Elon Musk and scientists ask for pause to AI ChatGPT – Top AI companies world-wide.
1. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Market Capitalization: $2 Trillion
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) designs, manufactures and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories. On December 6, Apple said that it has released a set of optimizations which allow the Stable Diffusion AI, a latent open-source AI text-to-image diffusion model that produces photorealistic images from any given input prompt in a matter of seconds, to be used on Apple Silicon.
Apple is a dominating technology sector with its iPhone-enabled AI features and apps. The release of iPhone models over time confirms that Apple uses Artificial Intelligence in iPhones and visions AI as the key factor for its tech supremacy. Apple launched Siri in 2011 when the concept of a virtual assistant on a smartphone was barely known, making it the first widely used AI and NLP-powered assistant. Microsoft and Google introduced Cortana after three years of the launch of Siri. Siri is an assistant which makes it easier for users to make calls, send texts, search, use apps and get things done with just the command of voice.
On November 7, BofA analyst Wamsi Mohan maintained a Neutral rating on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock and lowered the price target to $154 from $160, noting that the company issued a press release indicating that COVID-19 restrictions have impacted the primary iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max assembly facility in China and warned that it now expects lower shipments of these models in the December quarter than previously anticipated.
At the end of the third quarter of 2022, 140 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $144 billion in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), compared to 128 in the previous quarter worth $143 billion.
In its Q2 2022 investor letter, Alger Capital, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:
“Apple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL) is a leading technology provider in telecommunications. computing and services. Apple’s iOS operating system is the company’s unique intellectual property and competitive strength. This software drives extremely tight engagement with consumers and enterprises. The engagement is fostering the growing purchase of high-margin services like music, apps, and apple pay. Apple’s shares detracted from performance as management lowered its guidance for the second quarter due to headwinds from the war in Ukraine, adverse foreign currency shifts, and dampened consumer demand associated with the coronavirus in China. Additionally, many investors were concerned that lockdowns implemented to curtail the spread of COVID-19 would impact the production of apple products, however, the manufacturing facilities have resumed activity.”
2. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Market Capitalization: $1.8 Trillion
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) develops, licenses, and supports software, services, devices, and solutions worldwide. On November 14, Microsoft announced its Microsoft Supply Chain Platform. This platform helps organizations maximize their supply chain data estate investment with an open approach, bringing the best of Microsoft AI, integration, low-code, security and SaaS applications in a composable platform.
Microsoft uses its Azure AI platform, services and solutions. Azure is a robust framework for developing machine learning, conversational AI, data analytics, robotics, IoT, and more. Azure focuses on building innovative apps and spends less time managing data, delivering data-powered experiences, adding intelligence to apps, generating insights, and more with a comprehensive data platform. Its services and tools are backed by a best-of-breed infrastructure with enterprise-grade security, availability, compliance, and manageability. The infrastructure of Azure offers the power of infinite scale and integrated AI, combined with sustainability and efficiency that benefits organizations and the planet.
On October 26, RBC Capital analyst Rishi Jaluria maintained an Outperform rating on Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) stock and lowered the price target to $310 from $380, noting that the company’s first quarter results were decent, but its guidance was rough, with second quarter seen below expectations on a larger-than-expected slowdown in the cyclical consumer businesses and mixed commercial outlook.
At the end of the second quarter of 2022, 269 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $61.2 billion in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), compared to 258 in the previous quarter worth $56 billion.
In its Q2 2022 investor letter, Baron Funds, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:
“Shares of Microsoft Corporation, a leading global provider of software solutions, declined 16.6% in the quarter along with the broader software group as well as due to growing concerns of a potential macro-driven slowdown. This is despite the company posting strong quarterly financial results and successfully absorbing headwinds from the war in Ukraine. The company had 21% revenue growth, 23% operating income growth, and 35% growth in Microsoft Cloud (all year-over-year in constant currency), which now represents 47% of total revenues.
3. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Market Capitalization: $937 Billion
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) engages in the retail sale of consumer products and subscriptions in North America and internationally. On November 30, Amazon reported that its AWS Machine learning University is providing a free educator enablement program. This program provides faculty at community colleges and minority-serving institutions with the skills and resources to teach artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analytics concepts to build a pipeline for in-demand jobs for now and the future.
On November 30, Amazon.com Inc revealed that it is planning to roll out warning cards for software sold by its cloud-computing division, in light of ongoing concern that artificially intelligent systems can discriminate against different groups. On November 11, Amazon announced its latest warehouse robot. Amazon claims that Sparrow is the first robotic system in warehouses that can detect, select, and handle individual products in the inventory. The robotic arm uses AI and computer vision to recognize and handle millions of items. The company said that using AI-based robots can conduct more operations safely and efficiently.
