We recently published a list of the Forget Magnificent 7: Analysts are Talking About ‘Big 10’ AI Stocks in 2024. Since Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) ranks 8th in the list, it deserves a deeper look.
When the AI revolution started with the launch of ChatGPT, investors started pouring money into a handful of companies that are leading AI technology development, thanks to their industry position and unending free cash flows. Market analysts soon started pointing to the concentration of gains phenomena in the market, where just a few stocks accounted for most of the broader market gains. This tech concentration remains strong as of today, as all important AI and Cloud technologies that we see in the news are developed, acquired or marketed by mega-cap tech companies we’re all familiar with. Bank of America analyst Michael Hartnett recently said in a report that the S&P 500 has gained about 12% so far in the year, but if we remove 10 technology companies from the equation, these gains shrink to just 3.6%. Hartnett calls these companies the “AI Big Ten” group.
What about the Magnificent Seven group of stocks that kept making headlines in 2023 and early 2024? Hartnett calculated that the broader market gained just 4.9% so far this year if these seven stocks are taken out of the equation. There is a third group of stocks that most investors are unaware of: Hedge Fund Top 30. These 30 stocks include the Magnificent Seven as well as 23 other promising stocks. These 30 stocks returned 53.2% in 2023, 20.2% during the first 5 months of 2024 vs. 11% for the S&P’s large cap index. You can check out the latest list here: 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds.
In this article we will take a look at the Big 10 AI stocks Bank of America analyst Michael Hartnett highlighted in his report. With each stock we have mentioned the number of hedge fund investors, as of the end of the March quarter. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
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Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 115
Wall Street is taking notice of Micron Technology Inc’s (NASDAQ:MU) ascendance in the AI industry dominance hierarchy. BofA thinks Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) is one of the Big 10 AI stocks in 2024, having gained about a massive 62% so far this year.
UBS recently maintained a Buy rating on Micron Technology Inc (NASDA:MU) and increased its price target on the stock to $155 from $125, citing its industry checks pointing to higher prices in the DRAM and NAND memory industry. UBS said that Micron Technology Inc’s (NASDA:MU) valuation could become attractive once its gross margin peaks in the fourth quarter of 2025 . UBS expects Micron Technology Inc’s (NASDA:MU) EPS in 2025 to come in at around $17.50.
During the fiscal second quarter, out of its four segments, three segments saw a 50% growth on a YoY basis. At the consolidated level, Micron Technology Inc (NASDA:MU) saw a 58% YoY revenue growth. During fiscal Q3, Micron Technology Inc (NASDA:MU) expects revenue growth to increase to 76%. Analysts believe Micron Technology Inc (NASDA:MU) is expected to keep growing faster amid a rising demand for its chips that power Cloud and AI servers. Micron HBM3E, one of Micron Technology Inc’s (NASDA:MU) most famous AI chips, has already sold out for 2024 and most of 2025.
According to data compiled by Yahoo Finance, Wall Street expects Micron Technology Inc’s (NASDA:MU) revenue growth to total 44% in 2025, while earnings growth is expected at 750% in the next year. The stock’s forward P/E ratio is 18, which is justified if Micron Technology Inc (NASDA:MU) is able to see sustained growth in the months to come.
Sequoia Fund stated the following regarding Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) in its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter:
“Exits last year included Netflix, Bank of America and Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU). As discussed in our Q2 shareholder letter, we exited Micron after the rationale for our investment was strained by rising geopolitical tensions, which have increased investment risks in the high-performance semiconductor industry. These risks are bearable, but we felt it prudent to reduce the portfolio’s exposure to them. We think both Bank of America and Micron were purchased at conservative prices given the facts at hand, but the facts changed and we moved on.”
Overall, Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) ranks 8th on Insider Monkey’s list titled Forget Magnificent 7: Analysts are Talking About ‘Big 10’ AI Stocks in 2024. While we acknowledge the potential of Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU), our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
