Key Points

• Investors have multiple reasons to like AbbVie stock.

• Eli Lilly remains a top stock to buy and hold.

• Vertex Pharmaceuticals is moving quickly to expand its markets beyond cystic fibrosis.

• 10 stocks we like better than AbbVie ›

The "it" factor. Some stocks have it. Other stocks don't. But the ones that do can be virtually unstoppable.

Three Motley Fool contributors believe they've found such unstoppable stocks with the "it" factor to buy in August -- and they're all in the healthcare sector. Here's why they picked AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV), Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY), and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX).

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 »

There are many reasons to buy this stock

Prosper Junior Bakiny (AbbVie): It's been a little over two years since AbbVie lost patent exclusivity for its best-selling drug, autoimmune disease medicine Humira. That didn't stop AbbVie, though; it just slowed it down momentarily. The company rebounded nicely and has since returned to top-line growth. AbbVie now owns another one of the top-10 selling therapies in the world, Skyrizi, which targets several immunology conditions.

Skyrizi's sales have been growing at an incredibly rapid rate. Together with Rinvoq, AbbVie's immunology lineup has successfully filled the gap left by Humira. That's an important reason to consider the stock: AbbVie's ability to overcome a significant patent cliff speaks volumes about its innovative abilities. Beyond that, AbbVie's lineup is deep. It features older products that continue to make meaningful contributions to its financial results, such as its Botox franchise, and newer products that can help drive top-line growth for a while, like migraine treatment Qulipta.

AbbVie's pipeline also looks deep. The company should be able to record consistent clinical and regulatory wins.

Lastly, we can't mention AbbVie without pointing out its incredible dividend track record. The company is part of the exclusive group of Dividend Kings, boasting an active streak of 53 consecutive payout increases, which includes the time it spent as a division of its former parent company, Abbott Laboratories. AbbVie's forward yield of 3.5% is much higher than the S&P 500's average of 1.3%, and its cash payout ratio looks reasonable at 61.8%.

In addition to an excellent underlying business, a strong lineup, and a solid pipeline, AbbVie is an outstanding stock for income-seeking investors. Investing in this company could yield superior returns over the long term.

Eli Lilly is a top growth stock to own for years

David Jagielski (Eli Lilly): A stock that looks unstoppable right now is Eli Lilly. While many investors will focus on its highly successful GLP-1 drugs, Zepbound and Mounjaro, as the main reasons to invest in the business, there's much more behind the company, and why it's a top growth stock.

Eli Lilly has a promising Alzheimer's treatment, Kisunla, which regulators approved for use last year. It's still in the early innings of its growth and according to analysts, it could generate up to $5 billion in annual revenue at its peak. Meanwhile, Eli Lilly is still focusing on developing more life-changing treatments for patients. It's planning to invest $4.5 billion into a research and manufacturing facility, which it calls Lilly Medicine Foundry. By utilizing new manufacturing methods to ensure high efficiency, the new center can help the company scale and bring new products to market faster.

The company also has vast resources at its disposal, which can help it invest in research and development and potentially acquire promising businesses along the way. In the trailing 12 months, Eli Lilly has generated $11.1 billion in profit on sales totaling $49 billion. The company's terrific margins, strong growth prospects, and commitment to producing new treatments are why this pharmaceutical stock can be among the best investments you can put in your portfolio right now.

A big biotech innovator that's targeting new markets

Keith Speights (Vertex Pharmaceuticals): To truly be unstoppable, a company can't have competition that could, well, stop it. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has this covered with its cystic fibrosis (CF) franchise. No other drugmaker has approved therapies that treat the underlying cause of CF. The number of companies with experimental CF therapies in late-stage clinical testing that could compete with Vertex totals... zero.

Actually, Vertex's biggest rival in treating CF is itself. The company's newest CF therapy, Alyftrek, offers a more convenient once-per-day dosing than its current top-seller, Kaftrio/Trikafta. However, CF isn't the main reason why I like Vertex. My primary interests lie with other indications the biotech innovator is targeting.

For example, Vertex won U.S. regulatory approval for Journavx earlier this year. It's the first new class of pain medication in over 20 years. Journavx is safe and effective, with none of the side effects and addictive potential associated with opioids -- because it isn't an opioid.