On December 1, Cowen analyst John Blackledge maintained an Outperform rating on Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) stock and raised the price target to $160 from $150, noting that lower operating losses are expected excluding AWS and Advertising in 223 as cost headwinds subside.
At the end of the second quarter of 2022, 252 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $30 billion in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), compared to 271 in the preceding quarter worth $48 billion.
In its Q2 2022 investor letter, Baron Funds, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:
“Amazon.com, Inc.(NASDAQ:AMZN) is the world’s largest retailer and cloud services, provider. Shares of Amazon declined 35% in the quarter due to weaker-than-expected profits resulting from the overcapacity of resources coming out of COVID. We expect Amazon to grow its retail capacity in the coming quarters, enabling it to improve profitability accordingly. Amazon remains one of our largest holdings due to its durable competitive advantages with a leading position in multiple trillion-dollar markets with a long runway for growth
4. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)
Market Capitalization: $431 Billion
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) provides graphics, computing and networking solutions. On November 16, NVIDIA revealed its multi-year partnership with Microsoft, an American multinational technology corporation, to build one of the world’s most powerful cloud-based Artificial Intelligence supercomputers. This supercomputer will be powered by Microsoft Azure’s advanced supercomputing infrastructure combined with NVIDIA GPUs.
On December 9, Deutsche Bank, a German-based bank, revealed that it is using NVIDIA’s AI and machine learning platform for future growth potential. By supercharging the bank’s daily operation with AI acceleration through the cloud, they will be able to develop new data-driven products and services with improved efficiency in addition to opening up more working opportunities for professionals and talents. Using NVIDIA’s range of AI applications, the AI developers in the bank’s IT infrastructure will be able to build and run AI workflows on both on-premises data centers and Google Cloud powered by the NVIDIA AI Enterprise suite of software.
On November 17, Needham analyst Rajvindra Gill maintained a Buy rating on NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) stock and raised the price target to $200 from $155, noting that the company’s third quarter results were solid with data center revenue outlook slightly higher despite weakening China data center sales and H100 adoption accelerating.
Among the hedge funds being tracked by Insider Monkey, Chicago-based investment firm Citadel Investment Group is a leading shareholder in NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) with 19.2 million shares worth more than $2.3 billion.
In its Q2 2022 investor letter, Baron Funds, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:
“At the company-specific level, there was a broad correction across the entire portfolio. While four of our holdings contributed to performance, the contribution to absolute returns was less than 100bps combined, as unfortunately none of them was large enough to move the needle. We had 16 investments detracting over 100bps each with NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA), our second largest detractor, costing the Fund 254bps.
NVIDIA’s stock was hit even harder, down 44.4%, impacted by concerns over consumer health, dramatic declines in crypto, and COVID-related lockdowns in China. Despite the sell-off and the increased near-term volatility in its gaming business, NVIDIA’s revenues grew 46% year-over-year with 48% operating margins, driven by continued strength in its data center business as companies across industries adopt AI and ML…
5. Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)
Market Capitalization: $300 Billion
Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) develops products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family
through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, wearables, and in-home devices worldwide. On November 8, Meta Platforms announced its Grand Teton, its next-generation hardware platform for AI training. Grand Teton features several improvements over the previous generation, including 2x the network bandwidth and 4x the host-to-GPU bandwidth.
On December 9, the Government of India told Meta to become its trusted partner in AI for innovation-friendly regulations at a global forum. The government of India has also told Meta that it would welcome an initiative to have techies based in the country working on AI. On November 19, Meta AI unveiled a demo of Galactica, a large language model designed to store, combine and reason about scientific knowledge. While intended to accelerate writing scientific literature, adversarial users running tests found it could also generate realistic nonsense. After several days of ethical criticism, Meta took the demo offline.
On November 15, Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak maintained an Equal Weight rating on Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) stock and lowered the price target to $100 from $105, noting that signs of a weakening ad market continued to grow through the third quarter earnings season as the majority of companies being tracked in the space either missed third-quarter ad revenue expectations and/or guided to slower than expected forward growth.
At the end of the third quarter of 2022, 177 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $14.2 billion in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META), compared to 185 in the preceding quarter worth $18.2 billion.
In its Q2 2022 investor letter, Baron Funds, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:
“Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META), the owner of Facebook, the world’s largest social network, fell 28.4% during the second quarter due to quarterly results that missed consensus estimates, driven by the impact of Apple’s new privacy changes in its iOS operating system. These changes have made it harder for Facebook to measure the effectiveness of its advertising across its mobile apps.
In the longer term, we expect Facebook to continue utilizing its leadership in mobile to provide global advertisers targeted marketing capabilities at scale, with substantial monetization optionality ahead in newer areas such as Reels (Meta’s competing solution to TikTok) and e-commerce.”
