John Chambers, CEO of Cisco, at the 2015 CGI Annual Meeting in New York.
Adam Jeffery | CNBC
Artificial intelligence will power the stock market for the next decade, former Cisco CEO John Chambers told CNBC on Wednesday.
Chambers, who is also the founder and CEO of JC2 Ventures, said that AI will not only determine the winners and losers of the tech sector, but that shares related to the technology will likely outperform non-AI stocks about three to one on returns.
“AI will power the stock market for the next decade,” Chambers told CNBC’s Karen Tso on the sidelines of the VivaTech conference in Paris.
“I think the overall question if you’re an investor and you an invest in a portfolio of AI stocks, and [if]you did it consistently over the next five to 10 years, you’re going to do very well.”
Chambers said 38% of venture capital in the U.S. in the first quarter went into AI stocks. He expects that to increase to “way over” 50%, while assessing that 12% of venture capital went into AI stocks in Europe over the first-quarter period.
AI chipmaker Nvidia has seen its stock soar fivefold since the end of 2022. after more than doubling in 2023. The jump in demand for AI-related products has prompted much of the firm’s rally.
Chambers compared Nvidia’s place in the AI market to Cisco’s positionin the internet market. “If you watch Nvidia’s sales, that’s going to be very indicative of what’s occurring overall,” he said.
Maurice Lévy, chairman of Publicis, stressed that an AI “transformation” will take place, as the technology undoubtedly eliminates some jobs, while at the same time creating more value-added roles.
“We don’t expect to see a net negative, we expect to see a net positive,” Lévy told CNBC on Wednesday. “And the companies that will adopt AI, the earlier they will do it, the more they will grow, and the more they will create jobs with really some great added value.”
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite rose to fresh record highs on Tuesday, as investors await earnings from Nvidia. The Nasdaq Composite has climbed around 12% this year.
“AI is the reason the stock market has moved so dramatically in the last 12 months,” Chambers said. “The European stocks and FTSE were slower to move, but they’ve been positive the last six months.”
“I think AI will be like the internet, except three to five times more powerful. It will change your life in every way.”
Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen speaks during an interview with CNBC on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange on Feb. 20, 2024.
Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters
Adobe shares surged 15% on Friday, the biggest gain since March 2020, after the software maker reported earnings and revenue that beat analysts’ estimates.
After the bell on Thursday, Adobe reportedadjusted earnings per share of $4.48, topping the LSEG consensus estimate of $4.39 per share. Revenue increased 10% from a year earlier to $5.31 billion, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $5.29 billion.
CEO Shantanu Narayen attributed Adobe’s record revenue to its strong growth across Creative Cloud, Document Cloud and Experience Cloud and its advancements in artificial intelligence.
“Our highly differentiated approach to AI and innovative product delivery are attracting an expanding universe of customers and providing more value to existing users,” Narayen said in a press release on Thursday.
New annualized recurring revenue for the Digital Media business, which includes Creative Cloud subscriptions, came in at $487 million, beating the StreetAccount consensus of $437.4 million.
Adobe’s results provide a contrast to what software investors have seen from many industry peers of late. Salesforce shares suffered their worst plunge since 2004 late last month after the cloud software vendor posted weaker-than-expected revenue and issued disappointing guidance. That same week, MongoDB, SentinelOne, UiPath and Veeva all pulled down their full-year revenue forecasts.
However, there were positive signs in the sector this week. Oracle shares rallied after the database company announced cloud deals with Google and OpenAI, even as fourth-quarter results fell short of Wall Street expectations. CrowdStrike jumped on Monday following the announcement after the close last Friday that the cybersecurity company would be added to the S&P 500.
JMP analysts, who have the equivalent of a hold rating on Adobe, wrote in a note after the earnings report that the company’s results were uplifting despite a challenging economic environment and increased competition in design software.
“We like how Adobe is integrating AI functionality across its product portfolio,” the analysts wrote.
Meanwhile, analysts from Piper Sandler raised their revenue estimates slightly by $73 million for fiscal 2024 and by $71 million for 2025.
“Customer reactions to recent innovations were encouraging, as increasing availability of AI-powered solutions are expected to drive further user acquisition” and better average revenue per user, wrote the Piper Sandler analysts, who recommend buying the stock.
