Augmented Reality Stocks – The “Picks and Shovels”

Whenever an exciting disruptive technology like augmented reality (AR) starts to catch the attention of retail investors, the pundits immediately feel compelled to start saying something about what stocks you should buy. A cursory look at the Motley Fool article on “Augmented Reality Stocks: What to Watch in 2018” says you should “play the long game” with Microsoft, Apple, and Facebook. It’s the same “Invest in Everything With Google” mantra that we hear every time there’s a new technology, and no real pure plays for retail investors.

Sure, there are a few augmented reality stocks out there. One of these we’ve talked about before is Vuzix, the company that makes AR headsets. Then there are the many promising AR startups, like the prospect of Magic Leap, which may actually come to fruition given that they’ve managed to debut a product. So where does this leave retail investors who want to invest in augmented reality stocks? The answer may lie in looking for the “picks-and-shovels” of augmented reality. These would be the companies who are selling the components needed to create augmented reality hardware. We know that many companies are working on bringing new hardware to market, and that’s evident by the demand for AR talent:

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