Key Points

• C3.ai is growing again, but its business model still looks shaky.

• CoreWeave is carving out a high-growth niche with its cloud-based GPUs.

• The higher-growth company is still a better overall investment.

• 10 stocks we like better than C3.ai ›

C3.ai (NYSE: AI) and CoreWeave (NASDAQ: CRWV) are both poised to profit from the expansion of the artificial intelligence (AI) market. C3 develops AI algorithms and standalone modules that can be plugged into an organization's existing software infrastructure. CoreWeave's data centers provide cloud-based GPUs for processing AI tasks.

C3 went public at $42 in December 2020, but it now trades at around $25. CoreWeave went public in March 2025 at $40, and it now trades at about $160. Let's see why the bulls embraced CoreWeave while shunning C3 -- and if the former remains a better buy than the latter.

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Why didn't C3 impress the market?

C3's revenue only rose 6% in fiscal 2023 (which ended in April 2023) as it grappled with tougher macro headwinds, faced intense competition in the AI space, and cannibalized some of its own subscriptions with its new consumption-based fees. It also faced an uncertain future as its joint venture with energy giant Baker Hughes, which regularly accounted for around 30% of its revenue, was set to expire at the end of fiscal 2025. All of those headwinds -- along with its declining gross margin and persistent losses -- drove away the bulls. Rising interest rates further compressed its valuations.

However, C3's revenue grew 16% in fiscal 2024 and 25% in fiscal 2025. That acceleration was sparked by its new generative AI modules, more federal contracts, and its strategic partnerships with Microsoft, Amazon, and McKinsey. It also recently renewed its joint venture with Baker Hughes for another three years. It expects its revenue to rise 15% to 25% in fiscal 2026, while analysts anticipate 19% growth.

From fiscal 2025 to fiscal 2028, analysts expect C3's revenue to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22%. It looks reasonably valued at 7.5 times this year's sales, but it won't break even anytime soon. In fiscal 2024, it abandoned its goal of turning profitable (on an adjusted basis) in favor of ramping up its investments in its generative AI modules.

While C3 is still growing, it hasn't proven its business model is sustainable yet. Its insiders also sold more than twice as many shares as they bought over the past 12 months, and that chilly insider sentiment suggests its upside potential is limited.

Why did CoreWeave's stock blast off?

CoreWeave was originally an Ethereum mining company, but it repurposed its mining GPUs to process AI tasks after the cryptocurrency crash of 2018. It subsequently opened more data centers, spent $100 million on Nvidia's H100 GPUs in 2022, and served up its processing power remotely through its cloud-based platform. It also leveraged its GPUs as collateral to secure more funding and scale up its business. It claims its dedicated cloud-based GPUs can process AI tasks roughly 35 times faster at 80% lower prices than traditional cloud platforms.

CoreWeave currently operates 33 data centers across the U.S. and Europe, up from just three centers at the end of 2022. It achieved that expansion with some big investments from Nvidia, Cisco, and PureStorage, and its top customers now include AI leaders like Microsoft and OpenAI.

From 2022 to 2024, its annual revenue soared from $16 million to $1.9 billion -- but its net loss widened from $31 million to $863 million as it opened more data centers, bought more GPUs, and grappled with higher energy costs. From 2024 to 2027, analysts expect its revenue to grow at a CAGR of 105% to $16.6 billion as it turns profitable in the final year. CoreWeave's stock still seems reasonably valued (but not cheap) relative to that growth trajectory at 16 times this year's sales.

But most of its expansion was funded by big debt offerings, and it ended its latest quarter with an alarmingly high debt-to-equity ratio of 9.9. However, its insiders bought 19 times as many shares as they sold over the past 12 months -- and that confidence suggests it could successfully scale up its business and narrow its losses.

The better buy: CoreWeave

C3.ai and CoreWeave are both still speculative AI plays. But if I had to pick one, I'd stick with CoreWeave because it's growing faster with a clearer path toward profitability than C3. C3 might keep expanding, but I'm not confident it can stabilize its business while staying ahead of its competitors in the crowded enterprise AI software market.

Should you invest $1,000 in C3.ai right now?

Before you buy stock in C3.ai, 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 C3.ai 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 $687,764!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $980,723!*

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John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Leo Sun has positions in Amazon. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Cisco Systems, Ethereum, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Pure Storage. The Motley Fool recommends C3.ai and 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.

Key Points

• The crypto market is heating up again.

• Bitcoin remains the best "blue chip" token to buy.

• Ethereum should continue to lead the developer-oriented market.

Many cryptocurrencies skyrocketed during the buying frenzy for speculative investments in 2020 and 2021. That rally was fueled by near-zero interest rates, stimulus checks, social media buzz, and commission-free trading platforms. But in 2022 and 2023, many of those tokens crashed as interest rates rose and a new crypto winter began.

Over the past year and a half, investors have gradually pivoted back toward cryptocurrencies as interest rates declined and President Donald Trump's crypto-friendly administration took the helm. So if you're still bullish on cryptocurrencies, it might be a great time to go shopping again.

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You shouldn't stake your life savings in cryptocurrencies, but it might be smart to set aside a modest $1,000 in a few tokens that could soar over the next few decades. I'd personally stick with the two largest cryptocurrencies -- Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) -- instead of the smaller and more speculative meme coins.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin, the world's most valuable cryptocurrency, still has plenty of upside potential for a few simple reasons. First, it's still mined with an energy-intensive proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism, which becomes more costly every four years with each "halving" that cuts its mining rewards in half. Its maximum supply is also capped at 21 million tokens. Nearly 19.9 million of those Bitcoins have already been mined, and the final token is expected to be mined in 2140. There isn't much room for long-term inflation in this model.

Bitcoin's increasingly difficult mining process, scarcity, and deflationary nature make it more comparable to gold, silver, and other physical assets than many other cryptocurrencies. That makes it a potential hedge against inflation and the devaluation of fiat currencies.

Bitcoin's first spot price exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which were approved in January 2024, made it easier for retail and institutional investors to invest in the coin without a crypto wallet. Big companies like MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) continued to accumulate Bitcoin, the Trump administration recently established a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, and inflation-wracked countries like El Salvador and Central African Republic even adopted Bitcoin as a national currency for a while. All of those developments supported the notion that Bitcoin was becoming "digital gold."

So even though Bitcoin might seem pricey right now at roughly $110,000, it could have even more upside potential. Standard Chartered's analysts expect its price to climb to $500,000 by 2028, while Ark Invest's Cathie Wood sees it flying as high as $1.5 million by 2030. You should take those bullish estimates with a grain of salt, but Bitcoin could remain the best "blue chip" cryptocurrency to buy and hold for the next few decades.

Ethereum

Ether, the native token of the Ethereum blockchain, is the world's second most valuable cryptocurrency. It was originally a PoW token that was mined like Bitcoin, but it transitioned to the more energy-efficient proof-of-stake (PoS) mechanism in "The Merge" in 2022.

As a PoS token, Ether can no longer be mined. Instead, its investors "stake" their tokens on the blockchain to earn interest-like rewards. Ethereum's PoS blockchain also supports smart contracts, which can be used to develop decentralized apps (dApps) and other crypto assets. Its declining or rising network activity can either make it inflationary or deflationary, respectively, and it currently has a circulating supply of roughly 120.7 million tokens.

Ether is usually valued by the growth of its developer ecosystem and its transaction speeds instead of the scarcity of its tokens. Its core Level-1 blockchain is slower than PoS blockchains like Cardano, but it's assisted by faster Level-2 protocols that process the transactions off-chain before returning them to the Level-1 layer.

Ether's first spot price ETFs were also approved last year, but they only held the tokens in cold storage without passing on the staking rewards (about 3% to 5% annually) to their investors. That made the ETFs less appealing than Ether itself, but the next batch of ETFs might add those rewards.

Ethereum's next upgrade, "The Verge," will further improve its security features and lower its hardware requirements so it can run on smaller devices like smartphones. It's also expected to reduce its Layer-2 fees with "danksharding" upgrades to clear more space for fresh data.

At about $2,600, Ethereum still trades well below its all-time highs. But Cathie Wood predicts it could climb as high as $166,000 by 2032, and big institutional investors like BlackRock are still accumulating the token. Therefore, this developer-oriented token could still be a great investment for the next few decades.

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

Before you buy stock in Bitcoin, 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 Bitcoin 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 $699,558!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $976,677!*

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*Stock Advisor returns as of June 30, 2025

Leo Sun has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Motley Fool recommends Standard Chartered Plc. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Key Points

• Realty Income weathered some tough headwinds over the past five years.

• But it continued to raise its dividend as its AFFO increased.

• It might not consistently beat the market, but it’s still a great long-term buy.

Realty Income (NYSE: O), one of the world's largest real estate investment trusts (REITs), is often considered a dependable income investment. It sports a forward yield of 5.6%, it pays its dividends monthly, and it's raised its payout 131 times since its IPO in 1994.

As a REIT, Realty Income must distribute at least 90% of its pre-tax income to its investors as dividends to maintain a favorable tax rate. It leases its 15,621 properties to 1,565 different clients in over 89 industries in the U.S., U.K., and Europe, and its occupancy rate has never dipped below 96%. It's also a capital-light triple net lease REIT -- which means its tenants need to cover their own property taxes, insurance premiums, and maintenance fees.

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Image source: Getty Images.

Over the past five years, Realty Income's stock price fell about 3%. Like many other REITs, it struggled in 2022 and 2023 as rising rates made it more expensive to purchase new properties, stirred up macro headwinds for its tenants, and drove some of its income investors toward risk-free CDs and T-bills. But if we include its reinvested dividends, it still delivered a total return of 25%. So will Realty Income's stock rally over the next five years as interest rates decline, or does it face other unpredictable challenges?

What happened to Realty Income over the past few years?

