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BigBear.ai has become an AI investor darling over the past few years.
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Nvidia is the leading artificial intelligence semiconductor company.
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There's no substitute for high revenue growth and profitability — and Nvidia has both.
Many investors are focused on artificial intelligence stocks these days, which can be a smart play as AI transforms many industries. But it's starting to seem like any AI stock is a winner in the market right now, which means some investors may not be doing their due diligence when evaluating companies.
With that in mind, two AI companies with surging share prices right now are Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) and BigBear.ai (NYSE: BBAI), and it may be worth taking a closer look at both to see which one looks like the better AI stock to buy right now.
Nvidia gets top billing in this matchup because the company has experienced monster growth over the past few years as companies clamor for its artificial intelligence semiconductors. An estimated 70% to 95% of data centers utilize Nvidia's AI processors, and there seems to be no slowing down for the company's growth.
For example, Nvidia's total sales soared 114% in fiscal 2025 to $130.5 billion, and its earnings skyrocketed 147% to $2.94 per share. This growth has been fueled by the company's data center segment, which experienced a 142% revenue surge to $115 billion last year.
The impressive earnings and revenue growth have resulted in Nvidia's stock surging 57% over the past year. That's pushed the company's valuation higher, and Nvidia's shares currently have a price-to-earnings multiple of about 56. That's not cheap, but it's still lower than the average P/E ratio of 64 in the semiconductor industry right now.
What's more, Nvidia could continue to benefit from AI investments for many more years to come. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang believes AI will fuel $2 trillion in data center spending over the next several years. While Nvidia's growth isn't guaranteed, many tech giants have already committed to spending hundreds of billions of dollars to expand their AI data centers over the next few years. That's creating an ongoing opportunity for Nvidia to continue increasing its sales.
BigBear.ai is an AI data analytics company that helps companies and the U.S. government sort through their data to make decisions. AI analytics is a burgeoning AI trend, and it has propelled the stock of similar companies, like Palantir, into the stratosphere. BigBear.ai's stock, for its part, has jumped 323% over the past year.
