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3 Tech Titans Battling for AI Dominance

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As everybody knows by now, artificial intelligence (AI) has been Wall Street’s shiny new toy in 2023, with companies speaking on the technology in a snowballing fashion.

And so far, many big-tech names have been in the spotlight regarding the technology, including Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) , Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) , and NVIDIA (NVDA - Free Report) .

And as we can see in the chart below, all three stocks have provided market-beating returns in 2023, outperforming the S&P 500 handily.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

But how does each company stack up currently? Let’s take a closer look.

NVIDIA

A big focus point of NVDA’s latest release was its Data Center results, which include its AI operations; Data Center revenue totaled $3.6 billion, growing 11% from the year-ago quarter. There were other strategic highlights within the Data Center segment, including a partnership with Deutsche Bank (DB - Free Report) to further the use of AI within financial services.

Keep an eye on NVDA’s upcoming quarterly release expected on May 24th; the Zacks Consensus EPS Estimate of $0.92 indicates a Y/Y pullback of roughly 30%. Our consensus revenue estimate presently stands at $6.5 billion, reflecting a decline of 21% from the year-ago quarter.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

NVDA shares certainly aren’t cheap at the moment, with the current 61.2X forward earnings multiple sitting well above the already steep 52.9X five-year median. Still, investors have had little issue forking up a premium for shares thanks to the long-term outlook of AI.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Microsoft

In an announcement that surprised some, it was revealed just this week that Microsoft is joining forces with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD - Free Report) to fuel its push into AI, jointly developing a new AI processor. And this comes on the heels of MSFT’s significant investment into ChatGPT.

In its latest release, Cloud strength helped drive better-than-expected results, with Intelligent Cloud revenue growing 16% year-over-year to $22.1 billion. Total quarterly revenue totaled $52.8 billion, 4% ahead of expectations and improving 7% from the year-ago period.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Shares saw significant bullish activity post-earnings, closing 7% higher in the following trading session. This is illustrated by the green arrow in the chart below.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Alphabet

Alphabet unveiled its new conversational AI service, Bard, powered by its next-generation LaMDA (language model for dialogue applications). The service was launched in response to the snowballing popularity of ChatGPT.

Analysts have recently become bullish on GOOGL’s outlook, with earnings estimates drifting higher across all timeframes over the last several months.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

In addition, shares are cheap on a relative basis, with the current 19.4X forward earnings multiple sitting well below the 25.9X five-year median and the Zacks Computer and Technology sector average.

Zacks Investment Research

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Bottom Line

With the rapid rise of interest in AI technology, it’s no surprise that several notable technology giants have joined the party.

While the technology is still in the early phases, the long-term potential has investors ecstatic, seeing a massive opportunity to reap some gains.

And so far, the three companies above – Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) , Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) , and NVIDIA (NVDA - Free Report) – are all scurrying to become the leader.

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