Realty Income merged with VEREIT in 2021 and Spirit Realty in 2024. Those mergers more than doubled its number of properties from 2020 to 2024, but it still maintained a high occupancy rate as it grew its adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) and dividends per share.

Data source: Realty Income.

Some of Realty's top tenants -- including Walgreens, 7-Eleven, and Dollar Tree -- struggled with store closures over the past few years. However, stronger tenants like Dollar General, Walmart, and Home Depot consistently offset that pressure by opening new stores.

Realty Income still doesn't generate more than 3.4% of its annualized rent from a single tenant, and it locks its tenants into long-term leases with an average term of nearly 10 years. That diversification and stickiness insulates it from economic downturns.

What will happen to Realty Income over the next five years?

Over the next five years, Realty Income will likely expand in Europe to curb its dependence on the U.S. market. Unlike its leases in the U.S., most of its European leases are tethered to the consumer price index, which allows it to raise its rent to keep pace with inflation. It will likely ramp up its investments in data centers to profit from the secular growth of the cloud and AI markets, and scoop up more properties at favorable prices in sale-leaseback deals (in which businesses sell their own real estate and lease it back to cut costs). It could also expand into more experiential markets -- like gyms, resorts, and restaurants -- to further diversify its portfolio.

Realty still generates most of its rental income from the retail sector, but those tenants should face fewer headwinds as inflation subsides and interest rates decline. Lower interest rates should also make CDs and T-bills less attractive and drive more investors back toward REITs.

From 2019 to 2024, Realty Income grew its AFFO at a CAGR of nearly 5%. If it continues to grow its AFFO at a CAGR of 5% from 2024 to 2030 -- and still trades at 14 times its trailing AFFO -- its stock price could rise 33% to about $77 within the next five years. It should continue to raise its dividends and stay within its historical yield of 4%-6%.

So while Realty Income might not consistently beat the S&P 500 -- which has delivered an average annual return of 10% since its inception -- it should remain a stable investment for investors who need a reliable stream of monthly income. That's why I personally own shares of Realty Income, and why I think it's a solid long-term play.

Should you invest $1,000 in Realty Income right now?

Before you buy stock in Realty Income, 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 Realty Income 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 $699,558!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $976,677!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 1,060% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 180% 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 June 30, 2025

Leo Sun has positions in Realty Income. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Home Depot, Realty Income, and Walmart. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Key Points

• D-Wave has taken its investors on a wild ride since its public debut.

• A lot of growth has already been baked into its bubbly valuations.

• It will remain a volatile and speculative stock for the foreseeable future.

D-Wave Quantum (NYSE: QBTS), an early mover in the quantum computing market, went public by merging with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) on Aug. 22, 2022. It started trading at $10, but it sank to a record low of $0.41 on May 12, 2023. At the time, its persistent dilution, steep losses, and sky-high valuation all drove away its investors. Rising interest rates and threats of a potential delisting made its volatile stock even less appealing.

Image source: Getty Images.

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But as of this writing, D-Wave's stock trades at about $14. If you had invested $1,000 in the stock at its all-time low, your investment would be worth more than $34,000. The bulls rushed back as interest rates declined, the quantum computing market heated up again, and it rolled out a powerful new processor. But is it still worth buying today?

What does D-Wave Quantum do?

In traditional binary computers, processors store their data in zeros and ones. But in quantum computers, zeros and ones can be stored simultaneously in qubits. That difference allows quantum computers to process a wider range of data at a much faster rate than binary ones.

Yet quantum computers are still bigger, more expensive, and prone to make more mistakes than their binary counterparts. That's why they're still mainly used for niche research projects at government agencies and universities instead of mainstream computing applications.

D-Wave Quantum is trying to break out of its niche with its quantum annealing tools, which help companies streamline their schedules, workflows, supply chains, and logistics networks. As a quantum-powered "efficiency expert," D-Wave runs a company's processes through different scenarios and identifies the one that consumes the least energy as the most efficient one.

That approach could help D-Wave challenge traditional cloud-based analytics companies, and over 100 organizations -- including Deloitte, Mastercard, Lockheed Martin, and Accenture -- are already using its services. D-Wave designs its own chips and hardware, and it provides its own cloud-based services through its Leap platform -- which can be integrated into the world's top cloud infrastructure platforms.

What are D-Wave's near-term catalysts?

In 2024, D-Wave only generated $8.8 million in revenue, most of which came from its cloud-based quantum computing services, as it racked up a net loss of $143.9 million.

But in 2025, analysts expect its revenue to nearly triple to $24.4 million as it narrows its net loss to $72.9 million. That growth should be driven by its new 4,400-qubit Advantage2 processor, which can solve complex 3D lattice problems approximately 25,000 times faster while consuming less power than its first-gen Advantage processor. It officially launched the Advantage2 quantum system for its Leap cloud platform in May.

Meanwhile, its new LaunchPad platform for Leap -- which offers free trials, support, and rapid pilot-to-production tools for enterprise R&D customers -- could lock in new customers and boost its recurring subscription-based revenues. It also plans to add more quantum AI tools (including a more powerful neural network and tighter integrations with data center GPUs) to tackle more AI and machine learning workloads. Those upgrades could attract the attention of more enterprise customers, tether it to the booming AI market, and elevate D-Wave's reputation as the quantum computing play for more practical business applications.

If those efforts bear fruit, analysts expect its revenue to surge 56% to $38.1 million in 2026 and nearly double to $74.1 million in 2027. They also expect it to narrow its losses in both years, but it won't come close to breaking even anytime soon.

What are D-Wave's biggest challenges?

That growth trajectory would be impressive, but it's already priced for perfection at 60 times its projected sales for 2027. It has also increased its number of shares by 184% since it closed its SPAC merger, mainly due to its secondary offerings and stock-based compensation costs, and that dilution will continue as long as it keeps burning cash.

D-Wave is carving out a niche in the nascent quantum computing market, but it still faces plenty of competition from "universal" gate-based processors from companies like IBM, Alphabet's Google, Rigetti, and IonQ -- all of which aim to solve a broader range of problems than quantum annealing. If D-Wave struggles to keep pace with those challengers, its business could eventually collapse.

Lastly, D-Wave's insiders were also net sellers over the past year. Over the past three months, they sold more than three times as many shares as they bought. That chilly insider sentiment suggests that too much growth might be baked into its current valuations.

Is it the right time to buy D-Wave?

D-Wave looks expensive relative to its near-term growth, but it's tough to tell how much the quantum computing market could expand over the next few decades. It might be worth nibbling on as a speculative play on the long-term growth of the quantum computing market, but I wouldn't go all-in on the stock at these levels.

Should you invest $1,000 in D-Wave Quantum right now?

Before you buy stock in D-Wave Quantum, 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 D-Wave Quantum 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 $697,627!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $939,655!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 1,045% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 178% 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 June 30, 2025

Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Leo Sun has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Accenture Plc, Alphabet, International Business Machines, and Mastercard. The Motley Fool recommends Lockheed Martin. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Warren Buffett once said his favorite holding period for the right stock was "forever." However, it can be tough to find the right stock to simply buy, hold, and forget, as geopolitical conflicts, tariffs, trade wars, and other macro headwinds rattle the markets.

If you're worried about those unpredictable challenges, you should buy an evergreen dividend stock with a proven track record of rewarding its long-term investors. One of those stocks is Realty Income (NYSE: O) -- and I'll give you 10 simple reasons to buy and hold it forever.

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Image source: Getty Images.

1. It pays out most of its profits as dividends

Realty Income is one of the world's largest real estate investment trusts (REITs). REITs buy a lot of properties, rent them out, and split the rental income with their investors. REITs must pay out at least 90% of their taxable income as dividends to maintain a favorable tax rate, so they'll generate steady income as long as their properties are occupied.

2. It's a triple net lease REIT

REITs provide single, double, and triple net leases. In a single net lease, the tenant pays the property taxes while the REIT pays the insurance and maintenance costs. In a double net lease, the tenant pays the property taxes and insurance, while the REIT pays the maintenance costs.

But in a triple net lease, the tenant pays all the taxes, insurance premiums, and maintenance costs, while the REIT pays practically nothing. Realty Income, along with most major REITs, use triple net leases to reduce their expenses and maximize their profits.

3. It's well diversified

Realty Income owns more than 15,600 properties in all 50 U.S. states, the U.K., and six countries in Europe. Its clients are diversified across 91 different industries, but it focuses heavily on recession-resistant businesses like convenience stores and discount retailers.

Realty's top tenants include 7-Eleven, Dollar General, Walgreens, and Dollar Tree, but none of those tenants account for more than 3.4% of its annualized rent. Some of those tenants have struggled with store closures in recent years, but many of its stronger tenants are picking up the slack.

4. Its occupancy rates are high

Realty Income currently has an occupancy rate of 98.5% across its properties, and that metric has never dropped below 96% since its IPO in 1994. Its ability to maintain those high occupancy rates through the Great Recession, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the borderline recession of 2022 indicate it's built to withstand tough economic downturns.

5. Its leases are long

As of its latest quarter, Realty had a weighted average remaining lease term (WALT) of 9.1 years. Those long-term leases should help to further insulate it from the near-term challenges.

6. It pays monthly dividends

Realty Income pays its dividends monthly, which sets it apart from many other companies, which only pay quarterly dividends. That makes it a solid choice for retirees, who likely favor predictable cash payments every month, as well as long-term investors, who can continue reinvesting those dividends to compound their total returns.

7. It consistently raises its dividends

Realty Income has raised its dividend 130 times since its public debut. It's also raised that payout for 110 consecutive quarters. That represents a total 258% increase and a compound annual dividend growth rate of 4.2% for its dividend since 1994.

