Key Points

• Some of the biggest beneficiaries of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom have been semiconductor stocks.

• At the heart of the chip landscape is Nvidia, whose chips are in demand from trillion-dollar hyperscalers and governments across the globe.

• While Nvidia has already witnessed significant valuation expansion, several catalysts suggest the company still has meaningful long-term growth ahead.

• 10 stocks we like better than Nvidia ›

There are only so many moments in investing when a company becomes so impactful that it transcends its peers and evolves into something greater -- a true generational wealth opportunity.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway were prime examples. Microsoft pioneered the personal computing era with its Windows operating system, which became the backbone of the internet age. Berkshire, under Warren Buffett's leadership, compounded capital that consistently outperformed the broader market.

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Today, I think the most compelling opportunity at the intersection of growth and value is none other than semiconductor powerhouse Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA).

The reason is simple: Nvidia isn't just riding a single trend. Instead, it has positioned itself as the core power source at the heart of multiple revolutions, each unfolding against the backdrop of the artificial intelligence (AI) movement.

The AI infrastructure boom is a multi-year growth arc for Nvidia

Nvidia's rapid rise in recent years comes down to one thing: its graphics processing units (GPUs). These chips have become the gold standard of generative AI development, powering everything from large language models (LLMs) to mission-critical applications across every industry.

AMZN Capital Expenditures (TTM) data by YCharts.

Cloud hyperscalers and big tech giants have poured hundreds of billions of dollars into capital expenditures (capex) -- much of which they directed toward chips and networking infrastructure.

This spending spree doesn't appear to be slowing down, either. According to management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, AI infrastructure spend could reach $6.7 trillion by next decade -- with chips continuing to capture a good portion of this investment.

What makes the infrastructure narrative even more compelling is that it extends beyond the private sector. The U.S. government is supercharging its AI ambitions through Project Stargate -- a $500 billion initiative to invest in data centers and AI infrastructure over the coming years. Meanwhile, countries in the Middle East are rolling out their own sovereign AI initiatives.

Nvidia sits at the center of this activity. Its GPUs are not exclusive to powering today's data centers -- they are enabling a global race to build the foundation of tomorrow's AI economy.

AI-powered software applications are coming into focus

Beyond infrastructure, Nvidia is also quietly shaping the rise of AI-powered software applications. Over the last few years, developers mainly focused on securing GPUs to build next-generation data centers and train LLMs. Now, however, AI investment is swiftly moving downstream and becoming a critical component of consumer and enterprise applications.

Take Perplexity's unsolicited $34.5 billion bid to acquire Google Chrome. While the deal is unlikely to materialize, it underscores an important point: AI is moving beyond hardware and into the application layer for businesses and consumers. Nvidia enjoys a rare advantage at this intersection because the company profits not just from hardware demand, but also from its software ecosystem.

Nvidia's CUDA software program serves as a foundation for developers, enabling them to build and deploy AI applications efficiently and at scale.

Emerging market opportunities are a sleeping giant

Where things get most exciting for Nvidia is its untapped potential across emerging markets.

For years, Nvidia's footprint in China has been constrained by strict export controls and fierce competition from rivals like Huawei.

These dynamics have begun to shift. Nvidia recently reach an agreement with the Trump Administration that allows it to remit 15% of its China sales back to the U.S. government in exchange for continued access to the key market -- which Jensen Huang estimates could be worth $50 billion annually.

Beyond geographic expansion, Nvidia is poised to ride the wave of more advanced AI use cases in areas such as quantum computing, robotics, and autonomous systems.

A recent example underscores how central Nvidia has become: Elon Musk told investors that Tesla is putting its internally built Dojo supercomputer ambition to the side in favor of a new technology stack, dubbed AI6. At the core of this new stack is none other than Nvidia.

Is Nvidia stock a buy?

At first glance, the chart below may look contradictory. Nvidia's forward price to earnings (P/E) multiple of 41 is well-above its three-year average. Yet at the same time, the stock trades at a discount to the peak forward earnings levels reached earlier in the AI revolution. What could this mean?

NVDA PE Ratio (Forward) data by YCharts.

In my eyes, it could suggest that investors are struggling to assign a fair value to Nvidia.

The premium over its historical average reflects ongoing optimism, while the discount to prior highs implies that some view Nvidia as a maturing business at risk of decelerating growth.

I think this interpretation could be misguided. Even if Nvidia's growth rates moderate in percentage terms, those percentages will be applied to a significantly larger revenue and profit base -- fueled by data center expansion, AI software applications, and new markets.

Taken together, this suggests that Nvidia is quietly undervalued. At the very least, the company appears to have significant runway for years to come -- supported by a host of growth levers that are not yet fully priced in.

For these reasons, I see Nvidia as an opportunity trading at a reasonable price point relative to the company's potential -- making it a compelling long-term investment to buy and hold.

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

Before you buy stock in Nvidia, consider this:

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Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $649,657!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,090,993!*

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Adam Spatacco has positions in Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, Oracle, and Tesla. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Key Points

• Apple has yet to launch a widely adopted breakthrough in the artificial intelligence (AI) landscape, instead opting for incremental iPhone updates and grand visions for products not yet launched.