The company's pipeline features promising late-stage programs that could further expand Vertex's market opportunity. Inaxaplin targets APOL1-mediated kidney disease, which affects around 250,000 patients worldwide. Povetacicept holds the potential to treat multiple kidney diseases, with IgA nephropathy first on the list with a patient population of over 1 million. Zimislecel could cure severe type 1 diabetes.

At first glance, Vertex might seem to be priced at a premium, with its shares trading at 26.3 times forward earnings. However, the company's growth prospects are so strong that its valuation is attractive. Vertex's price-to-earnings-to-growth (PEG) ratio, based on analysts' five-year earnings growth estimates, is a super-low 0.58.

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

Before you buy stock in AbbVie, 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 AbbVie 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 $625,254!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,090,257!*

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See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of July 29, 2025

David Jagielski has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Keith Speights has positions in AbbVie and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Prosper Junior Bakiny has positions in Eli Lilly and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends AbbVie, Abbott Laboratories, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Popular themes on Wall Street today include artificial intelligence (AI), the market for weight management medicines, and the potential impact of tariffs on broader equities and the economy. In 10 years, there will probably be a different set of trending topics on The Street, but those changes won't stop the market from delivering competitive returns over the next decade.

Those who want to cash in on that can purchase exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that track the performance of some major index, or invest in individual companies that are likely to perform better than the market in the next 10 years. For those opting for the second method, two great picks are Shopify (NASDAQ: SHOP) and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX).

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 »

1. Shopify

It's been 10 years since Shopify went public. In that time, the company has crushed the market, although it's been a bit of a volatile ride. While a lot has changed since 2015, Shopify's basic investment thesis remains the same: It is a leader in its niche of the fast-growing e-commerce market and boasts a strong moat.

Let's unpack that a little more. Shopify helps merchants build and customize online storefronts.

It offers them practically everything they need to run their stores, including inventory management, payment processing, the ability to cross-sell across social media websites, and much more. At the end of 2024, Shopify commanded more than 12% of the U.S. e-commerce market by gross merchandise volume.

Shopify's competitive edge comes from at least two sources: switching costs and network effects. Since merchants spend a significant amount of time building online stores on the company's platform and doing the necessary marketing work to attract clients, they won't want to switch and risk disrupting their day-to-day operations. That means Shopify is likely to keep most of its clients.

Elsewhere, the company has an app store with thousands of options that help merchants customize their websites. The more developers seek out the company's app store for their creations, the more attractive it is to merchants.

Turning to Shopify's long-term opportunity, the e-commerce market is on a growth path since it grants merchants a far larger pool of potential consumers, and vice versa. But more than 80% of retail transactions still happen offline, even in the U.S.

All these factors paint a bright picture for Shopify's future. Some might point out that the company still isn't profitable or that its forward price-to-sales multiple of almost 13 is more than six times higher than where the undervalued range starts, usually at 2 and under. However, Shopify has made significant changes to its business in recent years, which have helped boost its margins, including eliminating its expensive logistics business. The company should become consistently profitable within a few years.

Lastly, the stock is worth a premium considering its prospects. Although it may be volatile in the short term due to its rich valuation metrics, Shopify should deliver superior returns over the next decade. That's why the stock is a buy today.

2. Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Over the past year, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, a leading biotech, dealt with clinical setbacks and illegal copies of some of its medicines in Russia, which led to lower sales than it expected. Further, one of the company's newer approvals, Casgevy, still isn't generating much in revenue, despite first earning the green light in late 2023.

Casgevy is a gene-editing treatment for a pair of rare blood diseases. Gene-editing therapies are notoriously complex to administer, which is why it's taking a long time to ramp up revenue for this product.

Even so, Vertex Pharmaceuticals looks attractive. It is still the only game in town for patients with cystic fibrosis (CF), a rare lung disease. Vertex is the only biotech that has cracked the code so far, and it manufactures medicines that target the underlying causes of this condition, rather than just its symptoms.

Vertex's success in the CF field should continue to drive top- and bottom-line growth. Elsewhere, the company can count on other newer approvals.

