Artificial intelligence (AI) stocks have performed exceptionally well in 2023. Thanks to ChatGPT, many tech stocks have made a comeback from the 2022 bear market, and some of these companies hold the potential to leverage the benefits of AI into productivity gains and, by extension, stock price gains.

As the market moves into the holiday season, someone might wonder what AI stock could turn into a gift that continues to become more valuable. Instead of looking to the tech giants, investors should consider an emerging stock that could bring Santa visits to prospective investors for years to come.

The gift that keeps on giving

If I were to gift an AI stock, Palantir Technologies (PLTR -1.44%) would be my choice. This pick might come as a surprise to casual observers, who know Palantir as the company that helped the CIA find Osama bin Laden, if they know the company at all.

However, it has developed an ecosystem that not only analyzes big data but also comes up with recommended courses of action.

Palantir Apollo has accomplished this in the national security and law enforcement space. But with the limited number of possible clients for its Apollo software, the company created Palantir Foundry to apply these capabilities in the commercial sector.

AI has long played a role in these analyses. Using machine learning (ML), which allows the software to learn without prior programming, Palantir can enable a system to continuously improve via its own feedback.

Independent research firm Forrester named Palantir a leader in AI and ML platforms. That places this $44 billion market cap in the company of trillion-dollar tech enterprises such as Nvidia, Alphabet, and Microsoft.

Its Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) uses generative AI to achieve powerful productivity gains, according to customers in Palantir's boot camps, which are interactive workshops.

These quantum leaps in productivity could set up Palantir -- and its investors -- for massive gains.

Improved financials

Now could also be a good time to give the stock as a gift because the interest in AIP could appear in the company's financial results soon. In the first nine months of 2023, Palantir reported $1.6 billion in revenue, 16% more than in the year-ago period. That's a respectable gain, but it will likely increase significantly once AIP-related revenue becomes more significant.

The company has also limited year-over-year growth in operating expenses to less than 1% during the first three quarters of 2023. That helped it earn $120 million in net income during that time frame. In the same year-ago period, Palantir lost $405 million.

The forecast for revenue for the next quarter, $2.2 billion, would be a 16% increase. And when you combine that swing with the benefits of AIP, the company could see massive profit growth in the near future, so investors should look beyond the next quarter.

With the stock up by more than 200% so far in 2023, many investors have already looked to the future. It's taken Palantir's forward price-to-earnings ratio above 80, which might make the stock appear pricey.

But despite that, the productivity gains from AIP could make today's valuation appear cheap in the end.

Gifting Palantir

Ultimately, Palantir could turn into the gift that keeps on giving. The company had already gained recognition as a leader in AI before it launched AIP, and now, with the resulting productivity gains it should offer to its clients, management should see an increase in its pricing power -- likely bringing enormous benefits to Palantir and its shareholders over the longer term.