8. It pays a higher yield than the 10-Year Treasury

Realty currently pays a forward dividend yield of 5.65%, compared to the 10-year Treasury's current yield of 4.38%. If interest rates continue to decline, more income-oriented investors will likely pivot from T-bills toward Realty Income and other reliable REITs.

9. Lower interest rates will boost its profits

REITs often struggle when interest rates rise, since it becomes more expensive to take out loans to buy additional properties. Elevated interest rates can also disrupt the growth of its tenants, which can lead to business closures and higher vacancy rates. So as interest rates continue to decline, Realty Income's profits should rise.

10. It still looks undervalued

Realty Income and its REIT peers usually gauge their profitability with their adjusted funds from operations (AFFO). Realty's AFFO per share rose at a steady CAGR of 5% from 2014 to 2024, and it expects that figure to rise 1%-2% to $4.22-$4.28 per share in 2025. That will easily cover its forward annual dividend rate of $3.23 per share.

At $57, Realty Income trades at just 13 times this year's AFFO. Back when it closed at its all-time high of $64.19 on Aug. 15, 2022, it was trading at 16 times its AFFO for 2022. That low valuation should limit its downside potential in this wobbly market -- so I think it's a great time to load up on some shares and hold them forever.

Should you invest $1,000 in Realty Income right now?

Before you buy stock in Realty Income, 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 Realty Income 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 $676,023!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $883,692!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 793% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 173% 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 June 23, 2025

Leo Sun has positions in Realty Income. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Realty Income. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Nio (NYSE: NIO), a leading producer of electric vehicles (EVs) in China, posted its first-quarter earnings report on June 3. Its revenue rose 21.5% year over year to 12.03 billion yuan ($1.66 billion), but its net loss widened from 5.18 billion yuan ($720 million) to 6.75 billion yuan ($930 million). It missed analysts' expectations on both its top and bottom lines.

Nio's stock rose slightly after that report, but it's still down about 27% over the past 12 months. Let's see if it will finally stabilize and bounce back over the following year.

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 »

Image source: Nio.

Is Nio's business stabilizing?

Nio's core brand sells a wide range of electric sedans and SUVs. It also recently launched two sub-brands over the past year: its Onvo brand for cheaper and family-oriented SUVs and its Firefly brand of compact cars. It differentiates itself from its competitors with batteries which can be quickly swapped out at its swapping stations. It's also expanding in Europe to diversify its business away from China.

The Chinese EV maker delivered its first vehicles in 2018. Its annual deliveries soared 81% in 2019, 113% in 2020, and 109% in 2021. Its annual vehicle margin also improved from negative 9.9% in 2019 to a record high of positive 20.1% in 2021 as it scaled up its business and ramped up its production.

However, Nio's deliveries only rose 34% in 2022 and 31% in 2023, while its vehicle margin shrank to 9.5% in 2023. It mainly attributed its slowdown to tough competition, a persistent pricing war in China's EV market, macro headwinds, and adverse weather conditions.

But in 2024, its deliveries rose 39% to 221,970 vehicles as its vehicle margin expanded to 12.3%. On a quarterly basis, its deliveries grew rapidly again throughout the entire year as its vehicle margins rose sequentially:

Data source: Nio. YOY = Year-over-year.

What are Nio's catalysts and challenges?

Nio's growth accelerated again as it delivered more premium ET-series sedans and Onvo SUVs in China, grew its domestic market share, and continued its expansion across Europe. Nio also further differentiated itself from China's other EV makers by developing its own intelligent-driving chips and SkyOS vehicle operating system. Its margins stabilized as it sold a higher mix of higher-end sedans, reduced its production costs, and streamlined its expenses.

However, Nio still faces pressure from bigger competitors like BYD, which delivered 4.27 million vehicles in 2024 (including 1.76 million battery-powered EVs), and Tesla, which delivered 657,102 cars in China during the year. Both of those competitors have been aggressively reducing their prices.

That competition, along with the expansion of its new Onvo and Firefly sub-brands, could compress Nio's vehicle margins and prevent it from ever breaking even. Its ongoing investments in its batteries and battery-swapping networks could exacerbate that pressure.

On the bright side, the European Union is reportedly considering replacing its tariffs on Chinese EVs with minimum price limits. That change could make it easier for Nio to stay competitive in Europe. It's also in talks to sell a controlling stake of its battery division, Nio Power, to the Chinese battery maker CATL. That move would streamline its business and reduce its operating expenses, but it probably won't fully offset its other soaring expenses.

Where will Nio's stock be in one year?

For now, analysts expect Nio's revenue to rise 34% in 2025 and 33% in 2026. Those are high growth rates for a stock which trades at just 0.7 times this year's sales. By comparison, BYD and Tesla trade at 1.1 and 9.4 times this year's sales, respectively.

Assuming Nio meets analysts' top-line estimates and trades at a more generous two-times forward sales, its stock could potentially surge about 500% by 2026 Q1. If the trade tensions between the U.S. and China finally wane, Nio could deliver even bigger gains as it's valued more closely to Tesla and other higher-growth automakers. Nio is still a speculative stock, but it could have more upside potential than downside potential at its current levels.

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

Before you buy stock in Nio, 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 Nio 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!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 792% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 173% 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 June 9, 2025

Leo Sun 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.

Many hypergrowth tech stocks skyrocketed during the buying frenzy in meme stocks throughout 2020 and 2021. But in 2022 and 2023, many of those stocks stumbled as interest rates rose. Some bounced back in 2024 as interest rates declined, but cooled again this year as the Trump administration's tariffs, trade wars, and other unpredictable headwinds rattled the markets.

However, a lot of those hypergrowth plays are still built for long-term growth. So if you can stomach a bit of near-term volatility, these three stocks -- Pinterest (NYSE: PINS), AppLovin (NASDAQ: APPS), and CrowdStrike (NASDAQ: CRWD) -- might just be worth accumulating throughout the rest of the year.

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1. Pinterest

Pinterest carved out its own niche in the crowded social media market with its virtual pinboards for sharing ideas, interests, and hobbies. That focus insulated it from the hate speech and misinformation that dogged other social media platforms, and its pinboards were a natural fit for digital ads and small digital storefronts.

Many retailers, like IKEA, have uploaded their entire catalogs to Pinterest's boards as "shoppable" pinboards.

From 2020 to 2024, Pinterest's year-end monthly active users (MAUs) increased from 459 million to 553 million, its annual revenue more than doubled from $1.69 billion to $3.65 billion, and the company finally turned profitable in 2024. Its MAUs grew 10% year over year to 570 million in the first quarter of 2025, which definitively deflated the bearish thesis that its popularity was just a pandemic-era fad.

Pinterest's recent growth was driven by its overseas expansion, new Gen Z users who curbed its dependence on older users, fresh video content, more e-commerce tools, and new artificial intelligence (AI)-driven recommendations, which crafted targeted ads based on its users' pinned interests. It should continue growing as it monetizes its overseas users more aggressively while deepening its lucrative advertising and e-commerce partnership with Amazon.

From 2024 to 2027, analysts expect Pinterest's revenue to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14% and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) to increase at a CAGR of 21%. It still looks cheap at 16 times this year's adjusted EBITDA -- and it could have plenty of room to grow as the social shopping market heats up.

2. AppLovin

AppLovin is a publisher of mobile games, but it also helps other developers monetize their apps with integrated ads. Most of its growth is now driven by the advertising business, which benefited from the growing popularity of its AI-powered AXON ad discovery services to help advertisers connect with potential customers.

To accelerate that expansion and evolution, the company acquired the mobile ad tech company MoPub in 2021 and the streaming media advertising company Wurl in 2022. It even placed a bid for TikTok's U.S. business, but that potentially transformative deal faces an uncertain future. AppLovin is also in the process of selling its slower-growth mobile gaming division to Tripledot Studios, and it could grow much faster and at higher margins once it closes that deal.

From 2020 to 2024, AppLovin's revenue more than tripled, from $1.45 billion to $4.71 billion. It slipped to a net loss in 2022, but turned profitable again in 2023. Its net profit more than quadrupled to $1.58 billion in 2024. Its robust profit growth and swelling market cap might even pave the way toward its eventual inclusion in the S&P 500.

From 2024 to 2027, analysts expect AppLovin's revenue and earnings per share to grow at a CAGR of 22% and 45%, respectively. The stock might seem a bit pricey at 51 times this year's earnings, but the rapid growth of its AI-driven advertising business should justify that higher valuation.

3. CrowdStrike

CrowdStrike is a cybersecurity company that eschews on-site appliances and offers its endpoint security tools only as cloud-native services on its Falcon platform. That approach is stickier and easier to scale, and it doesn't require any on-site maintenance or updates.

From fiscal 2021 to fiscal 2025 (which ended this January), CrowdStrike's annual revenue more than quadrupled from $874 million to $3.95 billion, while the percentage of customers using at least five of its modules (at the end of the year) rose from 47% to 67%. It's still not consistently profitable according to generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), but its non-GAAP net income increased at an impressive CAGR of 99% during those four years.

From fiscal 2025 to fiscal 2028, analysts expect its revenue to grow at a CAGR of 22%. They also expect it to turn profitable on a GAAP basis in fiscal 2027 -- and more than triple its net income in fiscal 2028. That impressive growth trajectory should be driven by its continued disruption of on-site appliances, the expansion of its new AI-driven threat detection services, and a resolution of the legal and regulatory problems related to its widespread outage last July.

CrowdStrike's business is gradually maturing, and its stock might not seem like a bargain at 24 times this year's sales, but I think it remains one of the best cybersecurity plays for long-term investors.

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

Before you buy stock in Pinterest, 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 Pinterest 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!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 792% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 173% 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 June 2, 2025

John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Leo Sun has positions in Amazon. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, CrowdStrike, and Pinterest. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

ChargePoint (NYSE: CHPT), the leading builder of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in North America and Europe, posted its latest earnings report on June 4. For the first quarter of fiscal 2026, which ended on April 30, the company's revenue fell 9% year over year to $97.6 million, missing analysts' expectations by $2.9 million. It narrowed its net loss from $71.8 million to $57.1 million, or $0.12 per share, which cleared the consensus forecast by a penny.

