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Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
3 No-Brainer Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks to Buy Now and Hold Forever
Key Points The biggest winners from the AI revolution will all have durable competitive advantages. Despite strong operating results, these stocks still look like great values amid the AI stock boom. With long-term potential gains from AI, you can buy them now and hold them forever. 10 stocks we like better than Amazon › Excitement around artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential impact on businesses has led to soaring stock prices for many of the biggest tech companies. Nvidia, for example, has seen its stock price grow more than tenfold since the release of ChatGPT in late 2022, now topping $4 trillion in market cap. Some investors may feel like they've missed the boat and they're too late to buy AI stocks at a good price. It's important to consider that today's AI winners might not be the biggest companies to benefit from advancements in artificial intelligence over the long run. Finding a company that's making excellent progress right now with sustainable long-term competitive advantages could end up being an even better stock to own when the dust settles. These three companies are all well positioned to benefit from the continued growth and advancement in artificial intelligence. Their stocks are all attractive at today's prices, too, which means you can buy them now and hold them forever. 1. Amazon Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) is home to the largest public cloud computing platform in the world, Amazon Web Services, or AWS. The segment generated $116.4 billion over the last 12 months, roughly 50% larger than its next-closest competitor, Microsoft's Azure. Some have expressed concern about AWS for a few reasons. First, it was caught flat-footed as the generative AI opportunity was getting off the ground. That led it to cede market share to Microsoft and others who were earlier to invest in the space. However, it quickly course corrected, releasing its Bedrock platform, and it's seeing triple-digit growth in AI services. As such, it's been able to maintain most of its market share in a rapidly growing market (even though overall revenue growth has slowed to the high-teens). The second reason is that AWS saw a significant decline in operating margin in the second quarter. Management explained half of that decline was due to the timing of stock-based compensation. The rest is explained by Amazon's significant investments in capacity, as it notes the business remains capacity constrained. Over time, investors should see margin tick back up. It's worth noting AWS still commands higher margins than its smaller competitors. Meanwhile, the rest of Amazon looks strong. Its retail operations are seeing improved margins quarter after quarter, thanks in part to a strong advertising business. The international segment is notably on its way to becoming a meaningful contributor to operating income after years of investment. The stock fell following the release of its second-quarter earnings based on a disappointing outlook. But the long-term potential for Amazon, particularly in AWS, remains strong. The pullback in price looks like an opportunity for long-term investors to buy this AI leader. 2. Salesforce Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) provides a suite of software often found at the center of many enterprises' operations. The company has seen very good results with its growing set of cloud-based software solutions, but the standout recently has been its Data Cloud offering. Data Cloud provides a single platform to aggregate all of a company's data to create actionable insights from a single source. Data Cloud recurring revenue grew to $1 billion in Salesforce's most recent quarter, up 120% year over year. It's seeing strong attachment, with 60 of its top 100 deals including Data Cloud in the contract. And the most recent product built on top of Data Cloud, Agentforce, is seeing very strong adoption. Agentforce allows businesses to build AI agents that can execute tasks or provide customer service with minimal human intervention. The key to building successful AI agents is access to pertinent data, which is exactly what Data Cloud brings to the table. Management says it's made 8,000 deals with Agentforce since its launch last fall, representing $100 million in revenue. That makes it Salesforce's fastest-growing product ever. Considering Salesforce's software suite is entrenched in the operations of so many enterprises, it's in a prime position to benefit from growing spend on artificial intelligence, particularly through Data Cloud. It's unlikely to lose that position. In fact, its expanding suite of software tools only serves to increase the switching costs for a company. With shares trading for just 22 times forward earnings estimates, Salesforce looks like a great buy at today's price. 3. Meta Platforms Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) may be the biggest investor in artificial intelligence in the world. It's on track to spend between $66 billion and $72 billion on capital expenditures, and it's only building compute power for itself (unlike the other hyperscalers, who serve cloud customers). There's a good reason Meta is spending more than everyone else on artificial intelligence; it could be the biggest beneficiary of all generative AI has to offer. Signs of that are already coming through. In the second quarter, Meta's ad prices climbed 9% year over year and impressions grew 11%. CEO Mark Zuckerberg notes a significant portion of that improvement came from its AI-recommendation model. Additionally, time spent on Facebook and Instagram increased 5% and 6%, respectively, thanks to bigger AI models. But the future is bright, too. Meta's generative AI tools for ad creative are seeing strong adoption. Zuckerberg notes "a meaningful... [percentage] of our ad revenue now... [comes] from campaigns using one of our Generative AI features." Long term, Meta is working on an AI agent that can develop and test ad creatives autonomously. Meta's AI chatbot now boasts over 1 billion users, creating an additional channel for monetization over the long run. Meta only recently started putting ads in WhatsApp and Threads, which should provide additional ad revenue as advertising on Meta grows increasingly easier thanks to generative AI capabilities. Meta's seeing excellent financial results from the growing adoption of its advertising platform and increased engagement from its users. Revenue climbed 22% last quarter and operating income grew an impressive 38%. Meta's growing depreciation expense will likely weigh on earnings going forward as long as it continues to ramp up spending, but if it continues to produce top-line growth like last quarter, that's easily digestible. If you back out the depreciation expense using EBITDA, Meta shares trade for an attractive price with enterprise value around 16 times forward EBITDA estimates. Even on a more traditional forward P/E valuation, Meta shares look to be well worth the 27 times multiple you'll have to pay for the stock today. Do the experts think Amazon is a buy right now? The Motley Fool's expert analyst team, drawing on years of investing experience and deep analysis of thousands of stocks, leverages our proprietary Moneyball AI investing database to uncover top opportunities. They've just revealed their to buy now — did Amazon make the list? When our Stock Advisor analyst team has a stock recommendation, it can pay to listen. After all, Stock Advisor's total average return is up 1,047% vs. just 181% for the S&P — that is beating the market by 865.68%!