a limited investment budget, like $200, you'll want to make sure you're only buying the best available options.
These three companies all have stocks that trade for less than $200 per share and offer excellent value for the growth potential ahead of them. All three are benefiting from the growth of AI and should play important roles in the future development of artificial intelligence and computing from here.
Many investors are worried about the impact of artificial intelligence on Alphabet's (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) core Google Search product. Apple's Eddy Cue testified that search queries were down on its Safari browser during the month of April for the first time in 22 years, supporting the idea that AI services like ChatGPT are eating into its market share.
But a decline in searches on a single browser, while surprising, isn't too concerning. AI is a bigger boost to Alphabet than a challenge. It's seen great success with its AI Overviews in search queries, which management says increase engagement while monetizing at the same level as traditional search results. It's also leveraged AI to offer new features like circle-to-search and Google Lens, which overindex toward valuable product searches.
Artificial intelligence has been a massive driver of growth for Alphabet's Google Cloud business. It saw revenue climb 28% in the first quarter, with its operating margin expanding from 9.4% to 17.8%. Management said it remains supply-constrained, so strong revenue growth should continue. On top of that, Google's bigger cloud computing competitors sport even higher operating margins, so there's room to expand profits as it scales.