5 big analyst AI moves: Microsoft seen as a 'clear-cut winner in AI', AMD upgraded

investing.com:

Here are the biggest analyst moves in the area of artificial intelligence (AI) for this week.

InvestingPro subscribers always get first dibs on market-moving AI analsyt comments.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) held a developer AI tour event in New York City last week and analysts were once again impressed by the company’s advance on the AI front.

For Barclays, the event was another piece of evidence that “Microsoft is a clear-cut winner in AI and has lots of runway to further monetize new and existing products.”

“[We] came away incrementally positive on the progress Microsoft is making in its AI offerings… While today's event did not feature any new announcements, the strong developer turnout (>3,000 attendees), as well as interest in a variety of Microsoft products (both Copilot and others) demonstrated to us that Microsoft is capturing incremental mind share amongst enterprise customers,” Barclays analysts said.

Wolfe Research strategists weighed in on the most powerful stocks theme at the moment – AI. Their analysis shows that six prominent large-cap companies, poised to reap significant benefits from AI advancements, have collectively contributed +210 basis points (bps) to the S&P 500's year-to-date return of +268 bps.

Within the industry landscape, Semiconductors have stood out as the top-performing group. Companies positioned as major beneficiaries of AI advancements within this sector are anticipated to experience substantial additional advantages in the coming months.

“While expectations appear to be very high, our sense is that the biggest AI beneficiaries are likely to outperform until AI-related earnings expectations start to turn downward. In our view, this is unlikely to occur unless a broad-based