* Imagine if you were a Stock Advisor member when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $636,563!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,108,033!* The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 4, 2025 Adam Levy has positions in Amazon, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and Salesforce. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Salesforce. 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 No-Brainer Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks to Buy Now and Hold Forever was originally published by The Motley Fool
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
Cathie Wood sells $28 million of popular AI stock
Cathie Wood sells $28 million of popular AI stock originally appeared on TheStreet. Cathie Wood, chief of Ark Investment Management, frequently adjusts her top positions, adding to a holding when the stock falls and selling when it rises. In the past week, she has sold shares of a popular tech stock that's been climbing this year. Wood's funds have experienced a volatile ride lately, swinging from sharp losses to strong gains. In January and February, the Ark funds rallied as investors bet on the Trump administration's potential deregulation that could benefit Wood's tech bets. But the momentum faded in March and April, with the funds trailing the market as top holdings — especially Tesla, her biggest position — slid amid growing concerns over the macroeconomy and trade policies. Now, the Ark funds are making a strong comeback. As of Aug. 8, the flagship Ark Innovation ETF () is up 29.7% year-to-date, far outpacing the S&P 500's 8.6% gain. Wood's remarkable return of 153% in 2020 helped build her reputation and attract loyal investors. Her strategy can lead to sharp gains during bull markets but also painful losses, like in 2022, when ARKK dropped more than 60%. As of July 30, Ark Innovation ETF, with $6.8 billion under management, has delivered a five-year annualized return of negative 1.46%. The S&P 500 has an annualized return of 15.5% over the same period. Cathie Wood's investment strategy explained Wood's investment strategy is straightforward: Her Ark ETFs typically buy shares in emerging high-tech companies in fields such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, biomedical technology, and robotics. She says these companies have the potential to reshape industries, but their volatility leads to major fluctuations in Ark funds' the 10 years ending in 2024, the Ark Innovation ETF wiped out $7 billion in investor wealth, according to an analysis by Morningstar's analyst Amy Arnott. That made it the third-biggest wealth destroyer among mutual funds and ETFs in Arnott's ranking. Still, Wood has been bullish on the market. In a letter to investors published in late April, she dismissed predictions of a recession dragging into 2026 and struck an optimistic tone for tech stocks. "During the current turbulent transition in the U.S., we think consumers and businesses are likely to accelerate the shift to technologically enabled innovation platforms including artificial intelligence, robotics, energy storage, blockchain technology, and multiomics sequencing," she said. Not all investors echo her optimism. Over the past 12 months through Aug. 7, the Ark Innovation ETF saw $1.8 billion in net outflows, with nearly $885 million exiting the fund in just the past five days, according to ETF research firm VettaFi. Cathie Wood sells $28 million of Palantir stock Wood has been cashing in on Palantir () recently, with Ark funds selling 153,338 shares worth about $28.01 million over three consecutive days from Aug. 6 to Aug. 8. Wood's selling came as Palantir hit a record high of $186.96 on Aug. 8, just days after reporting its strongest-ever second-quarter earnings on Aug. 4. The stock is now up 147.2% year to date, setting multiple records along the provides AI-driven data analytics software to the U.S. government, military, and commercial clients. The stock soared 340% in 2024 as demand for AI infrastructure surged across sectors. Palantir's second-quarter revenue jumped 48% year over year to $1 billion, hitting a milestone analysts hadn't expected until later this year. Adjusted earnings of 16 cents per share topped Wall Street's 14-cent forecast. The company also raised its full-year guidance to between $4.142 billion and $4.150 billion, up from an earlier range of $3.89 billion to $3.90 billion. Palantir's U.S. revenues jumped 68% from a year ago to $733 million for the quarter, largely driven by the U.S. commercial segment, which nearly doubled to $306 million. Its U.S. government revenues rose 53% year-over-year to $426 million, despite massive spending cuts under President Donald Trump and his Department of Government Efficiency, which was formerly led by Elon Musk. Palantir has recently secured a 10-year contract with the U.S. Army worth up to $10 billion. The number is more than three times Palantir's 2024 revenue of $2.87 billion, making it one of its biggest ever. It could also significantly boost Palantir's Remaining Performance Obligations (RPO). Wood said in February that she's moving away from hardware and infrastructure and doubling down on software, with Palantir being one of her top picks. 'Palantir is a very expensive stock, but there's nothing like it in the software space,' Wood said in an interview with CNBC. 'It is, we believe, going to dominate the biggest part of the tech stack when it comes to AI. And that's the platform as a service part of the stack.' Her selling likely reflects a strategy of taking profits while the stock trades at lofty valuations, rather than walking away from it. Wood has often trimmed positions after big rallies to free up capital for other opportunities, while still holding on to her key positions. Palantir is still one of Wood's top bets after recent sales. The stock is now the seventh biggest holding of the ARK Innovation ETF, accounting for 5.04%.Cathie Wood sells $28 million of popular AI stock first appeared on TheStreet on Aug 9, 2025 This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Aug 9, 2025, where it first appeared.
