The new year is here. While no one can predict exactly what will happen in 2024, it's a virtual certainty that artificial intelligence (AI) will continue to generate tons of excitement and shape big stock market moves.
As impressive as big leaps in AI technologies have been so far, this revolutionary tech movement is just heating up -- and investors could have once-in-a-generation opportunities to capitalize. If you're looking for top ways to profit from artificial intelligence in 2024, read on to see why two Motley Fool contributors believe investing in these magnificent stocks is a path to big wins.
CrowdStrike is winning a crucial AI race
Keith Noonan: CrowdStrike's (CRWD 3.86%) software helps prevent, detect, and respond to cyberattacks. While some companies have been scrambling to adopt artificial intelligence and machine learning (ML), these technologies have been at the heart of the cybersecurity specialist's operations for over a decade.
NASDAQ: CRWD
Key Data Points
CrowdStrike's cloud-based cybersecurity platform collects and analyzes over 2 trillion data points daily and uses AI and ML to identify, categorize, and shut down threats. With bad actors increasingly using AI to launch and scale attacks, the protections CrowdStrike provides are becoming even more valuable to businesses and institutions.
Tailwinds are coming together to spur strong demand for the company's services, and it looks like the cybersecurity specialist is still at an early point in its long-term growth trajectory.
With guidance for roughly $3.05 billion in sales in its current fiscal year, which concludes at the end of this month, the company is targeting annual sales growth of roughly 36%. That's an impressive revenue expansion rate, but it has the company on track to capture just 4% of its $76 billion total addressable market (TAM) for the year.
The company's expansion opportunities are actually even more exciting than recent market share trends might suggest. In 2024, CrowdStrike estimates it will have a TAM of $100 billion. By 2028, the company sees its TAM jumping to $225 billion.
Not only is CrowdStrike gaining market share, but the size of its addressable market is also expanding at a rapid pace. With multiple positive catalysts at its back, I think CrowdStrike is poised to be one of the best AI stocks for 2024 and beyond.
Meta uses AI to increase engagement
Parkev Tatevosian: Meta Platforms (META +0.22%) is one of my favorite AI stocks for 2024. The social media giant transforming into a metaverse company is utilizing AI to surface content that users are most likely to find engaging. Of course, the more time people spend on one of Meta's apps, the more opportunity there is to show advertisements.
Already, Meta has dominated the social media landscape. The company grew the number of daily active people across its family of apps by 7% to reach 3.14 billion in the quarter that ended in September. That phenomenal sum benefits Meta from the network effect (the more people using Meta's apps, the more they want to use the app). It has all led to excellent business performance. Meta's revenue expanded from $41 billion in 2017 to $117 billion in 2022.
META PE Ratio (Forward 1y) data by YCharts. PE Ratio = price-to-earnings ratio.
Its operating income increased from $20 billion to $29 billion from 2017 to 2022. The profitability is a demonstration of the lucrative business model. Meta's users create content like images, videos, and comments on its platforms. Meta then shows advertisements to friends, family, and colleagues viewing that content.
It wouldn't surprise me if the business becomes even more profitable as Meta utilizes AI to surface content that keeps us on the platform incrementally longer. Fortunately for investors, at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 20.6, Meta's stock is relatively cheap.