In January, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave the nod to Journavx, the first oral non-opioid pain inhibitor. Even without potential label expansions, this medicine can achieve some decent success, considering there is a high unmet need for new, non-opioid pain treatments. According to some estimates, it could generate $2.9 billion in revenue by 2030.

The company should also continue expanding its lineup. It plans on sending applications for Zimislecel, a potential treatment for type 1 diabetes, to regulators next year. The drugmaker has several other promising early- and late-stage programs. Between Vertex's strong CF franchise, the multiple new products it is launching, and its solid pipeline, the stock should deliver superior returns through 2035.

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

Before you buy stock in Shopify, 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 Shopify 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 $658,297!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $883,386!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 992% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 172% 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

Prosper Junior Bakiny has positions in Shopify and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Shopify and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Nvidia will release the GeForce RTX 5060 on May 19 starting at $299, the company announced via press release today. The new card, a successor to popular past GPUs like the GTX 1060 and RTX 3060, will bring Nvidia's DLSS 4 and Multi Frame-Generation technology to budget-to-mainstream gaming builds—at least, it would if every single GPU launched by any company at any price wasn't instantly selling out these days.

Nvidia announced a May release for the 5060 last month when it released the RTX 5060 Ti for $379 (8GB) and $429 (16GB). Prices for that card so far haven't been as inflated as they have been for the RTX 5070 on up, but the cheapest ones you can currently get are still between $50 and $100 over that MSRP. Unless Nvidia and its partners have made dramatically more RTX 5060 cards than they've made of any other model so far, expect this card to carry a similar pricing premium for a while.

Compared to the RTX 4060, the RTX 5060 adds a few hundred extra CUDA cores and gets a big memory bandwidth increase thanks to the move from GDDR6 to GDDR7. But its utility at higher resolutions will continue to be limited by its 8GB of RAM, which is already becoming a problem for a handful of high-end games at 1440p and 4K.

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In 2025, Wall Street has been rattled with increasing concerns about U.S.-China trade wars, escalating geopolitical pressures, rising economic uncertainties, and growing recession fears. The benchmark S&P 500 index is down nearly 4.7% in 2025.

However, this market volatility and sell-off have opened up attractive entry opportunities for retail investors. Companies such as Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO), Shopify (NASDAQ: SHOP), Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX), and Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG) can be smart bets now. Here's why.

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 »

Broadcom

Broadcom's stock has seen a dramatic decline of almost 22% from its recent high in December 2024, driven by escalating market fears due to trade wars between the U.S. and China. Yet, the stock remains an alluring buy due to its robust artificial intelligence (AI) strategy and strong financial position.

Unlike many other chip players, which focus on developing general-purpose accelerators that can cater to multiple applications, Broadcom focuses on custom XPUs tailored to the specific needs of its hyperscaler clients. This customization makes the chips optimal for particular workloads, delivering higher performance and energy efficiency for hyperscaler clients.

This strategy seems to be paying off, since management estimates an addressable market of $60 billion to $90 billion from its existing three hyperscaler clients by 2027. This projection does not include the four additional hyperscaler clients already designing custom XPUs. Furthermore, Broadcom's networking solutions are also in high demand, as they are a critical component of large AI clusters.

Broadcom also boasts robust financials, as evidenced by the 25% year-over-year revenue jump and 44% year-over-year operating income surge in the recent quarter (first-quarter fiscal 2025 ended Feb. 2).

Broadcom is trading at 29.4 times forward earnings, far lower than its five-year average of 70.5. Hence, considering its upside potential and reasonable valuation, this may be an opportune time to pick a small stake in this stock.

Shopify

E-commerce giant Shopify is currently down nearly 25% from its recent high in February 2025. Despite this, with the company posting solid 31% year-over-year top-line growth and operating margin of 17% in the recent quarter and reaching an annual gross merchandise value (GMV) of $300 billion, this share price pullback seems like an excellent entry opportunity for retail investors who are ready to ignore short-term share price volatility.

While Shopify does not sell anything online, it provides a complete tech-powered omnichannel setup for merchants to reach out digitally to customers. Once known mainly for focusing on small and medium enterprises, the company now caters to several larger global brands.

