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The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has accelerated the use of robotics across a whole range of industries. Investors seeking to benefit from the transformation of the global economy as it embraces AI, automation, and robotics will find opportunities among the stocks of the companies at the forefront of these trends.??
The spread of AI, machine learning, investment in new vehicle technologies, and ever-faster internet speeds have helped spur advancements in robotics in diverse fields including manufacturing, healthcare, aerospace and defense, commerce and entertainment. A labor shortage and rising labor costs are also helping drive demand for robots.?
The robotics industry is forecast to expand at a formidable pace. The global robotics technology market, estimated to be worth $82.42 billion in 2023, is expected to swell to $283.19 billion by 2032, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.7%, according to Precedence Research.
This impressive growth rate underpins the size of the opportunity in robotics stocks. In this guide, we explore 10 robotics stocks worth considering for your portfolio.?
Best Robotics Stocks to Buy in 2024
Here are 10 robotics stocks, all of them large caps, you could consider for your portfolio:
Intuitive Surgical: The global leader in robotic-assisted surgical equipment and software has just received FDA clearance for its next-generation multiport robotic system, the da Vinci 5.
Nvidia: More than 10,000 clients have turned to its robotics products, such as its Jetson hardware and Isaac software. Its robotics platform can help train and develop AI-powered robots.?
Emerson Electric: It offers automation technology products and it partners with EV makers that use robotics to bring down manufacturing costs. The shares trade at less than six times earnings.?
Rockwell Automation: The firm makes industrial robotic systems, along with hardware and software to serve industrial automation needs. Labor cost concerns lift demand for its products.
UiPath: The New York-based company sells AI-powered business automation software to improve robotic processes. It launched a package of AI tools designed for its platform in October.?
Medtronic: The Irish medical device maker has branched out into robotic-assisted surgery in the past few years. Its offerings include surgical robots and tools, cardiac devices and insulin pumps.?
PTC: The U.S. software company helps robotics companies digitally in engineering and manufacturing products. It has had seven consecutive years of double-digit revenue growth.?
GE HealthCare Technologies:? Since splitting off from General Electric early in 2023 it has been making robotic arms and navigation systems for assisted surgery and imaging in healthcare.
Deere & Co.: The heavy machinery maker has gone all-in on robotics following its purchase of Bear Flag Robotics for $250 million in 2021. Deere is currently testing the first autonomous tractor.?
Symbotic: The U.S. company specialises in AI-powered supply chain technology that uses robots to make warehouses more efficient. It counts Walmart and Softbank among its backers.??
A Closer Look at the Top Robotics Stocks to Invest in
Now, let’s take an in-depth look at the investment case behind each of our picks from the best robotics stocks available in 2024:
1. Intuitive Surgical – Robotic Surgery Pioneer Bolsters Its Moat
Intuitive Surgical is best known for its da Vinci robotic-assisted surgical systems and has an installed base of more than 8,200 of them in hospitals and other medical settings. Intuitive also began selling its Ion endoluminal system, a robotic-assisted surgery platform for minimally invasive biopsy in the lung, in 2019.
Intuitive had $7.14 billion in 2023 revenue, up 14% from 2022, and annual EPS of $5.03, which rose 37.8%. Its installed base of da Vinci systems was 8,606 at the end of the year, an increase of 14% over 2022.
The big driver for the company’s revenue growth is not the actual sales of its products, but the servicing and per-procedure fees associated with those machines. Intuitive said that its full-year instruments and accessories revenue grew 22% to $4.3 billion.
2. Nvidia – Best Robotics Stock to Invest in for the Long Term
Nvidia is helping power the advances in generative AI-fueled simulations that are making robots more responsive. There are plenty of startups working on robots, but Nvidia says that its robotics platforms powered by its graphics processing units (GPUs) can help companies build robots that will have commercial viability at scale.
It’s easy to see why investors are bullish on the stock. In fiscal 2024, revenue was up 126% to $60.9 billion, and EPS was $11.93, up 586% from a year ago. The company said it expects revenue of $24 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2025, up from just $7.19 billion in the same period a year earlier.
Nvidia is in the right place at the right time with its chips to benefit from the AI boom and the expansion in robotics. In January, it said it expanded its partnerships with several Chinese EV makers and revealed separate deals with pharmaceutical companies Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) and Recursion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: RXRX) to help them with their drug discovery.
3. Emerson Electric –? Making the Building Blocks for Robotics
Emerson makes the products that are crucial to automation: digital valve controllers, measurement devices, regulators, automation software and machinery health analyzers.
It reported fiscal 2024 first-quarter revenue of $4.1 billion, up 22% from the same period a year earlier, and EPS of $0.25, down 55%, owing to higher restructuring and acquisition fees. For 2024, the company’s guidance points to revenue growth of between 14.5% and 17% and annual EPS of between $2.80 and $2.95, down from $3.72 in 2023.