• Tesla has built an autonomous driving system and a humanoid robot, but neither business is moving the needle financially for the company.

• Apple and Tesla were rumored to have explored a tie up about a decade ago; now may be even more compelling than ever for the two trillion-dollar behemoths to explore a partnership again.

• These 10 stocks could mint the next wave of millionaires ›

One of Silicon Valley's most famous "what-if" stories centers on a rumored deal that never happened. According to reports, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) had the chance to acquire Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) roughly a decade ago -- but the deal never materialized.

In the years since, Tesla has cemented itself as a global leader in electric vehicles (EV), while Apple has remained a dominant force in consumer electronics. Yet despite their respective clout, both companies share a surprising weakness: Unlike Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta Platforms, neither Apple nor Tesla has built a truly scaled artificial intelligence (AI) business.

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Apple's foray into the AI arena has been relatively muted, relying on incremental iPhone upgrades rather than a bold, stand-alone AI platform -- a departure from its decorated history of innovation. Tesla, on the other hand, has ambitious plans for its humanoid robot, dubbed Optimus, and its robotaxi network, but these initiatives remain unproven at scale.

This is what makes the prospects of a strategic partnership between Apple and Tesla so intriguing right now. Each could help cover the other's blind spots, and in doing so, build the foundation of scaled AI platforms that their rivals already enjoy.

Why Apple needs Tesla

Apple's legacy has always been rooted in consumer devices, pioneering category-defining products such as the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. For years, the company was seen as the undisputed master of uncovering latent needs and turning them into must-have innovations.

In recent years, however, Apple's push into advanced hardware has struggled to live up to the company's historic track record.

Last year, the company scrapped its car initiative, Project Titan, after years of research and development. The ambitious project ended without a formal product launch -- leaving Apple with no presence in the automotive market despite years of speculation.

More recently, Apple unveiled its Vision Pro headset, a foray into augmented and virtual reality. The device has widely been viewed as a disappointment -- a high-end luxury gadget rather than a mass-market breakthrough, limiting its adoption among everyday consumers.

Now, as rumors swirl around a Siri-powered robot in Apple's pipeline, management faces a critical decision: pursue yet another hardware moonshot from scratch and risk billions in capital expenditures (capex), or align with a partner that's already in production.

In my view, Apple doesn't need to reinvent the wheel by sinking more time and money into developing products that may never launch. Instead, Apple could thrive by positioning itself as the software and services layer powering intelligent hardware that already exists in the market.

By joining forces with Tesla, Apple could leverage the company's expertise in autonomous driving systems and robotics while integrating its own AI-powered software ecosystem and consumer marketing prowess.

Such a collaboration could allow Apple to leapfrog into both consumer and enterprise adoption of smart devices -- staking a claim in the robotics and autonomous era of AI, without repeating costly mistakes of the past.

Why Tesla needs Apple

Tesla's robotaxi and Optimus both carry transformative potential. But bringing these projects to life requires massive investments in compute power and AI infrastructure.

While Tesla's balance sheet boasts a healthy cash cushion, it's worth noting that, like Apple, the company has also made some controversial capital allocation decisions in recent years.

TSLA Cash and Short Term Investments (Quarterly) data by YCharts

Case in point: Tesla recently scaled back its in-house Dojo AI supercomputer project, opting instead to revert to proven infrastructure from Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices. Similar to Apple's Project Titan, the recent moves around Dojo underscore how costly and uncertain it can be to build proprietary systems at scale.

This is where a joint venture with Apple could reshape Tesla's financial trajectory. Apple sits on more than $132 billion in cash, equivalents, and marketable securities, and it commands unmatched global distribution channels. By partnering with Apple, Tesla could accelerate the commercialization of Optimus and robotaxi without overplaying its hand financially.

Moreover, Apple's unparalleled brand equity could help transform Tesla's AI-driven machines from prototype concepts into mainstream products -- bridging the gap between Musk's futuristic vision and tangible household and enterprise adoption.

A second chance that no one sees coming

Apple's decision not to acquire Tesla is often portrayed as a missed opportunity. But having spent a decade working in mergers and acquisitions as an investment banking analyst, I can say with confidence that deals rarely unfold as neatly as the financial models suggest. In many cases, strategic partnerships can unlock far greater, more accretive opportunities than an outright acquisition.

As the last of big tech to scale an AI business, both Apple and Tesla now sit at a pivotal crossroad. A collaboration between the two would represent a rare second chance for trillion-dollar innovators to join forces and reshape the future of the technology landscape.

By combining Apple's ecosystem with Tesla's progress in robotics and autonomous systems, the companies could fast-track the commercialization of next-generation AI applications -- moving them from research labs and into the hands of consumers worldwide.

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

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• Nvidia: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2009, you’d have $461,605!*
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Adam Spatacco has positions in Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Key Points

• Palihapitiya's new SPAC focuses on four core themes: artificial intelligence (AI), energy production, crypto, and defense.

• While there are limitless candidates for the new SPAC, one software startup stands out as a compelling opportunity -- sharing some similarities with Palantir in its early days.

• SPACs have been overly risky investments for quite some time, and Palihapitiya's personal track record is mixed.

• 10 stocks we like better than Palantir Technologies ›

Remember when special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) dominated Wall Street headlines just a few years ago?

