If you have money you don’t need for paying bills or reducing debt, there are excellent opportunities in the technology sector. Artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing are generational investment opportunities that can create great returns for investors who invest in the right stocks. Here are two that could double your money within the next five years.
1. Advanced Micro Devices
Nvidia is the leader in the graphics processing unit (GPU) market by a wide margin, but it can’t control 100% of the market. Its top GPU rival is Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 1.89%), which sells chips in several markets. The stock has returned 237% over the last five years and could double again by 2030.
AMD’s revenue grew 18% year over year in Q3, driven by strong demand for the company’s data center GPUs and central processing units (CPUs). It was a strong quarter, considering that two business segments were still experiencing weak revenue performance.
The company’s gaming and embedded segments, including sales of chips used for industrial markets, posted a steep decline in revenue this year. However, the headwinds impacting these segments will turn into tailwinds.
AMD is preparing to launch new Radeon gaming GPUs early in 2025, which could boost the gaming segment. The embedded segment grew revenue by 8% over the previous quarter, signaling a recovery underway. Management is seeing design wins gain momentum, which points to long-term growth potential.
For now, the data center business is providing enough growth to be a key catalyst for the share price heading into 2025. By the time AMD’s entire business is firing on all cylinders, the stock could be trading much higher than it is now.
Growing demand for advanced data center chips used for artificial intelligence is commanding very high margins. This is why the current Wall Street consensus has AMD’s earnings per share growing at an annualized rate of 42%. The stock is currently trading at a high forward price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of 40, so even allowing for a drop in the P/E multiple, the stock could double by 2030, if not sooner.
2. Alphabet (Google)
Alphabet’s (GOOGL) (GOOG) Google is one of the strongest brands in the world. The company has seven online services with more than 2 billion users, which is a strong advantage to have in the $740 billion digital-advertising market. Shares of Alphabet have more than doubled over the last five years, and the opportunities in AI and cloud computing could drive enough earnings growth to double again by 2030.
Alphabet is experiencing strong momentum across the business, including search, where new AI features are improving the usefulness of this daily utility for users. Management says it’s seeing AI features improve user engagement and satisfaction, which bodes well for long-term growth in advertising revenue. Alphabet posted a 15% increase in revenue in Q3, with advertising revenue up 10%.
Meanwhile, Google Cloud is benefiting from Alphabet’s massive investments in AI infrastructure, including its Gemini AI models and data centers. Google is the No. 3 cloud services provider behind Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, according to Synergy Research, but it’s gaining market share in a growing $313 billion cloud market. Consistent with that opportunity, Google’s cloud revenue grew 35% year over year last quarter.
Most importantly, management’s focus on operating efficiency and improving profitability in Google Cloud pushed its earnings up 36% over the year-ago quarter. This is a lot of growth for a stock recently trading at a forward P/E of just 22.
The stock’s conservative valuation reflects uncertainty over an antitrust ruling against Google in August. As a remedy, the Department of Justice wants Google to divest its Chrome web browser among other measures to prevent Google from gaining an unfair advantage over the competition in online search.
Regardless of the outcome, Alphabet still has a wide competitive moat, based on the millions, if not billions, of people who use products like Gmail, Search, and YouTube every day. It’s this large base of users that provides the means to generate billions in ad revenue and positions Google well for long-term growth.
— John Ballard
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Source: The Motley Fool