Even after Friday’s rally, Adobe shares remain down 12% for the year. The stock closed at $525.31.
Tempus AI, a health-care diagnostics company that uses AI to interpret medical tests to help physicians provide more accurate treatment for their patients, rose by as much as 15% in its Nasdaq Stock Market trading debut on Friday, after going public under the ticker symbol “TEM.”
Tempus AI priced 11.1 million shares at $37 apiece on Thursday, at the top of its initial $35 to $37 target range. The company raised $410 million at an implied valuation of just over $6 billion. Its early gains, if they hold, would place the company at a valuation of roughly $7 billion.
Tempus believes that AI can help guide therapy selection and treatment decisions, in conjunction with the patient’s doctor. It generated total revenue of $531.8 million in 2023 and a net loss of $214.1 million.
“We’re on a really good trajectory,” Tempus AI CEO Eric Lefkofsky said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Friday morning before shares started trading. “As revenues have been growing quickly, we’re not investing all that gross profit dollar growth back into the business. We’re generating improved leverage every quarter,” he said, adding that he expects the company to be both cash flow and EBITDA positive within the next year.
More coverage of the 2024 CNBC Disruptor 50
Tempus AI is applying some of the most heavily-funded technology concepts — artificial intelligence and data analysis — to building a better, more informed medical profession. The lack of diagnostic testing early in the Covid-19 outbreak was an example of how a system as mature as our health-care infrastructure can still be unprepared for the future.
The Chicago-based company said in its IPO filing, “we endeavor to unlock the true power of precision medicine by creating Intelligent Diagnostics through the practical application of artificial intelligence, or AI, in healthcare. Intelligent Diagnostics use AI, including generative AI, to make laboratory tests more accurate, tailored, and personal. We make tests intelligent by connecting laboratory results to a patient’s own clinical data, thereby personalizing the results.”
The two-time CNBC Disruptor 50 company’s at-home testing kit was quickly rolled out during the pandemic, but the problem Tempus is attacking is not Covid-specific. The Tempus idea came to Lefkofsky, also known for co-founding Groupon, during frustration with the health-care system after his wife received a breast cancer diagnosis. Oncology is a primary focus and the company’s genomic tests are designed to understand tumors at the molecular level and tailor treatment to individuals.
Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan and Allen & Company were the lead underwriters for Tempus AI’s offering.
Investors include Google, Baillie Gifford, Franklin Templeton, NEA and T. Rowe Price, according to PitchBook data.
— CNBC’s Bob Pisani contributed to this reporting.
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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaks during the Microsoft Build conference at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington, on May 21, 2024.
Jason Redmond | AFP | Getty Images
Microsoft will no longer ship Recall, an artificial intelligence tool that tracks user activity, when the company releases the Copilot+ PC next week, it announced in a blog post on Thursday following concerns about privacy and security.
The company wrote that Recall will shift from being a “broadly available” tool to a preview feature available only through the Windows Insiders Program, or WIP, when the new computer is released on June 18. Microsoft plans to make the AI feature available on all Copilot+ PCs soon after they receive feedback through WIP.
“This decision is rooted in our commitment to providing a trusted, secure and robust experience for all customers,” Windows Corporate Vice President Pavan Davuluri wrote in the blog post.
Microsoft first introduced the Copilot+ PC on May 20 as a computer designed to run advanced AI programs, including Recall. Recall is an AI tool that regularly takes screenshots to create a record of activity, allowing users to search for their previous actions.
Recall became a source of controversy soon after it was announced. Industry experts have expressed concern over the potential for hackers to develop tools that can retrieve user information, including usernames and passwords.
In response to the backlash, Microsoft initially announced that the Recall feature would be turned off by default, requiring users to opt in. The company also implemented additional security protections, including an encrypted search database and a requirement that Recall users enroll in Windows Hello, which has users prove their identity through a PIN, fingerprint or facial recognition.
Microsoft’s decision to delay Recall follows heightened concerns around security as the AI field evolves rapidly. Last month, a U.S. government review board criticized the company’s handling of China’s breach of U.S. government officials’ email accounts.