Your complete investing guide to next week's 'AI Woodstock': 3 buys ahead of the event

Published Fri, Mar 15 202411:26 AM EDTUpdated Fri, Mar 15 20241:36 PM EDT

The hottest artificial intelligence event of the year kicks off Monday, setting the stage for key AI players to see sharp moves. Nvidia's GTC Conference, dubbed "AI Woodstock" by Bank of America, offers an opportunity for the company to showcase its latest AI chip innovations and future vision as it labors to maintain its dominance in the field. "We think the major takeaway from the week will be a clear vision to NVIDIA being sold out through 2024, a clear product cycle supporting another growth year in 2025 (B100 and others), and a vibrant ecosystem ripe to monetize the tremendous opportunities as we approach a tipping point in Generative AI," Cantor Fitzgerald analyst C.J. Muse wrote of the event, which will be held in San Jose, California, between Monday and Thursday. The conference comes amid another blowout start to the year for artificial intelligence stocks, as excitement around the buzzing technological trend shows no signs of dwindling. Nvidia has jumped more than 77% this year after a 239% surge in 2023. NVDA YTD mountain Nvidia shares year to date This ongoing momentum and anticipated GTC Conference announcements have led several Wall Street shops to turn more bullish on the stock and lift their price targets in recent weeks, while also upping the ante on a handful of connected names. For example, Bank of America analyst Vivek Arya lifted the firm's target to $1,100, citing its compelling valuation, robust pipeline and growing total addressable market, while Muse boosted his objective to $1,200, reflecting 36% upside from Thursday's close. "Valuation, ownership levels still suggest room for upside," Arya wrote. What to expect Wall Street is bracing for a slew of fresh AI plans next week as Nvidia attempts to build on its leadership position. Arguably the most highly anticipated announcement is Nvidia's next-generation B100 graphics processing unit running on its Blackwell architecture. The product is expected to offer a slew of "architectural innovations" and better performance than Nvidia's flagship H100 chip, wrote New Street's Pierre Ferragu. "Blackwell will be another monster chip, consuming 1,000W of power, possibly requiring liquid cooling, and costing up to $10k to manufacture, which would imply a selling price easily north of $40k," he wrote. According to Wedbush's Matt Bryson, the new chip could benefit the liquid cooling industry that may fuel power-hungry data centers. While Nvidia hasn't announced the use of liquid cooling in the new product, the company's leadership position puts it in a position to "set standards." "As such, we believe any system NVDA announces that includes liquid cooling technology could effectively dictate the path of liquid cooling moving forwards and thereby determining winners and losers in the server and cooling space," Bryson said. Along with the B100 chip, Wall Street is also monitoring details on Nvidia's gaming chip featuring Arm central processing units, its updated ethernet and networking platforms and additional details regarding GPU and AI products beyond 2025. Muse said he expects more details on inference use cases and insights into Nvidia's software opportunity that's "only in the 1st inning." He's also keeping an eye on commentary related to edge AI, noting potential positioning opportunities in areas such as automotive, smartphones and robotics. Edge AI refers to using AI in edge computing , which can enable calculations to be done locally and at a potentially faster pace and cheaper price. NVDA 1Y mountain Nvidia shares over the last year "It is worth noting that NVIDIA typically will only attack markets where they can make a unique contribution — thus, the likely focus of NVIDIA's Edge AI strategy is on where content-rich data is required at the edge," Muse wrote. He said the company can break into this market through partnerships. Stocks that could benefit GTC may be Nvidia's conference, but Nvidia isn't the only stock that could feel a positive lift. One of those companies is GPU competitor Advanced Micro Devices , which has already benefited from AI excitement to the tune of a nearly 30% surge. In a recent note to clients, New Street's Ferragu highlighted the company as one of the best stocks to benefit from AI adoption. Even in the firm's "low case" scenario, AMD could offer at least 13% upside. "On that basis, Nvidia, and more so AMD, remain the best names to play the 'high case' for AI deployments, but Nvidia presents material downside risk if AI buildouts slow after 2025," he wrote. "Such downside would be much more limited for AMD, whereas TSMC, Intel, and Micron would still present attractive upside, even in this 'AI winter' scenario." AMD YTD mountain Shares of Advanced Micro Devices in 2024 Wall Street also anticipates some potential tailwinds for Broadcom , which is also slated to hold an event next week. The stock has rallied about 50% over the last three months and outperformed the PHLX Semiconductor Sector Index as investors ramp up AI bets. "With an expected AI merchant silicon investor day planned during the Nvidia GTC mega event in the Valley we see investor enthusiasm to continue but at a more modest rate as the Street digests how much of the AI dynamic impacts the business model that is more highly non-AI driven," said Rosenblatt's Hans Mosesmann in a March 4 note. In a note Thursday, Bernstein's Stacy Rasgon also highlighted the stock as a top pick in the sector, citing a "robust AI story." Oracle shares could also get a boost following the conference, according to Melius Research's Ben Reitzes. The information technology company teased the partnership with Nvidia earlier this week, saying it would provide details on an expanded relationship at the GTC event. Oracle shares surged nearly 12% on Tuesday to a record close and posted their best day since December 2021 on the back of better-than-expected quarterly results that signaled a rise in demand for AI servers.