One reason for the revenue growth is the company’s willingness to pursue attractive acquisitions. Its $11 billion merger with AspenTech in 2022 helped combine Emerson’s grid modernization software and geological simulation software and AspenTech’s mining, manufacturing and pharmaceutical software. The impact of the acquisition began to add to Emerson’s adjusted EPS in 2023. In October, Emerson spent $8.2 billion to purchase NI, a maker of software-connected automated test and measurement systems.
Emerson raised its dividend by 0.9% in 2023 to $0.525, the 67th consecutive year of increases. Only a handful of companies have a longer track record of back-to-back dividend raises.?
4. Rockwell Automation – Helped by Labor Market Conditions
Rockwell has more than 29,000 employees and operates in more than 100 countries across three divisions: discrete, hybrid and process. A tight labor market and concerns over supply-chain stability across the globe have driven up demand for Rockwell’s expertise in automation.
Another factor propelling its growth is that Rockwell, blessed with plenty of free cash flow, has been aggressively buying up robotic companies. In September, it spent $600 million to buy Canada-based Clearpath Robotics and its subsidiary, OTTO Motors. Clearpath is known for its robotics in industrial applications, particularly in auto manufacturing. In March of 2023, Rockwell bought India’s Knowledge Lens, an AI services and solutions company for manufacturing, for an undisclosed amount.
In the first quarter of fiscal 2024, revenue was up 3.6% year over year, with recent acquisitions contributing 1.4% to that growth. EPS, was down 17% from the same quarter a year earlier, to $1.86, partly due to expenses related to those acquisitions. Rockwell said it expects revenue to grow between 0.5% and 6.5% this year and full-year EPS to be between $11.24 and $12.74, compared with $11.95 in 2023.
Rockwell also offers a quarterly dividend, which it raised for eight consecutive years, including an increase of 5.9% last year to $1.25, delivering a yield of around 1.73%.
UiPath uses different type of robots – AI-powered software robots. Even though they don’t have a physical presence, they are useful to companies because they can adapt to a company’s current software platform to automate repetitive requests, such as doing invoices, onboarding customers and entering data. They help companies become more efficient.
More importantly, annual recurring revenue (ARR), a key metric for software companies that charge for subscription services, was $1.46 billion in the fourth quarter, up 22% from fiscal 2023.?
UiPath had its initial public offering in 2021 and it isn’t profitable yet. It reported an $89.8 million net loss in fiscal 2024, a 72.6% improvement over the $328.4 million it lost in fiscal 2023.?
UiPath is facing more competition, but it is still the industry leader in robotic processing automation (RPA), according to research firm Gartner. UiPath said it expects full-year revenue of between $1.555 billion to $1.56 billion, an increase of at least 19%, and annual recurring revenue of between $1.725 billion and $1,730 billion, a nearly 18% climb.
Medtronic has reenergized investors by getting serious about its reorganization, trimming staff and consolidating manufacturing sites and distribution centers. The company has thousands of products across four business segments: cardiovascular, neuroscience, medical surgical and diabetes.
Its modular Hugo robotic-assisted surgery system, designed for minimally invasive soft-tissue procedures, has been approved in Europe, Canada and Australia and it’s awaiting FDA approval in the U.S.?
In the third quarter of fiscal 2024, Medtronic reported revenue of $8.1 billion, up 4.7% year over year, and EPS of $0.99, up 8% over the same period a year earlier. The company also raised full-year guidance, saying it expects full-year organic revenue growth to be between 4.75% and 5%, up from its earlier forecast of $4.75%. It also said it expects non-GAAP EPS to be between $5.19 to $5.21, up 4% at the midpoint from its earlier forecast.
Medtronic is attractive to income investors because it has increased its dividend for 46 consecutive years. It raised its dividend by 1.5% in 2023 to $0.69.
7. PTC – Benefiting from Predictable Revenue Growth
PTC operates in two segments: product data authoring software, and product data management and process orchestration software. PTC has had seven consecutive years of double-digit top-line growth (in revenue and annual recurring revenue), as more and more companies turn to PTC’s software to improve efficiency, particularly with companies bringing production home after the supply-side problems that had arisen during the COVID-19 pandemic.?
In the first quarter of fiscal 2024, PTC posted $550 million in revenue, up 18%, and ARR of $2.02 billion, up 23% over the first quarter of fiscal 2023. EPS rose 11% year over year, to $1.11. The company said it intends to use its free cash flow to pay down its debt in fiscal 2024, and that should boost its earnings growth over time. PTC said it expects full-year revenue of between $2.27 billion and $2.36 billion, which would be an increase of between 8% and 13% from $2.10 billion on fiscal 2023. It predicts EPS of between $2.42 and $3.32, climbing between 18% and 61% from $2.06 in fiscal 2023.?
