Wall Street's least favorite "Magnificent Seven" stock may be Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) right now if its price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is any indicator. The large technology company -- and parent of Google -- is leaping forward into the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution with open arms, growing revenue at a double-digit rate, and seeing an earnings inflection at its cloud division. And yet, it trades at the cheapest P/E ratio of all of its large-cap technology stocks brethren.

Let's dive in and analyze the parent company of Google, Gemini, YouTube, and Google Cloud and see whether this discounted earnings ratio makes the stock a buy right now.

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Strong fundamental growth

There is a huge narrative around Alphabet and Google losing in AI to the likes of OpenAI. So far, this has not shown up in Alphabet's financial performance. Last quarter, Alphabet's revenue grew 14% year over year in constant currency to $90.2 billion, with 10% growth from Google Search revenue that is supposedly being disrupted by AI start-ups. So far, that hasn't been the case with Alphabet.

With a plethora of new AI products hitting the market including Gemini language upgrades, video tools, and a host of productivity and consumer shopping functions, Alphabet is staying on the cutting edge while still generating tons of revenue from Google Search. Over the last 12 months, Alphabet's revenue was $360 billion, up 117% cumulatively in the last five years.

This is not just from Google Search, either. YouTube advertising, subscriptions, and Google Cloud each generate around $10 billion in quarterly revenue and are growing revenue at a double-digit rate. This diversification of revenue should help Alphabet maintain its financial momentum even if Google Search does get disrupted as some investors fear.

Image source: Getty Images.

Earnings help from Google Cloud

The crown jewel of Alphabet's business right now is Google Cloud. Growing revenue at 28% year over year, the division is benefiting greatly from the rising demand from AI start-ups to host their computing in the cloud. A leader in the space, Google Cloud is closing in on $50 billion in annual recurring revenue with a long runway to grow.

For years, Google Cloud had negative operating earnings. Now, it is seeing a huge profit inflection that will be meaningful to Alphabet's consolidated bottom line. Google Cloud's operating income was $2.2 billion in the first quarter of 2025, giving it a profit margin of 18%. If cloud revenue can hit $100 billion annually within a few years while profit margins expand to 25%, that will equate to $25 billion in annual operating income from the division for Alphabet.

For reference, Alphabet's total operating income was $117.5 billion over the last 12 months, meaning that Google Cloud is an increasingly important part of the company's growth story. As long as the AI spending boom continues, Google Cloud's revenue will likely continue to grow as well.

GOOG PE Ratio data by YCharts

Why Alphabet is the cheapest Magnificent Seven stock

Alphabet looks like the cheapest Magnificent Seven stock to buy for multiple reasons. For one, it is growing faster from a revenue perspective than some of its peers such as Apple and Tesla. Second, Alphabet's trailing P/E ratio is much lower than the Magnificent Seven peers that are growing revenue at a fast clip. Alphabet has a P/E ratio of 18.9, versus 26.7 for Meta Platforms and 36 for Microsoft, even though Alphabet's revenue is growing at a similar rate. Neither of these competitors has a division like Google Cloud that is appreciating such a rapid earnings inflection at the moment, either.

To put the cherry on top, Alphabet's management team has been one of the best among the Magnificent Seven in returning capital to shareholders. The stock now has a dividend yielding 0.5%, and the company keeps plowing cash into share repurchases even as it rapidly lays out capital expenditures for its AI infrastructure and future Google Cloud growth.

This is a rare combination in public markets: a cheap stock, fast growth, and strong capital returns to shareholders through buybacks and dividends. A recipe like this makes Alphabet one of the best stocks to buy right now and the cheapest Magnificent Seven today.

Should you invest $1,000 in Alphabet right now?

Before you buy stock in Alphabet, consider this:

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Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $669,517!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $868,615!*

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Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Brett Schafer has positions in Alphabet. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and Tesla. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Many companies have failed to disrupt the complicated U.S. healthcare market. Hims & Hers (NYSE: HIMS) may finally be succeeding in cracking the code. The online telehealth platform focuses on circumventing the insurance market; its business of selling affordable medications directly to individuals is growing like a weed, and expects to generate $6.5 billion in revenue by 2030.

It has had a tumultuous start to 2025, as Hims & Hers waged a battle to sell new weight loss medications on its online marketplace. Now, with momentum back on its side, the stock is up 118% year to date and 446% in the last five years. Let's take a deeper look at this company, and see whether you might want to buy Hims & Hers stock for your portfolio now.

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Disrupting the healthcare market

Hims & Hers' model is simple. It has two separate web platforms -- Hims for men and Hers for women -- that sell medications and deliver to customers' front doors. It began with sexual health, but has moved into dermatology, hair loss, mental health, and now weight loss medications.

A key to its success has been avoiding the insurance market with products that don't break the bank. Customers loathe dealing with health insurers in the United States, and sometimes would rather not use insurance at all. Plus, some of these products aren't covered by insurance.

This strategy has helped the company close in on over $2 billion in projected revenue in 2025. To keep up this impressive growth, Hims & Hers wants to offer weight loss medications, which have been a blockbuster set of drugs for the pharmaceutical market. For a while the popularity of these drugs, such as Novo Nordisk's Wegovy, left them in short supply; that allowed third parties such as Hims & Hers to produce them as a compounding pharmacy and sell them at much cheaper prices. This ended up generating $200 million of Hims & Hers' $1.4 billion in 2024 revenue.

