These stocks are riskier options than Nvidia, but they also have the potential to generate better returns.
Nvidia has undoubtedly been the hottest artificial intelligence (AI) stock to own over the past year and a half. Since the start of 2023, shares of the chipmaker have soared an incredible 500%. Many stocks don’t generate those types of returns over a decade or even longer, and Nvidia has managed to do that in just 16 months. Given those types of gains, it’s not unreasonable to expect that many Wall Street analysts believe it may be approaching a peak. The consensus analyst price target suggests that Nvidia’s stock may only rise another 13% from where it is today.
AI investors may want to consider other options, which may have more room to rise higher. Three stocks that analysts are much more bullish about include SoundHound AI (SOUN 0.22%), Baidu (BIDU 1.49%), and UiPath (PATH 0.93%). Here’s a look at how much upside these stocks may have and whether they are worth adding to your portfolio today.
1. SoundHound AI: 50% upside
The analyst consensus price target for SoundHound AI is a little less than $7, which would mean that SoundHound’s stock could rise by around 50% if you believe it could hit that value within the next year or so.
SoundHound gained notoriety this year after investors learned that Nvidia invested in the voice AI company. Its AI voice platform can help incorporate AI into vehicles, drive-thrus, and other ways to help create a conversational experience between the user and AI. There’s a lot of potential in many industries for this type of technology to facilitate the AI experience for customers.
The biggest problem, however, is that there’s been a lot of hype around SoundHound, but its results are still fairly modest; the company has a lot to prove, given how much competition there may be out there. Fast-food restaurant chain Wendy‘s, for example, has already begun to deploy an AI-powered drive-thru ordering experience through the company’s own FreshAI platform, which uses generative AI.
For SoundHound to be a great buy, it needs to prove that its technology is the real deal and that it can be better than the competition. In the last three months of 2023, it generated an impressive 80% revenue growth, with its top line totaling $17.1 million. However, the business posted a net loss of $18 million, and it has been burning through cash, and it will likely need a lot of that cash to invest in its operations.
SoundHound AI could rally by 50%, but if it does, it’ll likely be due to speculative reasons; the company’s fundamentals aren’t strong enough just yet to make this a slam-dunk buy. For most investors, it’s probably a bit too early to invest in SoundHound AI.
2. Baidu: 60% upside
A stock that has even more upside, according to analysts, is Chinese tech company Baidu; Wall Street believes it can rise by about 60% to nearly $172. The company is often compared to Alphabet‘s Google, as it has a popular search engine platform and a cloud business. It is always looking to invest in new technologies, with AI being no exception.
The reason investors haven’t been overly bullish on the stock (it’s down 11% this year) is because there are concerns it may have close ties to the Chinese government, which could impact not just its growth opportunities but it may also lead to problems for the stock down the road. In the past, investors have been concerned that Chinese stocks may be delisted from U.S. exchanges, and the U.S. government looking to ban TikTok due to the Chinese government’s influence may only exacerbate those worries.
In addition to that, Baidu’s growth rate has been a bit soft. In 2023, the company’s revenue grew by 9% to just under $19 billion. Ideally, AI investors will want to see a faster growth rate than that to be convinced that a company is truly taking advantage of significant growth opportunities in AI. There is, however, hope that with its chatbot, Ernie, hitting 200 million users, Baidu may have a potential growth catalyst there, which could help accelerate the company’s growth rate.
Given Baidu’s low valuation — it trades at 10 times its expected future earnings — I could see a path for the stock to hit analyst price targets as it is a great way to invest in the Chinese tech market, and Chinese stocks in general have been undervalued for a while. The stock, does, however, come with some elevated risk and may not be suitable for all types of investors.
3. UiPath: 40% upside
UiPath has an automation platform that helps companies create processes that can save them both time and money. It can remember the steps users take and automate them. Unfortunately, despite the potential value it can add for businesses, UiPath’s stock has made for an underwhelming investment so far this year, falling by 20% year to date.
The company has been generating some encouraging results, posting sales of $405.3 million for the quarter ending Jan. 31, which grew at a rate of 31% year over year. Another positive for the business is that it also posted a profit last quarter totaling $33.9 million, which was a big improvement from the prior-year period when UiPath incurred a net loss of $27.7 million.
Analysts believe shares of UiPath could hit $27, rising by 40% from where it is now. That doesn’t seem like an unrealistic proposition, given its high growth rate, the opportunities for automation, and the business also posting a profit. With a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of less than 1, the stock could be a bargain buy for long-term investors.
