20 Best Augmented Reality Stocks to Buy Now

Augmented reality combines a real-world environment with computer-generated virtual items or surroundings to create an interactive mixed reality experience. Many investors see virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) as the next big technological frontiers.

Intro

Augmented Reality (AR) aims to use technology to improve our natural world. The interactive experience incorporates computer-generated data to enhance our perceptions of the natural environment.The AR market rapidly expands as more businesses and individuals embrace the technology. According to an advisory company, the AR market will be worth more than $60 billion by 2023. It is an increase from $4.2 billion in 2017. Many businesses are vying for a piece of the augmented reality pie. 

What are Augmented Reality Stocks?

When someone mentions augmented Reality, they're referring to a technology that overlays real-time information and virtual items on top of real-world scenes. It creates a new artificial environment by combining the present environment with information. Morton Heilig, a cameraman, invented Augmented Reality for the first time in 1957. He created the Sensorama, which gave the spectator sights, noises, vibrations, and fragrances.

Many people make augmented reality apps. It has given the technology a broader range of applications and a larger audience. The Pokémon Go mobile app may be the most well-known AR technology example. It has become popular among players who strive to locate and capture Pokémon characters in the real world.

Are Augmented Reality Stocks in Great Demand in the Future?

Augmented Reality is one of the most intriguing emerging technologies today. As a result, it's not unexpected that many businesses invest in virtual reality (VR). They make things that blur the boundaries between the physical and digital worlds. Those companies who succeed in doing so will undoubtedly reap the benefits in the long run.

Companies and investors alike are interested in augmented reality technology. Many investors are desperate to start buying virtual reality stocks because high-growth businesses can contribute to higher returns.

Augmented Reality is growing quietly and quickly. Social networking, mobile devices, virtual video conferences, and automobile technologies are all areas where AR is expected to be used in the coming years. 

20 Best Augmented Reality Stocks to Buy Now 

As AR's popularity and demand grow worldwide, its stock prices improve, significantly benefiting individuals who invest in it. If you genuinely want to make more money in the tech industry, invest in the best-augmented reality stocks.

Google 

Google's parent firm, Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG), has two key augmented reality products: Google Lens and Google Maps AR. Google Lens is a brand-new method to search on Google. It basically allows you to scan goods in front of you to receive more information about them. It might include everything from plant identification to product purchase to math problem-solving. Google Maps AR elevates the Google Maps experience by displaying essential information immediately in front of the user to assist them in exploring their surroundings.

Etsy and AR Shopping

Etsy is a firm you might not think of as one of the most significant augmented reality stocks. Etsy isn't a multibillion-dollar software firm or a global social media behemoth attempting to conquer the world. It's instead a straightforward internet marketplace where people can purchase and sell handcrafted things. Etsy went public in 2015 and has so far been well received by investors. Since its IPO, its stock has increased by 600%. 

Etsy, like Snap, aspires to improve the online purchasing experience via augmented reality. It cannot be easy to estimate how a piece of art will appear in your flat if you buy it on Etsy. Etsy intends to employ augmented reality to allow people to see how things would look in their own homes before making a purchase. 

Qualcomm (QCOM)

Qualcomm, the world's biggest maker of processors for mobile apps and baseband modems, is one of Himax's most significant AR partners. It's best known as a game about telecoms and semiconductors, and it's not to be mistaken with a list of augmented reality stocks. 

On the other hand, Qualcomm is well positing a well-positioned one to benefit from the mainstreaming of augmented reality. 

Apple (AAPL)

Apple Inc. (AAPL) is a multinational corporation with headquarters in Cupertino, California, that designs, manufactures, and sells smartphones, computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories. On the other hand, Apple is gearing itself for a future dominated by Augmented Reality. 

If you think augmented reality is going to be a big deal, Apple is a company to keep an eye on.

Smartphones are, without a doubt, powerful computers that seem to get more powerful with each iteration. That isn't why the company is such an intriguing AR possibility. Rather, Apple is said to be working on an augmented reality device similar to Google Glass. Last year, the price of the iPhone maker soared 86 percent to $293 per share, making it the Dow's best-performing company. 

The star's reign of terror is far from over. According to Zacks, Apple is presently ranked second. According to the corporation, the current year's expected earnings growth rate is 10.7%, somewhat higher than the estimated 10% growth rate for the computer-minicomputer market.

MicroVision (MVIS)

MicroVision and Microsoft, for the record, are two separate corporations. The HoloLens, which is on the cusp of becoming a must-have, is a virtual reality headset is made by Microsoft described above.

