What are well-heeled investors buying nowadays? As we’ll discover, some of them are taking share positions in machine-learning software specialist C3.ai (NYSE:AI). There’s conviction in AI stock as it provides direct exposure to the artificial intelligence (AI) market, which has strong upside potential.
2023 might be remembered as the year when machine learning was thrust into the mainstream consciousness. The popularity of OpenAI’s chatbot platform, ChatGPT, has put companies like C3.ai into the limelight this year.
Don’t misunderstand — just because some big-money firms are betting on C3.ai, doesn’t necessarily mean you should follow suit. Yet, if billions of dollars are flowing into C3.ai and into machine learning in general, it’s worthwhile to investigate this trend. At the end of the day, you might even think about wagering some of your own capital on C3.ai.
5 Investors Betting Big on AI Stock
You might not have billions of dollars available to take a share position in C3.ai. However, regulatory filings reveal that these firms are (or at least, were) among C3.ai’s mega-sized shareholders.
- Vanguard: A gigantic position of 9.14 million AI stock shares, which equates to 8.41% of the outstanding shares.
- BlackRock (NYSE:BLK): 5.45 million C3.ai shares, representing 5.01% of C3.ai’s outstanding shares.
- State Street (NYSE:STT): 1.66 million AI shares, which translates to 1.53% of the outstanding shares.
- Citadel Advisors: A sizable stake totaling 1.04 million C3.ai shares, or 0.96% of the outstanding shares.
- Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS): A position consisting of approximately 826,000 shares, comprising 0.76% of C3.ai’s outstanding shares.
C3.ai Is a Serious Contender in the Fast-Developing AI Market
What do these big financial firms see in C3.ai? Clearly, they’re taking share positions because they envision a strong future for machine learning.
C3.ai is among the best-known and most successful contenders in the AI industry. Impressively, the company raked in $66.7 million in revenue during the third quarter of fiscal 2023, thereby exceeding C3.ai’s guidance range of $63 million to $65 million.
In addition, C3.ai CEO Thomas Siebel expects his company to “become cash positive and non-GAAP profitable by the end of” fiscal 2024. That’s not Siebel’s only prediction, though. The chief executive also anticipates that AI “soon be a $600 billion addressable software market.” It’s easy to imagine that C3.ai will grow in tandem with this niche segment; after all, the company is “the largest application player” in the generative AI space, according to Siebel.
Consider AI Stock for an Accelerating Machine Learning Market
There’s certainly no guarantee that the AI market will reach a value of $600 billion “soon,” which Siebel predicts. On the other hand, you might regret it if the C3.ai CEO’s forecast is right and you didn’t have enough exposure to the machine learning industry.
Thus, it makes sense to pick a high-confidence AI company and consider a share position today. Some financial whales are already investing billions of dollars in C3.ai, so feel free to take an appropriately sized stake in AI stock for your own portfolio.
On the date of publication, David Moadel did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.