Nvidia (NVDA +1.68%) has been a pretty sure bet for investors over the past few years. The artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant has delivered triple-digit gains in earnings quarter after quarter, and that has prompted the stock to skyrocket. Nvidia shares have climbed more than 2,500% over the past five years and are heading for an increase of more than 160% in 2024.
All of this sounds great, but you may be wondering if this AI star will continue to rocket higher in the months to come or if another AI player could offer you a better investment opportunity. A good example is Broadcom (AVGO -0.92%), a networking company that may be earlier in its AI growth story, offering stronger potential for gains ahead.
Should you forget Nvidia and buy this AI stock right now?
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Broadcom's AI growth
Broadcom is a networking giant, selling thousands of products used in the areas of data center networking, home connectivity, smartphones, and more. But in recent times, AI has emerged as a key growth area for the company, and Broadcom even said in its latest earnings report that AI revenue continues to "grow strongly."
In the quarter, Broadcom said demand from hyperscalers -- or large-scale data centers -- for AI networking and custom accelerators drove a 47% increase in revenue, to more than $13 billion. Custom AI accelerators more than tripled year over year, while Ethernet switching grew four times, and optical lasers and dies used in optical interconnects increased by three. Finally, PCI Express switches more than doubled from last year's level.
Broadcom expects AI revenue to climb sequentially by 10% to $3.5 billion in the fourth quarter and predicts AI revenue of $12 billion for the year -- up from an earlier forecast for $11 billion. All of this is as hyperscalers expand their AI clusters. Considering that today's AI market is forecast to grow from $200 billion to $1 trillion by the end of the decade, this trend may continue.
Along with this, Broadcom's purchase of cloud computing company VMWare offers another potential growth driver in the months and years to come. The VMWare Cloud Foundation (VCF) is a complete software stack that virtualizes an entire data center for a customer. Recent bookings for VCF helped Broadcom reach an annualized booking value of $2.5 billion during the quarter, up 32% from the previous quarter.
NASDAQ: AVGO
Key Data Points
VMWare's profitability goals
On top of this, Broadcom is well ahead of its VMWare profitability goals. The company, when it acquired VMWare last year, aimed to generate adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of $8.5 billion three years after the operation. Today, Broadcom says it's set to meet or beat that goal as early as the 2025 fiscal year.
Now let's consider whether we should forget about Nvidia and turn to this growing AI player, instead. Nvidia's earnings are difficult to beat these days, and considering the company's focus on innovation and the general growth projections for the AI market, it could continue to deliver this top performance.
But Nvidia's stock may not continue to soar in a straight line, and at a certain point, could stagnate or dip. The shares don't look expensive today at 46x forward earnings estimates, considering its growth, but Broadcom, which also offers a solid growth story, looks cheaper.
AVGO PE Ratio (Forward) data by YCharts.
Broadcom stock has climbed in recent years. It performed so well that the company launched a 10-for-1 stock split (like Nvidia) earlier this year to bring the shares down to a level that's more accessible to a broader range of investors.
Broadcom's double-digit share-price increase this year still pales, compared to the performance of Nvidia. This, along with a reasonable valuation, leaves plenty of room for the stock to run in the near term and over time. All this means that you shouldn't forget Nvidia forever, but right now, you may want to favor buying Broadcom and potentially benefit from the early days of this company's AI growth story.