ChargePoint's stock rallied after that mixed earnings report, but it's still down about 60% over the past 12 months. Will it stabilize and recover over the following year?

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 »

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Why did ChargePoint's stock sink over the past few years?

ChargePoint ended its first quarter with more than 352,000 charging ports, including over 35,000 DC fast chargers, under its direct management. Its roaming partnerships also grant its customers access to more than 1.25 million charging ports across the world.

ChargePoint mainly sells connected charging stations to residential and commercial properties that want to host their own chargers and set their own prices. It provides those hosts with network access, billing, and customer support services. That sets it apart from Tesla's Superchargers, which mainly serve as extensions of the automaker and offer fewer connected and customizable features.

ChargePoint grew rapidly in fiscal 2022 and fiscal 2023 (which ended in January 2023), as EV sales surged in the post-pandemic market. But in fiscal 2024 and fiscal 2025, its growth stalled out as rising interest rates chilled the EV market and drove its residential and commercial customers to postpone their installations of new charging stalls.

But in fiscal 2025, its adjusted gross, operating, and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) margins all improved as it narrowed its net loss. Its margins continued to expand in the first quarter of fiscal 2026, even as its revenue declined.

Data source: ChargePoint. YOY = Year-over-year. FY = fiscal year. EBITDA = earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.

ChargePoint attributes those margin improvements to the growth of its higher-margin subscription and software services -- which offset the lower margins of its chargers -- a big reduction in its inventories, and sweeping cost-cutting initiatives.

What does ChargePoint expect for the rest of fiscal 2026?

ChargePoint expects to generate $90 million to $100 million in revenue in the second quarter, which would represent a decline of 8% to 17% from a year ago. During the earnings call, CFO Mansi Khetani said the company was "guiding with caution due to the continued changes in the macro environment, including tariff uncertainty" and its focus on integrating its charging stalls with Eaton's electrical grid solutions through a new one-stop shop partnership.

ChargePoint didn't provide a full-year revenue outlook. However, it reiterated its goal of achieving a positive adjusted EBITDA in a single quarter of fiscal 2026.

Analysts expect its revenue to come in nearly flat for the full year, which implies its revenue growth will improve in the second half of the year as the macroenvironment warms up and the EV market stabilizes. They expect its annual adjusted EBITDA to improve to negative $63 million.

ChargePoint's growth may seem anemic right now, but it still has enough liquidity to ride out the near-term headwinds. It ended the first quarter with $196 million in cash and cash equivalents, it hasn't drawn a single dollar from its $150 million revolving credit facility, and it won't face any debt maturities until 2028.

Where will ChargePoint's stock be in a year?

For fiscal 2027, analysts expect ChargePoint's revenue to rise 29% to $537 million with a negative adjusted EBITDA of $16 million. For fiscal 2028, they expect its revenue to grow 33% to $713 million with a positive adjusted EBITDA of $67 million.

We should take those optimistic estimates with a grain of salt, but its cyclical downturn could represent a good buying opportunity for investors who can tune out the near-term noise. With an enterprise value of $465 million, it looks extremely undervalued at just over 1 times this year's sales. If ChargePoint meets analysts' expectations and trades at just 2 times its forward sales by the beginning of fiscal 2027, its stock price could easily rally more than 130% over the next 12 months.

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

Before you buy stock in ChargePoint, 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 ChargePoint 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!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 792% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 173% 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 June 2, 2025

Leo Sun has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Tesla. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Uber (NYSE: UBER), the world's largest ride-hailing service provider, went public six years ago at $45 per share. Its stock slumped below its initial public offering (IPO) price in its first four years as the pandemic throttled its growth and rising rates squeezed its valuations, but it now trades at about $84.

Uber's business recovered as its ride-hailing and delivery services continued to expand; it divested its money-losing overseas and autonomous driving units; and it expanded its sticky subscription platform. Will its stock soar even higher over the next five years?

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 »

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What happened to Uber over the past five years?

Uber is primarily known for its ride-hailing and food delivery services, but it also offers business-oriented services along with bike and scooter rentals. It operates in about 15,000 cities across 70 countries, generating over half of its revenue in the U.S. and Canada.

From 2020 to 2024, Uber's number of year-end monthly active platform consumers (MAPCs) rose from 93 million to a record high of 171 million. That figure dipped sequentially to 170 million in the first quarter of 2025, but that still represented 14% growth from a year earlier.

Its growth in trips, gross bookings, and revenue stalled out in 2020 as the pandemic forced more people to stay at home. However, it recovered quickly over the following four years as it stayed ahead of its smaller competitors, rolled out new enterprise, healthcare, and teen-oriented services, and expanded its Uber One subscriptions.

Data source: Uber Technologies. YOY = Year over year.

Uber One's total number of subscribers rose 60% to 30 million at the end of 2024. The stickiness of that expanding ecosystem boosted its pricing power and take rate (the percentage of each booking it retains as revenue) throughout 2024.

Lyft, which operates in fewer markets than Uber, served 44 million annual active customers who used its ride-hailing, scooter, and bike rental services at least once during the year. It had 24.2 million quarterly active riders in the first quarter of 2025.

Uber's adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) also turned positive in 2022 as it divested its unprofitable segments, pruned its workforce, and trimmed its other expenses. It also turned profitable on a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis in 2023. Its adjusted EBITDA nearly quadrupled from 2022 to 2024, while its GAAP net income increased more than fivefold (driven by a one-time tax benefit and the revaluation of its equity investments) from 2023 to 2024.

What will happen to Uber over the next five years?

Uber controls 76% of the U.S. ride-hailing market, according to IncRev. Global Growth Insights estimates that Uber controls 28% of the global market, while its closest competitor, China's Didi -- which Uber also owns a stake in -- holds a 21% share.

According to Mordor Intelligence, the global ride-hailing market could grow at a CAGR of 9.6% from 2025 to 2030. Grand View Research expects the global food delivery market to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.4% during those five years.

Based on those estimates, Uber could grow its revenue and adjusted EBITDA at a CAGR of 10% over the following five years. If that happens, its revenue will rise from an estimated $50.6 billion in 2025 to $81.5 billion in 2030. Its adjusted EBITDA would increase from an estimated $8.6 billion this year to $13.9 billion.

With an enterprise value (EV) of $173.6 billion, Uber looks reasonably valued at 20 times this year's adjusted EBITDA. It still faces competitive and regulatory challenges in certain markets, but its brand recognition and economies of scale should fuel its long-term growth.

If Uber maintains that same EV/EBITDA ratio, its valuation and stock price could rise about 60% over the next five years. That would be a solid gain that would keep it ahead of the S&P 500, which has delivered an average annual return of about 10% since its inception, and make it a great long-term play on the ride-hailing and delivery markets.

Should you invest $1,000 in Uber Technologies right now?

Before you buy stock in Uber Technologies, 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 Uber Technologies 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 $651,049!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $828,224!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 979% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 171% 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 June 2, 2025

Leo Sun has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) index, which includes the 30 most prominent companies in the U.S., is used by some as a benchmark of the American economy. Over the past 10 years, the Dow advanced about 135%, even as the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation, rising interest rates, and other macro headwinds rattled the markets.

Also, over that decade, some well-known companies, including General Electric, ExxonMobil, Pfizer, and Intel, were removed from the index and replaced by higher-growth companies, including Amazon, Salesforce, and Nvidia.

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But despite those occasional changes, the Dow remains a good starting point for seeking out some promising long-term investments. Today, I'll look at two of those stocks -- Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) -- and explain why they're set to soar in 2025 and beyond.

Image source: Getty Images.

Apple

Apple's stock has slumped about 20% since the beginning of the year. The bulls shunned the tech titan for four main reasons. First, the Trump administration's unpredictable tariffs, especially against China, could cause its production costs to soar. Second, Apple's AI efforts failed to impress investors as much as OpenAI's ChatGPT and other generative AI platforms. Third, its closely watched mixed reality efforts fizzled out after it halted its production of the Vision Pro.

Lastly, Fortnite publisher Epic Games won a major legal victory against Apple after a U.S. court ruled that the company could bypass its App Store fees with other payment methods. That victory could allow other developers to bypass Apple's 30% fees with a similar payment measure. All of those challenges -- along with Warren Buffett's decision to trim Berkshire Hathaway's big stake in Apple over the past year -- weighed down its stock.

Yet investors are overlooking some of Apple's long-term strengths. It ended its latest quarter with $133 billion in cash and marketable securities, which gives it ample room for fresh investments and acquisitions. It has an installed device base of over 2.2 billion, and it's already locked in over a billion paid subscriptions across all of its services. It could leverage that massive audience to justify its App Store fees as it appeals the Epic Games ruling.

Apple's brand appeal, the stickiness of its ecosystem, and its high switching costs should continue to drive its future sales of iPhones, Macs, iPads, and other devices. Its rollout of new custom chips, its integration of new AI features, and a more affordable version of the Vision Pro -- which might arrive in 2026 or 2027 -- could keep it ahead of its Android-based rivals. As for the tariffs, it could mitigate those impacts by shifting its supply chains to lower-tariff countries like India or Vietnam.

From fiscal 2024, which ended last September, to fiscal 2027, analysts expect Apple's earnings per share (EPS) to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12%. Its stock still looks reasonably valued at 26 times next year's earnings, and it should head higher once it resolves its near-term issues.

