Fabrinet (FN): This Industrial Stock Is Already Riding the AI Wave

We recently compiled a list of the 20 Industrial Stocks Already Riding the AI Wave. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Fabrinet (NYSE:FN) stands against the other industrial stocks that are already riding the AI wave.

When investors think of artificial intelligence (AI), they usually relate the thought to prominent hardware and software companies working in the technology sector. However, a much wider understanding of AI is needed in order to pick out the best stocks that are likely to ride the AI wave as it evolves over time. Contrary to public opinion, one of the smartest ways of jumping on the AI bandwagon is by playing the industrial sector. Since the start of 2023, the beginning of the AI boom in other words, industrial stocks have jumped close to 30% in value. Of these, the firms that are directly exposed to AI verticals have more than doubled in value. According to a Goldman Sachs study on the matter, in the fourth quarter of 2023, over 30% of industrial firms mentioned AI in their earnings reports, up from just 10% in the same period the preceding year.

In addition to the obvious picks in the semiconductor space, investors should turn their attention towards industrial firms that provide construction, engineering, electronics, cooling, and connectivity services. Even though these firms derive only a portion of their revenue from AI at the present, the explosive growth potential of AI can be a meaningful driver of their revenues in the coming months. Indeed, some indications of this can be gleaned from the fact that industrial firms linked to AI grew their revenues by almost 15% last year. This number is comfortably above their non-AI peers and the S&P 500 average for 2023. Industrial firms help manage the computational powers of AI data centers, make high speed connections possible, and also make sure they operate at optimal temperatures.

Lazar Naiker, an analyst at capital markets firm AGF Investments, explains how traditional data centers are different from AI ones. Essentially, AI data centers are powered by graphic processing units (GPUs), while their traditional counterparts are powered by central processing units (CPUs). GPUs operate at a faster speed and thus need higher bandwidth cables for communication with other GPUs. There is a 10 to 1 difference in the number of cables needed to power GPUs and CPUs. AI applications require constant communication between data center GPUs as well, the development of neural networks, so to speak, whereas this is not the case for CPUs. Another key difference is power consumption. Per Naiker, the GPU uses almost 5 times the power required by a CPU.

Our Methodology

For this article, we selected industrial stocks that posted more than 25% gains in 2024. From this list, we selected firms that have links to the AI universe and approximated percentage revenues based on these links. These stocks are also popular among hedge funds. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).

An automated assembly line displaying the advanced packaging technology used by the company.

Fabrinet (NYSE:FN)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 33

YTD Return as of August 1: 16%

Approximate Percentage Revenue from AI: 37%

Fabrinet (NYSE:FN) provides optical packaging and precision optical, electro-mechanical, and electronic manufacturing services. The company makes fiber-optic cables that are used to power telecommunications, AI data centers, and even the Internet across the world. Even though demand for telecom remains relatively soft, the AI buzz has served to offset these concerns. The datacom business of the company, which revolves around cable provision for AI data centers, has grown rapidly in the past two years. Starting from just $88 million per quarter in 2022, the firm recently revealed that datacom revenue had jumped to more than $305 million.

In the third quarter earnings call, Seamus Grady, the CEO of Fabrinet (NYSE:FN), underlined how this 150% jump in datacom revenue had benefited from the rise in demand for 800 gigs technology for AI applications. NVIDIA, one of the biggest winners of the AI craze, is the flagship customer for Fabrinet. The latter powers the data centers of the former with optical cables and electro-mechanical manufacturing services.

In its Q1 2024 investor letter, First Pacific Advisors, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Fabrinet (NYSE:FN) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:

“Fabrinet (NYSE:FN) is a contract manufacturer of components and modules. The company has a dominant position in hard-to-replicate precision-manufacturing technologies and an enviable track record of execution. The majority of Fabrinet’s sales are to networking equipment manufacturers but it has been successfully diversifying into the data center, industrial, auto, and medical end-markets. FN’s stock jumped after reporting June 2023 earnings – datacenter sales increased 50% sequentially and more than 100% over the previous year, driven by their 800-gigabyte transceivers for Artificial Intelligence applications. The company also announced that Nvidia is a 10%+ customer.

Fabrinet was a top-five holding in the Fund before its June 2023 earnings announcement. Since then, the stock has appreciated considerably and we have trimmed in keeping with our risk management policies. Given the growth in its forward earnings estimates, Fabrinet trades in line with its historical earnings multiples and remains a top five position for us.”

Overall FN ranks 2nd on our list of the best industrial stocks that are already riding the AI wave. You can visit 20 Industrial Stocks Already Riding the AI Wave to see the other industrial stocks that are on hedge funds’ radar. While we acknowledge the potential of FN as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than FN but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.