But with the shortage of Wegovy over and the compounding pharmacy exception ended, the company's weight-loss business was at a major turning point. Luckily, at the end of April Hims & Hers announced a partnership with Novo Nordisk that seems to resolve this issue: It gives Hims & Hers the ability to sell Wegovy directly on its platform. Hims & Hers is not an exclusive supplier of the drug -- or any drugs on its marketplaces, to be fair -- but it hopes to use its subscription business model, marketing expertise, and simplified user proposition to drive sales for Novo Nordisk in the huge obesity-care market.

Image source: Getty Images.

Going abroad and personalization

Besides weight loss drugs, Hims & Hers has more ambitions to reach its goal of $6.5 billion in revenue by 2030. Just recently, the company announced its intent to acquire European competitor Zava so it could expand its telehealth service to Europe. The acquisition will add a platform with 1.3 million active customers in the U.K., Germany, France, and Ireland. It makes sense that Hims & Hers can supercharge growth for the platform with its plethora of medications offered to customers, keen marketing skills, and subscription-based selling model.

Over the long run, Hims & Hers aims to make healthcare for its customers more personalized. This includes unique drug combinations, its own outsourcing facility, and at-home testing capabilities. Details remain sparse, but the vision is clear: disrupting more and more of the trillions of dollars spent on healthcare by building a business that people actually enjoy interacting with. This is why 2.4 million active customers use Hims & Hers today.

HIMS Gross Profit Margin data by YCharts.

Should you buy Hims & Hers stock?

A revenue goal of $6.5 billion seems well within reach by 2030. Hims & Hers is only at 2.4 million active customers, and there are tens of millions of people in the United States alone who could start using or switch to one of its telehealth platforms. Add on the Zava acquisition in Europe, and the runway for growth gets even larger.

The company has an impressive gross profit margin of 77%, which should lead to high levels of profitability at scale. On $6.5 billion in future revenue, it could very well post a net profit margin of over 20%, and achieve $1.5 billion in bottom-line profits and free cash flow. A 20% profit margin is easily achievable because of its high gross margins and the fact it currently spends 40% of revenue on marketing today, a figure that has come down over time and should come down even more as Hims & Hers keeps scaling.

However, Hims & Hers has played fast and loose with laws and regulations in the past. It sold weight loss drugs when the legality of doing so was unclear, and although that dispute seems to have been resolved, management could easily start playing with fire again and burn its reputation as a trusted provider of medications.

Otherwise, this looks like a fantastic growth stock that just doubled its addressable market with the Zava acquisition. Today, Hims & Hers has a market cap of $12.3 billion. You might think it's overvalued because of the stock's recent run-up in price, but the numbers show that patient investors could be rewarded by holding for the long term.

A $12.3 billion market cap is only around 8 times my 2030 earnings estimate of $1.5 billion, which would be a dirt cheap price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio for a fast-growing company compared to the current market cap. Most likely, the stock will be valued at a higher multiple than 8, meaning that the stock will be higher in five years. It doesn't come without risks, but if you're a growth investor, you might love Hims & Hers stock for its long-term potential.

Should you invest $1,000 in Hims & Hers Health right now?

Before you buy stock in Hims & Hers Health, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Hims & Hers Health wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $669,517!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $868,615!*

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Brett Schafer has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Hims & Hers Health. The Motley Fool recommends Novo Nordisk. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Last month, shares of NuScale Power (NYSE: SMR) shot up more than 93%, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The designer of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs for short) won approval for one of its designs and is benefiting from the narrative around a nuclear renaissance in the United States.

It currently has a market cap of $9 billion, zero revenue, and a share price that is up 347% in the past year.

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Here's why the stock rocketed higher yet again in the month of May.

A nuclear renaissance?

We are in the midst of a power generating revolution. The insatiable demand for electricity from artificial intelligence (AI) data centers is causing power consumption to grow again in the United States.

To prepare to match supply with demand, the large technology companies are signing long-term deals with utilities. For example, just this week, Meta Platforms signed a deal with Constellation Energy for 1.1 gigawatts of power from one of its nuclear reactors. And the president has signed executive orders calling for a reinvigoration of the nuclear power industry.

While none of this will directly impact NuScale Power, investors generally view the company in the category of nuclear stocks, which is why its shares are soaring this year. It has nothing to do with its financials, which are basically nonexistent. The company hopes to benefit from this demand when its reactors come on line, which will not be until 2030 at the earliest.

Image source: Getty Images.

The truth about NuScale Power stock

NuScale may be a hot stock today, but it is highly risky and has a difficult path ahead of it. It is generating zero revenue, will not generate any for many years, and is burning around $100 million in free cash flow annually. It has a market cap approaching $10 billion even without any sales.

SMRs are an interesting idea, but are a cutting-edge technology that may not work at scale. Investors buying shares today are essentially betting on a science project making a company with a market cap of $8.9 billion worth something well into the future.

This is not a good bet to make. It could end in pain for shareholders. Avoid NuScale Power stock today.

Should you invest $1,000 in NuScale Power right now?

Before you buy stock in NuScale Power, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and NuScale Power wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $668,538!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $869,841!*

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Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Brett Schafer has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Constellation Energy and Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool recommends NuScale Power. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) stock has been a blockbuster winner for long-term investors. However, the company is now hitting a rough patch. The stock is barely up over the past year, with revenue only slightly up from 2022. This has caused the stock to be dethroned as the largest company in the world by market cap by Nvidia and Microsoft, which are growing much faster than the iPhone maker.

By the end of this year, I believe another big tech stock will surpass Apple in market capitalization. Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) looks poised to leapfrog Apple due to its margin expansion, growth of artificial intelligence (AI), and Apple's looming lawsuits. Here's why I predict Amazon stock will finish 2025 ahead of Apple in market capitalization.

