KEY POINTS
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Ark Invest says AI software revenue could increase by 42% annually to reach $14 trillion by 2030.
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Salesforce is currently adding new artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to its customer relationship management software.
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The Trade Desk is gaining share in digital advertising due in part to technological excellence, including sophisticated AI software.
These growth stocks could help investors profit from the artificial intelligence boom.
Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest is quite bullish on artificial intelligence (AI), especially where software is concerned because it promises a large increase in labor productivity. Ark analysts believe automation could more than double the output of the average knowledge worker, and for that reason, they expect AI software revenue to increase by 42% annually to reach $14 trillion by 2030.
Many companies will benefit as that tailwind takes shape, but Salesforce (CRM -0.87%) and The Trade Desk (TTD 0.19%) look attractive at their current valuations. Here’s why these superb growth stocks are worth buying.
NYSE: CRM
KEY DATA POINTS
1. Salesforce
Salesforce is the gold standard in customer relationship management (CRM) software. Its platform improves collaboration and productivity across marketing, commerce, sales, and service teams, which ultimately helps businesses win customers and maintain their loyalty over time. That value proposition is relevant to most companies in most industries.
Indeed, CRM software is one of the two largest verticals in the broader enterprise Software-as-a-Service market, the other being enterprise resource planning software. And Salesforce is the undisputed CRM market leader. Its platform accounted for 23% of CRM sales last year, more than the following four vendors combined, and Salesforce reported a greater increase in revenue than any competitor.
That strength has spilled over into the current year, as evidenced by a stellar second-quarter report. Revenue climbed 11% to $8.6 billion, and non-GAAP earnings soared 78% to $2.12 per diluted share. CEO Marc Benioff also said on the earnings call that Salesforce is now the third-largest enterprise software company in the world.
Investors can confidently expect that momentum to persist, partially because CRM sales are forecasted to grow at 14% annually through 2030 and partially because Salesforce is leaning into demand for artificial intelligence software. It recently announced several new products that automate various CRM workflows, as detailed below:
- Sales GPT increases sales team productivity by drafting emails, summarizing sales calls, and updating the CRM platform.
- Service GPT boosts service team efficiency by drafting responses to customer queries and summarizing interactions in the CRM.
- Marketing GPT enhances marketing campaigns by surfacing predictive insights and refining targeting parameters.
- Commerce GPT improves commerce outcomes by providing merchants with actionable insights and engaging buyers with personalized product descriptions.
Going forward, Salesforce should be able to increase revenue at roughly 14% annually (i.e., in line with the broader CRM industry), though it could grow more quickly if its AI products are big hits. In any case, the possibility of revenue growth in the mid-teens makes its current valuation of 6.6 times sales look reasonable. Investors should feel comfortable buying a small position in this growth stock today.
NASDAQ: TTD
KEY DATA POINTS
2. The Trade Desk
The Trade Desk operates an ad tech platform that helps clients create, measure, and optimize data-driven campaigns across digital channels. Its software incorporates what management calls “industry-leading AI” to surface insights and tweak targeting parameters to drive clicks and conversions for marketers.
Quadrant Knowledge Solutions corroborated that assertion to some degree in a report published earlier this year. The consultancy ranked The Trade Desk as the best ad tech platform on the market, citing unmatched technological excellence and a more profound customer impact than other vendors. The latter point alludes to another important distinction.
Trade Desk is the largest independent ad tech company. That means it does not own any web properties and, therefore, has no reason to prefer any specific inventory. By contrast, Alphabet (GOOGL 0.01%) (GOOG 0.01%) owns Google Search, YouTube, and many other web properties, creating a clear incentive to steer ad buyers in that direction. Admittedly, Alphabet has benefited greatly by adopting that strategy — but cracks are beginning to appear, and The Trade Desk is taking market share.
Those share gains continued in the second quarter. Revenue climbed 23% to $464 million, easily topping the 3% ad revenue growth reported by Alphabet. The Trade Desk also generated $33 million in GAAP net income, up from a loss of $33 million in the prior year. CEO Jeff Green said this on the earnings call: “Our relative outperformance over the last few quarters means we have gained more market share than in any other period in our company’s history.”
Looking ahead, ad tech sales are projected to increase at 14% annually through 2030. However, The Trade Desk should be able to grow much faster given its technological excellence and independent business model, which are clearly resonating with media buyers. That makes its current valuation of 24.8 times sales appear reasonable, especially when the three-year average is 29.9 times sales. Investors should buy a small position in this growth stock today and selectively add more shares during corrections.
Before you invest in Salesforce, you need to read this.
AI has the potential to produce several trillion-dollar companies in the future, and The Motley Fool is watching one very closely right now.
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https://www.fool.com/investing/2023/09/10/ai-software-14-trillion-2-growth-stocks-to-buy-now/