MicroVision, on the other hand, plays a significantly different role in the augmented reality movement. It's a company that makes lasers (and the technology that goes with them) that can project images and data onto the glass.

PicoP (r) technology's most practical and palpable application is to project information ordinarily available on a car's dashboard onto the windshield, allowing the driver to focus on the road.

Alphabet

Another of the most valuable Augmented Reality stocks is Alphabet. Alphabet adopted a different path even as Microsoft created high-priced AR/VR gadgets.

Google Cardboard, a cardboard viewer that users can slot their cellphones into to create a quick virtual reality headset, was debuted in 2014.

The low-cost strategy worked so well that Google released the Google Daydream headset in late 2016 for $79. However, it was canceled in 2019, and Alphabet has yet to try another headgear.The corporation has begun integrating AR technologies into its Android operating system in Google Maps, Google Pixel smartphones, and Google Lens.

Vuzix (VUZI)

Although Alphabet actively pushed the VUZI project, Google Glass's first launch was a fiasco.

The idea of transmitting information onto glass that a user or wearer can look through, on the other hand, has never truly gone away. It just has considerably more industrial or commercial applications than it does for consumers.

Lumentum (LITE)

There's a rationale for the term Lumentum (LITE). Apple CEO Tim Cook began talking about the possibility of augmented Reality in late 2017, bringing that stock to the forefront. While he didn't indicate how (or if) Apple would pursue the AR industry at the moment, and he didn't even mention Lumentum by name, the possibly optimistic link makes logical.Lumentum produces 3D sensor lasers that can turn a smartphone into a kind of radar - a crucial component of the augmented reality trend.

Axon Enterprise (AAXN)

Axon Enterprise Inc (AAXN) isn't yet a game that uses augmented reality. However, it appears that it will happen soon. According to the inventor of TASERs and body-worn cameras, AR and VR are the next frontiers. What this possibly means isn't totally apparent.Given the target markets' natures – law enforcement and military personnel – it's logical to believe the corporation is looking into better safeguarding and equipping those who operate in uniform and with a pistol.

Himax

Integrated circuits (ICs) for digital displays account for the majority of Himax's revenues. Over the last year, this core company has struggled with poor global sales of televisions, monitors, and mobile devices.

Himax's non-driver business, which makes a variety of liquid crystal-on-silicon (LCOS), wafer-level optics (WLO), and depth-sensing camera components, accounts for approximately a quarter of the company's sales.

In the AR business, all three types of chips are important. The company's stock has increased by 29.5 percent in the last six months, outperforming the electronics – semiconductor industry, which has increased by 20.3 percent.

SNAP

SNAP is a camera company that operates both in the United States and worldwide. Ads on Snapchat account for the majority of company revenue. According to the company, Snap has "established a strong lead in augmented reality," and "smartphone-based augmented reality will be a major growth driver in the long run."

Snapchat's AR ecosystem includes lenses, games, and experiences, and the company's Spectacles AR eyewear is still available for purchase. Snap is profiting from its growing popularity among teenagers, which is fueled by the platform's numerous engaging features.

In comparison to the Internet, the company's stock has increased by 20% in the last six months outperforming the software industry's 4% fall. Furthermore, the company's predicted earnings growth rate for the current year is 61.7 percent, much exceeding the industry's forecasted gain of 8.9 percent.

Microsoft (MSFT) 

The company's heart and core remain and will remain productivity software, the cloud, and operating systems. However, Microsoft is moving quickly enough into the augmented reality space that it may have little impact on the stock's valuation.

What is the mechanism? Even if interest has been lukewarm, the company's HoloLens is undoubtedly the most sophisticated and commercial AR/VR device currently available.

Facebook (Ticker: FB)

With the purchase of Oculus in 2014, Facebook effectively launched the AR market as we know it. Unfortunately, while the Oculus Rift headset's introduction in 2016 drew a lot of attention, sales of the Rift and subsequent headsets – including the new Oculus Quest – had little influence on Facebook's bottom line.

AR has become popular among a huge, youthful, and tech-savvy user base thanks to filters for photographs and videos shot on Instagram and Facebook Messenger. Facebook plans to integrate its virtual reality headgear with it one day and is still a long way off. It is how you'll keep pulling yourself closer together and make Facebook one of the most significant AR stocks on the market right now.

Sony Corp. (SNE)

The history of the AR/VR business is straightforward: companies try to entice consumers with unproven and pricey technology, and when that fails, they shift to corporate clients. Sony was an exception, positioning their PlayStation VR (PSVR) headset as a suitable alternative for VR "novices."

