2 Unstoppable Stocks The debate among Wall Street experts about the official stock market classification is currently making headlines. Back in June 2022, the benchmark S&P 500 index took a dip, closing at a 20% deficit from its all-time high. It was widely agreed that this marked the onset of a bear market. The descent continued until October, but since then, the market has displayed a more optimistic outlook. As a matter of fact, the S&P 500 currently trades approximately 19.4% higher than its October low (and even reached as high as 28.2% in late July).
This surge led analysts, including those at Bank of America Securities, to declare the initiation of a new bull market. However, not all experts concur on what truly defines a bull market; some insist that the index must reclaim its previous all-time high before the bear market phases out.
Regardless of the ongoing debate, history has consistently shown that the S&P 500 scales new heights over time. With this in mind, investors should focus on acquiring high-quality stocks for the long term. When the next bull market officially arrives, they will be in a prime position to reap the benefits. Here, we present 2 Unstoppable Stocks that warrant your immediate attention.
2 Unstoppable Stocks
1. Oracle’s Dominance in the World of AI
Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) stands as one of America’s most venerable technology companies, with a founding date in 1977. Initially known for its database management software, Oracle has consistently led the charge in technological advancements. From the early days of the internet to the widespread acceptance of cloud computing, it is now at the forefront of the rapid ascent of artificial intelligence (AI).
A decade ago, cloud computing software and services constituted a mere 20% of Oracle’s total revenue. Today, this figure has surged to an impressive 83%. The cloud empowers businesses to rent computing capabilities in centralized data centers managed by providers like Oracle, facilitating online operations and customer reach. This places Oracle in a strong position in the AI domain because developers require access to data stored on their preferred cloud platform to create, train, and deploy applications.
Additionally, Oracle has partnered with the renowned AI chip provider Nvidia to power its data centers. In a recent statement, Larry Ellison, Oracle’s co-founder and chairman, proclaimed that his company possesses the world’s highest-performance and lowest-cost graphics processing unit (GPU) cluster technology. He further emphasized that Oracle’s interconnected Nvidia superclusters are capable of training AI models at double the speed and half the cost compared to other cloud providers. This has attracted generative AI startups and development firms, resulting in $4 billion worth of capacity contracts in the first quarter, doubling the $2 billion figure from the prior quarter.
Although Oracle’s Q1 results saw overall revenue grow by only 9% year over year, the company disclosed a backlog of $65 billion in performance obligations across its businesses, surpassing supply capabilities. Oracle anticipates a surge in growth in the upcoming quarters as it strives to build more data centers to meet the growing demand. Despite a 13% decline from its all-time high following Q1 results, Oracle represents a compelling opportunity for investment in anticipation of a stronger performance in the near future.
2. Palo Alto Networks Leading the Cybersecurity Realm
Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a frontrunner in one of the most vital industries of our time – cybersecurity. As businesses increasingly transition to online operations with the assistance of cloud providers like Oracle, their valuable data, applications, and digital assets become susceptible to round-the-clock cyber threats. Palo Alto Networks is pivotal in providing cybersecurity software, and it is progressively incorporating AI to bolster its customer protection.
Remarkably, Palo Alto estimates that 93% of security operations centers still depend on human-led processes, making them ill-prepared to tackle the constant barrage of daily threats. Shockingly, around 23% of security alerts go ignored and uninvestigated, leaving organizations exposed to enormous vulnerabilities. To rectify this, Palo Alto deploys artificial intelligence to automate incident response and alleviate some of the investigative workload from human operators.
AI’s effectiveness hinges on data, and Palo Alto has harnessed this power. It serves over 80,000 global businesses, with sensors installed in 48,000 of them, collecting a staggering 4.8 petabytes (4,800 terabytes) of data daily. This data feeds into precision AI models, enabling automated incident responses and generative AI models for vulnerability identification.
Palo Alto firmly believes that AI will dominate its product portfolio’s future. In fiscal 2023, the company invested a substantial $1.6 billion in research and development and successfully integrated AI into 35 products across its core segments: cloud security, network security, and security operations. By comparison, one of its main competitors, CrowdStrike, spent a mere $705 million on research and development over the same period.
While Palo Alto has introduced over 180 new major products in the last four years, those powered by AI constitute only a fraction of its entire portfolio. A telling statistic is the reduction in the time it takes for hackers to breach a network and steal data, with the timeline shrinking from 44 days in 2021 to just a few hours in recent times. Palo Alto predicts that these rapid attacks will cost businesses a staggering $8 trillion this year.
In light of this, the demand for AI-driven cybersecurity is expected to surge in the coming years. This potentially marks the start of a substantial investment cycle in technology, resulting in significant customer acquisitions and robust revenue growth for Palo Alto.
Although Palo Alto stock reached an all-time high of $257.88 earlier this year, it subsequently saw an 11% dip, largely attributed to seasonal market fluctuations. Nevertheless, this decline presents a prime opportunity for investors, irrespective of the official commencement of the next bull market.2 Unstoppable Stocks 2 Unstoppable Stocks 2 Unstoppable Stocks 2 Unstoppable Stocks 2 Unstoppable Stocks 2 Unstoppable Stocks 2 Unstoppable Stocks