Rishi Jaluria, software equity analyst at RBC Capital Markets, and Frederick Havemeyer, head of U.S. AI and software research at Macquarie, join Market Domination to discuss the best plays for AI outside of the big tech companies and chipmakers.
Havemeyer said cybersecurity companies will benefit from the AI race, singling out CrowdStrike (CRWD) in particular. “They're not selling generative AI, per se, but we think the emergence of generative AI makes it easier for attackers to exploit a lot of things,” he explained. He said CrowdStrike is well-positioned to defend against such attacks.
Jarria calls Zoom (ZM) an “underrated AI play,” because the company uses its AI technology as a tool to help sales and HR professionals analyze their behavior. “We're thinking about those use cases and also looking to verticalize for contact centers, where Zoom has been very successful,” he explains.
For more expert insights and the latest market trends, click here to watch this entire episode of Market Domination.
This post was written by Melanie Leal
video transcript
We know you like Microsoft.
Well, even before this latest event, you two have outperformed the ratings at that event.
Fred, you know a few cybersecurity companies, including CrowdStrike, so I'd like to explore some of the others.
You know, we've heard some stories out of Palo Alto recently that have made investors a little worried.
Do you think things like crowd strikes could benefit from AI as it relates to cybersecurity?
Or is it a more general cybersecurity measure?
So we think the crowd is really benefiting.
Although generative AI itself is not for sale, I think generative AI is becoming more and more popular as a trend.
We believe that the advent of generative AI is making it much easier for attackers to exploit different things – phishing attacks, for example, are becoming much more sophisticated.
Well, attackers who want to build software are also getting a boost and can now use generative AI to build malware more effectively.
By securing endpoints and protecting devices as the last line of defense against any attack that penetrates any security, Crowdstrike is well-positioned to defend against entirely new and unknown threats likely to emerge with the advent of generative AI. We believe that there is.
In terms of exposure based on the overall trend towards generative AI in the cybersecurity space, CrowdStrike is our top choice The name Rishi 11 is intriguing.
So you introduced Apple Forms on top of Microsoft CRM.
So Fanella and Benioff and Richie Like Zoom have also had an uphill battle in the red over the past 12 months.
Why buy Zoom A here?
Well, I think Zoom has some really interesting capabilities around AI, and when you think about video and audio, non-verbal communication, there's so much unstructured data, so I think Zoom has a really interesting roadmap.
I actually think it's been a great hire from Microsoft, and I really like the kind of thought leadership that Zoom has shown around their Federated AI approach.
Well, if you think about something like sales coaching, you can tell your salespeople to stop wandering around and make eye contact with the prospect because they're not making eye contact.
When you're interviewing, this body language suggests that the candidate may be mistaken, lying, or having trouble with a follow-up question or two.
Well, I think about those use cases, and I also think about the vertical use cases for contact centers, where Zoom has been very successful.
I think Zoom is an underrated play on AI in my book, but I love how it helps us become more human and interact better with other humans.
This is kind of a fascinating offshoot of all of this.
There are 11 more. We both love the sales force. Michelle briefly explains this and then hears Fred's opinion. Why do you think this is useful here?
In other words, there are also exogenous events happening to this stock, such as activist pressure.
Yeah.
Hmm, I think my bullishness on Salesforce has to do with the self-help element of this story.
I think there will be significant margin expansion from here.
Well, there are still plenty of cost savings to be made.
They can bring more efficiency to the organization.
So this stock feels very undervalued to me.
And I think from an AI perspective, there are advantages to numbers, there are advantages to plurality.
I think maybe I have a slightly contrarian opinion on this matter.
Theoretically, when it comes to AI, you want sales people to get more out of their talent, and AI could be a huge benefit as the sales system of record.
People and marketers all rely on this platform every day, and it's a huge platform with a large ecosystem, but the AI roadmap is showing so much innovation that it's comparable to HubSpot (a.k.a.). I can't find it yet. I really like that they're showing a lot of innovation on the CRM front.
So I think Salesforce has a lot of work left to do in the AI space.
Okay, Fred, I want to hear your opinion quickly.
Well, I think I quite agree with the way Rishi has approached this matter.
In the big picture of the software space, um Microsoft, of course we talked about great things.
To me, services now stand out as one of the best options for generative AI in portfolio sales forces.
I really love it, I think there's an opportunity here to really infuse generative AIAI across the entire sales rep stack and make sellers' customer service agents and so on even more powerful.
I would like to see them offer more features and I think it is possible.
And in the meantime, I think the overall margin expansion story with steady revenue growth is what keeps this stock very attractive and keeps me bullish on the company.