Shopify also sees significant growth potential in international markets and has invested strategically in localization, compliance improvements, and local payment methods. Offline commerce and B2B commerce have also emerged as potent growth opportunities. Shopify is also committed to using advanced AI technologies to help new merchants launch and larger merchants scale with greater productivity on its platform.

The stock is trading at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 66.2, greater than its five-year average of 39. However, the rich valuation seems justified considering its diversified business model, multiple growth drivers, and resilience. Analysts also expect revenue to grow 25.3% year over year to $2.33 billion. That's a healthy growth projection, even though elevated tariff wars may affect it indirectly through its merchant clients. Therefore, the stock seems like an attractive choice now.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals have risen by nearly 23.9% in 2025. However, this healthcare giant still has significant potential for growth.

Vertex continues to dominate the cystic fibrosis (CF) market with drugs such as Trikafta/Kaftrio and the more effective and conveniently dosed next-generation Alyftrek. In 2024, Trikafta/Kaftrio accounted for nearly $10.2 billion of the company's $11 billion net product revenue. With Trikafta's patent protection extending till 2037, the company has robust revenue visibility.

Vertex has also made its presence felt in blood disorders, pain management, diabetes, and renal diseases. Journavx, the first new non-opioid pain medicine to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in over 20 years, has a potential market of 80 million patients with all types of moderate to severe acute pain. The recently launched Casgevy is also proving to be a transformative one-time treatment for patients with certain blood disorders.

The company has demonstrated robust financial strength, with $11.2 billion in cash and hardly any debt. Considering the company's many strong tailwinds and solid financials, a forward price-to-earnings multiple of 24.2 does not seem expensive, making the stock a worthwhile buy now.

Intuitive Surgical

Leading surgical robotics player Intuitive Surgical's shares have been mostly flat in 2025. However, with its global da Vinci installed base exceeding 10,000 systems across 70 countries, the company's stock seems well-positioned for rapid growth in the coming years, despite facing challenges in importing and exporting medical device components due to the ongoing trade wars.

Intuitive Surgical has demonstrated robust operational and financial performance, with 18.5% year-over-year procedure growth on a day-adjusted basis and a 19% revenue jump in the first quarter of 2025. The company's latest da Vinci 5 system is gaining strong momentum, with nearly 147 systems placed and more than 32,000 procedures performed in the first quarter.

Intuitive Surgical also expects to enable additional features for its da Vinci system, such as real-time surgical video review, force feedback technology, and real-time 3D model review.

The company is also continues to develop its Case Insight computational technology, which has delivered data sets such as video, kinematic energy, and force data for over 22,000 procedures performed with the da Vinci system. This helps surgeons effectively review procedure videos to identify operational and clinical insights. Intuitive expects these computational tools to be a major differentiator in the long run.

Against this backdrop, although a forward price-to-earnings multiple of 56.6x appears expensive, the rich valuation reflects the company's market-dominance and significant growth prospects -- making it a smart buy even at elevated levels.

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

Before you buy stock in Broadcom, 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 Broadcom 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

Manali Pradhan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Intuitive Surgical, Shopify, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. The Motley Fool recommends Broadcom. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Any time is a great time to buy stocks -- if you pick the right stocks. That's true even in May, a month where some investors have traditionally opted to take a break from the stock market for the summer.

Three Motley Fool contributors think they've found no-brainer healthcare stocks to buy in May. Here's why they picked Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY), Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO), and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX).

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 »

An unstoppable growth stock with plenty of runway

David Jagielski (Eli Lilly): One of the best growth stocks you can buy in the healthcare sector today is Eli Lilly. The company has experienced a surge in revenue in recent years, thanks in large part to its GLP-1 offerings, Zepbound and Wegovy, which are still in the early stages of their growth.

Just a few years ago, the company was coming off a lackluster performance in 2022, when sales totaled less than $29 billion and showed minimal growth from the previous year. Last year, however, its top line jumped to more than $45 billion, growing by 58% in a span of just two years.

It's no mystery why, either. Zepbound, which was approved as a weight loss treatment in late 2023, began contributing in a big way to the company's top line, generating $4.9 billion in revenue last year. Meanwhile, Mounjaro, which is approved for the treatment of diabetes, more than doubled its sales to $11.5 billion, becoming Eli Lilly's top-selling drug in the process. Trulicity, once the center of Eli Lilly's portfolio, fell by 26% with sales totaling $5.3 billion last year.

