Cloudflare Inc. (NET): Upgraded to 'Buy' as AIaaS Demand Surges

We recently published a list of Top 9 AI News Updates Investors Probably Missed. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE:NET) stands against other top AI news updates investors probably missed.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been termed humanity’s most significant invention in recent years. Others have argued that AI has the potential to enrich consumers’ lives through new channels for self-expression and creativity. The best part is that this is not wishful thinking; big things are already happening. In fact, some believe the world is on the cusp of an AI technology that can reason and act at the same level as humans.

According to Nathan Myhrvold, former Microsoft CTO and current CEO of Intellectual Ventures, humanity is less than five miracles away from creating AI with human-like cognitive abilities. “We’ll get there eventually… Two years ago, nobody would have predicted how far we’ve come today,” he said.

But before AI can match or even surpass human intelligence, the technology is already showing great promise in various applications. For instance, one of Africa’s wealthiest individuals is tapping the tech to build the continent’s first AI factory. According to a Bloomberg report, Strive Masiyiwa’s company will provide the infrastructure for African businesses, researchers, and startups to “turn their bold ideas into real-world breakthroughs, and now they don’t have to look beyond Africa to get it.”

Across the Indian Ocean to Asia, AI is revolutionizing agriculture in China. Recent reports suggest that the government has initiated the development of an AI platform to support intelligent agricultural machines. Regional authorities have released a policy draft that outlines measures to encourage R&D in AI-based agricultural tools. This includes setting up innovation hubs to provide services like R&D, testing, exhibitions, and access to AI resources. The AI platform will assist companies in data verification, AI model implementation, and enhancing human-machine interaction.

India, too, is keen on leveraging the AI wave. The country is working on an indigenous AI chip that should be ready in three years. This massive undertaking is under the purview of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). The objective is to reduce reliance on foreign semiconductor technology and strengthen India’s position in the global AI ecosystem.

Many other countries in North America and Europe have similar projects already underway or at the deliberation stage. The most exciting part of these developments is that the private sector is at the center of the revolution. Most, if not all, of these AI-focused projects may be government initiatives but it is the private sector that is doing the heavy lifting.

To create this list, we reviewed the latest AI-focused news reports, press releases, and stock analysis. We have also mentioned the hedge fund sentiment around each stock, as of Q4 2024.

Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).

Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE:NET)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 55

Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE:NET) is a software infrastructure company that provides an integrated cloud-based security solution to secure public cloud, private cloud, on-premises and software-as-a-service applications. Analysts at Bank of America believe the company is well-positioned to benefit from artificial intelligence and network security growth potential.

Consequently, they double-upgraded the stock to a buy from underperform on March 25 and hiked the price target to $160 from $60. The upgrade comes on the heels of analysts touting Cloudflare, Inc.’s (NYSE:NET) differentiated approach to AI and its momentum on network security, especially Secure Access Service Edge. Its AI as a service offering is expected to elicit strong demand from enterprises, consequently positioning the company as a market leader in the segment.

“AIaaS is already resonating with customers; our surveys show AI is the leading product Cloudflare customers are looking to adopt in the next twelve months (NTM), with average AI spending forecast to increase +8% to $100k per customer, or 15% of total customer spending,” BofA analysts led by Madeline Brooks said in a note.

Overall, NET ranks 2nd on our list of top AI news updates investors probably missed. While we acknowledge the potential of NET as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than NET but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.