Cisco Systems

Cisco's stock has risen about 6% this year. Investors warmed up to the world's top networking hardware and software company as its growth stabilized and fresh catalysts appeared on the horizon. It struggled in fiscal 2024, which ended last July, as its customers placed too many hardware orders after its previous supply constraints eased in fiscal 2023. A challenging macro environment then drove those customers to deploy those devices at a slower-than-expected rate -- so Cisco's shipments abruptly dried up.

But over the past year, Cisco's hardware sales stabilized as the market's demand finally caught up with its inventories again. It also expanded its observability segment by acquiring Splunk last March, and it's been expanding its cybersecurity business with new AI-powered services such as Hypershield and AI Defense. Moreover, its AI-related infrastructure business continued to expand and generated $1.35 billion in revenue in the first nine months of fiscal 2025. That accounted for 3% of its revenue during those three quarters and easily surpassed its prior goal for generating $1 billion in AI infrastructure revenue for the full fiscal year.

Cisco will probably never become a hypergrowth AI play like Nvidia, yet it provides the essential building blocks for the growing data center, cloud, and AI markets. With $15.6 billion in cash and marketable securities at the end of its latest quarter, it still has plenty of room to expand its higher-growth businesses and maintain its buybacks, which cancelled out over a fifth of its shares over the past decade, for years to come. From fiscal 2024 to fiscal 2027, analysts expect Cisco's EPS to grow at a CAGR of 9% -- and its stock still isn't expensive at 22 times next year's earnings. Simply put, it could head a lot higher over the next few years as its core markets expand.

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 $651,049!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $828,224!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 979% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 171% 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 June 2, 2025

John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Leo Sun has positions in Amazon, Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, and Pfizer. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, Cisco Systems, Intel, Nvidia, Pfizer, and Salesforce. The Motley Fool recommends GE Aerospace and recommends the following options: short August 2025 $24 calls on Intel. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Super Micro Computer (NASDAQ: SMCI), more commonly known as Supermicro, went on a wild ride over the past year. The maker of artificial intelligence (AI) servers closed at a record split-adjusted high of $118.81 on March 13, 2024, which marked a 1,020% gain over the previous 12 months.

At the time, investors were impressed by its brisk sales of liquid-cooled AI servers, which ran on Nvidia's high-end data center graphics processing units (GPUs). But today, Supermicro trades at about $47.

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Image source: Getty Images.

Supermicro lost its luster as it struggled with a delayed 10-K filing due to accounting issues, the departure of its auditor, delisting threats, and regulatory probes. Its slowing growth and declining gross margins also indicated it was losing its pricing power against its larger competitors.

The company finally hired a new auditor, filed its overdue 10-K this February, dodged a delisting, and seemed to placate the regulators. But its growth is still cooling off as the macro and competitive headwinds intensify across the evolving AI market. So should investors still buy its stock today?

What happened to Supermicro over the past year?

Supermicro is still an underdog in traditional servers compared to market leaders like Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Dell Technologies. But it carved out a niche with its dedicated AI servers, and Raymond James estimates it now controls about 9% of that growing market. Its close relationship with Nvidia also gave it access to a steady supply of top-tier data center GPUs.

Supermicro's revenue surged 46% in its fiscal 2022 (which ended in June 2022), 37% in fiscal 2023, and 110% in fiscal 2024. Its gross margin expanded from 15.4% in fiscal 2022 to 18% in fiscal 2023 as the AI market heated up.

But its gross margin declined to 14.1% in fiscal 2024 as it faced tougher competition and relied on aggressive pricing strategies to sell more servers. Over the past year, its revenue growth continued to cool off as its gross margins shrank.

Data source: Supermicro. YOY = year-over-year.

Many of its customers postponed their new AI server purchases in anticipation of Nvidia's next-gen Blackwell chips, while supply chain constraints made it harder to fulfill its existing orders. The macro headwinds exacerbated that pressure by forcing many companies to rein in their spending on pricey AI servers. As a result, its inventory levels rose, its pricing power waned, and its gross margins contracted.

What will happen to Supermicro over the next year?

For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, Supermicro expects its revenue to grow at a midpoint of 13% year over year as it ramps up its production of Blackwell-powered servers and data center building block solutions -- which bundle its AI servers and software for quick deployments.

For the full year, it expects its revenue to rise 46% to 51%. That outlook is still impressive, but it was scaled back from its prior outlook for 57% to 67% growth.

Analysts expect its revenue to rise 48% in fiscal 2025, 36% in fiscal 2026, and 25% in fiscal 2027. We should take those estimates with a grain of salt, but investors shouldn't expect it to grow as rapidly as it did over the past three years.

That slowdown wouldn't be surprising, since Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Dell, and other major server makers have been rolling out more dedicated AI servers for the booming market. Supermicro established an early mover's advantage in the space, but it doesn't have much of a moat against those rivals.

So is it the right time to buy Supermicro's stock?

Supermicro still faces a lot of macro and competitive challenges, but it also looks like a bargain at 18 times next year's earnings. The AI server market could still have a compound annual growth rate of 34.3% from 2024 to 2030, according to MarketsandMarkets Research, so there could be plenty of room for Supermicro, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Dell to grow without trampling one another.

If you believe Supermicro can defend its niche with its high-end liquid-cooled servers, its stock might be worth accumulating as it trades far below its all-time highs. But investors should watch its gross margins closely to see if it can maintain its pricing power in this tough market.

Should you invest $1,000 in Super Micro Computer right now?

Before you buy stock in Super Micro Computer, 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 Super Micro Computer 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 $635,275!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $826,385!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 967% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 171% 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 12, 2025

Leo Sun has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Brookfield Asset Management (NYSE: BAM), one of the top alternative asset management firms in the world, went public in 1983. But in December 2022, it rebranded itself as Brookfield Corp. (NYSE: BN) and spun off its core asset management business as the "new" Brookfield Asset Management.

Brookfield Corp. now serves as the parent company of Brookfield Asset Management, which it holds alongside its other investments. The new Brookfield Asset Management became a pure asset manager, which earns management fees through its investment funds.

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Brookfield Asset Management's stock has risen in price nearly 50% since its spinoff listing in 2022. Should investors still buy it as a safe-haven play in this turbulent market?

Image source: Getty Images.

How do you gauge Brookfield Asset Management's growth?

Instead of investing in traditional assets like stocks, bonds, and Treasury bills, Brookfield Asset Management gives its investors exposure to "alternative" assets in the real estate, infrastructure, private equity, and credit markets.

As an asset management firm, Brookfield gauges its growth with three key performance metrics: its fee-bearing capital (FBC), or its total managed capital from its clients; its fee-related earnings (FRE), or its total earnings from its management and advisory fees; and its distributable earnings (DE), or its available cash flow for covering its dividends and interest payments. All three of those metrics grew at healthy rates over the past three years.

Data source: Brookfield Asset Management. YOY = Year over year.

Brookfield's robust growth was mainly driven by institutional investors, many of whom rotated from traditional assets toward alternative ones as rising interest rates, inflation, geopolitical conflicts, and other macro headwinds rattled the stock and bond markets. Many of Brookfield's funds also lock in their investors for more than 10 years, so it's well insulated from the near-term headwinds.

Brookfield is also a cloud and AI play

Brookfield's high exposure to the infrastructure and renewable energy markets puts it in a strong position to profit from the growth of the cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) markets. As cloud companies expand their data centers to accommodate the latest AI applications, their soaring energy needs should generate strong tailwinds for many of Brookfield's infrastructure and energy investments.

It's been increasing its exposure to the AI market. Earlier this year, it announced a 20 billion euro ($22.4 billion) investment over the next five years to expand France's AI infrastructure. It also expanded its U.S. onshore renewables business to meet the AI market's insatiable appetite for more electricity.

It can easily cover its dividends

Brookfield Asset Management generated $1.28 in DE per share in 2022, and that figure rose to $1.37 in 2023 and $1.45 in 2024. Those earnings easily covered its annual per-share dividends of $0.56 in 2022 and $1.28 in 2023 -- but they didn't quite cover its $1.52 in dividends per share in 2024.

That slightly higher payment isn't too troubling, since Brookfield's other growth metrics are still healthy. In fact, Brookfield actually raised its annual dividend rate to $1.75 this February -- which will still eclipse its projected DE per share of $1.65 for 2025.

Is it the right time to buy Brookfield Asset Management?

At $59 a share, Brookfield doesn't look cheap at 36 times this year's DE per share. Its forward dividend yield of 3% probably won't dazzle any income investors when the 10-year Treasury still pays a 4.5% yield. That high valuation and average yield could limit its upside potential.

Brookfield still looks like a sound long-term investment, but it probably won't head much higher over the next few quarters. Investors can nibble on it now, but they probably shouldn't accumulate more shares before its valuations cool off to more sustainable levels.

Should you invest $1,000 in Brookfield Asset Management right now?

Before you buy stock in Brookfield Asset Management, 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 Brookfield Asset Management 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 $635,275!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $826,385!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 967% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 171% 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 12, 2025

Leo Sun has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Brookfield, Brookfield Asset Management, and Brookfield Corporation. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ), two of the largest telecom companies in America, are both often considered stable income stocks. But over the past three years, AT&T's stock rallied nearly 50%, as Verizon's stock declined 5%. After reinvesting their dividends, AT&T delivered a total return of more than 75%, as Verizon generated a total return of just 15%.

Let's see why AT&T outperformed Verizon by such a wide margin, and if it's still the more reliable dividend play today.

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The differences between AT&T and Verizon

AT&T and Verizon both generate most of their revenue from their wireless businesses. At the end of the first quarter of 2025, AT&T and Verizon served 118 million and 146 million wireless (both postpaid and prepaid) subscribers, respectively.

Image source: Getty Images.

AT&T grew its wireless postpaid business by 1.7 million subscribers in 2023, 1.7 million subscribers in 2024, and another 324,000 subscribers in the first quarter of 2025.

