There's no denying artificial intelligence (AI) technology has made enormous strides in just the past few years. But the businesses advancing it have still only scratched the surface of the underlying opportunity. Indeed, industry analytics outfit Precedence Research forecasts that the overall AI market will grow at an annualized pace of nearly 20% through 2034.
With that rapid-growth outlook as the backdrop, here are three of the best artificial intelligence stocks to buy right now, while they're all trading at a discount.
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1. Arm Holdings
When conversations turn to the tech companies with the biggest potential to profit from AI, Arm Holdings (NASDAQ: ARM) is one of the least frequently mentioned. Don't be fooled, though: It will play a critical role in artificial intelligence's future.
Arm is a semiconductor company -- sort of. It doesn't make chips. Rather, it designs chips and chip components, and then licenses those designs to more familiar chip companies that may use them unaltered, or modify them to suit their purposes. Those chipmakers themselves often punt their manufacturing duties to third-party foundries.
It's possible you're regularly using a smartphone, computer, or other piece of consumer technology with an Arm-based chip inside it without even realizing it, in fact. As of its most recently completed quarter, the company was generating on the order of $4 billion worth of high-margin revenue per year.
But what specifically makes Arm a great artificial intelligence stock pick (besides its 20% pullback from its February peak)?
When AI was in its infancy, the amount of electricity the hardware used wasn't much of a concern -- engineers were simply trying to figure out how to make the tech work. Now that the technology is proven and going mainstream, though, engineers are grappling with the fact that artificial intelligence platforms are very, very power hungry. According to a Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) study, by 2030, the ongoing growth of AI data centers will increase the amount of electrical power drawn by data centers globally by 165% compared to what it was in 2023.
It's not just data centers. The chips in AI-capable smartphones also consume an unusual amount of power, draining batteries' charges at an inconvenient rate.
Well, Arm's chip designs happen to be built from the ground up to be power-efficient. Amazon's Arm-based Graviton processor uses 60% less electricity than comparable chips; Google's Arm-based Axion chip also requires 60% less power than comparable processors.
The importance of this competitive edge isn't always prioritized in an environment where processing speed, capacity, and performance often take center stage. There's a reason, however, that Arm's revenue is expected to grow on the close order of 20% per year for the next three years despite the uncertain macroeconomic backdrop.
2. SoundHound AI
The world's earliest attempts at voice-based interfaces weren't particularly impressive. Although some of them are still around (like voice-commanded phone menus, for which the acceptable response options are fairly limited), many of the higher-level projects using this idea have since been abandoned.
Last year, for example, fast-food chain McDonald's discontinued its use of IBM's automated order-taking tech -- mostly because it never worked quite as well as hoped.
Just don't jump to sweeping conclusions about the idea based on that one decision, though. The underlying tech was actually McDonald's before it was sold to IBM back in 2021 as part of what was more of a cheap experiment than an investment in a whole new profit center that was outside of either company's wheelhouse. Something more purpose-built, atop a more advanced AI platform, could prove more successful.
Enter SoundHound AI (NASDAQ: SOUN).
As its name suggests, SoundHound makes AI-powered voice communications work as was only dreamed of just a few years ago. It has been developing its current propriety AI platform (called Houndify) since 2015, marking the point where mere speech-recognition technology became speech-to-meaning technology, and even speech-to-understanding technology. There's arguably no other player nearly as far along as SoundHound is within the voice-driven sliver of the AI market.
As evidence of this argument, several automakers are also developing their in-car assistance tech around Houndify, while credit card company Mastercard features SoundHound's tech within the automated voice-ordering solution it now offers quick-service restaurants like the aforementioned McDonald's.
It's still not quite in its prime, and many consumers remain a bit hesitant to use automated voice-based interactions for many different aspects of their daily lives. They'll likely come around, though. Market research outfit Market.us believes the worldwide voice-based AI agent market alone will expand at an average annualized pace of nearly 35% through 2034. SoundHound AI is positioned to capture much of this growth.
In fact, it already is. Its first-quarter revenue improved an incredible 151% year over year, accelerating from the 85% growth it reported for the entirety of 2024.
3. BigBear.ai
Finally, add BigBear.ai (NYSE: BBAI) to your list of no-brainer artificial intelligence stocks to buy right now.
To date, most of the market's focus in the AI-powered decision-making software space has been on Palantir Technologies.
And understandably so. Not only did the Centers for Disease Control tap Palantir for help in getting a handle on the COVID-19 pandemic, but several arms of the Department of Defense also rely on its next-generation services to solve next-generation problems. These are high-profile deals. Never even mind the fact that Palantir is the biggest name in the artificial intelligence platform business.
Investment opportunities are relative, though; small companies with lots of growth potential are still capable of producing big gains for investors. There will just be fewer shareholders experiencing them.
BigBear is one such company.
At first glance, it may appear to be a near carbon copy of Palantir. Look deeper, though. BigBear.ai is different by virtue of being largely focused on businesses rather than government institutions. Manufacturing facilities, industrial warehouses, healthcare providers, and biopharma companies are its current core target markets -- although it can and does serve some public sector clients.
Although the private sector tends to make major capital investments at a slower, more methodical pace (since their stakeholders typically require careful care of resources), it's a much bigger opportunity than the government market. That's because AI can ultimately help organizations save money, make money, or both. And of course, both are priorities within the business world.
According to a forecast by Precedence Research, the decision-making piece of the artificial intelligence industry will grow at an average annual pace of 16% per year through 2034.
That doesn't mean this AI stock will always be easy to own in the near or distant future. Not only is BigBear.ai not profitable, its fairly small size means it doesn't enjoy the benefits of scale. It also has relatively few analysts following it and directing investors' attention toward it.
If you can stomach the level of risk and volatility involved, though, this last point might help inspire you to buy: Analysts' current consensus price target of $6.63 for BigBear.ai is nearly twice the stock's present price. That's not a bad tailwind to have while starting a new investment.
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John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. James Brumley has positions in Alphabet. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Goldman Sachs Group, International Business Machines, Mastercard, and Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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