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Data by YCharts.

Amazon is recording faster revenue growth

One notch in Amazon's belt compared to Apple is revenue growth. The company has grown its revenue by 102% in the last five years, compared to 46% for Apple, which mostly came during the post-pandemic surge. Amazon is growing faster than Apple at a larger revenue base, too, generating $650 billion in revenue over the last 12 months vs. $400 billion at Apple.

Image source: Getty Images.

How is Amazon's revenue growing so quickly at such a large scale? It plays in two huge addressable markets: e-commerce and cloud computing. Online shopping is still (slowly) overtaking traditional retail in consumer wallet share, which will drive even further growth for Amazon in 2025. AI has become a boon for Amazon's cloud computing division in Amazon Web Services (AWS), which accelerated revenue growth to 17% year over year last quarter. This segment has sky-high profit margins.

Apple does not have this tailwind at its back, while Amazon will keep benefiting throughout the rest of the year.

More profit margin expansion, government lawsuits

Moving down the income statement, Amazon should have an easier time than Apple expanding its profit margin over the rest of this year and beyond. The stock market is forward-looking and will place a continued premium on Amazon's operating leverage potential. Apple's profit margins may move in the other direction if it gets hurt by tariff costs on imports to the United States from China. Its supply chain is already optimized to the gills, posting 32% operating margins over the last 12 months compared to 11% at Amazon.

Another factor that could hurt Apple's profitability is the looming lawsuits coming for its default search engine payment and App Store fees. A remedy in Google Search's monopoly lawsuit could be to prevent its $20 billion (or more) annual payment to Apple for making Google Search the default engine on the Safari browser. This is a huge percentage of Apple's $127 billion in annual operating income that could evaporate overnight.

A judge already ruled that Apple will need to let developers offer other payment methods within their applications, letting them bypass Apple's 30% fee on in-app purchases. If applications sidestep these payments, another huge cash cow for Apple will disappear.

Data by YCharts.

Amazon has a cheaper holistic valuation

Apple stock looks slightly cheaper than Amazon when defined by trailing earnings, with a price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of 33 compared to 34 for Amazon. However, when we factor in Amazon's growth potential and the risks facing Apple's business, the future looks much brighter for Amazon's stock.

By the end of this year, it should be clear that Amazon's operating margin will keep expanding along with its durable revenue growth. Apple's business is at risk of losing two huge cash cows that will dampen its overall profitability.

Today, Apple's operating income of $127 billion greatly surpasses Amazon's $72 billion over the past 12 months. This gap today is why Amazon stock has a market cap of $2.18 trillion vs. Apple's $3.15 trillion. Through the rest of 2025, I expect this earnings gap to keep closing, which will cause investors to value Amazon more than Apple, and is why it will finish the year ahead in market capitalization.

Don’t miss this second chance at a potentially lucrative opportunity

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Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Brett Schafer has positions in Alphabet and Amazon. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Warren Buffett doesn't make many mistakes when it comes to investing, as evidenced by his supreme long-term track record in public markets. He and the team at Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B) seem to have made a mistake by investing in SiriusXM (NASDAQ: SIRI) -- at least, so far. The automotive satellite radio provider is down over 60% in the last five years, while the broad market indices have soared.

Today, the stock trades at a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 8 and a dividend yield of 5%. Does Berkshire Hathaway see something in SiriusXM that the rest of the market is missing? Let's dive in further and investigate this fallen internet stock and see if it is a buy for your portfolio today.

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Declining revenue, competitive threats

SiriusXM made its money selling satellite radio subscriptions in conjunction with automotive purchases. Today, this business is facing multiple headwinds with the rise of Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube taking share from satellite radio for talk and music. Its subscribers stood at 32.86 million last quarter, which is below its user count at the end of 2018.

Lower subscriber figures have led to declining revenue, with sales now off 4.4% from all-time highs last quarter. This is coming at a time when the streaming music services such as Spotify are growing like gangbusters, which are putting a world of hurt on SiriusXM's business. With the rise of Google and Apple Car Play, users can stream the same applications in vehicles that they use on their phones, which has disrupted SiriusXM's competitive edge.

It has tried to fight back with a stand-alone SiriusXM streaming application, acquiring rights to podcasts, and even acquiring Pandora Radio back in the day. It has not lived up to expectations, with this other segment seeing a 2% decline in revenue year over year last quarter. Management is guiding for $1.15 billion in free cash flow this year, but that is still well below all-time highs set a few years ago. If revenue keeps sliding, free cash flow will eventually disappear.

Image source: Getty Images.

Perhaps it wasn't a Buffett investment?

Just because a stock is owned by Berkshire Hathaway does not mean it was a Warren Buffett investment. The company has two investors -- Todd Combs and Ted Weschler -- who manage billions of dollars of investments. One of these investors may be the purchaser of SiriusXM stock instead of Buffett, who at this point only dabbles in investments that can move the needle for the trillion-dollar market-cap stock.

At a market cap of just $7 billion, SiriusXM is not going to be a meaningful contributor to Berkshire Hathaway's stock portfolio even if it goes up by 10 times. The company owns $2.8 billion worth of SiriusXM stock. If that stock is worth $28 billion someday, that is barely 2% of Berkshire's market value. A 10 times move upwards is highly unlikely too.

SIRI Dividend Yield data by YCharts.