The stock isn’t cheap as it trades at more than 95 times earnings, but the company’s exponential growth has so far borne out investors’ optimism.
8. GE HealthCare Technologies – Thriving on Its Own
GE HealthCare, since spinning off from GE last year, is becoming more involved in robotics as well as AI. It has just come out with its Prostate Volume Assist (PVA) system, which uses AI to accurately measure the prostate’s volume to help determine if the organ is cancerous. It also recently used Nvidia technology to develop the SonoSAMTrack, which uses AI to help segment ultrasound images.?
In fiscal 2023, it had revenue of $19.6 billion, up 7%. Full-year EPS was $3.04, down 27.2%, with the company spending big on research and development as well as paying down $1 billion in debt. This year, it’s projecting organic revenue growth of roughly 4%, and adjusted EPS of between $4.20 and $4.35, an increase of between 7% and 11%.
GE HealthCare, in its first year as a new company, delivers a quarterly dividend of $0.03.
9. Deere & Co – Tilling New Ground in Agriculture
Farming is incredibly labor-intensive, so the introduction of Deere’s robot tractor is seen as a game-changer for the industry. As it’s being just being tested, the tractors will at first only be used for tilling, but by 2030, Deere estimates that it can automate corn and soybean production, from tilling to planting, to harvesting. That’s only the beginning as the company makes farm and construction equipment that could also be automated.
After a record 2022 and 2023, Deere expects business to slow a bit in 2024, though key metrics still hitting above-average levels. In the first quarter of fiscal 2024, Deere posted revenue of $12.2 billion, down 4% year over year, and EPS of $6.23, down 5%. It estimates that full-year net income will be between $7.5 billion and $7.75 billion, down considerably from the $10.2 billion in net income the company had in fiscal 2023, and slightly more than the $7.13 in net income it had in 2022.
The company has raised its quarterly dividend for three consecutive years, including an 8.8% boost in December to $1.47 per share, equaling a yield of around 1.5%. The payout ratio is low – around 16%, so the dividend is considered quite safe.
Symbotic sells AI-powered warehouse automation systems that use the company’s SymBots as part of 15-year contracts that provide automated storage and sorting systems, along with supporting software and maintenance services. Its clients include Walmart, the world’s largest company by revenue, which uses Symbotic systems in 42 of Walmart’s regional distribution centers. Target, a U.S. discount retailer, and Albertson’s, the No. 2 grocery chain in the U.S., are also customers.
Symbotic’s systems can take a pallet from suppliers, organize them in individual cases in a warehouse, then later reassemble pallets for shipping to retail stores.
In the first quarter of fiscal 2024, it had revenue of $369 million, up 79%, year over year, and a net income loss of $14 million, compared with a net loss of $68 million in the same period a year ago. The company is clearly on the way up, with the main knock on the stock being that it trades at a rich valuation. It’s price-to-earnings ratio is meaningless as it’s still unprofitable. But to put it into perspective, it has a market cap of more than $26 billion, which is generous for a company that had only $1.18 billion in 2023 revenue.
The growth expected in robotics stocks make many of them good long-term investments, particularly for investors willing to be patient. The industry is changing rapidly, so investors need to be current with industry news to make sure a particular stock’s niche isn’t being eroded by competition.
Investors need to keep in mind several factors when it comes to selecting the best robotics stocks for 2024:
Understand the Robotics Sectors
Robotics stocks break down into three sectors: industrial robotics companies, such as Rockwell or Symbotic, which supply robots used in manufacturing, automation or logistics; medical robotics companies, such as Intuitive Surgical or Medtronics, which specialize in surgical robotics; and software-oriented robotics, such as UiPath or PTC, which deliver the software that enables robotics systems.?
We mentioned in the introduction to this guide that Precedence Research expects the global robotics technology market to expand at a CAGR of 14.7% to a $283.19 billion market by 2032. Here’s a breakdown of that estimated growth by year:
Robots aren’t only penetrating industrial sites, operating theaters and warehouses. Workplaces in a broader sense are getting an efficiency boost due to use of robotic software. Robotic process automation can handle not only repetitive tasks but increasingly more complex work, like decision-making, predictive analysis, and self-learning. Major players in this segment include UiPath, Microsoft, IBM (NYSE: IBM), Pegasystems (NASDAQ: PEGA), and Genpact (NYSE: G).
According to a report by Persistence Market Research, the business process automation market, is expected to grow to $30.2 billion by the end of the decade from a $14.2 billion market in 2023, expanding at a CAGR of 11.4%, driven by the growing use of robotic software.