AT&T spun off DirecTV, Time Warner, and its smaller media assets over the past few years to focus on expanding its 5G wireless and fiber businesses. That back-to-basics approach sharpened its competitive edge and freed up a lot of cash. Its fiber business also added 1.1 million connections in 2023, another 1 million connections in 2024, and 261,000 connections in the first quarter of 2025.

The rapid growth of its 5G and fiber segment offset the softness of its business wireline segment, which is still struggling to stay relevant as more businesses transition from wired network connections toward cloud and wireless services.

Verizon's wireless business gained 286,000 postpaid subscribers in 2023 and 731,000 subscribers in 2024 -- but it abruptly lost 289,000 subscribers in the first quarter of 2025.

Verizon attributed that decline to tough competition and big promotions at AT&T and T-Mobile. The company tried to keep up by slashing its prices and offering more competitive bundles, but it hiked its prices again at the beginning of 2025 to boost its subscriber revenues. That move, along with the recent federal layoffs, exacerbated Verizon's loss of wireless subscribers.

Like AT&T, Verizon expanded its broadband internet segment by adding 248,000 Fios subscribers in 2023, another 208,000 subscribers in 2024, and 45,000 subscribers in the first quarter of 2025. However, that segment still isn't growing fast enough to offset its loss of wireless subscribers or the ongoing decline of its business wireline segment.

Which company has a healthier dividend?

AT&T pays a forward dividend yield of 4%, while Verizon pays a higher forward yield of 6.3%. However, AT&T's yield declined as its stock rallied, while Verizon's yield rose as its stock fell. AT&T nearly halved its dividend in 2022, after it spun off WarnerMedia and merged it with Discovery to create Warner Bros. Discovery. It hasn't raised its dividend since then. Verizon has raised its dividend annually for 18 consecutive years.

We can gauge the health of a company's dividend with its cash dividend payout ratio, or the percentage of its free cash flow (FCF) it pays out as dividends. Verizon has a higher ratio, but both companies can easily afford to raise their dividends.

Source: YCharts

In 2024, Verizon's FCF rose 6% to $19.8 billion, but it expects that figure to dip to $17.5 billion-$18.5 billion this year. AT&T's FCF grew 5% to $17.6 billion in 2024, but it also anticipates a decline to about $16 billion in 2025.

Both companies expect their increased 5G and fiber investments, along with higher tax rates, to throttle their near-term FCF growth, but AT&T's FCF decline will be exacerbated by the planned sale of its remaining 70% stake in DirecTV this year.

But which company has a brighter future?

For 2025, AT&T expects its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) to rise at least 3%. Verizon expects 2%-3.5% growth. With an enterprise value of $312 billion, AT&T trades at 6.8 times this year's adjusted EBITDA. Verizon, which is worth $318 billion, trades at 6.4 times this year's adjusted EBITDA.

Verizon is the cheaper stock with the higher dividend, but its wireless business faces tougher near-term challenges than AT&T's. That means a lot of its near-term earnings growth could be driven by cost-cutting measures and price hikes instead of new subscribers. So unless Verizon can start gaining more wireless postpaid subscribers, it could continue to underperform AT&T.

The better buy: AT&T

Verizon's downside might be limited at these levels, but AT&T's stronger wireless growth makes it the better dividend stock right now -- even though it pays a lower yield and hasn't raised its payout since its spinoff of Warner Bros. Discovery. However, I might change my mind if Verizon gets its act together and finds more ways to grow in this tough promotional environment.

Should you invest $1,000 in AT&T right now?

Before you buy stock in AT&T, 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 AT&T 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 $623,685!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $701,781!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 906% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 164% 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

Leo Sun has positions in Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Warner Bros. Discovery. The Motley Fool recommends T-Mobile US and Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

IonQ (NYSE: IONQ), a provider of quantum computing systems and cloud-based services, went public by merging with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) on Oct. 1, 2021. The combined company's stock started trading at $10.60 per share, then endured some wild swings before closing at a record high of $51.07 on Jan. 6, 2025.

At the time, investors were impressed by IonQ's early mover's advantage in the quantum computing market and its rapid growth. President Donald Trump's victory in last November's U.S. election also sparked a buying frenzy in pricier growth stocks.

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Image source: Getty Images.

Yet, IonQ's stock has plunged about 45% since then. The bulls retreated as the Trump Administration's "Liberation Day" tariffs rattled the markets and stoked fears of a recession. It also became increasingly difficult to justify its sky-high valuations. So should investors consider IonQ's pullback to be a buying opportunity, or a grim warning of darker days ahead?

What does IonQ do?

Traditional computers, even those running the fastest CPUs, store their data in binary bits of zeros and ones. Quantum computers store zeros and ones simultaneously in "qubits," so they can process larger amounts of data at a much faster rate.

However, quantum computers are also larger, consume more power, and are much pricier than traditional servers and mainframes. They also make a higher percentage of mistakes. Due to those limitations, they're still mainly used by universities and government agencies for niche research projects, instead of for mainstream computing tasks.

IonQ sells three quantum computers: Its older Aria system, its flagship Forte system, and its data center-oriented Forte Enterprise system. It plans to roll out its fourth system, the Tempo, later this year.

All its systems use a "trapped ion" technology that isolates individual ions (charged atoms) with electromagnetic fields in a vacuum chamber. It claims that this process is more accurate and power-efficient than other competing methods like superconducting qubits and photonic qubits. IonQ also serves up its quantum computing power as a cloud-based service for customers that want to develop quantum applications without installing on-premise systems.

IonQ measures its quantum computing power in algorithmic qubits (AQ). Both versions of Forte reached 36 AQ at the end of 2024. It expects Tempo to achieve 64 AQ by using barium ions instead of ytterbium ions to improve its stability.

That means IonQ remains on track to achieve its ambitious long-term goal of generating 64 AQ in 2025, 256 AQ in 2026, 384 AQ in 2027, and 1,024 AQ in 2028. It also expects its gate fidelity (its error detection rate) to rise from 99.9% in 2024 to 99.95% in 2028 as it rolls out its more advanced systems.

How fast is IonQ growing?

From 2021 to 2024, IonQ's annual revenue surged from $2 million to $43 million. That growth trajectory was impressive, but it still significantly missed its own pre-merger estimates.

Data source: IonQ.

The unexpected departure of its chief science officer, Dr. Chris Monroe, also rattled its investors in late 2023. However, IonQ continued to roll out new systems, sign new government and enterprise contracts, and acquire some of its smaller competitors. It even integrated Nvidia's parallel computing platform CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) into its own quantum systems to support the integration of the chipmaker's AI-oriented GPUs.

From 2024 to 2027, analysts expect IonQ's revenue to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 88% to $290 million. But with a market capitalization of $6.56 billion, IonQ is already valued at 23 times its estimated sales for 2027. It also isn't expected to break even anytime soon.

Should you buy IonQ's stock right now?

The quantum computing market could expand at a CAGR of 28.5% from 2025 to 2035, according to Market Research Future. If IonQ merely matches that growth rate, its revenue could grow from an estimated $85 million in 2025 to $939 million in 2035.

That would be an impressive growth trajectory, but too much of its growth is baked into its current valuations. Even if its stock were cut in half, it would still be considered expensive relative to its growth. That might be why its insiders sold more than twice as many shares as they bought over the past three months, and why 18% of its float was being shorted in mid-April.

IonQ might be worth nibbling on as a speculative play on the nascent quantum computing market, but investors shouldn't assume it won't drop even lower. In short, it's too early to consider its recent pullback to be a great buying opportunity.

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

Before you buy stock in IonQ, 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 IonQ 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 $623,685!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $701,781!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 906% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 164% 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

Leo Sun has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) recently posted its first-quarter earnings report. The chipmaker's revenue came in flat year over year at $12.7 billion, which still beat analysts' estimates by $390 million. Its adjusted earnings per share (EPS) fell 28% to $0.13 but still cleared the consensus forecast by $0.13. Those headline numbers seemed stable, but its guidance was grim.

For the second quarter, it expects its revenue to decline from 3% to 13% year over year (compared to analysts' expectations for sales to remain flat), with an adjusted EPS of zero -- which also missed the consensus forecast of $0.07.

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Image source: Getty Images.

In other words, investors shouldn't expect Intel's turnaround efforts to bear fruit anytime soon. But can the chipmaker's new CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, fix its ailing business and strike back against Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) in the x86 CPU market?

What happened to Intel?

Intel is still the world's largest manufacturer of x86 CPUs for PCs and servers. But between the third quarter of 2016 and the second quarter of 2025, Intel's share of the x86 market plummeted from 82.5% to 58.2%, according to PassMark Software, which compares PCs. AMD's share rose from 17.5% to 40.3%.

That disastrous decline was largely caused by Intel's failure to keep pace with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in the race to manufacture smaller and denser chips. AMD, which didn't manufacture its own chips, outsourced its production to Taiwan Semiconductor's superior foundries -- which enabled it to produce smaller, cheaper, and more power-efficient chips than Intel. Meanwhile, Intel -- which struggled with delays, shortages, and abrupt CEO changes as it tried to keep up -- lost a lot of its business to AMD.

But that wasn't Intel's only failure over the past decade. It also failed to crack the mobile chip market, which it ceded to Arm Holdings, while missing the seismic shift toward AI chips, which Nvidia dominates with its discrete GPUs. It also di-worsified its business with too many messy acquisitions, and then hastily divested them when they didn't pay off.

That's why Intel's annual revenue declined from $55.87 billion in 2014 to $54.23 billion in 2024. Over the past 10 years, its stock price fell 34% as the S&P 500 advanced 160%. AMD's stock surged a dizzying 3,950% during the same period as its CEO, Lisa Su, drove the underdog chipmaker to reboot its engineering process and capitalize on Intel's mistakes.

How does Intel's new CEO plan to turn around its business?

