It's been another magnificent year for artificial intelligence (AI) stocks. You could throw a dart at a list of AI stocks taped to a wall and be more likely than not to hit one that has delivered tremendous gains in 2024.
However, many analysts think that quite a few of this year's high-flying AI stocks could run out of steam in the next one. But the good times could keep rolling for some. These two AI stocks have roughly doubled or more in 2024, and could head even higher in 2025, according to Wall Street.
Broadcom
Broadcom's (AVGO +0.88%) share price has nearly doubled year to date. Actually, the stock had more than doubled for the year until a few days ago, when the Fed's hesitancy to forecast as many rate cuts for 2025 as investors are hoping for led to a stock market sell-off.
NASDAQ: AVGO
Key Data Points
The interesting thing about Broadcom's impressive performance is that its recent quarterly results haven't been spectacular if we exclude the impact of its acquisition of VMware. However, investors continue to be excited about its AI opportunities. Management is excited, too. "[W]e see our opportunity over the next three years in AI as massive," said CEO Hock Tan on the company's fiscal Q4 earnings call this month.
In particular, Broadcom should benefit as some large organizations develop their own custom AI accelerators. These efforts will involve millions of AI accelerator clusters, which will require networking. Management thinks this will represent a market of $60 billion to $90 billion in its fiscal 2027, and it believes the company will be the top player in it.
Even after Broadcom's huge share price gains this year, Wall Street remains overwhelmingly bullish about the stock. Of the 43 analysts surveyed by LSEG in December, 38 rated Broadcom as a buy or a strong buy. The other five analysts gave it a hold rating.
However, most analysts don't expect the stock's sizzling momentum to continue. The average 12-month price target for the stock is only 4% above its current level, although the most optimistic analyst surveyed by LSEG thinks Broadcom's shares can jump another 35%.
Nvidia
Nvidia (NVDA 0.48%) is poised to chalk up back-to-back years of spectacular gains. The stock skyrocketed nearly 239% higher in 2023. In 2024, it's still up more than 160% year to date, despite falling into correction territory in recent weeks.
NASDAQ: NVDA
Key Data Points
Unlike Broadcom, Nvidia doesn't need to put any asterisks next to its impressive financial results from recent quarters. The GPU maker's revenue soared by 94% year over year in Q3 to $35.1 billion -- a record level. Most of that success has been due to the explosive growth in demand for its data center GPUs. And most of that explosive growth has been due to AI.
Management doesn't expect that growth to taper off anytime soon. The demand for the new GPUs based on its Blackwell architecture is greater than supply. CEO Jensen Huang described the Blackwell demand as "staggering" in his comments in the Q3 earnings call.
Wall Street remains enamored with Nvidia. A whopping 62 of the 64 analysts surveyed by LSEG in December who cover the stock rated it as a buy or a strong buy. The two outliers recommended holding. The average 12-month price target for Nvidia is nearly 32% above its current share price.
Better AI stock for 2025?
I don't always agree with Wall Street analysts (sometimes wisely, sometimes not). However, in this case, I think they're correct in viewing Nvidia as the better AI stock for 2025 than Broadcom.
Nvidia's launch of its Blackwell chips should drive sustained revenue and earnings growth for the company throughout the next year. It will almost certainly unveil an even more powerful AI chip in the second half of 2025. I'll be surprised if Nvidia's shares don't jump by another 30% or more over the next 12 months, although I don't expect the same levels of gains we've seen in 2023 and 2024.