At the center of the frenzy was Chamath Palihapitiya -- better known on Wall Street as the "SPAC king". A former executive at AOL and Meta Platforms turned billionaire venture capitalist (VC), Palihapitiya made his name taking bold bets on disruptive companies.

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For a while, SPACs seemed to fade quietly into the background of stock market activity. But just as investors began to write them off, Palihapitiya reignited the conversation with a new prospectus for his latest $250 million "blank check company": American Exceptionalism Acquisition Corp. While details are limited at the moment, Palihapitiya has hinted at the kinds of businesses he's targeting.

Let's break down what investors need to know about this SPAC, why Palihapitiya's recent move matters, and which company I think could be on his radar -- a potential candidate to become the next Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR).

What is American Exceptionalism Acquisition Corp.?

In the S-1 filing for American Exceptionalism Acquisition Corp., Palihapitiya outlines four core pillars he believes are essential to U.S. competitiveness -- artificial intelligence (AI), decentralized finance (DeFi), defense, and energy production.

At first glance, these may look like broad, boilerplate themes. But I see something deeper -- a unifying thesis that ties together some of the biggest secular growth opportunities underpinning the American economy.

Right now, the American economy is experiencing something akin to the Industrial Revolution thanks to the booming impacts of AI. But with any megatrend comes significant trade offs.

For AI, the most pressing challenges are not software development or infrastructure manufacturing -- it's the strain on the U.S. power grid. Hyperscalers such as Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Oracle, and OpenAI are pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into data centers, each requiring massive amounts of electricity to operate at scale.

And it's not just the private sector. The U.S. government is moving aggressively with initiatives like Project Stargate, a $500 billion domestic infrastructure program designed to establish America's digital transformation.

Against this backdrop, I think Palihapitiya may be eyeing a start-up sitting at the intersection of his four pillars.

What company could fit the bill for Chamath?

In my eyes, Houston-based Amperon could be a natural fit for the American Exceptionalism SPAC.

Amperon functions as an operating system for the power grid, offering AI-powered software that delivers real-time intelligence to utilities, energy traders, and large power buyers. Its platform enables decision-makers to forecast demand, renewable output, and wholesale prices with greater precision -- addressing some of the most pressing challenges in the energy economy.

In many respects, Amperon can be thought of as the Palantir of climate tech. Just as Palantir's Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) synthesizes massive volumes of unstructured data and turns them into actionable insights for government agencies and large private enterprises, Amperon applies the same methodology to the grid. It translates fragmented inputs -- from weather patterns or anomalies in demand surges -- into a unified model for energy stakeholders.

The company has also built strategic collaborations with Microsoft, National Grid, and Acario (part of Tokyo Gas). Much like Palantir's early contracts, these partnerships have the potential to deepen and expand over time -- embedding Amperon's tools more firmly into data workflows.

Both Amperon and Palantir demonstrate how AI-driven software layers can evolve into indispensable infrastructure. Where Palantir dominates defense and enterprise intelligence, Amperon is carving out a parallel role capturing energy, climate, and grid optimization.

And because energy touches every sector, Amperon's reach extends even further. Its intelligence platform could support crypto and DeFi protocols, where mining depends on reliable power sources, and strengthen defense applications, where resilient energy sources are critical to national security. This suggests that Amperon's total addressable market (TAM) is far broader than it might initially appear.

Ultimately, this vision aligns almost perfectly with the ethos of Palihapitiya's new SPAC: backing companies at the intersection of AI, defense, DeFi, and energy -- all rolled up and packaged into a compelling opportunity reshaping conscious capitalism.

Remember to be careful with SPACs

In the disclosure section of the prospectus, Palihapitiya reminds investors that they should only consider this SPAC if they can "embody the adage from President Trump that there can be 'no crying in the casino.'" Harsh as it sounds, the warning is well placed.

History hasn't been kind to SPACs. A University of Florida study found that SPACs across nearly every major industry have consistently underperformed the broader market over the past decade.

SPCE data by YCharts

Palihapitiya's own track record underscores this risk. Aside from MP Materials and SoFi Technologies, most of his SPACs have been financial catastrophes. As an investor, he has also backed other high-profile deals that flamed out -- including Desktop Metal and Berkshire Grey (both delisted) and Proterra and Sunlight Financial (both bankrupt).

My take is to approach the new SPAC with measured optimism, while keeping Palihapitiya's history of stewarding outside capital at the forefront of your thesis.

American Exceptionalism's converging focus on emerging themes across AI, defense, crypto, and energy might position it as a unique opportunity potentially poised for explosive growth. But smart investors understand that promise and hope are never true substitutes for prudent, disciplined investing.

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

Before you buy stock in Palantir Technologies, consider this:

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Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $649,657!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,090,993!*

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*Stock Advisor returns as of August 18, 2025

Adam Spatacco has positions in Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Palantir Technologies, and SoFi Technologies. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Oracle, and Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool recommends MP Materials and National Grid Plc 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

• Sirius XM is rumored to be parting ways with one of its most popular programs.

• Recent filings indicate Berkshire Hathaway has been buying Sirius stock hand over fist.

• Despite operational challenges, Sirius could be a compelling opportunity for the right investor.

