For some companies that focus on AI, it may not be worth the trouble.
Excitement about artificial intelligence (AI) has taken Wall Street by storm in recent years. This technology is transforming the world and creating compelling opportunities for investors in the process. Investing in companies that can take advantage of the AI wave in some way can lead to big returns in the long run.
However, not all AI stocks are created equal. Consider three AI stocks currently on the market. Two of them are attractive options and one is not.
Image source: Getty Images.
meta platform
meta platform (meta 0.09%) has invested heavily in AI, and so far its strategy has had a significant impact on its financial results. The social media giant has seen strong sales and profit growth in recent years, in part because the AI-powered algorithms on its websites and apps help increase engagement. The more time Meta Platforms users spend on Instagram, for example, the more attractive the website becomes to advertisers. The time you spend is important, but so is how you spend that time.
Deeper engagement allows the Meta platform to collect more data about user habits, which can help businesses create more targeted and impactful advertising campaigns. Meta Platforms has invested heavily in AI infrastructure, which has some investors concerned. As a result, the company’s stock price fell after the third quarter results were announced.
Today’s changes
(-0.09%) $-0.55
current price
$620.25
Key data points
Market capitalization
$1.6 trillion
daily range
$620.08 – $629.08
52 week range
$479.80 – $796.25
volume
17M
average volume
18M
gross profit
82.00%
dividend yield
0.34%
But Mehta is betting that the investment will pay for itself, and even if it doesn’t, the technology leader should be able to pivot relatively quickly. Meta Platforms once made a similar bet that its Metaverse ambitions would come true. Although it didn’t, the company was able to cut expenses and costs and get back on its feet relatively quickly.
In my opinion, the most important thing about the Meta Platform is that with an ecosystem of over 3.5 billion daily active users and strong network effects across websites and apps, there are many monetization opportunities that can be leveraged beyond the core advertising business.
And the company’s investments in AI could ultimately lead to significant monetization opportunities beyond advertising, perhaps through initiatives like Meta AI. In short, Metaplatform remains an attractive AI stock investment to consider in 2026.
apple
apple (AAPL 1.04%) It has not benefited from AI as much as some similarly sized technology companies. However, the company’s latest iPhone 17 has proven to be a huge success. That’s partly thanks to the various AI features the device has. The iPhone 17 heralds a robust update cycle for the company. Revenue growth over the past two quarters has been the best in three years, and judging from Apple’s guidance, things will only get better.
AAPL Revenue (Quarterly YoY Growth) Data by YCharts
The company projects double-digit revenue growth for the next quarter, a milestone the technology leader hasn’t achieved in years.
Apple continues to invest in AI to power its devices, thereby attracting more users and expanding its installed base. With more than 2 billion devices in circulation, Apple also has huge monetization opportunities through its services division, a high-margin segment that has grown faster than its other businesses for years.
Apple’s long-term prospects with this strategy remain strong, and AI will play its part by helping the company introduce nifty features to its devices, attracting more users and expanding its installed base.
Today’s changes
(-1.04%) $-2.68
current price
$255.53
Key data points
Market capitalization
$3.8 trillion
daily range
$254.93 – $258.90
52 week range
$169.21 – $288.62
volume
72M
average volume
46M
gross profit
46.91%
dividend yield
0.40%
recursion medicine
recursion medicine (RXRX +0.65%) is a small pharmaceutical company with big goals. The company aims to revolutionize the way medicines are developed. Through its AI-powered operating system (OS), the company runs millions of virtual experiments testing different compounds against a library of human genes and predicts which ones are most promising to send to clinical trials.
Currently, the process of moving a drug from discovery to clinical research to approval can take more than a decade and cost more than $1 billion. Recursion Pharmaceuticals claims its approach has the potential to significantly reduce the time and money that pharmaceutical and biotech companies spend on research and development (R&D).
recursion medicine
Today’s changes
(0.65%) $0.03
current price
$4.67
Key data points
Market capitalization
$2.4 billion
daily range
$4.55 – $4.88
52 week range
$3.79 – $12.36
volume
21M
average volume
33M
gross profit
-16039.74%
If we succeed, everyone will benefit. Medicines get to patients faster and at a lower cost, and pharmaceutical companies spend less and earn higher profits. That’s fine.
But Recursion doesn’t have a product on the market yet, so it’s hard to argue that its approach is effective. Additionally, none of the candidates are currently in Phase 3 studies. Worse, so do other companies, including some much larger than Recursion Pharmaceuticals. Eli Lilly — is also currently committed to AI drug discovery, which would undermine Recursion’s efforts since one of the company’s goals is to eventually license its OS to other drug companies.
Bottom line: Recursion Pharmaceuticals is a very risky stock, and those who aren’t comfortable with this level of risk should look elsewhere.
