An AI model that is trying to use machine learning to pick stocks is optimistic about the outlook for some names in volatile sectors over the next month. IFi AI is a company aimed at individual investors that identifies stocks with potential upside based on a blend of fundamental, technical and news data. The company’s model is powered by IBM’s Watsonx. The model scored big this week when Marathon Oil — one of the iFi AI’s favorites as of May 20 — struck a deal to be acquired by ConocoPhillips . That sent the stock up more than 8% in one session after the news broke. The stock in the model’s highest confidence bracket with the most projected upside is a similarly named company — Marathon Digital . But instead of being an energy company, Marathon Digital is a bitcoin miner. The stock is down about 17% in 2024 after a huge rally last year, but iFi AI sees it jumping more than 40% from its Thursday closing price. The stocks below are the five highest projected upside plays for the next 30 days from iFi AI’s highest confidence bracket with at least $1 billion in market cap. Another struggling stock on the list is Kilroy Realty , whose shares are down nearly 16% for the year. The stock is also the top overall pick of iFi AI as of Friday morning. Kilroy is a real estate investment trust with office, life-science and mixed-use buildings. The majority of its holdings are in California. Office real estate in particular has been an area of concern lately, but Kilroy has taken recent steps to shore up its balance sheet, included raising $400 million through a bond sale. The company said in its quarterly report that it had $2 billion in liquidity at the end of March. The other stocks with high confidence and big upside potential are a trio of biotech names: BridgeBio Pharma , Viking Therapeutics and Protagonist Therapeutics . Small biotech and pharmaceutical stocks are notoriously volatile, as news updates about just one drug or treatment can cause massive changes to a company’s outlook. Viking is the biggest of those three stocks, with a market cap of less than $7 billion. It has been developing an oral anti-obesity drug . CNBC senior analyst and commentator Ron Insana is the CEO of iFi AI, which launched in March .