• 10 stocks we like better than Sirius XM ›

Nearly every major sector has grappled this year with the impacts of new tariff policies, which have rippled through supply chains, end markets, and corporate budgets.

Yet one industry that has proven resilient under the new tariff environment is media and entertainment. Shares of streaming pioneer Netflix and podcasting powerhouse Spotify Technology are up 35% and 63% year to date, respectively -- far outpacing broader returns across the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite.

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By contrast, Sirius XM Holdings (NASDAQ: SIRI) has not shared the same level of enthusiasm from investors. Shares of the satellite radio operator are roughly flat on the year, leaving it lagging far behind its peers. Yet despite its muted performance, Sirius XM has been making frequent headlines -- drawing renewed investor intrigue.

Two developments in particular are shaping the narrative around Sirius XM at the moment. Let's discuss the details and explore whether the stalling stock could be worth a look for your portfolio right now.

Shocking the shock jock

For nearly two decades, one of the most coveted assets in Sirius's content library was its exclusive partnership with iconic shock jock Howard Stern. Stern is often credited as the architect of Sirius's early rise, leaving terrestrial radio for a fledging satellite service that, at the time, had little traction or proven product-market fit.

Now, the Stern era at Sirius may be nearing an end. Multiple media outlets have reported that Sirius is weighing whether to move on from Stern's program. While this does not appear to be a full contract cancellation, reports suggest that Sirius no longer sees the same value in Stern's show -- one that historically commanded hundreds of millions of dollars per contract extension.

At first glance, this might seem to signal financial woes for Sirius. But a closer look tells a more nuanced story. Industry chatter indicates that Sirius may be seeking to renew Stern's contract at a vastly reduced rate or even to reallocate those dollars toward new talent -- such as podcast phenomenon Alex Cooper.

Such a shift could prove strategic in the long run. Stern's audience skews older, largely made up of fans who migrated from terrestrial radio in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Today's audio entertainment landscape looks quite different. With remote work and delivery services reducing commute times, the car-centric listening model that once gave Sirius an edge has lost some relevance.

By contrast, signing Cooper to a Stern-like deal could help reposition Sirius for the next generation of listeners, capturing the attention of younger demographics such as millennials and Gen Zers.

The Oracle is doing his thing

Few investors on Wall Street command as much attention as Warren Buffett. Colloquially known as the "Oracle of Omaha," Buffett has spent more than six decades building Berkshire Hathaway into an investment powerhouse through a series of savvy, often contrarian deals. According to recent filings, Berkshire added 5,030,425 shares of Sirius XM between July 31 and Aug. 4.

SIRI Revenue (TTM) data by YCharts

This raises an obvious question: Why in the world is Buffett gobbling up shares hand over fist of a declining business? As with the Stern situation, the answer is likely nuanced.

Sirius's revenue decline is primarily attributable to subscriber churn, a challenge that has intensified with the rise of podcasts and alternative streaming platforms. Yet a closer look at the financial profile above sheds light on something most investors are overlooking: The company's free cash flow is decelerating more slowly than revenue is falling.

This dynamic matters. Despite some subscriber attrition, nearly three-quarters of Sirius's revenue still comes from subscriptions. This model gives Sirius some durability, allowing the company to command premium pricing power over competing platforms because advertisers want access to a subscription-based audience -- something many of its rivals lack.

Is Sirius XM stock a buy right now?

If there is one factor that defines Buffett's investing philosophy, it's that he avoids chasing momentum or paying a premium for businesses trading at frothy valuations. Consider that the average forward price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple across the S&P 500 hovers around 23. By contrast, Sirius XM trades at just 8.2 times forward earnings -- a steep discount to the broader market.

SIRI PE Ratio (Forward) data by YCharts

Buffett likely sees Sirius not as a fading relic but as a legal monopoly with durable profitability -- an asset that still carries enormous value, despite an uneven growth profile. In his eyes, Sirius stock probably sits firmly in deep value territory -- making it the type of business he prefers to buy and hold for a long time.

I think much of the headline-driven pessimism is baked into Sirius's share price at this point. While the stock may not carry the same weight as a lucrative high-growth opportunity, now may be a good time to mimic Buffett and scoop up shares of Sirius while it continues to trade at dirt-cheap prices.

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

Before you buy stock in Sirius XM, consider this:

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

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $649,657!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,090,993!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 1,057% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 185% 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 August 18, 2025

Adam Spatacco has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Berkshire Hathaway, Netflix, and Spotify Technology. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Key Points

• Nvidia stock has rebounded from its lows earlier this year, and expectations are mighty high as earnings come into view.

• While competition is rising, Nvidia remains well positioned to capitalize on a number of emerging infrastructure opportunities.

• Nvidia stock remains attractively priced compared to prior levels seen during the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution.

• 10 stocks we like better than Nvidia ›

Over the past several weeks, companies across every industry have released financial earnings and operating results for the second calendar quarter of 2025. For many investors, all eyes were on big tech.

Spending patterns from these behemoths don't just signal the health of the overall macroeconomic environment -- they also shed light on the most closely watched theme in the market: artificial intelligence (AI).

