Artificial intelligence (AI) is sweeping through Wall Street. Many corporations are racing to dominate this market. Among those establishing themselves are Amazon (AMZN 0.29%) and Meta Platforms (META 0.11%).
But here's the great thing about these companies: They aren't just AI plays. Both tech giants have excellent underlying operations, strong long-term prospects, and solid moats that should allow them to perform well over the long run.
Here's why Amazon and Meta Platforms are strong forever picks.
Image source: Getty Images.
1. Amazon
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is incredibly bullish on AI. He believes that generative AI may be the most significant technological revolution since the internet, and that this is the early stages of its adoption.
Amazon is going all in. The company offers a suite of AI-related services through its cloud business, Amazon Web Services (AWS), which remains one of its fastest-growing segments. In the second quarter, Amazon's net sales increased by 13% year over year to $167.7 billion. Sales from AWS totaled $30.9 billion, representing a 17.5% increase compared to the same period last year.
It's having an even bigger impact on the bottom line. AWS accounted for more than half of Amazon's $19.2 billion in operating income. AWS' growth, driven partly by AI, will lead to much stronger profits thanks to the segment's higher margins.
True, Amazon faces intense competition in cloud, but it has remained successful and benefits from switching costs within this business. Meanwhile, Amazon is also implementing AI throughout its business.
The company's fleet of more than 1 million industrial robots in its warehouses is utilizing AI to move about more efficiently. These initiatives will continue to pay off for Amazon. But there is more to the business.
One of Amazon's greatest strengths is the moat created by its brand name and the network effect of its e-commerce platform. Though e-commerce is not a particularly profitable business for the company, it has allowed it to establish its advertising business, which has been growing rapidly in recent years. E-commerce has also helped the company attract more than 200 million Amazon Prime subscribers, a large ecosystem of loyal customers that it can monetize in many different ways.
Some of Amazon's newer initiatives include Amazon One Medical and Amazon Pharmacy, the latter of which has disrupted even well-established, legacy pharmacy chains. Amazon has long been looking to make waves in the healthcare field. Its current efforts look like winners and grant it yet another massive long-term growth avenue.
So, between AI, e-commerce, advertising, healthcare, Amazon's competitive edge, and an innovative culture focused on customer service, the company looks likely to perform well over the long run and deliver market-beating returns. Investors can hold this stock in their portfolios for the long term.
2. Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms makes most of its revenue from advertising, but the company has significantly improved that business thanks to AI.
On the one hand, it has used AI-powered algorithms to increase engagement on Facebook and Instagram. That automatically makes the company's ecosystem more attractive to advertisers. On the other hand, Meta Platforms introduced AI-powered tools to optimize the ad launch process, making it more productive for businesses. These initiatives are helping drive stronger results for the company.
In the second quarter, Meta Platforms' revenue increased by 22% year over year to $47.5 billion. Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg pointed out that during the second quarter alone, AI-powered tools increased time spent on Facebook and Instagram by 5% and 6%, respectively. Also, thanks to AI, ad conversion grew by 3% and 5% on Facebook and Instagram.
Meta Platforms' other AI initiatives include its large language model, Llama, and its AI glasses developed through a partnership with Ray-Ban.
Meanwhile, the company's ecosystem continues expanding. It ended the second quarter with 3.48 billion daily active users, representing a 6% increase compared to the year-ago period. Meta Platforms also benefits from a strong network effect. The company does have other long-term growth opportunities, including business messaging and its metaverse ambitions.
Meta Platforms' advertising business should remain its most important for the foreseeable future, and thanks to AI, it is improving. Further, the company's extensive ecosystem of more than 3 billion daily users should enable it to identify additional growth opportunities.
All this means Meta Platforms looks like an excellent buy-and-forget stock.