But with Eli Lilly focusing on a highly lucrative GLP-1 drug market, those gains can more than outweigh any declines that its other products experience. Currently, the company is working on what may be an even bigger opportunity: a weight loss pill. Late-stage trial results involving orforglipron have been encouraging, and it may obtain approval by next year.

Although Eli Lilly is worth $800 billion and may seem expensive, trading at over 75 times its trailing earnings, this growth stock looks unstoppable and could easily hit a $1 trillion valuation within the next year or two, given its impressive results.

Buy the dip on this excellent stock

Prosper Junior Bakiny (Novo Nordisk): It wasn't that long ago that Novo Nordisk seemed almost unstoppable. The Denmark-based pharmaceutical leader's revenue and earnings were flying high while it delivered market-crushing returns. That has changed over the past 18 months, or at least the part about superior stock market returns. Novo Nordisk encountered clinical setbacks with what were previously thought to be promising pipeline candidates.

However, there remain excellent reasons to invest in Novo Nordisk. The company is still a leader -- perhaps the leader -- in diabetes and obesity care. Despite recent clinical setbacks, the company's pipeline in this field is incredibly deep. There is an excellent chance Novo Nordisk will redeem itself in the next few years. Furthermore, Novo Nordisk's financial results remain strong. Perhaps some of that success was already baked into the stock price before the recent sell-off. But after dropping by almost 50% over the trailing-12-month period, Novo Nordisk's shares now look far more attractively priced.

Lastly, Novo Nordisk is developing products outside its core area of endocrine-related disorders. That's a great move, considering the increased competition in the weight management market, which, by the way, should still grow by leaps and bounds in the coming years. Novo Nordisk's pipeline features investigational drugs across various areas, including rare blood diseases, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, and others.

Novo Nordisk may have lagged behind the market over the past year, but it still has attractive long-term prospects. The stock looks like a no-brainer at current levels, at least for investors willing to hold on to its shares for a while.

This big biotech stock should continue beating the market

Keith Speights (Vertex Pharmaceuticals): You wouldn't know that the stock market has been in turmoil by looking at Vertex Pharmaceuticals' performance. The big biotech stock has soared roughly 24% year to date. I think Vertex will continue beating the market.

The main reason for my optimism over the near term is the tremendous commercial potential for Vertex's new pain medication, Journavx. This non-opioid drug won U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval on Jan. 30 for treating moderate to severe acute pain. Vertex already has strong early momentum with payers. I don't expect it will take long for Journavx to become a blockbuster drug for the company.

Journavx isn't the only reason I'm bullish about Vertex, though. The biotech innovator has another new product on the market: cystic fibrosis (CF) therapy Alyftrek. Vertex has the only approved therapies for treating the underlying cause of CF. Alyfrek offers a more convenient dosing than the company's current top-selling drug, Kaftrio/Trikafta. It should also be more profitable for Vertex because of its lower royalty burden.

Gene-editing therapy Casgevy hasn't moved the needle much for the company yet after securing FDA approvals for treating sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia in late 2023 and early 2024, respectively. However, the CRISPR gene-editing process Casgevy uses is complex. Vertex believes the commercial momentum is building and that Casgevy has a multibillion-dollar opportunity.

Don't overlook Vertex's pipeline, either. The company has four programs in phase 3 testing, all of which have the potential to be big winners. I'm especially watching the progress of zimislecel, an islet cell therapy that could cure severe type 1 diabetes. Success for zimislecel should bode well for VX-264, which doesn't require immunosuppressants and could be used in a larger patient population.

Should you invest $1,000 in Eli Lilly right now?

Before you buy stock in Eli Lilly, 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 Eli Lilly 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

David Jagielski has positions in Novo Nordisk. Keith Speights has positions in Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Prosper Junior Bakiny has positions in Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Vertex Pharmaceuticals. The Motley Fool recommends Novo Nordisk. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Investors have spent the past couple of years acquainting themselves with artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing. These emerging technologies could represent the most significant leaps forward for humankind since the internet decades ago.