Make Sure a Company Has a Clear Strategy for Growth
Examine investor news and presentations to be sure the company has specific goals for revenue and market share. Ensure that the company has identified its target market and has a sound strategy for reaching that market. If it does have targeted goals, make sure it has short-term goals as well as five-year plans for revenue growth.
Most of the stocks on this list already have well-defined plans to grow market share. Emerson Electric, for example, has increased its market share by buying out smaller competitors. PTC, for example, is also active in acquisitions, but it is also growing revenue by expanding its addressable markets by tweaking its software to improve automation.
See Whether Its Competitive Advantage Is Sustainable
Early movers have an advantage in any new technology, but that advantage won’t last if the company doesn’t have a competitive edge. For example, Nvidia’s size and dominance in developing components used for robotics won’t be easy to overcome because its processes are expensive to build and maintain. Symbotic also has a big edge because it’s already entrenched with some of the larger retailers.
Other companies on the above list have their own market advantages. Deere & Co. has unmatched brand awareness and loyalty from its customers. It’s also an expensive, capital-intensive business that is difficult for other companies to break into.
Intuitive Surgical is having more competitors in the robot-assisted surgery (RAS) space, but as the pioneer for RAS, it has some inherent advantages. Its machines are expensive to buy, so the hospitals and surgical centers that purchase them have an intrinsic reason not to switch to another system. In the meantime, Intuitive is increasingly making revenue from servicing the machines it has already installed.
Robotics-Based ETFs Can Give Investors Diversity in the Sector
Investors who don’t have the time or the inclination to do all the research required to find solid robotics stocks can still get exposure to the sector by investing in robotics ETFs, such as ROBO Global Artificial Intelligence ETF (NYSE ARCA: THNQ), the ROBO Global Robotics & Automation Index ETF (NYSE ARCA: ROBO) or the VanEck Robotics ETF (NASDAQ: IBOT).?
Where to Get Robotics Stock Picks and Insights?
To find out more about how to pick robotics stocks, we recommend checking out AltIndex.?
AltIndex provides stock picks, alerts, and insights using alternative data. This means that it analyzes social media and other websites, app downloads, customer satisfaction ratings, and other data points regarding a company.
It tracks this data over time, compares it to other companies, and then uses machine learning to generate investment insights. Stocks are given a ranking score out of 1 to 100, simplifying the analytical process that can often be very difficult for stock investors.
With over 10k members, AltIndex is a widely used and trusted service. It provides over 100,000 unique daily stock insights and alerts, and has a very impressive win rate of 75% from its AI stock picks.
Robotics stocks did well in 2023, outperforming the S&P 500 in most cases. However, each robotics stock is different. Be mindful that while long-term trends point to spectacular growth – due mainly to labor shortages and the need for more efficiency in manufacturing – competition in the sector is heating up.
It’s a relatively new industry, so there’s some inherent risk. If you’re risk-adverse, look for the shares of companies with a track record of revenue and earnings growth, which will be better placed to handle economic downturns. It’s also important to find stocks of companies with a unique edge that will give it an advantage over robotics rivals.
Chipmaker Nvidia’s market cap of $2.26 trillion makes it the largest robotics stock on this list by a landslide. However, the largest robotics stock by annual revenue is Deere & Co., which had $61.25 billion in annual revenue in fiscal 2023. Nvidia is set to pass Deere & Co. in annual revenue this year, however.
What are the pluses of investing in robotics stocks?
There are several trends that should continue to drive revenue for companies that are connected to robotics. Rising labor costs are leading companies to turn to robotics to automate tasks and reduce the need for employees. Advances in AI, machine learning and sensor technology make robots more effective, leading to a greater number of applications. Robotics could particularly revolutionize manufacturing and the need for human capital in warehousing, agriculture and medicine, leading to greater efficiency.
What are the negatives of investing in robotics stocks?
Like any new, disruptive technology, the development means the industry is changing rapidly and companies that fail to keep up get left behind.? The potential for profits in robotics is also leading to a rapid increase in competition in the industry, which could drive down profits for current companies. There’s also the threat that the disruption robotics will cause may lead to stricter government regulations.
I am an experienced journalist who has also worked as an editor and writer at the Savannah Morning News, Salt Lake Tribune, USA Today, Stars and Stripes, and The Motley Fool. I spent the first half of my career in sports journalism, but in recent years have switched to writing about my other passion, stocks, particularly healthcare, real estate and consumer staples stocks. I've won numerous journalism awards from the Associated Press and state press associations and have been a judge for the Georgia Sportswriters Association. I've written one non-fiction book, Just One More Time, about Georgia Southern football, and…