The platform's low cost and an incredibly huge game library make it an appealing entry point for gamers interested in virtual Reality who are familiar with and trust the Sony brand. As of January 2020, 5 million units had been sold. The PSVR is the best-selling VR headset on the market.

Intel Corp. (INTC)

Putting on a headset is fine and dandy to enter a virtual world, but the experience is only feasible because of the hardware under the hood. Given that Intel is one of the world's leading semiconductor businesses, it's no surprise that its devices work with VR headsets from companies like Oculus and HTC.

While Intel has its own VR and AR headsets – R.I.P. Vaunt and Project Alloy — offering the hardware and content that consumers view through those headsets isn't a bad business strategy. 

Immersion Corporation (IMMR)

With its TouchSense (r) Force technology, which transforms screens into a tactile, haptic experience, Immersion Corporation (IMMR) has earned a place on a list of significant AR stocks.It was especially stunning in the area of virtual reality games, but the potential is still being fully explored. 

Nvidia (NVDA)

Last but not least, it may sound self-evident, but keep track of Nvidia (NVDA) on your list of AR stocks. Nvidia has already demonstrated its ability to handle the massive amounts of visual data generated by virtual reality. In comparison, making Augmented Reality even better turns out to be rather simple.

The automobile front is one place that makes this possible. Nvidia, like MicroVision, is attempting to improve the driving experience by combining augmented reality and artificial intelligence. Though, this is only a taste of what's to come. While other businesses are still improving their first-generation augmented reality gear, Nvidia is already planning for the next generation.

Nintendo

Nintendo was a pioneer in the use of augmented reality in video games. Pokemon Go was instrumental in bringing AR to the mainstream. Users can also play AR games on the Nintendo 3DS family system. When a user places an AR card on a flat surface and points the system's outside camera towards it, the card will bring new worlds to life in 3D.

Nintendo is continuing to release games with Augmented Reality. Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit on the Nintendo Switch is one of its most recent titles. It has also teamed up with Niantic, a Google offshoot that created Pokemon Go, to create augmented reality smartphone apps. This venture's purpose is to develop new augmented reality games.so Nintendo doesn't lose gaming time to other smartphone apps.

Autodesk

Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) is a software company based in California that develops software for the architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, media, education, and entertainment industries. Because of its AutoCAD (Computer-Aided Design) program, the company is one of the top augmented reality stocks to purchase right now. Autodesk also sells digital prototyping software, consumer software, and popular movie special effects and video game animation tools like Maya. When it initially incorporated augmented reality functionality into its Forge platform in 2017, the business began incorporating it into its products. As augmented reality (AR) becomes more generally embraced, Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) has emerged as a prominent provider of the creative platforms needed to make it happen.

According to Autodesk's most recent quarterly earnings report for 2021, revenue increased 20% year over year in the first quarter, with GAAP and Non-GAAP operating margins increasing 11 and 10 percentage points, respectively. According to the Wall Street Journal, 13 analysts have assigned a Buy rating to Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK).

Unity Software Inc.

Unity Software Inc. (NYSE: U) provides industry-leading solutions for designing and developing 3D content for mobile, tablet, computer, console, and augmented and virtual reality devices. The company posted quarterly revenues of $315 million in February, up 43.36 percent from $220 million the previous year, and outpaced the market by $20.16 million.

Unity Software Inc. (NYSE: U) was given a Buy rating and a $125 price target by Citi analyst Jason Bazinet on April 7, 2022. The analyst keeps a positive outlook on the stock, forecasting annual revenue growth of 35% through 2024 as the company expands into non-gaming industries.

Unity Software Inc. (NYSE: U) is one of the tops augmented reality companies to buy right now since it has a number of competitive advantages over the competition. Its Unity game engine is the most frequently used 3D platform for creating augmented and virtual reality projects in a variety of industries, including gaming, animation, automotive, and architecture.

Unity Software Inc. (NYSE: U) was part of 36 hedge fund portfolios that held interests in the firm worth more than $7.43 billion at the end of Q4 2021. Silver Lake Partners was the most significant stakeholder, with about 34.9 million shares of stock valued at $5.0 billion.

Final Thoughts

The demand for and investment in Augmented Reality will grow as the technology grows more advanced and cost-saving and business applications become more prevalent.

By 2022, it is expected that 1 billion people will be using augmented reality. As a result, you must claim your piece of the pie by investing in Augmented Reality Stocks.