Of course, such groundbreaking technologies can be lucrative investment opportunities. The Defiance Quantum ETF (NASDAQ: QTUM) could be a smart way to add exposure to artificial intelligence and quantum computing to your portfolio.

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 »

The exchange-traded fund has plunged nearly 20% from its high amid the market's recent volatility, one of its steepest declines since it began trading in 2018.

Here are three reasons to buy this AI quantum computing stock on the dip.

1. Quantum computing and AI have significant growth potential

It's impossible to predict what AI and quantum computers could make possible over the coming decades. You might see things you only thought were possible in science fiction. Humanoid robotics is already on the way, which reminds me of a famous action movie from the 1980s featuring a particular cyborg sent from the future.

Plus, AI and quantum computing could eventually be worth trillions of dollars. Research from McKinsey estimates AI could generate $23 trillion in annual economic value by 2040. Meanwhile, quantum computing could start slowly. Technology experts have speculated that practical quantum computers could still be several years away.

However, they could be a game changer once they get here. Boston Consulting Group's report on quantum computing forecasts that quantum computers will create $5 billion to $10 billion in annual economic value by 2030, but projects this to increase to $450 billion to $850 billion by 2040. Time will tell how accurate such estimates and timelines are, but the financial and real-world potential is exciting, to put it mildly.

2. An ETF means you don't have to pick winners

AI and quantum computing present quite a challenge for investors. Most individuals, let alone professional investors, aren't experts in these complex fields.

Therefore, picking individual winners could prove extremely challenging. That's a great reason to invest in a diversified instrument such as the Defiance Quantum ETF. It represents a global basket of 70 companies involved with AI and quantum computing -- someone else did the hard work of picking high-quality stocks in these advanced technology industries.

The fund's top holdings include:

Company	ETF Weight
D-wave Quantum	3.31%
Orange	2.37%
NEC Corp	2.17%
Palantir Technologies	2.15%
Koninklijke Kpn	2.05%
Alibaba Group	2.03%
Nokia	1.93%
Northrop Grumman	1.89%
Rigetti Computing	1.87%
RTX Corp	1.83%

Data source: Defiance ETFs.

Since AI and quantum computing have immense potential but are still so unpredictable, casting a wide net is a wise strategy. It could be a case of the 80-20 rule, where a select few companies produce a majority of the value in AI and quantum computing.

The ETF's construction spans various companies, industries, and countries, reducing risk by limiting the top holding to just 3.31% of the fund's total assets. Additionally, the expense ratio (0.4%) appears reasonable, considering the simplicity and diversification you gain in return.

3. The Defiance Quantum ETF has outperformed the market

Many quantum computing stocks have been highly volatile, and investors who bought at the wrong time have endured steep losses.

The Defiance Quantum ETF has been around since 2018, and has outperformed the Nasdaq Composite, a prominent technology-leaning U.S. stock market index, since about 2021:

QTUM Total Return Level data by YCharts

Past performance does not guarantee future results, but it demonstrates the effectiveness of a diverse approach to speculative industries like AI and quantum computing. I don't see why the Defiance Quantum ETF can't continue to perform well as these technologies mature.

Should you invest $1,000 in ETF Series Solutions - Defiance Quantum ETF right now?

Before you buy stock in ETF Series Solutions - Defiance Quantum ETF, 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 ETF Series Solutions - Defiance Quantum ETF 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 $561,046!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $606,106!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 811% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 153% 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

Justin Pope has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool recommends Alibaba Group and RTX. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Equity markets may be struggling because of President Donald Trump's current economic policies, but that doesn't mean investors should avoid buying stocks right now -- quite the contrary. History tells us that equities tend to experience strong runs following downturns, so it's worth putting money into excellent companies that are being dragged down with along with the broader market.

To that end, let's consider five excellent growth-oriented companies to invest in on the dip: Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO), Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY), Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX), Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG), and Shopify (NASDAQ: SHOP).

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Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly

It might seem odd to group Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, but these drugmakers have much in common. They've been the leaders in the diabetes drug market for decades, and both are now pioneering the obesity management space. Novo Nordisk was first to market with Wegovy, an anti-obesity medicine that has become a household name. Eli Lilly then made its move with Zepbound, whose sales are growing incredibly rapidly.