The truth behind SiriusXM stock

With a dividend yield of 5%, you might think SiriusXM stock is a buy just because Berkshire Hathaway owns it. In this case, following Berkshire Hathaway blindly has led an investor to lose money.

The problem with SiriusXM is not just its declining subscribers and declining revenue. It is the huge debt load carried on its balance sheet. The company has over $10 billion in long-term debt vs. its $1.1 billion in projected 2025 free cash flow. Free cash flow will decline if revenue keeps sliding. The debt is mostly due before 2030, meaning that SiriusXM is going to have to scramble to pay back these loans or refinance at higher interest rates. Either way, this is not good for shareholders.

SiriusXM is a stock with declining revenue and heavy indebtedness in a declining industry. Even with a high dividend yield of 5%, it is best to stay away from this stock. It's unclear what Berkshire Hathaway sees in this business.

Should you invest $1,000 in Sirius XM right now?

Before you buy stock in Sirius XM, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Sirius XM wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $617,181!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $719,371!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 909% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 163% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of May 5, 2025

Brett Schafer has positions in Spotify Technology. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Berkshire Hathaway and Spotify Technology. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Even though the stock market has rebounded since "Liberation Day" three weeks ago, it has not been a fun year for technology investors. Plenty of "Magnificent Seven" stocks are still down over 20% from all-time highs, including Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL), and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META). Wall Street is concerned about tariffs and their impact to 2025 earnings.

This short-sighted thinking can be a buying opportunity for investors focused on more than just the next few quarters. Here's why these three are perfect stocks to buy the dip on during this market volatility.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More »

Meta's dominant market position

Meta Platforms owns three of the largest social media platforms in the world: Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Last quarter, 3.35 billion people used a Meta service every day. Excluding China -- where Meta does not operate -- that is over half of the world's population using a Meta product daily. That incredible global scale is rivaled only by its other technology peer in Alphabet.

Even though other social media platforms like Snapchat or Pinterest have hundreds of millions of users, no other application besides TikTok has the time spent and advertising expertise to get close to Meta's scale. Last quarter, Meta Platforms' revenue grew 21% year over year to $48 billion, with operating margin expanding from 41% to 48%. The math works out to a 43% year-over-year increase in operating income in the quarter, one of the fastest growth rates of any large technology company in the world.

Working heavily on artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality, and other research projects, Meta is not resting easy as the next technology paradigms come its way. Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is dead set on winning market share in AI and with its mixed reality hardware headsets, spending tens of billions of dollars a year to get ahead of the competition. Even with all this research spending, Meta has a 48% operating margin. Talk about an incredible business model.

Down 26% from all-time highs as of this writing, Meta's trailing price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) has fallen to 22. Even if 2025 is rough due to tariff uncertainty, Meta is a great stock to own today due to its rock-solid business model and founder-led focus on technological innovation.

META data by YCharts

Alphabet's multipronged growth

The only company that could possibly argue it has more daily users across its various consumer services is Alphabet, although it doesn't disclose this figure. The owner of Google Search, other Google properties, YouTube, Google Cloud, Waymo, and more is down 21% from all-time highs even after getting a bump from a strong earnings release this week.

Despite worries about competitors in AI, Alphabet's business continues to shine. Google Search (and other segment) revenue grew 10% year over year in its Q1 to $51 billion, YouTube advertising revenue grew 10% to $8.9 billion, and Google Cloud grew 28% to $12.3 billion. Even better, at increasing scale Alphabet's operating margin keeps expanding, hitting 34% last quarter compared to 32% in the same quarter a year ago.

There is a lot to like about Alphabet's future, too. Its Gemini AI tools keep growing and its self-driving robotaxi network Waymo recently hit 250,000 weekly rides, up 5x from a year ago. At a cheap-looking P/E ratio of 20, Alphabet stock is a fantastic technology business to buy and hold for many years into the future.

An Amazon profit inflection

Lastly, we have Amazon joining the mix of technology giants down 20% from highs. However, unlike Alphabet and Meta Platforms, Amazon does not generate sky-high profit margins today, but is likely to be going on a journey of profit expansion over the next five years. This is why its P/E ratio looks slightly high at 34, even though its true earnings potential should be realized in the next few years.

Amazon's e-commerce marketplace has evolved in the last decade. Instead of making money by taking on inventory and selling goods itself, Amazon's business revolves around managing transactions for third-party sellers. It also has a high-margin advertising business doing $56 billion in revenue and subscription revenue hitting $44 billion a year. This means that Amazon's e-commerce business has much higher margin potential than 10 or 20 years ago, which is slowly getting reflected in its profit margins. North American retail margins were just 6.4% in 2024, with room to grow significantly higher than 10% over the next few years.

Even better is Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud infrastructure giant that does over $100 billion in revenue. It had a 37% operating margin in 2024. Combined with the rising margins in e-commerce, I think that Amazon's consolidated profit margins have room to grow from 11% last year to 15% or even 20% within the next few years.

As revenue keeps rising along with this profit margin expansion, Amazon's earnings should inflect higher. At $750 billion in future revenue -- revenue was $638 billion last year -- that equates to $150 billion in annual income on a 20% profit margin. Today, Amazon's market cap is $2 trillion, so $150 billion in earnings would bring the P/E ratio down to 13.3 based on today's stock price. I believe that makes Amazon stock cheap for those looking to buy right now and hold for many years.

Should you invest $1,000 in Meta Platforms right now?

