Raymond James Reiterates 'Outperform' on Microsoft (MSFT) After AI-Packed Build Conference

We recently published a list of 10 AI Stocks Investors Are Watching Today. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) stands against other AI stocks that investors are watching today.

Speaking on CNBC’s “Halftime Report”, CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management and CNBC PRO contributor Josh Brown said that he believes the most important theme for the stock market right now is artificial intelligence, not tariffs.

“The most important thing to come out of this past earnings report is that AI is more important than tariffs to the stock market.”

Brown cited JPMorgan research, noting that the term “AI” was mentioned 2.6 times more often than the word “tariff” in the last round of S & P 500 earnings reports.

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He even said that those Big Tech companies that affirmed or raised guidance have been saviors, protecting the stock market from the massive turmoil in April.

“This is an AI driven tape. This is still the most important theme in the entire market. Yes, there are other themes. Yes, there are other sectors doing well, but absent AI, there’s just no chance that we would have pulled this this spring out of the hole the way that we have, and that’s because of the affirmed guidance.”

That said, a report from Silicon Valley Bank has revealed how venture capital firms focused on artificial intelligence are behind much of the growth in the startup market. Meanwhile, companies in other areas are struggling to raise cash.

“Exclude AI investment and the story changes. There is no meaningful uptick for companies not leveraging AI, with investment from this group essentially flat for the last year.”

For this article, we selected AI stocks by going through news articles, stock analysis, and press releases. These stocks are also popular among hedge funds. The hedge fund data is 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).

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 317

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) provides AI-powered cloud, productivity, and business solutions, focusing on efficiency, security, and AI advancements.  On May 20, Raymond James analyst Andrew Marok reiterated an “Outperform” rating on the stock with a $490.00 price target. The rating follows Microsoft’s Build developer conference in Seattle, where analyst Andrew Marok highlighted key conference takeaways and the AI advancements presented during the event.

Marok emphasized how the conference’s keynote speech expanded previous discussions, focusing on evolving AI agents from isolated tools to becoming elements of a more connected network. The “agentic web” concept was central to numerous announcements made at the conference. Microsoft aims to enhance the capabilities of AI agents so that they can manage more complex tasks than individual AI agents.

The firm also noted how enhancements in Microsoft’s AI services are extremely beneficial, enabling power users to achieve more while addressing earlier criticisms regarding the limited scope of AI agents. As such, Marok believes that Microsoft is well-positioned to sustain its AI momentum. The company is pushing hard to integrate AI technologies in its services, allowing it to remain at the forefront of AI innovation.

Overall, MSFT ranks 1st on our list of AI stocks that investors are watching today. While we acknowledge the potential of MSFT as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk.  If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than MSFT and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.

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