AMD is down today. Is this an opportunity to buy artificial intelligence (AI) stocks?
advanced micro devices (AMD -4.84%) Shares fell in Tuesday trading. Shares of the semiconductor company ended the daily session down 4.8%, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. nvidiaIts main rival in the graphics processing unit (GPU) space was actually up 1.1% in the session.
There was no specific business news to push AMD stock lower today, but the company’s stock has been on a downward trend since the opening of Nvidia’s GPU Technology Conference (GTC) yesterday. Good news about Nvidia stock has often helped boost bullish sentiment toward AMD stock, even though the two companies are competitors.
Nvidia posted modest gains in Tuesday trading and analysts seemed excited about the next-generation Blackwell chips the company unveiled yesterday, but other popular artificial intelligence (AI) stocks were down today. Investors seem to be betting that AI stock prices will surge following GTC’s announcement. When that didn’t materialize for AMD, some investors decided to sell their stock.
Are you buying AMD stock now?
AMD has been on a tear over the past year. Investors have been pouring into stocks in anticipation of potentially large-scale AI-related demand coming soon. Despite today’s valuation drop, the company’s stock price is still up 23% for all of 2024 trading and about 85% over last year.
But while Nvidia has seen explosive sales and profit growth as businesses and institutions purchase GPUs to run artificial intelligence applications, AI has yet to fuel significant growth for AMD. For reference, AMD’s sales increased by about 10% in the fourth quarter of last year compared to the previous year, and interim guidance predicts that sales will be almost stagnant in the first quarter of this year. Meanwhile, NVIDIA’s sales increased 265% in the fourth quarter compared to the same period last year, and is leading the way with about 234% growth in the first quarter of this year.
For long-term investors, building a position in AMD stock still appears to be a worthwhile move, with artificial intelligence likely leading to accelerated growth later this year. However, the stock actually appears riskier than Nvidia because its prospects in the AI space are more speculative.
Keith Noonan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.