According to a report by Mordor Intelligence, the global AR market is anticipated to grow at a notable compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 42.36% between 2024 and 2029, reaching $248.38 billion by the end of the forecast period. It currently has a market size of $42.48 billion as of 2024. While the largest market for the industry is North America, the Asia Pacific region is anticipated to be the fastest growing.
The report also highlighted that a significant portion of this market is mobile AR, which leverages the globally spread use of smartphones, tablets, and other smart devices. Some estimates show that nearly 1.7 billion devices can support mobile AR as of 2024. Therefore, the massive and globally spread smartphone user base gives the AR industry a key competitive advantage.
The Immersive Entertainment—Global Strategic Business Report 2024 showed that the global market for Immersive Entertainment was $133.6 billion in 2024. It is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 23.5% between 2024 and 2030, reaching $473.9 billion at the end of the forecast period. Thus, the global AR market is also likely to benefit from the expansion of the immersive entertainment industry.
The AR market is yet to reach the apex of its potential, and experts estimate that it will do so in about a decade. Many technological advancements in the industry support this growth, as tech giants have been scrambling to attain the AR and mixed reality dream for years. Investments worth billions of dollars have been directed to the cause. According to SkyQuest, the largest investment is being poured into training and industrial maintenance, with figures reaching as much as $4.1 billion in the field of AR. Apart from this, private firms, VCs, and even some governments are financing AR research institutes and teams.
The augmented reality industry has a primary user base comprising healthcare, aerospace and defense, consumer, and retail. In addition, the technology is being increasingly used in the automotive industry. Since autonomous vehicles are becoming a rising trend across the globe, the integration of AR in these vehicles is supporting the broader AR industry. AR technology helps improve the driver and the autonomous system’s comprehension of their environment by overlaying digital data in the real world. In addition to several other features, consumers can interact with virtual 3D models of vehicles with the help of AR technology in showrooms, allowing them to visualize several customizations.
Another key growth driver for the industry is the use of AR in hospitals and medical startups. The healthcare sector continuously uses immersive modalities to streamline its processes, as surgeons are increasingly leveraging AR to deal with the potential risks of healthcare procedures. AR is helping healthcare professionals reduce the rate of errors and the number of potentially unsafe surgeries. According to SkyQuest, the AR segment in the healthcare industry was expected to reach $1.2 billion by 2024.
Our Methodology
We sifted through stock screeners, financial media reports, and ETFs to compile a list of 25 stocks operating in the AR space and chose the top 11 with the highest number of hedge fund holders as of Q4 2024. We sourced the hedge fund sentiment data from Insider Monkey’s database. The list is ordered in ascending order of hedge fund sentiment. Our focus was on companies producing AR-related hardware, software, or technologies used to develop augmented reality products. However, we also included companies that offer services essential to the AR industry, like semiconductor chips.
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 363.5% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 208 percentage points (see more details here).
Analyst Highlights Threats to Alphabet (GOOG) Search Business, Draws Kodak Comparison
A laptop and phone open to Google's services in an everyday setting.
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) ranks fourth on our list of the best augmented reality stocks to buy according to hedge funds. Google employs AR in various ways. For instance, the Live View segment on Google Maps allows users to orient themselves to the area around them and view their surroundings’ directions on a live screen. In November, Google introduced a new augmented reality feature in Google Maps that allows users across the globe to interact with and explore the most iconic landmarks in Paris from the comfort of their homes.
Similarly, Google Lens allows users to search for what they see promptly. Users can identify plants and animals and even scan and translate text. They can also visualize several other elements, such as how makeup products look on their faces and furniture pieces in their houses.
BMO Capital analyst Brian Pitz reiterated their bullish stance on Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), giving a Buy rating on April 25 due to its strategic positioning and strong growth potential. The company has undergone notable growth in its Search segment, with a 12% growth in FX Neutral Search, which exceeded both BMO and Street forecasts. The analyst attributed this growth to the rising adoption of AI Overviews, which have witnessed a 50% increase in users since October. He also said that the monetization of these AI-driven searches remains robust.
Pitz further said that Alphabet Inc.’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is continually experiencing strong demand, with a 28% growth rate aligning with expectations. YouTube Shorts is also experiencing notable growth in engaged views, highlighting strong user engagement and capturing direct response advertising budgets. These factors support the analyst’s buy rating.
Overall, GOOG ranks 4th on our list of best augmented reality stocks to buy according to hedge funds. While we acknowledge the potential for GOOG 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 time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than GOOG but trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about thischeapest AI stock.