Before you buy stock in Meta Platforms, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Meta Platforms wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $594,046!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $680,390!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 872% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 160% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of April 28, 2025

Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Brett Schafer has positions in Alphabet and Amazon. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, and Pinterest. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

A stock trading at a 52-week low is simply when the stock price is at its lowest point of the past 12 months. While this indicator does not guarantee that a stock is set to rebound and do well for shareholders, it can pay to look at a basket of 52-week low stocks and see if there are any high-quality businesses getting thrown out with the bath water. You might find some cheap stocks to buy for your portfolio.

As of this writing on April 23, few stocks are trading at their 52-week lows due to the massive broad market bounce we've seen in the last two weeks as investors try to navigate the tariff-based economic uncertainty. But there are a few strong growth stocks near their 52-week lows that look promising for investors who plan to buy and hold for many years. Here's why Coupang (NYSE: CPNG) and Airbnb (NASDAQ: ABNB) are two magnificent stocks to buy that fit this criterion.

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CPNG data by YCharts

Coupang's growing market share

E-commerce has been a massive tailwind for innovative businesses, such as Amazon, that are able to take advantage of this shift in consumer spending. Coupang is an Amazon clone taking over the South Korean market. In fact, one might argue that Coupang has a better e-commerce value proposition than Amazon.

Subscribers to Coupang's Rocket Wow service get free same-day and next-day delivery when ordering by midnight the night before, discounts on food delivery, fresh groceries delivered in hours, and streaming video options. The service is so good, Coupang representatives will even change your tires and install household appliances for free, as long as the products are ordered on the Coupang marketplace, of course.

Most households in South Korea now use Coupang. It generates $30 billion in annual revenue and $1 billion in free cash flow, even as it expands into new countries such as Taiwan and reinvests heavily to improve its offering with add-on services such as the luxury marketplace Farfetch it acquired on the cheap.

Gross profit increased 29% year over year last quarter, excluding changes in foreign currency conversions and inorganic revenue from acquisitions, an impressive growth rate for such a large company. At still a small percentage of overall retail spending in South Korea, I believe there is plenty of room for Coupang to keep growing quickly, especially when you include the expansion into Taiwan.

At today's price of around $22.50, Coupang is only slightly above its 52-week low of $19.76 hit earlier this year. At a market cap of just $41 billion and a long runway to grow its $30 billion in annual revenues, Coupang stock looks like a magnificent steal at today's prices.

Airbnb's expansion plans

Airbnb is a well-known brand around the world, with hundreds of millions of people trying its home-sharing marketplace as an affordable or unique way to travel. Over the years, it has become an increasingly important piece of the global travel pie. Last year, $81.8 billion was spent on the Airbnb marketplace, up 12% year over year.

Growth should continue from this original concept for years, even in Airbnb's more mature markets like North America and Western Europe. The concept is still only a small sliver of the gigantic global travel market. However, to supercharge growth in the years to come, Airbnb is deliberately expanding its marketplace, both geographically and with the products offered to customers.

Management is now custom-tailoring the Airbnb marketplace to unique travel markets such as Japan and Brazil, which is leading to fast growth in these regions. Latin America and Asia Pacific both saw 20%+ growth in nights and experiences booked in Q4 of last year, which is faster than overall Airbnb growth. On top of this global expansion, Airbnb has been prepping for years to add on new services to its marketplace. These will be new products for both guests and hosts on the Airbnb platform, and could possibly include travel packages, cleaning services, and other add-ons to improve the value proposition for both sides of the marketplace.

These growth prospects make Airbnb a great stock to buy at its current price of $118, not far off its 52-week low of $105.69. You can buy Airbnb stock at a reasonable price and hold it in your portfolio for the long term.

Should you invest $1,000 in Airbnb right now?

Before you buy stock in Airbnb, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Airbnb wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $591,533!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $652,319!*

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See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of April 21, 2025

John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Brett Schafer has positions in Amazon and Coupang. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Airbnb and Amazon. The Motley Fool recommends Coupang. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

There is never a dull moment in the land of Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA). The electric vehicle (EV) giant's shareholders went through a period of euphoria that sent the stock surging after the 2024 election. Today, with the stock down by around 50% from its all-time high, all these gains have been erased. Meanwhile, the company's margins continue to erode, and it's losing market share in countries around the world.

As ever, CEO Elon Musk has grand ambitions for the future of Tesla. Cybercabs, a new roadster, artificial intelligence (AI) projects, and even a Tesla Diner are in the works. Yet regardless of how excited Musk is about the company's future, one earnings metric matters above all else for this stock price, and it looks ugly right now.

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Slow deliveries, sinking revenue

Tesla reported its first-quarter results after the close of trading Tuesday, and its stock surged in after-hours trading. However, that upswing -- which, despite sharp oscillations in sessions that followed, has largely persisted as of midday Thursday -- was likely due in part to the broad market reaction to President Donald Trump's statements around U.S. tariffs on China and his lack of a plan to try to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. If you take a look at the underlying Tesla report, the numbers do not look good.

Tesla's EV deliveries fell 13% year over year. Revenue sank 9%, only slightly buoyed by the rapid growth of the energy generation and storage segment. Gross margin sank to 16.3%. Operating margin in Q1 was a razor-thin 2.1%, illustrating how threatened Tesla is by rising costs and competitive threats from other EV brands. The company's market share gains have stalled in all three of its important markets -- China, North America, and Europe -- as competitors gain ground on the once-dominant EV brand.

Management is not optimistic about the rest of 2025, either. It delayed providing guidance numbers until next quarter, and offered no thoughts about what growth might look like for the rest of 2025. This is not a good spot for what was once considered one of the fastest-growing technology companies in the world.

Where are the new products?