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While most of AI's power players have already reported, the ultimate industry bellwether, Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), has yet to step up to the plate. The semiconductor giant is scheduled to announce results on Aug. 27, and expectations could not be higher.

Let's explore how Nvidia stock typically reacts during earnings season, and assess whether now might be the time for investors to seize the opportunity.

How does Nvidia stock generally perform after earnings?

The chart below illustrates Nvidia's price action over the past three years, with purple "E" markers indicating earnings dates.

NVDA data by YCharts

With just one exception, every earnings release has been followed by a surge in buying activity, underscoring the market's unrelenting appetite for Nvidia stock.

The lone outlier came earlier this year, when concerns about competition from Chinese models -- namely DeepSeek -- combined with uncertainty over President Donald Trump's new tariff agenda cast doubt on Nvidia's outlook. These worries fueled a narrative of caution that briefly interrupted the company's otherwise robust momentum.

As recent trends make clear, however, those fears have largely faded -- replaced by new investor enthusiasm. The broader takeaway is undeniable: Nvidia has been a standout winner over the last few years, with its share price climbing in lockstep with the rise of AI.

What should investors be listening for on Nvidia's earnings call?

During the AI boom, Nvidia's business has primarily been fueled by unprecedented demand for its graphics processing units (GPUs) and CUDA software system. Despite rising competition in the GPU landscape from Advanced Micro Devices and the upcoming release of custom ASICs from Broadcom, I still see a number of compelling catalysts that could fuel long-term growth for Nvidia.

Chip demand from hyperscalers

Earlier this year, investors learned that Meta Platforms and Alphabet plan to significantly expand their AI capital expenditure (capex) budgets. Meta made a $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI, while also launching a new initiative, dubbed Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL). Meanwhile, Alphabet continues to ramp up spending on servers and data center buildouts -- clear accelerating tailwinds for AI infrastructure. They are not alone, however. Amazon and Microsoft also maintain massive capex commitments, bringing the combined total among the four hyperscalers to an estimated $340 billion on AI infrastructure spending this year alone.

Sovereign AI

Shortly after President Trump's inauguration in January, leaders from Oracle, OpenAI, and SoftBank gathered in the Oval Office to unveil Project Stargate -- a landmark $500 billion initiative to build out AI infrastructure in the United States. Countries across the Middle East -- such as the United Arab Emirates and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia -- have launched their own Stargate-style projects, each with massive funding commitments. Nvidia's industry-leading chipsets and data center expertise serve as the AI backbone to bring these efforts to life.

New life in China

For much of 2025, China has been Nvidia's biggest obstacle. A newly structured agreement with the U.S. government now allows Nvidia to reenter this critical market, with the company remitting 15% of its Chinese sales back to Washington. While the arrangement may appear costly upon first glance, Nvidia's superior pricing power in the chip market positions the company to absorb this expense with minimal impact on profit margins. Nvidia's ability to offset these fees ensures that doing business in China remains a net positive for shareholders.

Emerging applications

Beyond infrastructure, a new wave of opportunities is emerging as more advanced AI use cases take shape. For example, Tesla's push to scale its robotaxi business -- and its decision to replace the in-house Dojo system with one powered by Nvidia -- underscores the company's critical role in more sophisticated applications such as autonomous vehicles. Meanwhile, Tesla and other developers are racing to commercialize AI-powered robotics applications -- a market that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang thinks could be worth multiple trillions in the long run. Looking even further ahead, the rising momentum around quantum computing points to the need for next-generation hardware and software -- inspiring Nvidia to continue innovating in order to remain at the forefront of the next chapter of the AI story.

Is Nvidia stock a buy before Aug. 27?

The chart below tracks Nvidia's forward price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple throughout the AI revolution. While the company's valuation has expanded recently, shares still trade at a discount compared to prior forward earnings peaks.

NVDA PE Ratio (Forward) data by YCharts

This suggests that much of the growth from the catalysts discussed above is not yet fully priced into Nvidia's stock price. In other words, there could be meaningful valuation upside ahead as these opportunities scale and contribute to Nvidia's growth.

While Nvidia's surge over the last three years has been generational, the company's long-term tailwinds give reason to believe that the rally is far from over.

For investors, the focus should not be on trying to time the perfect entry point. Instead, buying the stock at different price points over time -- a strategy known as dollar-cost averaging (DCA) -- remains an effective approach to building a position in one of the defining winners of the AI era.

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

Before you buy stock in Nvidia, 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 Nvidia wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $668,155!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,106,071!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 1,070% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 184% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.

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*Stock Advisor returns as of August 18, 2025

Adam Spatacco has positions in Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, Oracle, and Tesla. The Motley Fool recommends Broadcom 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

• Technology investors have become intrigued by the potential of the quantum era as the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution unfolds.

• Quantum Computing, or QCi, is exploring photonic qubits -- a technology that's garnered the interest of academic research institutions and government agencies.

• While QCi looks promising to the casual viewer, savvy investors understand the bigger issues surrounding the company's popularity.

• 10 stocks we like better than Quantum Computing ›

Over the last three years, some of the biggest gains from the artificial intelligence (AI) megatrend have centered on semiconductors, data centers, cloud computing infrastructure, and enterprise software. But like all maturing themes, investors are craving a new wave of opportunity.