Both companies also have exciting candidates in the pipeline in diabetes and obesity care. Eli Lilly should release data from phase 3 clinical trials for orforglipron, a once-daily oral pill for weight management, sometime this year. Novo Nordisk failed to impress the market with late-stage clinical trial data for CagriSema, an anti-obesity candidate, but it has more potential gems in its pipeline.

Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have both seen sales grow rapidly in recent years thanks to their dominance in weight management. And although some observers were worried about their valuations, the current sell-off should take care of that problem.

There are some key differences between these two leading drugmakers. Novo Nordisk is more focused on diabetes than its counterpart; as of November, it held a 33.7% share of the diabetes care market -- remaining flat year over year. Eli Lilly has blockbusters in other areas, such as immunology and oncology.

In the long run, expect somewhat more of the same, though Novo Nordisk should succeed in diversifying its operations. The crucial point is that both companies are innovative drugmakers with deep lineups, pipelines, and significant growth prospects. Now that they've become cheaper in the sell-off, it's a great time to buy.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Vertex Pharmaceuticals is another leading drugmaker that famously dominates its market: medicines for cystic fibrosis (CF), a disease that affects internal organs. Vertex develops the only therapies in the world that target the underlying causes of this condition.

The company generates steady revenue and profits. Though it's made tremendous headway in treating CF patients since the early 2010s, there remain many who have yet to start treatment, even among those who are eligible for its current drugs.

Elsewhere, the biotech has expanded its lineup thanks to therapies like Casgevy, which treats a pair of blood-related disorders, and Journavx, a non-opioid pain medication; both should be significant growth drivers. And that's before we look into the pipeline, which boasts several promising candidates.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals' prospects remain attractive, making it a top stock to buy in this downturn.

Intuitive Surgical

Intuitive Surgical is a medical device specialist that dominates the robotic-assisted surgery (RAS) market. The company's crown jewel is the da Vinci system, which is approved for many procedures across multiple areas. The most recent iteration of this device -- the fifth -- is an improvement over previous versions. Though it only received clearance last year, it has already attracted quite a bit of attention, more than analysts expected.

This shows, once again, Intuitive's commitment to innovation. So, despite the threat of competition from healthcare giants like Medtronic and Johnson & Johnson -- both of which are working on RAS devices -- Intuitive Surgical's long-term prospects look attractive. Besides its innovative abilities, Intuitive benefits from a first-mover advantage: It will take years before newcomers jump through all the clinical and regulatory hoops needed to challenge the company's dominance.

Meanwhile, the RAS market remains underpenetrated, with fewer than 5% of eligible procedures being performed robotically. Expect Intuitive to grow its installed base and procedure volume at a good clip in the long run, along with its revenue and earnings. The stock can still provide outsized returns.

Shopify

E-commerce specialist Shopify started the year on a strong note. Its financial results have been strong lately, particularly on the bottom line, where relatively recent changes (getting rid of its logistics business and increasing its prices) are helping boost profits. However, the company has not escaped the market downturn. Still, considering Shopify's position in the e-commerce field -- and the industry's prospects -- this is an excellent opportunity to pick up some shares.

Shopify gives merchants everything they need to start and run an online storefront, with thousands of apps in its app store that cater to merchants' demands beyond the company's basic offerings. It also holds a 12% market share in the U.S. by gross merchandise volume -- that's up from 10% in 2022. And it benefits from a strong competitive advantage based on switching costs.

Meanwhile, e-commerce still accounts for under 20% of total retail commerce in the U.S., one of the world's leaders in the industry. Shopify could ride the increased growth of this market for years and deliver strong returns to loyal, patient shareholders. That's why the stock is worth buying on the dip.

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

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

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

• Nvidia: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2009, you’d have $249,730!*
• Apple: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2008, you’d have $32,689!*
• Netflix: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2004, you’d have $469,399!*

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

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*Stock Advisor returns as of April 5, 2025

Prosper Junior Bakiny has positions in Eli Lilly, Intuitive Surgical, Johnson & Johnson, Novo Nordisk, Shopify, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Intuitive Surgical, Shopify, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. The Motley Fool recommends Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, and Novo Nordisk and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $75 calls on Medtronic and short January 2026 $85 calls on Medtronic. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.