Tech stocks are having their biggest year in decades, with 2024 turning into a profit carnival for companies tied to artificial intelligence and crypto. The Nasdaq exploded with a 33% jump, while other U.S. indices flexed double-digit gains.
From AI-powered ad platforms to Bitcoin-fueled investments, the tech market has become the ultimate money machine, pumping out billion-dollar valuations like a broken faucet.
Businesses are adopting at breakneck speed while the average consumer remains clueless about what AI even does. But nothing turbocharged the market quite like Donald Trump’s election victory, heavily bankrolled by crypto giants. With just four trading days left in the year, the biggest winners in tech are clear.
MicroStrategy: Bitcoin’s top lover
MicroStrategy had already made a name for itself in the crypto industry, but 2024 turned the company into a juggernaut. Its stock (MSTR) soared 467%. The company now holds over 444,000 Bitcoins, valued at around $44 billion, making it overall the fourth-largest Bitcoin holder in the world.
Founder Michael Saylor made Bitcoin the centerpiece of MicroStrategy’s strategy back in 2020, ditching its old identity as a software vendor. The company has used its rising stock price to raise cash and buy more Bitcoin, creating a feedback loop that Wall Street couldn’t ignore.
Trump’s win gave MicroStrategy another boost, with the stock jumping 57% and Bitcoin surging 44% in the same period. Saylor, never shy about his Bitcoin obsession, called it the “safe trade” in crypto and predicted an industry-wide rally as new regulations come into play.
AppLovin explodes with AI-driven ad tech
AppLovin started 2024 as a middleweight in the tech sector, valued at $13 billion. Most people knew the company for its quirky mobile games like Woody Block Puzzle and Clockmaker. Fast forward 12 months, and it’s worth over $110 billion, overtaking Starbucks and Intel.
The stock rocketed 758%, the kind of leap that turns heads and lines pockets. The secret? AI. AppLovin’s pivot to AI-powered advertising has paid off. Its AXON 2.0 ad engine became the star of the show, using machine learning to match ads to users with sniper-level accuracy.
Third-quarter software platform revenue jumped 66% to $835 million. Total revenue grew 39%. Net income is up 300%, smashing expectations.
Robinhood cashes in on crypto trading
Robinhood’s 2024 comeback story is all about crypto. The stock more than tripled in value, despite stumbling in October after a weak earnings report. Investors didn’t care. By early November, the stock was soaring again, driven by Trump’s win and the broader rally.
Crypto trading has become Robinhood’s moneymaker. Revenue from crypto transactions jumped 165% in Q3 to $61 million, making up 10% of total net revenue. Robinhood’s app makes it easy for retail investors to buy Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and even meme coins like PEPE.
CEO Vlad Tenev has been pretty clear about his crypto ambitions. He called it a “disruptive technology” that will reshape everything from payments to loans. Analysts expect Q4 revenue to grow 70% to $805.7 million, the company’s fastest growth rate since 2021.
Nvidia dominates the AI hardware race
Nvidia has been the golden child of AI, and 2024 cemented its status as the king of tech. Its stock jumped 183%, adding $2.2 trillion to its market cap. Twice this year, Nvidia briefly became the world’s most valuable publicly traded company, overtaking Apple before slipping back.
The company’s GPUs are the backbone of AI applications, and demand has been off the charts. Revenue grew by at least 94% in every quarter, with some quarters exceeding 200%. CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia’s next-gen AI chip, Blackwell, is already in production and generating billions in revenue.
CFO Colette Kress said the company’s biggest customers are racing to deploy AI applications, creating what she called “billions of agents” in the coming years. While analysts predict slower growth in 2025, Nvidia’s dominance in AI hardware isn’t going anywhere.
2024 has been a year for the history books. Tech stocks, powered by AI and crypto, are rewriting the rules of the market. The question now is how long this ride can last.
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