Investors appear to have liked the Federal Reserve's latest decision to maintain the benchmark interest rate in the target range of 5.25% to 5.5%. Although the central bank has hinted at the possibility of future interest rate hikes to control inflation, the market seems to have already priced this in.
Further, estimates from the Bureau of Economic Analysis show that the real gross domestic product (GDP) of the U.S. economy increased at a 4.9% annualized rate in the third quarter -- ahead of expected 4.7% growth and the fastest it has grown in the past two years. Understandably, some investors are now expecting an end to the correction and a potential rebound in stock prices in the coming months.
As such, investors should consider picking up high-quality stocks. With artificial intelligence (AI) now at the helm of the ongoing technological revolution, investors might wish to increase their portfolio exposure to this long-term trend. Here's why CrowdStrike (CRWD 2.03%) and UiPath (PATH 0.26%) can prove to be smart portfolio additions now.
1. CrowdStrike
Cybersecurity giant CrowdStrike's flagship Falcon platform (comprising 27 modules) has emerged as a force to reckon with in the endpoint security market. Endpoint security entails protecting devices and network access junctures such as desktops, laptops, phones, and other devices. Additionally, CrowdStrike's Falcon platform also provides services such as cloud security, identity protection, observability, and threat intelligence to its clients.
CrowdStrike differentiates itself from other cybersecurity vendors by offering an easily adaptable, deployable unified security platform, with superior AI and machine learning capabilities. The company's platform is also benefiting from a network effect.
CrowdStrike's AI-driven Threat Graph processes trillions of data signals about cyberthreats weekly, identifies potential threats, and rapidly neutralizes them. The insights are also used to train the Falcon platform, which becomes even more proficient at identifying and thwarting threats. Furthermore, the company also distributes the digital signature of the threat to its other clients, which safeguards them from similar types of attacks.
Recently, CrowdStrike has also launched a generative AI platform, Charlotte AI, which is capable of identifying cybersecurity threats, providing actionable insights for potential threats, and automating routine tasks.
All this has helped the company attract new customers and upsell/cross-sell to existing ones -- which further brings in more data about different types of cyberthreats. CrowdStrike has built a 23,019-strong customer base (as of Jan. 31). Additionally, in the second quarter of fiscal 2024, 63% of its subscription customers had adopted five or more Falcon modules.
Analysts expect CrowdStrike's revenue to be $3.04 billion in fiscal 2024 (ending Jan. 31, 2024), implying a healthy year-over-year revenue growth rate of nearly 36%. The company has also become profitable on a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis in the past two quarters. Analysts now expect the company's fiscal 2024 GAAP earnings per share (EPS) to be $2.83.
All this means that, with its target addressable market projected to double from $76 billion in 2023 to $158 billion in 2026 and the company's solid fundamentals, CrowdStrike is well-positioned to grow rapidly in the coming decade.
2. UiPath
UiPath, a prominent player in the field of robotic process automation (RPA) and AI-driven document processing, specializes in helping clients automate and scale repetitive, low-skill, and mundane tasks. The company also uses AI technologies to help pinpoint additional processes in organizations that are suited for automation -- thereby increasing the adoption of RPA.
The company is also focusing on using generative AI technologies for document understanding and communications mining by incorporating large language models in areas such as classification, pre-labeling, and expedition of the model training process.
The company has also launched "Project Wingman," a combination of AI-powered computer vision and generative AI technologies, that enable customers to create automations using natural language prompts. Recently, UiPath unveiled the latest AI features with Autopilot, which will allow customers to rapidly automate work with natural language.
UiPath currently accounts for nearly 36% of the global RPA market. By leveraging the synergy between RPA and AI technologies, the company is well-positioned to capture even more share in the burgeoning global RPA market, which is estimated to surge from $2.6 billion in 2022 to $66 billion by 2032.
The company's impressive financial performance is also a testament to the strength of its business. The company reported a 25% year-over-year increase in annual recurring revenue to $1.31 billion in the second quarter of fiscal 2024 (ended July 31).
Although currently not profitable on a GAAP basis, the company is focused on improving non-GAAP margins. Moreover, UiPath's second-quarter remaining performance obligations rose by a robust 28% on a year-over-year basis to $905 million -- underscoring the company's strong order pipeline.
UiPath is currently trading at a price-to-sales multiple of 8.4, higher than the software industry median multiple of 2.1. However, considering the company's leadership position in the RPA market and its focus on integrating AI capabilities, UiPath may prove to be a smart way to invest in the expansive potential of AI in business optimization.