Upbeat investors may say that investors should look to the future. Tesla claims that it will bring a new, more affordable vehicle model into production in 2025, and says it plans to boost its annual production capacity to 3 million vehicles. (Tesla produced just under 2 million vehicles in 2024.) To which a bear might reply: Where are the people clamoring to buy these vehicles? Demand for Teslas has fallen off a cliff, and sales volume is only being supported by steep price cuts that have collapsed profit margins. Adding capacity for 1 million new vehicles while competitors such as BYD wipe the floor with it by gaining market share in China does not seem like a wise move.

The company is also making bold promises about new products outside of its core consumer EV niche. There is the Cybercab, an autonomous vehicle that it expects to ramp up to volume production in 2026. Its Optimus Robot is still under testing, and there's no publicly available timeline for when it might be released. These products may be technologically innovative, but nobody should expect them to move the needle financially for Tesla anytime soon. In my opinion, any investor who is betting on Tesla stock today because of the Cybercab or Optimus is giving too much credit to a management team that time and time again has made promises it later proved unable to fulfill.

TSLA PE Ratio (Forward) data by YCharts.

One metric matters above all else

Generally speaking, a company's stock price will move higher over the long term if the earnings power of the underlying business is growing. But for investors to benefit from that earnings growth, it helps to buy the stock at a reasonable price, too.

In Tesla's case, neither bottom-line growth nor an appealing valuation are on offer. Its earnings keep declining -- in the first quarter, its $0.27 in adjusted earnings per share (EPS) came in well below the $0.39 analyst expectation. Tesla's operating income has fallen since the end of 2022, and will likely keep falling in 2025 if its profit margins remain in the gutter.

Investors can't pick up Tesla shares at a reasonable price today, either. The stock trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of 95 -- and that figure doesn't yet reflect how analysts are likely to update their longer-term forecasts based on Q1's disappointing earnings. Forward P/E is the one metric that will matter above all else in determining Tesla's stock direction over the next few years, and it is wildly high relative to the market's average, which tends to sit in the 20 to 25 range.

In that light, the fact that Tesla carries such a lofty forward P/E ratio suggests that more pain is coming for its shareholders in the years to come. Avoid buying this stock right now.

Don’t miss this second chance at a potentially lucrative opportunity

Ever feel like you missed the boat in buying the most successful stocks? Then you’ll want to hear this.

On rare occasions, our expert team of analysts issues a “Double Down” stock recommendation for companies that they think are about to pop. If you’re worried you’ve already missed your chance to invest, now is the best time to buy before it’s too late. And the numbers speak for themselves:

• Nvidia: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2009, you’d have $276,000!*
• Apple: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2008, you’d have $39,505!*
• Netflix: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2004, you’d have $591,533!*

Right now, we’re issuing “Double Down” alerts for three incredible companies, available when you join Stock Advisor, and there may not be another chance like this anytime soon.

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*Stock Advisor returns as of April 21, 2025

Brett Schafer has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Tesla. The Motley Fool recommends BYD Company. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

At the end of the day, earnings will drive stock prices. A company is worth the cumulative profits it generates for shareholders, discounted back to today. As investors, we want to buy a piece of these earnings -- what you are doing when buying a stock -- as cheaply as possible. One way to measure the cheapness of a stock is to look at its forward price-to-earnings ratio (P/E), which takes the current market cap and divides it by Wall Street estimates for earnings over the next 12 months. The lower the number, the better.

Today, Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL)(NASDAQ: GOOG) is trading at one of its lowest forward P/E ratios ever. In fact, Alphabet has the lowest forward P/E ratio of any Magnificent Seven stock. Does that mean you should buy the stock for your portfolio today? Let's analyze Alphabet's business in the age of artificial intelligence (AI).

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue »

Discounted forward earnings

Alphabet is the parent company of Google, YouTube, Google Cloud, DeepMind, Waymo, and other technology subsidiaries. Mainly, its profits come from Google Search and related properties.

Historically, Alphabet would get a premium P/E ratio due to the fast growth of Google Search. The minimum trailing P/E ratio -- which takes the current market cap and divides it by trailing earnings -- hit 16.6 in the last 10 years, but was usually well above this level. Today, Alphabet's forward P/E ratio is right around 18, meaning that Alphabet stock is at one of its most discounted levels ever.

All else equal, investors want to buy a stock at the lowest P/E ratio possible. That way, you are buying the stock at the cheapest price possible. You can get a higher dividend payout (Alphabet's dividend yield is currently 0.5%) and more bang for your buck when the company repurchases stock. Alphabet repurchased $62 billion worth of stock in 2024. At that rate of repurchases, it can reduce its shares outstanding by 3.4% a year, which will directly affect earnings per share (EPS) growth.

But why is Alphabet stock so discounted? It comes down to risks from both AI and monopoly lawsuits.

OpenAI growth and monopoly lawsuit

A consumer AI renaissance is upon us. Start-ups across the board are getting billions of dollars in funding to make conversational AI tools useful for everyone around the world. None are more popular than OpenAI's ChatGPT, which has an estimated 400 million active users and a goal to hit 1 billion users by the end of 2025.

OpenAI growth scared investors away from Alphabet, as it looks like the cash cow in Google Search has been disrupted. That could be true, but Alphabet is not taking these competitive threats lying down. It has embedded AI features into Google Search, allows users to search pictures with Google Lens, and is operating its own conversational AI bot called Gemini.

Gemini's advanced tools and the popular NotebookLM product are now a part of the Google One subscription, which gives you a bundle of Google Services for $20 a month. Using its economies of scale, I believe that Alphabet has the power to push back against OpenAI and win the consumer AI race.