Before Intel brought in Lip-Bu Tan as its new CEO this March, many analysts speculated that it might sell its foundries to Taiwan Semiconductor (also known as TSMC) and its chip design business to Broadcom, or follow AMD's lead and become a fully fabless chipmaker. However, Tan quickly dismissed those rumors and suggested that Intel would continue to improve its engineering capabilities, develop more CPUs with integrated AI features, and expand its foundry business.

During Intel's first-quarter conference call, Tan reiterated those priorities and said it would streamline its business and divest its noncore assets (including the programmable chipmaker Altera in the second half of this year). Meanwhile, it's ramping up its smallest 18A process node to support the launch of its next-gen Panther Lake CPU for PCs in late 2025. It also expects its upcoming Granite Rapids Xeon 6 CPU to strengthen its defenses in the server market.

That road map seems feasible, but Intel's dim near-term outlook suggests its newest chips won't boost its near-term revenue and profits. Moreover, Intel plans to lay off a big percentage of its staff this year (rumored to be around 20%) to cut costs, and it's been outsourcing the production of some of its 2nm Nova Lake CPUs (which are scheduled to launch in 2026) to TSMC.

Those red flags suggest Intel will remain stuck in its previous cycle of trying to cut costs, rolling out new chips, and quietly relying on TSMC to pick up the slack. Meanwhile, AMD could continue to chip away at Intel with its Ryzen CPUs for PCs and Epyc CPUs for servers. In other words, Intel still hasn't explained how it will stop the bleeding and strike back at AMD.

But that's not all. Intel still needs to cope with the Trump administration's unpredictable tariffs and export curbs, its push to end the CHIPS Act subsidies for domestic chipmakers, and intense competition from TSMC in the foundry market. All of those challenges could make it even tougher for Intel to mount a meaningful recovery against AMD.

Is it too late to strike back against AMD?

Intel's losses in the mobile market, the discrete GPU market, and now its core CPU market indicate its business is suffering from some deep-rooted issues. AMD was led by one dynamic CEO over the past decade, while Intel was led by four different ones.

The contrarian investors might believe that Lip-Bu Tan might succeed where three predecessors failed, but I don't see any green shoots yet. So for now, I think it's too late to assume Intel can fend off AMD in the x86 CPU market.

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

Before you buy stock in Intel, 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 Intel 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 21, 2025

Leo Sun has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Intel, Nvidia, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. The Motley Fool recommends Broadcom and recommends the following options: short May 2025 $30 calls on Intel. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Walmart (NYSE: WMT), one of the largest retailers in the world, has been a reliable stock for long-term investors. Over the past 10 years, it has gained nearly 270% as the broad market S&P 500 index advanced by about 160%. Factoring in reinvested dividends, Walmart's total return was 340% against the S&P 500's total return of 205%. Here are seven reasons it's still worth buying with both hands today.

Image source: Getty Images.

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1. Its consistent comps growth

Walmart's comparable-store sales metric, which gauges the year-over-year growth of stores that have been open for at least 12 months (plus its e-commerce sales), has consistently risen over the past decade. It achieved that sales growth by renovating its stores, rolling out more private label brands, matching Amazon's prices, expanding its e-commerce and digital capabilities, and leveraging its massive network of brick-and-mortar stores to fulfill online orders.

Its Sam's Club chain also grew at a healthy rate, keeping pace with rival Costco (NASDAQ: COST) in the membership-driven warehouse club market. Walmart's international growth slowed down in fiscal 2022 and fiscal 2023 (which ended in January 2023) as it divested some of its weaker overseas businesses, but that streamlined segment flourished over the following two years.

Data source: Walmart. Comps growth excludes fuel sales.

Walmart's growth over the past five years shows how resistant it was to inflation, geopolitical conflicts, and other disruptive macro headwinds. For its fiscal 2026 (now underway), it expects its net sales to grow by 3% to 4% on a constant-currency basis.

2. Its stable brick-and-mortar expansion

The total number of Walmart stores worldwide declined from 11,501 at the end of fiscal 2020 to 10,593 at the end of fiscal 2022. However, a large portion of that decline was caused by its overseas divestments.

It has been expanding its footprint steadily since then, and it ended fiscal 2025 with 10,711 physical locations. That stable pace of expansion should help it widen its moat and maintain its lead against its smaller retail competitors.

3. Its gross and operating margins are resilient

Walmart's scale enables it to maintain higher gross and operating margins than many other retailers. While surging inflation squeezed its gross and operating margins in 2022 and the first half of 2023, both figures bounced back in the second half of 2023 and 2024 as those headwinds diminished.

Source: YCharts.

4. It's resistant to tariffs

Those resilient margins suggest that it will be able to resist the impact of President Donald Trump's unpredictable tariffs, even though most of the products it sells are manufactured in China and other Asian countries. Walmart should be better positioned to convince its overseas suppliers to pre-deliver more products to the U.S. warehouses before the larger portion of Trump's tariffs kick back in, leverage its scale to negotiate better prices for its future shipments, have its suppliers absorb some of those higher costs, or pass the costs of tariffs onto consumers by raising its prices. The last solution would certainly be the least preferable for its customers -- but the chain could still sell its products at lower prices than its competitors.

5. It's a Dividend King

Walmart's forward dividend yield of 1% might seem paltry, but it has raised its dividend annually for 52 consecutive years, earning it the title of Dividend King. It also spent just 52% of its free cash flow on its dividend payments over the past 12 months, so it has plenty of capacity to make future hikes.

6. It's still buying back its own shares

Walmart bought back 6% of its outstanding shares over the past five years, 17% of its shares over the past decade, and 36% of its shares over the past 20 years. Its consistent stock buyback policy, combined with its regular dividend hikes, indicates that it's committed to returning a lot of its free cash flow to its investors.

7. It deserves its premium valuations

From fiscal 2025 through fiscal 2028, analysts on average expect its revenue to grow at a compound annual rate of 4% as its EPS increases at a compound annual rate of 11%. Investors should take those estimates with a grain of salt, but they do suggest that Walmart can continue to grow regardless of Trump's tariffs and his escalating trade war, sticky inflation, and other macroeconomic challenges.

That's why Walmart's forward price-to-earnings ratio of 36 doesn't seem too expensive. Costco, which also has plenty of evergreen advantages, trades at 54 times forward earnings. Walmart's stock isn't cheap, but the company's resilience in this rough market justifies its valuation multiple. That's probably why it's still up 6% year to date even as the S&P 500 is down by 7%. Investors who buy the stock today should be well rewarded over the next few years.

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

Before you buy stock in Walmart, 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 Walmart 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!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 859% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 158% 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 21, 2025

John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Leo Sun has positions in Amazon. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Costco Wholesale, and Walmart. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Webull (NASDAQ: BULL) went public by merging with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) on April 11. The online brokerage's stock started trading at $16 that Friday, but it soared to a record closing price of $62.90 the following Monday.

After that dizzying rally, Webull's stock pulled back to around $23. Let's review Webull's business model and see if it's the right time to buy or sell its volatile shares.

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Image source: Getty Images.

A brief history of Webull

Webull was founded in 2016 as Hunan Fumi Information Technology, a Chinese holding company backed by Xiaomi, Shunwei Capital, and other private equity investors in China. Its founder, Anquan Wang, previously worked at Alibaba.

In 2017, Hunan Fumi launched Webull as a Delaware-based LLC and opened its headquarters New York City. Webull subsequently launched its namesake trading app in 2018, and it incorporated itself as a new company in the Cayman Islands in 2019.

In 2022, Webull moved its headquarters to St. Petersburg, Florida, and restructured its business to separate Hunan Fumi, its original Chinese holding company, from the rest of its growing business. That split paved the way for Webull's recent merger with SK Growth Opportunities, a SPAC affiliated with the South Korean conglomerate SK Group.

Webull is technically a U.S.-based company now, but last November a coalition of states attorneys general launched a probe into its alleged ties to the Chinese government. Those allegations could expose Webull to the same regulatory risks as other Chinese-affiliated apps, including ByteDance's TikTok and PDD's Temu.

How fast is Webull growing?

Webull is similar to Robinhood (NASDAQ: HOOD). Both companies provide commission-free trades for stocks, ETFs, options, cryptocurrencies, and fixed-income investments on their streamlined mobile apps. However, Webull claims it serves more experienced investors than Robinhood, which carved out its niche by locking in millions of first-time investors.

Both companies generate their revenue with a "payment for order flow" (PFOF) model that routes their clients' brokerage orders through high-frequency trading (HFT) firms in exchange for commissions for each routed order. Both companies also offer paid subscription tiers that offer real-time data and other perks.

Webull operates in 14 markets, and it's a licensed broker-dealer in the U.S., Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Australia, the U.K., the Netherlands, and South Africa. Robinhood is only a licensed broker-dealer in the U.S., the U.K., and Lithuania.

Webull served more than 23.3 million registered users at the end of 2024, but it had only 4.7 million funded accounts with $13.6 billion in customer assets. By comparison, Robinhood served 25.2 million funded customers at the end of 2024 with $193 billion in assets under custody. So while Webull is more globally diversified than Robinhood, it's still a distant underdog.

If we divide their total assets by funded customers, we also see that the average size of a Webull account was only $2,894 at the end of 2024, versus an average account size of $7,659 at Robinhood. That big gap indicates that Webull's customers aren't as affluent as Robinhood's -- even though it argues its a platform for more "experienced" investors.

In 2024, Webull's registered user base grew 18%, its funded accounts increased 9%, and its total assets increased 66%. However, its total revenue stayed nearly flat at $390 million, its operating expenses rose 10% to $404.5 million, and its adjusted operating margin dropped from 13.4% to 4.7%. For reference, Robinhood's revenue surged 58% to $2.95 billion in 2024.

The two reasons to buy Webull... and the four reasons to sell it

The bulls might like Webull for two reasons: It's more geographically diversified than Robinhood, and it's still gaining new users and accounts in those fertile markets.