Forbes
11 hours ago
- Forbes
Bye SaaS—We Have Entered The Agentic Platform Companies Era
As one big tech CEO told me recently, 'You don't want to be parked on SaaS Ave. SaaS now is like building real estate in a bad neighborhood.' He wasn't being glib. The software landscape is shifting underfoot. We've entered the age of Agentic Platform Companies (APCs), a convergence of SaaS, software, and cloud built around adaptive, AI-powered systems. A system that intelligently connects a vast landscape of business applications to deliver insights and intelligence that traverses the enterprise environment and makes enterprise software as usable as ChatGPT or Google Search. In this new era, traditional SaaS economics are faltering, and mid-market players are in the I wrote in these pages nearly a year ago, SaaS companies that are looking to merely embed AI features into their existing software and seek to charge incremental fees are extremely vulnerable. Water-cooler talk in Silicon Valley and beyond was bleaker, speculating on the end of SaaS, and the prospects of Salesforce, ServiceNow, Workday Inc., NetSuite Inc., and others. A new AlixPartners study examined 122 publicly traded enterprise software companies with annual revenue of less than $10 billion, and found they are feeling what the firm calls the 'big squeeze': AI-native startups on one side, tech giants on the other. Startups are releasing lower-cost, faster-evolving tools. Meanwhile, incumbents like Microsoft Corp., Salesforce Inc., and Oracle Corp. are doubling down on AI, embedding it into vast, bundled ecosystems and offering it at scale. The mid-tier, stripped of its traditional competitive advantages, is being forced into an uncomfortable choice: pivot or perish. The numbers tell the story. The share of high-growth companies in this segment fell from 57% in 2023 to 39% this year. Net dollar retention, a key measure of customer stickiness, has dropped from 120% in 2021 to 108% in late 2024. Markets have taken notice. The BVP Nasdaq Cloud Software Index is down nearly 10% year-to-date, even as the broader Nasdaq Composite is up more than 20%. 'SaaS Is Dead' — Sort Of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella reportedly implied 'SaaS is dead' not as a eulogy, but as a warning--effectively labeling enterprise software as crud databases with logic on top. The dashboard-and-seat-license model is being eclipsed by AI agents: autonomous, adaptive systems that learn and execute without constant human input. Several forces are driving this shift: Based on my interactions with insiders and CEOs, coupled with our market research, we believe it's plausible that one-third to one-half of today's SaaS companies will disappear—or be reduced to API-level data feeds for larger AI platforms—within 36 months. We also believe there will be consolidation and a new stable of winners. Some of the companies are already building for this APC future. In no particular order, the best positioned include: 1. Alphabet (Google) 2. Microsoft 3. Palantir 4. ServiceNow 5. Amazon 6. Oracle 7. Salesforce 8. IBM 9. SAP 10. OpenAI These firms aren't adding AI as an accessory, they're making it the operating core. Oracle, for example, has turned around its cloud business while Microsoft and Google aim to overtake AWS within four years. AWS itself faces capital spending pressure to catch up on AI tools, even as it makes inroads in robotics. Then there's Palantir, a company many love to call overvalued, yet whose growth and margins continue to defy gravity. Its recent $10 billion U.S. Army contract cements it as a consolidation layer for AI, data, and software in some of the most secure markets in the world. CEO Alex Karp's public persona, like Elon Musk's, galvanizes retail investors. The only caution flag: Palantir's valuation assumes flawless execution. And so far, it has delivered. The SaaS Model is Under Siege The traditional SaaS playbook of dashboards, seat-based pricing, and sprawling product catalogs is breaking down. But this transformation comes with costs. Compute-intensive AI workloads increase operating expenses, squeezing margins. Investors are pushing for profitability overgrowth in a high-interest-rate environment. For mid-market SaaS companies, survival requires more than bolting AI onto existing products. It demands reinvention: build products where AI is central, not peripheral; move toward usage- or outcome-based billing; cut underperforming offerings and redeploy capital into AI development; and acquire niche capabilities or position yourself as an acquisition target. In some cases, the smartest move will be a controlled exit before valuations erode further. This isn't a routine technology upgrade cycle: It's a structural shift in how software is built, sold, and valued. The winners will be agentic platforms delivering measurable outcomes. The losers will be those clinging to a model built for a pre-AI era. The CEO who warned me about 'SaaS Ave.' might have been blunt, but the analogy is apt. The neighborhood is changing fast. If you don't adapt, you're not just at risk of losing market share — you're at risk of being erased.
