"While investors chase high-profile AI chip makers and tech giants, a quieter transformation is unfolding across traditional industries. Companies in healthcare, retail, financial services, and logistics are deploying AI to optimize operations, reduce costs, and improve margins. These "secret" AI plays leverage machine learning, computer vision, and agentic commerce to drive efficiency gains that show up directly in financial results."
"Target ( NYSE:TGT) has built proprietary AI tools reshaping how it identifies trends and tests products. The company's Target Trend Brain uses generative AI to spot emerging consumer preferences, while synthetic audience models simulate real consumer populations to preview product responses before launch. This allows faster, more confident merchandising decisions without costly physical testing. The company is streamlining operations by removing 1,800 headquarters roles (8% of corporate staff) to increase agility and reinvest in AI-enabled consumer insights."
Companies across healthcare, retail, financial services, and logistics are deploying AI technologies—machine learning, computer vision, and agentic commerce—to optimize operations, cut costs, and improve margins that appear in financial results. The investment opportunity targets firms where AI adoption is material but underappreciated, and where AI functions as an operational advantage rather than a standalone product. Target uses generative AI and synthetic audience models to accelerate merchandising and reduce physical testing while trimming corporate roles to reinvest in AI insights. Caterpillar applies AI to route optimization, autonomy, predictive maintenance, and data center power generation, driving segment growth and record revenue in Q3 2025.
Read at 24/7 Wall St.
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