However, the bears probably think Webull's stock will fizzle out for four reasons. First, its flat top-line growth indicates it's struggling to squeeze more revenue from its existing users. Second, it's never a good sign when the underdog is growing slower than a market leader -- and Webull's metrics look grim compared to Robinhood's. Third, Webull looks overvalued. With a market cap of $10.8 billion, it trades at a whopping 28 times last year's sales. Robinhood, with a market cap of $37.3 billion, trades at 13 times last year's sales. Last but not least, it could be hit by more regulatory probes regarding its links to China.

Therefore, the reasons to sell or avoid Webull easily outweigh the reasons to buy it. If you're interested in investing in a commission-free brokerage, it makes more sense to stick with Robinhood than with its smaller and slower-growing competitor.

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

Before you buy stock in Webull, 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 Webull 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!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 859% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 158% 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 21, 2025

Leo Sun has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Alibaba Group and Xiaomi. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

BigBear.ai (NYSE: BBAI) and C3.ai (NYSE: AI) both develop artificial intelligence (AI) modules that can be plugged into an organization's existing infrastructure to accelerate and automate certain tasks. BigBear.ai is a smaller company that plugs its modules into edge networks. C3.ai is a larger developer of AI algorithms that can be integrated into an organization's existing software.

Both stocks disappointed their early investors. BigBear.ai's stock opened at $9.84 after it went public by merging with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in December 2021, but it now trades at about $2. C3.ai went public via a traditional initial public offering (IPO) at $42 in December 2020, but it trades at around $19 today. Should investors buy either of these out-of-favor AI stocks?

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 »

Image source: Getty Images.

The similarities and differences between BigBear.ai and C3.ai

BigBear.ai and C3.ai aren't direct competitors, but they both target government, military, and large enterprise customers.

BigBear.ai's modules ingest data from various sources, enrich and contextualize that data with more layers of information, and leverage that enhanced data to predict future trends. It streamlines that process by installing its Observe, Orient, Predict, and Dominate modules across edge networks, which are located between the data centers and their end users. It sets its prices on a case-by-case basis instead of charging subscription or consumption-based fees.

When BigBear.ai went public, it expected to generate a lot of its future revenue from Virgin Orbit. However, the company only recognized $1.5 million in revenue from that deal in the first quarter of 2023 before Virgin Orbit filed for bankruptcy that April.

C3.ai provides a broader range of modules that ingest data from various sources, and its modules can be installed across on-premise software, edge networks, public cloud services, and hybrid cloud deployments. Its modules can either be integrated into an organization's existing applications or accessed as stand-alone AI services. It initially only offered subscriptions, but it also introduced consumption-based fees in late 2022 to reach more customers.

C3.ai is heavily dependent on a joint venture with energy giant Baker Hughes (NASDAQ: BKR), which was launched in 2019. That partnership accounted for a whopping 35% of its revenue in fiscal 2024 (which ended last April), and its minimum revenue commitments will account for about 32% of its projected revenue for fiscal 2025. However, that crucial deal expires at the end of April and hasn't been renewed yet.

BigBear.ai and C3.ai have both struggled with jarring executive changes. BigBear.ai is now on its third CEO since its public debut. C3.ai is still led by the same CEO, but it's gone through four CFOs since its IPO as it repeatedly changed its key performance metrics. It's also being sued by investors for allegedly misrepresenting the size of its partnership with Baker Hughes.

Which company is growing faster?

BigBear.ai originally claimed it could grow its annual revenue from $182 million in 2021 to $550 million in 2024. But in reality, its revenue only rose from $146 million in 2021 to $158 million in 2024 as its annual net loss more than doubled from $124 million to $257 million.

BigBear.ai missed its own estimates as Virgin Orbit went bankrupt, it faced tougher competition, and the macro headwinds made it tougher to win new contracts. Its revenue rose less than 2% in 2024 -- and most of that growth came from its acquisition of the AI vision company Pangiam in March instead of the organic growth of its core modules.

But for 2025, analysts expect BigBear.ai's revenue to rise nearly 8% to $170 million as it narrows its net loss to $54 million. That growth could be driven by its new government contracts under its new CEO -- Pangiam's former CEO Kevin McAleenan -- who was also previously the Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under the first Trump administration. With a market cap of $731 million, BigBear.ai trades at about 4 times this year's sales.

C3.ai's revenue only rose 6% in fiscal 2023, but grew 16% to $311 million in fiscal 2024 as the market's demand for new AI services heated up. But its net loss widened from $269 million in fiscal 2023 to $280 million in fiscal 2024 as it ramped up its spending on developing new applications for the generative AI market.

For fiscal 2025, analysts expect C3.ai's revenue to rise 25% to $388 million as its net loss widens to $300 million. However, its future beyond fiscal 2025 is hard to predict without knowing the future of its joint venture with Baker Hughes. With a market cap of $2.56 billion, C3.ai looks a bit pricier than BigBear.ai at 7 times this year's sales.

The better buy: BigBear.ai

I wouldn't touch either of these speculative stocks right now. But if I had to choose one, I'd pick BigBear.ai because its customer concentration issues have largely passed and it could gain more government contracts under its new CEO. C3.ai looks uninvestable until it provides more clarity regarding the Baker Hughes deal, widens its moat, and stabilizes its losses.

Should you invest $1,000 in BigBear.ai right now?

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Leo Sun has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends C3.ai. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Many renewable energy stocks ran out of juice over the past year as the Trump administration embraced fossil fuels and rattled the market with its divisive tariffs. However, that pullback might represent a golden buying opportunity if you expect the market's demand for renewable energy solutions to keep growing over the long term.

So if you're willing to tune out the near-term noise, these three renewable energy plays might generate some big returns from a modest $2,000 investment: NuScale Power (NYSE: SMR), Plug Power (NASDAQ: PLUG), and CleanSpark (NASDAQ: CLSK). All three of these stocks are speculative, but they could attract a lot more attention if they scale up their businesses.

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 »

Image source: Getty Images.

The nuclear play: NuScale Power

NuScale develops small modular reactors (SMRs) for nuclear power which can be installed in vessels that are only nine feet wide and 65 feet tall. Its SMRs are also prefabricated, delivered, and assembled on site. Those advantages make them cheaper and easier to deploy than traditional nuclear reactors.

NuScale's SMRs are the only ones that have received a standard design approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), but that approval only covers its reactor clusters that generate up to 55 megawatts of electricity.

For a cluster of SMRs to be more cost-effective than a comparable coal-fired plant, it must generate at least 77 megawatts of electricity. NuScale expects the NRC to approve its 77 megawatt designs this year. Until then, it's generating most of its revenue as a subcontractor on a 462-megawatt power plant project for Romania's RoPower.

NuScale only generated $37 million in revenue in 2024, but analysts expect that figure to surge to $402 million in 2027. That growth could be driven by its new NRC design approvals, more contracts in the U.S., and the soaring energy needs of the booming data center market. With a market cap of $2.06 billion, NuScale already trades at 5 times its 2027 sales -- but it has plenty of room to grow over the next few decades.

The hydrogen play: Plug Power

Plug Power develops hydrogen fuel cell, charging, storage, and transport technologies. It's deployed more than 69,000 fuel cell systems and over 250 fueling stations across the world, and it's the single largest buyer of liquid hydrogen.

Amazon and Walmart, which are invested in Plug Power through stock warrants, are two of its top customers. The two retail giants both use Plug's hydrogen fuel cells to power the electric forklifts in their warehouses.

In 2024, Plug Power's revenue declined 29% to $629 million as its net loss widened from $1.4 billion to $2.1 billion. That slowdown was caused by macro headwinds, which curbed the market's demand for new hydrogen charging projects, and tough comparisons to the inorganic expansion of its smaller cryogenics business in 2022 and 2023.

But from 2024 to 2027, analysts expect Plug's revenue to grow at a CAGR of 32%. That growth could be driven by the stabilization of the hydrogen market, new contracts, and a $1.66 billion loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy for the construction of six green hydrogen manufacturing plants.

Plug Power won't turn profitable anytime soon, but it's been cutting its costs and selling some of its equipment (and leasing it back) to narrow its net losses. With a market cap of $1.2 billion, it trades at just 1.6 times this year's sales -- so any positive developments might drive its stock a lot higher over the next few years.

The clean crypto play: CleanSpark

CleanSpark originally built modular microgrids for wind, solar, and other renewable energy sources. These microgrids can be deployed as stand-alone power systems or plugged into existing energy grids -- where they're used to transfer energy into storage systems, load management solutions, and backup generators.

But four years ago, it acquired the Bitcoin miner ATL Data Centers and upgraded its miners with its microgrids. It subsequently acquired more Bitcoin miners, upgraded their plants in the same way, and mined more Bitcoins. That clean energy approach arguably made it more appealing than its coal-powered competitors.

By the end of calendar 2024, CleanSpark was holding 9,952 Bitcoins -- which are worth $819 million as of this writing. That's 38% of its market capitalization of $2.1 billion. It also expanded its fleet by 127% year over year to 201,808 miners, which increased its operating hashrate (which gauges its mining efficiency) 288% to 39.1 EH/s (exahash per second).

From fiscal 2024 (ended last September) to 2027, analysts expect CleanSpark's revenue to grow from $379 million to $1.1 billion as it narrows its net losses. Assuming it matches those expectations, it still looks reasonably valued at 1.9 times its fiscal 2027 sales. It could certainly struggle if Bitcoin's price plunges, but it could outperform many other traditional Bitcoin miners if the cryptocurrency's price stabilizes, soars higher, and attracts more retail and institutional investors.

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 $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

John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Leo Sun has positions in Amazon. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Bitcoin, and Walmart. The Motley Fool recommends NuScale Power. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.