Another risk to Alphabet's business is the monopoly lawsuits it is facing. A federal court judge ruled that the company's advertising exchange business is an illegal monopoly, meaning the business is likely to be broken up. While this is not good for Alphabet, the online ad exchange is only a sliver of its overall revenue today.

More important is Google Search, which is in the middle of its own antitrust case. Today, it's unclear what the result of this second antitrust case will be, but there are rumors it could be forced to sell the Google Chrome browser or stop its hardware exclusive deals with phone makers like Apple.

A monopoly antitrust case is a risk to Alphabet's business, but it may not be all sour for the technology giant. It's currently facing new competition from the likes of OpenAI that makes this case increasingly moot, with TikTok and Instagram also serving as new use cases for young people to search. Plus, a ruling that stops Alphabet's payments to hardware makers may actually help the company increase earnings. Bloomberg reported that Alphabet paid Apple $20 billion in 2022 to make Google Search the default on Safari. Take that away, and Alphabet's expenses drop by $20 billion annually, albeit with added risk that search engine competitors could take share on Apple devices.

AMZN PE Ratio (Forward) data by YCharts.

Why Alphabet stock is a buy today

All the noise around AI competition and monopoly lawsuits has investors scared of buying Alphabet stock. There's also the potential effect of tariffs on its business in 2025. That presents a buying opportunity for investors with a longer-term time horizon.

Alphabet has a phenomenal track record of innovation in consumer technology, and billions of people use its services every day around the globe. It was traditionally a monopoly in Google Search. Now, the industry may end up being a duopoly with the rise of the new AI tools like ChatGPT. This is not the end of the world for a growing sector with hundreds of billions in consumer and advertising spending each year (including both traditional search and AI).

Last quarter, Alphabet's overall revenue grew 12% year over year to $96.5 billion. Operating income grew 31% year over year due to strong operating margin expansion. If this fast earnings growth continues, Alphabet's P/E ratio will fall quickly from this already low starting point. This makes the stock a fantastic buying opportunity today for investors with an eye on the future.

Should you invest $1,000 in Alphabet right now?

Before you buy stock in Alphabet, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Alphabet wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $566,035!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $629,519!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 829% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 155% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.

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*Stock Advisor returns as of April 21, 2025

Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Brett Schafer has positions in Alphabet and Amazon. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

The United States government is trying to upend global supply chains with China, slapping a tariff rate approaching 150% as of this writing on imports from China into the U.S. Multinational corporations are getting caught in the middle. Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) may be the company with the worst exposure.

Not only is the smartphone and computer brand a huge user of Chinese manufacturing and electronics assembly, it also sells billions of dollars' worth of products into the Chinese market every year. The sale of these products may be at risk due to retaliation from the Chinese government.

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Unsurprisingly, Apple stock has crashed 27% from all-time highs on this news. But the pain may be far from over. Here's how tariffs could affect Apple's business, and where the stock could move through the rest of 2025.

More expensive iPhones

Apple has worked to diversify its global supply chain, but still greatly utilizes China to build its iPhones. In order to bring these products into the United States using existing manufacturing lines, Apple will need to pay a 150% surcharge on these imports, unless the levy is waived. That could have some ugly ramifications for Apple's unit costs.

The Wall Street Journal made some estimates of how tariffs could affect the cost of an iPhone for Apple. It was estimated that an iPhone previously cost $550 to build. With a 54% tariff -- the original proposed increase on Chinese imports -- an iPhone will now cost Apple $850 to bring to America. Add on the newly minted tariffs, and you are getting a bill of well over $1,000 per phone.

This presents a problem for Apple. Ever since iPhone production scaled up, Apple has sported a consolidated operating margin of 25%, best in class for an electronics manufacturer. That is because it could make an iPhone for half of what it sold it to customers for. Today, you can buy a new iPhone for $1,000, with some models costing more and some a little less. If Apple wants to maintain its same unit economics under the tariffs, it will have to raise the price of a new iPhone to $1,500 based on these new Chinese tariffs.

Can its existing customer base afford this upgrade? I doubt it. My hunch is that a $500 increase in selling prices will lead to cratering demand for new iPhones. Many customers will delay upgrades, especially since new iPhones currently come with minimal upgrades from previous versions. This is an ugly situation for Apple, which could see collapsing demand with tightening margins that could drastically affect its earnings power.

Slow-moving supply chains and stagnant revenue

Wait, can't Apple just make its iPhone somewhere else? Sure, it can. But at what cost? First, it will take many years to move supply chains and replicate them in other Asian countries, or perhaps even in Latin America. Apple has aimed to move some of its production to India and Vietnam over the last few years, but that still remains a small sliver of its production sourcing. This will not be cheap, either.

Moving production back to the United States is technically an option, but this would take much longer and lead to higher selling prices due to the high manufacturing wages paid to laborers in the U.S. Plus, Apple would still have to pay tariffs on imports of raw materials. This isn't an option, unless you think people will willingly pay for $5,000 iPhones.

Even before these changes, Apple's revenue was stagnating. It has barely grown since the end of 2021, with profit margin expansion the only growth engine at the moment. This margin expansion is about to reverse course. Apple's $126 billion in operating income will start falling over the next 12 months if these tariffs on China are not rolled back.

AAPL PE Ratio data by YCharts.

Where Apple stock is headed next

As you can see, there is a ton of risk to Apple's business right now. You might think this means Apple's stock is trading at a dirt chip earnings multiple to counteract this risk. Logical, but incorrect.

