We are only at the beginning, but theArtificial Intelligence (Ai) is bound to impact our lives and the economy, expert estimates leave no doubt about it. The expected increase in productivity, in the event of its widespread adoption, is estimated by economists Goldman Sachs up to 1.5 percentage points per year over a 10-year period, an impact, they point out, comparable to the productivity booms achieved with the adoption of electricity and the PC/internet. The consulting firm McKinsey Instead, it identified 63 possible uses of Generative AI across 16 business functions that, if applied across industries, could deliver between $2.6 trillion and $4.4 trillion in economic benefits annually, for comparison. , UK 2021 GDP was $3.1 trillion.
Artificial intelligence represents an investment opportunity, but the AI “fever” has already set in on the stock exchangesince the beginning of the yearindice Stoxx Global Artificial Intelligence has grown by more than 52% (as of July 27th expressed in dollars with net dividends reinvested), vs +16,5% of the general index from which it derives, lo Stoxx World AC All Cap Index. The companies that make up this index operate in four different areas identified within the theme Ai, big data, cloud computing, semiconductors and artificial intelligence applications, but to be responsible for almost half of the performance, reads the blog of Qontigo, the group company German Stock Exchange which processes the indexes Stoxx and Dax, are two titles. The first is Nvidia (+214%), whose systems help manage AI worldwide and whose second-quarter revenue expectations were 50% higher than analyst forecasts, thanks to the growth of accelerated computing and AI generative; the second is Metaplatforms (+159%) which implemented artificial intelligence on its platforms to increase engagement and make advertising more efficient.
If we can take it for granted that artificial intelligence will continue to dominate the world of work moving forward, he noted Giorgio Broggi, quantitative analyst at Moneyfarm, the list of companies that will benefit from this turning point is less clear, the history of the great industrial revolutions is always dotted with companies that are born, swell, explode and are forgotten. “We may see many meteors erupt before we discover the Googles and Amazons of the fourth industrial revolution, if any,” he wrote in a recent note. “Not a small risk in a market where the price/earnings valuations of some specialized companies reach exorbitant figures with ratios of over 30/40 points, against an average of around 25 for the tech sector”.
Andamento dell’indice Stoxx Global Artificial Intelligence (Usd net return)
They are in a similar position Ross Cartwright e George Fontaine di Mfs Im: “When it comes to Ai, it’s not yet clear who will get on the bandwagon. Given how quickly technology is improving, the latest in technology will gradually capture our attention, but, as with many other technologies, first to market will not necessarily be the long-term winner.” At the moment, they explain, the attention of Mfs focuses on the tool providers – the companies enabling the technology and benefiting from the increased spend through AI platforms.
“Active investors can potentially benefit from understanding where this technology can improve margins by generating higher revenues while reducing operating costs.” In Ubs they do not believe that artificial intelligence is a speculative bubble, but they recommend investors to consider companies with clear monetization trends. Most of the spending related to AI, they observe, appears to be concentrated in the infrastructure component, centered on semiconductors and hardware, given the need to build and “train” huge datasets, but with the greatest signs of expanding demand expect the applications and data models segment to emerge as the dominant force in the medium to long term. “We think the risk-reward ratio is most attractive for software stocks, which we believe are well positioned to ride on broadening AI demand trends. We see significant opportunities in the coming quarters such as integrating AI “co-pilots” into office productivity software, growing demand for big data analytics, and integrating AI into image/video and other business applications”.