Enter quantum computing, an emerging technology that is projected to have over $1 trillion in economic value by next decade, according to global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company.

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Unlike traditional AI applications, investors seem infatuated with speculative opportunities when it comes to investing in quantum computing stocks. Rather than traditional power players such as Nvidia, Alphabet, Microsoft, or Amazon, one of the most talked-about names in the quantum era is Quantum Computing Inc. (NASDAQ: QUBT), or QCi for short.

Quantum Computing (the company) just reported earnings for the second calendar quarter of 2025 -- and let me tell you, there is a lot to unpack. Is Quantum Computing stock a buy after its Q2 report?

Analyzing Quantum Computing's business results

QCi's second-quarter earnings report highlighted several updates -- including mentions of a partnership with NASA, its addition to the Russell 2000 index, and incremental progress on its photonic qubit technology.

While these details make for exciting headline content, how have they translated into measurable business results?

QUBT Revenue (Quarterly) data by YCharts

In Q2, the company generated just $61,000 in sales while posting a net loss of $36.5 million. In other words, QCi essentially remains a pre-revenue business with no proven path to a turnaround or sustained positive unit economics.

Distinguishing narrative from reality

While quantum computing (the technology) is increasingly hailed as the next frontier of AI, prudent investors should remain cautious. At present, the field is still dominated by research and development (R&D) rather than practical utility.

Quantum Computing (the company) is not signing Fortune 500 clients at a record pace because of any groundbreaking innovations it has achieved -- far from it.

Frankly, I see QCi more as a hype-driven branding story -- perhaps deliberately spinning an exciting narrative while the core business fundamentals tell a very different story.

Is Quantum Computing stock a buy?

With such minimal traction and mounting losses, Quantum Computing looks more aspirational than investable -- focused on conceptual breakthroughs rather than tangible applications adopted by enterprise customers at scale.

Where bullish investors might push back is on the company's balance sheet. Despite QCi's tiny revenue base and recurring burn, the company ended Q2 with $349 million of cash and equivalents.

Investors should not be fooled by this. Quantum Computing's balance sheet strength comes from stock issuances as opposed to organic cash generation. This brings up the heart of the bear storyline: valuation.

As of market close on Aug. 15, QCi boasted a market cap of $2.4 billion -- equating to a price-to-sales (P/S) multiple of more than 7,000. For perspective, this is orders of magnitude higher than established AI leaders with proven disruption.

QUBT PS Ratio data by YCharts

I think it's clear that Quantum Computing's management understands the disconnect between the company's valuation and business fundamentals. Issuing shares during a frothy stock market environment suggests that the company is capitalizing on enthusiasm driven largely by speculation and unsuspecting buyers before a valuation reset could -- and likely will -- occur.

The key takeaway here is that QCi stock may look like a bargain for "just $15" per share, but smart investors understand that the absolute share price does not solely determine the value of a business.

Quantum Computing (the company) is historically pricey and trading at levels reminiscent of the stock market bubble of the late 1990s driven by euphoria around the internet. With nearly no revenue, widening losses, and a dependence on equity raises, I think QCi is facing a looming liquidity crunch.

At best, QCi is a moonshot gamble. Unless you are an investor comfortable with extreme volatility and abnormally outsize risk, Quantum Computing stock is best avoided for the time being.

Should you invest $1,000 in Quantum Computing right now?

Before you buy stock in Quantum Computing, consider this:

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Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $668,155!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,106,071!*

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Adam Spatacco has positions in Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, International Business Machines, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Key Points

• At the core of Tesla's artificial intelligence (AI) vision is a homegrown supercomputer called Dojo.

• Musk recently took to social media to tell investors that Dojo is now sidelined.

• This should be seen as a major win for Nvidia, as Tesla will likely remain a customer, as it uses outsourced chips to scale its robotaxi and robotics services.

• 10 stocks we like better than Nvidia ›

Most investors know Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) for its electric vehicles (EVs) and energy storage solutions. For years, however, its CEO, Elon Musk, has been describing a vision to transform Tesla from a traditional auto manufacturer and green energy pioneer into a full-stack technology enterprise.

Specifically, Musk's interests surround how artificial intelligence (AI) will play an integral role in developing the company's next-generation products and services -- from humanoid robots to fleets of fully autonomous vehicles.

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But in early August, Musk delivered some sobering news to investors regarding Tesla's ambitions. Let's dig into the current state of affairs surrounding Tesla's AI road map and assess why these shifts should be celebrated by Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) stock investors right now.

Understanding Tesla's AI vision

Today, most AI developers rely on clusters of GPUs supplied by the likes of Nvidia or Advanced Micro Devices to train and inference their models. If you know anything about Musk, though, then it should come as no surprise that the serial entrepreneur took a bolder approach beyond off-the-shelf solutions -- developing an internally built supercomputer system called Dojo.

While Dojo was nothing short of a moonshot in AI infrastructure, the vision was admirable on paper. If Tesla could vertically integrate its own AI architecture across robotaxis and humanoid robotics, the company would essentially own its compute stack and have a competitive moat.