Miraculously -- or perhaps frighteningly -- Apple stock still trades at a price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of 30. This is well above the S&P 500 average and the long-term market average of 15 to 20. Remember, Apple's earnings are lining up to fall this year, which will lead its P/E ratio to climb even higher. Its forward P/E ratio may be above 50 in a worst-case scenario.

In my view, this makes Apple stock radically overvalued. I predict more pain for Apple shareholders in 2025 unless these tariffs are completely walked back.

Should you invest $1,000 in Apple right now?

Before you buy stock in Apple, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Apple wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $495,226!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $679,900!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 796% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 155% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of April 10, 2025

Brett Schafer has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

The stock market has crashed. In just the last five trading days, the Nasdaq-100 index is down more than 10% and has officially entered a bear market, meaning it is down at least 20% from its recent high. That has created some panic among a subset of investors. Panic can be infectious, but you have to stay rational when Wall Street is being irrational. Now is not the time to start trading manically. Extend your time horizon and keep laser-focused on your long-term goals.

But what should you buy during this market crash? If you have cash sitting around, here are three stocks to buy during this market dip and hold for the ultra-long term.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More »

Coupang's strong position in South Korea

If you're worried about tariffs, then Coupang (NYSE: CPNG) is a stock for you. Even though the company is listed in the United States, it does not operate in the country. The e-commerce marketplace is centered on South Korea, with some small exposure to Taiwan as well. South Korea just got hit with a tariff on exports to the United States, but that does not impact Coupang importing goods from other countries to South Korea. Sure, Coupang could be affected if the South Korean economy goes into a recession, but it is not directly hurt by tariffs.

The company looks strong enough to get through any economic volatility in South Korea that occurs, too. At the end of 2024, the company had close to $6 billion in cash on its balance sheet and minimal debt. It generated $1 billion of free cash flow last year. Gross profit -- a better top-line figure than revenue due to how Coupang does its accounting -- grew 29% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2024 when you exclude one-time gains and growth from acquisitions. This is much faster than the entire retail sector in South Korea, indicating that Coupang can grow simply through market share gains even if the broader economy slows down in Korea.

Coupang generated $30 billion in revenue last year. Over the long term, management believes it can achieve a 10% profit margin once the company stops reinvesting so aggressively for growth. That would be $3 billion in earnings at today's revenue level that can grow in the years to come. Today, Coupang stock trades at a market cap of around $36 billion, or just over 10 times these look-through earnings projections. That makes the stock dirt cheap for those who plan to hold for the long haul.

Take the long view with Amazon

A stock right in the line of fire with these tariffs is Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN). As the largest e-commerce marketplace in the United States, the company sources a lot of supply from Asian nations now getting large tariffs slapped on exports. While this could hurt Amazon's financials in 2025, the company is set up to do just fine over the long term.

Most of Amazon's business is not selling online goods itself, but facilitating transactions for third-party sellers. This will help it push back against tariff volatility (although it may hurt a lot of its existing sellers). If a lot of Amazon sellers go bankrupt or have to rapidly switch supply chains, that is not a cost Amazon has to shoulder. Most of its investment has been in the United States, as opposed to other technology companies like Apple, which has most of its fixed costs in China and other Asian nations.

Amazon also makes a lot of money from advertising, subscription services, and the cloud computing division Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS should still grow this year due to the boom in demand for artificial intelligence (AI) services. Advertising may see a slowdown if the broad economy tumbles, but over the long term it should remain a highly profitable division for Amazon.

The stock has tumbled to a market cap of $1.87 trillion and now has a forward price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) under 28, one of its lowest figures ever. Even if the numbers look bad in 2025, now looks like a fine time to buy Amazon stock for your portfolio.

Data by YCharts.

American Express and a resilient customer base

Financials, banks, and lenders can be very procyclical with the economic cycle. This means that when the economy is doing well, loans perform well and earnings are high. But when a recession occurs, rising loss rates and bankruptcies send earnings down rapidly. American Express (NYSE: AXP) gets tossed in this group as one of the largest credit card issuers in the United States. However, it is much more equipped to handle a recession than its peers.

American Express caters to a more affluent customer base with high credit scores. Even going through the elevated-inflation period of 2022 and 2023, the company's loss rates remained around 2%, which is around or below its pre-pandemic figures. A recession will likely cause these loss rates to increase, but the company is well-capitalized to deal with these temporary issues. Using history as a guide, it will do much better than other banks and lenders during a recession.

As of this writing, American Express stock is down almost 30% from all-time highs. I believe this is an example of the baby getting thrown out with the bath water. With the stock at a forward P/E of 15, you can buy American Express with confidence that it will perform well for your portfolio over the long haul.

Don’t miss this second chance at a potentially lucrative opportunity

Ever feel like you missed the boat in buying the most successful stocks? Then you’ll want to hear this.

On rare occasions, our expert team of analysts issues a “Double Down” stock recommendation for companies that they think are about to pop. If you’re worried you’ve already missed your chance to invest, now is the best time to buy before it’s too late. And the numbers speak for themselves:

• Nvidia: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2009, you’d have $244,570!*
• Apple: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2008, you’d have $35,715!*
• Netflix: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2004, you’d have $461,558!*

Right now, we’re issuing “Double Down” alerts for three incredible companies, and there may not be another chance like this anytime soon.

Continue »

*Stock Advisor returns as of April 5, 2025

John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. American Express is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Brett Schafer has positions in Amazon and Coupang. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon and Apple. The Motley Fool recommends Coupang. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.