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5 Machine Learning Stocks to Add to Your Portfolio in 2020

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Machine learning (ML) is hailed as one of the most impactful technologies in the AI spectrum. Comprising algorithms, ML applications are capable of enabling devices to learn, improve and make decisions automatically, without any explicit programming or human involvement.

The application of ML has grown rapidly over the past years, bringing out the power of data in a whole new way. Devices operating on voice commands, recommendations from online search engines, real-time advertisements on web pages, image recognition and cyber fraud detection are some of the most common instances of ML.

The technology has proven itself to be ground-breaking for the transportation industry by making self-driving cars a reality. In fact, Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) is using ML techniques to power its self-driving vehicle, Waymo.

Also, conventional enterprise functions, such as ERP, could be transformed because of ML. Moreover, drones and robots powered by ML have made it easier to perform several hazardous tasks, such as inspecting gas pipelines and defusing bombs.

Markedly, this futuristic technology is being adopted by every other company, irrespective of their industry type, to make enterprise functions leaner and more efficient.

ML Predictions for 2020 Appear Promising
 
Per the data provided by Forbes, AI and ML are likely to create a total value of $2.6 trillion in marketing and new-age technology by 2020, as well as an additional $2 trillion in manufacturing and supply chain planning. In fact, the business value created by AI systems is expected to reach $3.9 trillion in 2022.

Boosting customer experience and personalization are likely to be the key rationales behind the adoption of ML in 2020. Also, ML along with neural networks are being leveraged by supply chain vendors to streamline operations. Moreover, advancements in big data analytics are aiding the creation of smaller data sets, which, in turn, are helping to make the machine learning process faster and simpler.

Apart from these, technologies such as hyperautomation, blockchain, empowered edge, augmented reality and IoT are likely to keep supporting the development of ML in 2020.  

Stocks Making Robust Advancements in the ML Realm

Several major enterprises are undertaking efforts to achieve breakthroughs in the ML arena. In fact, technology behemoths such as Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) and International Business Machines Corporation (IBM - Free Report) are competing against each other to come up with unique ML solutions, especially in cloud computing and big data analysis.

That said, by using the Zacks Stocks Screener  we have identified some of the top companies from the Zacks Computer and Technology sector, which are gaining from the adoption of ML or have been supporting the implementation of the technology for their clients.  

Baidu (BIDU - Free Report) is one of the most advanced China-based AI companies. It also holds a number of patents in the area of autonomous driving. The company’s Apollo technology is gaining traction in the self-driving cars space, while other ML projects like virtual assistants and voice replication are making substantial progress.

The company carries a long-term earnings growth rate of 2.3%. Notably, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for its 2020 earnings has improved nearly 30% to $8.45 over the past 60 days.

Baidu, Inc. Price and Consensus

Fortinet (FTNT - Free Report) is a provider of integrated, and automated cybersecurity solutions. The company has been boosting ML capabilities for its FortiWeb Web Application Firewall, for better threat detection. Other offerings of the company such as FortiGate and FortiGuard leverage ML-based threat detection.

Fortinet carries a long-term earnings growth rate of 14%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings for 2020 has improved 11.5% to $2.71 over the past 60 days.

Fortinet, Inc. Price and Consensus

Keysight (KEYS - Free Report) is engaged in providing electronic design and test instrumentation systems. Many of the company’s integrated designs make use of ML technologies. Apart from this the company is utilizing ML’s deep learning systems in its smart water AI project to detect contamination.

Keysight carries a long-term earnings growth rate of 9.1%. The consensus mark for its earnings for 2020 has improved nearly 6% to $5.19 over the past 60 days

Markedly, Baidu, Fortinet and Keysight, each sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Keysight Technologies Inc. Price and Consensus

Box (BOX - Free Report) , with a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), offers cloud management solutions for content automation, application development and security. Through the Box Skills solutions platform, the company provides clients with advanced AI and ML solutions that offer structure and extract insights from information.

The company carries a long-term earnings growth rate of 26%.

Box, Inc. Price and Consensus

NVIDIA (NVDA - Free Report) offers graphics chip processors and related software for a wide range of visual computing platforms. The company’s GPUs are helping other major technology companies to implement ML solutions. Moreover, it is also making use of its GPUs to build semi-autonomous driving technology – Drive PX Pegasus.

The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 and has a long-term earnings growth rate of 9.4%. Further, the consensus mark for 2020 earnings has increased 4.1% to $5.56 per share over the past 60 days.

NVIDIA Corporation Price and Consensus

Zacks Top 10 Stocks for 2020

In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 top tickers for the entirety of 2020?

These 10 are painstakingly hand-picked from over 4,000 companies covered by the Zacks Rank. They are our primary picks to buy and hold.

Start Your Access to the New Zacks Top 10 Stocks >>

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