Musk's latest headline-grabber is one for the ages

While Dojo has been one of the core pillars supporting Tesla's bull narrative for years, Musk just dropped some heavy news on investors. The executive took to social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) to tell investors that Tesla's focus will now be on chip projects dubbed AI5 and AI6, calling the stand-alone Dojo platform "an evolutionary dead end."

Essentially, it doesn't make strategic or economic sense for Tesla to pursue multiple chip designs geared toward different applications. Instead, AI6 represents something more multifaceted than Dojo. While Dojo's applications were niche-oriented, AI6 will handle both training workloads and inferencing neural networks across Tesla's broader infrastructure use cases without requiring a specialized and limited computing platform such as Dojo.

Why is this big news for Nvidia?

The idea of Dojo was to migrate away from chip suppliers like Nvidia and potentially even compete in the semiconductor industry more broadly down the road.

However, with AI6 now the primary focus at Tesla, it's reported that the company will rely on external GPU providers such as Nvidia -- which it already uses in some capacities -- in the interim as it takes time to build, develop, and scale its new services.

I see Tesla's decision to sideline Dojo as a massive win for Nvidia, as it reinforces the idea that even the most technologically ambitious and financially strong businesses can't out-innovate established industry powerhouses. In many ways, Musk's decision is a subtle nod that Nvidia remains king of the AI realm -- a bullish catalyst supporting the durability of the chipmaker's long-term growth prospects.

In addition, Tesla's pivot could create meaningful opportunities for Nvidia's automotive business. While the company's compute and networking services are still the main driver of revenue and profits, the company's automotive business is an emerging growth engine that should not be overlooked.

In my view, more automakers will reach the same conclusion as Tesla: Building custom infrastructure is both costly and time-intensive. As a result, reaffirmed dependence on external hardware and software systems from partners such as Nvidia could accelerate broader demand for the company's ecosystem of automotive products -- spawning a new source of infrastructure growth to complement the company's core data center segment.

For these reasons, Nvidia's presence in the autonomous vehicle and robotics landscapes could expand significantly over the next several years -- solidifying its position as an integral power source in the AI infrastructure ecosystem.

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Adam Spatacco has positions in Nvidia and Tesla. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Nvidia, and Tesla. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Key Points

• Over the last several weeks, Meta has been offering top artificial intelligence (AI) researchers lucrative contracts.

• These people are now part of Meta Superintelligence Labs, a division focused on competing directly with OpenAI and others.

• Jensen Huang appears to be supportive of Meta's hiring strategy, but there's a catch.

• 10 stocks we like better than Meta Platforms ›

Every few decades, the technology world is reshaped by a generational visionary who somehow seems to see the future before it actually unfolds. Right now, the most important technologist might just be Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA).

Huang does not understand artificial intelligence (AI) purely from a technical perspective. The way he speaks about it is more cerebral.

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Beyond Huang, another technological visionary who is worth paying close attention to is Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta Platforms. Over the last several weeks, Meta has reportedly been on an aggressive hiring campaign, poaching top AI researchers from OpenAI, Alphabet, GitHub, and Apple.

Huang recently addressed Meta's hiring strategy during a discussion at the All-In Summit, hosted by billionaire venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya.

While Huang's comments about Meta sounded supportive overall, I think there are some key nuances to point out as Zuckerberg seeks to take on competition in the AI realm.

Let's dig into Huang's comments and assess what could be in the cards for Meta investors.

What did Huang just say about Meta?

In a video clip shared on social media, Huang shares his thoughts around Meta's recent hiring spree and the reported hundred-million-dollar signing bonuses.

Huang said that a team of roughly 150 researchers and appropriate funding could potentially go on to build a rival platform to OpenAI's ChatGPT. To back up his claim, he explained that several existing AI models that compete with ChatGPT were built by a team of similar size to what Zuckerberg is reportedly assembling through the creation of Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL).

On the surface, this sounds like Meta just earned a vote of confidence from Nvidia, once referred to as the "godfather of AI." But is that really the case?

I think there might be more than meets the eye to Huang's comments.

What Huang didn't say

As a private company, OpenAI is not required to publish its financials or operating metrics. However, according to reports from CNBC, OpenAI now has 3 million paying enterprise customers and $10 billion in annual recurring revenue (ARR). To put this into perspective, OpenAI's ARR was estimated to be around $5.5 billion last year.

Those numbers show the company has nearly doubled its ARR base in less than a year, underscoring OpenAI's ability to acquire customers and accelerate its growth trends despite intensified competition from other large language models (LLM) from Anthropic, DeepSeek, and Alphabet, for example.

These nuances matter because Meta Superintelligence Labs won't just need to launch something, it will need to prove that it can weather challenges across product execution, customer acquisition, and competing with incumbents with strong first-mover advantages.

Although Huang appears confident that more companies will introduce products that compete directly with OpenAI, I would say that his comments fall short of an explicit endorsement of Meta, per se. Rather, I think he's more simply implying that Meta has been investing strategically in its quest to conquer the AI landscape.

Is Meta stock a buy now?

As the chart below illustrates, Meta experienced sizable expansion in its price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) a couple of years ago. During this period, management implemented significant cost reductions, particularly in the metaverse division. It made a strategic decision to reallocate these savings into AI initiatives.

META PE Ratio data by YCharts.

