2 Blue Chip Stocks to Buy Hand Over Fist Before the Nasdaq Surges in 2024

The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained some 43% in 2023. And investors are hopeful it will rally further as excitement continues to increase around generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. Expectations about interest rate cuts should also push up the Nasdaq in 2024.

Against this backdrop, it makes sense for retail investors to consider picking up small stakes in high-quality blue chip stocks that are already riding robust secular tailwinds ahead of this potential rally. Here’s why Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) fit the bill.

Microsoft

For a long time, Microsoft has been widely famous for its Windows operating system and its Microsoft Office productivity suite. But lately, the company has also become famous for its Azure cloud computing platform and $13 billion investment in OpenAI (developer of the famous chatbot ChatGPT).

Microsoft Azure’s cloud computing business has been rapidly expanding its market share. Azure accounted for a 25% share of global spending on cloud infrastructure services in the third quarter (ended Sept. 30), up from 22% in the same quarter of the prior year.

With a global cloud footprint of nearly 60 data center regions and a robust AI infrastructure capable of training and running large language models in real time, Azure has become a major growth catalyst for Microsoft.

Its office productivity business is also showing improvement. While the licensing portion of the business is struggling, enterprises are increasingly opting for cloud-based Microsoft 365 subscriptions.

Besides popular applications such as Office, PowerPoint, and Excel, companies are also using premium offerings in cybersecurity, analytics, voice, and compliance through Microsoft 365 subscriptions. The Office 365 business saw robust expansion and a rise in average revenue per user (ARPU).

The company also expects Microsoft 365 Copilot, an AI assistant integrated into several of the company’s offerings such as Office, Outlook,…