Given the trends above, I'd say that investors welcomed the shift from the metaverse to AI and began pricing in some of the upside. However, over the last 18 months, Meta's P/E levels have pulled back considerably.

In my eyes, this valuation reset suggests that investors may not fully appreciate the foundation that Zuckerberg and the management team laid a couple of years ago. In other words, the market may have prematurely bought up the stock, only to discount the long-term upside of the AI opportunity now.

With the creation of Meta Superintelligence Labs and a roster of all-star talent ready to build and launch new AI-powered services, Meta could be on the cusp of a massive transformation that remains discounted from a valuation standpoint.

At its current levels, I see Meta stock as a no-brainer buying opportunity at these prices as I think the company's upside from AI is largely discounted right now.

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

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Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $624,823!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,064,820!*

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Adam Spatacco has positions in Alphabet, Apple, Meta Platforms, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Apple, Meta Platforms, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Key Points

• Quantum computing has emerged as one of the most popular opportunities within the AI landscape.

• Smaller stocks such as IonQ, Rigetti, and D-Wave, have fetched a lot of attention as of late.

• Yet, there are a host of other opportunities that are also quietly disrupting the quantum arena.

• These 10 stocks could mint the next wave of millionaires ›

One pocket of the artificial intelligence (AI) realm that continues to gain momentum is quantum computing. So far this year, the Defiance Quantum ETF has posted gains of 15% -- handily outperforming both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite.

While market-beating gains have tempted some growth investors to dive headfirst into the quantum computing revolution, I'd caution that not every opportunity in this area of the AI industry carries the same upside.

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Let's explore eight of the most popular quantum computing stocks right now and determine which ones are the best of the bunch for investors with a long-run time horizon.

Everyone is talking about these four quantum computing stocks, but...

Whenever a new theme begins to emerge within a broader megatrend, investors often try to identify the "next big opportunity." What I mean by that is throughout the AI revolution, investors have been repeatedly reminded of how great the "Magnificent Seven" stocks are.

But now that quantum computing is becoming an increasingly popular topic within the broader AI discussion, more speculative investors are seeking to find new opportunities that could potentially mimic returns similar to those of the Magnificent Seven.

At the moment, four of the most popular quantum computing stocks are IonQ, Rigetti Computing, D-Wave Quantum, and the appropriately named Quantum Computing. While it's tempting to follow outsize momentum, all four of these quantum computing stocks deserve a closer look before investors begin to pour in.

IONQ data by YCharts

First, all of these businesses are investing heavily in research and development (R&D) and capital-intensive projects as they explore quantum technology. This is an important nuance for investors to understand. None of these companies is generating significant or consistent revenue yet. This could be considered a risk, as these businesses are not yet offering various product lines that are commercially scaled.

Given the lack of sales coming through the door, it shouldn't be surprising to learn that these small companies are burning through quite a bit of cash -- making long-run liquidity a major concern. For now, each of these quantum computing hopefuls has relied on stock issuances in order to raise funds. Not only is that dilutive to shareholders, but it's not a sustainable method of capital raising in the long run.

All of these quantum computing stocks are trading for valuations far beyond what investors witnessed during prior stock market bubbles. Management may understand this and are taking advantage of frothy conditions to raise as much capital as possible before valuations protract and become more appropriately aligned with the fundamentals of their respective underlying businesses.

...I like these four magnificent stocks even better

While it may seem a little anticlimactic, I think the most prudent way to invest in quantum computing is through the usual suspects: the Magnificent Seven. Cloud hyperscalers Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet have largely been tied to hefty investments in data centers, servers, and chips over the last few years. However, each of these companies has quietly been exploring quantum computing, too.

All three of these Magnificent Seven members have developed their own custom quantum computing chips, called Majorana, Ocelot, and Willow. On top of that, Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) is exploring quantum applications by offering new, extended features of its existing CUDA software system.

The reason that I like big tech over the speculative players above is that each also has a multibillion-dollar business spanning various pockets of the AI realm. In other words, quantum computing represents an extension of an already established footprint.

By contrast, companies such as IonQ, Rigetti, D-Wave, and Quantum Computing are essentially singularly focused businesses whose long-run viability hinge on successful business execution and penetration of the quantum computing industry. If they fail to achieve a critical mass in terms of enterprise-level customers, these companies could quickly run through their remaining capital and be headed toward a path of insolvency.

Which quantum computing stock is the best of the bunch?

At a high level, I think there are merits to owning any of the big tech stocks referenced above. But if I had to choose just one, I'd pick Nvidia as my best quantum computing idea.

I see Nvidia as the most ubiquitous business among megacap technology AI stocks. The company already dominates the data center and chip landscapes, and with more sophisticated use cases across autonomous vehicles, robotics, and now quantum computing starting to emerge, I'm hard-pressed to think of how or why Nvidia won't continue to be a major source powering these applications.

In my eyes, Nvidia has much more room for growth beyond the core chip business in the long run. For this reason, I think Nvidia stock is a no-brainer right now.

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*Stock Advisor returns as of July 29, 2025

Adam Spatacco has positions in Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Key Points

• Nvidia has ownership stakes in "neocloud" companies Nebius Group and CoreWeave.

• While each company is positioned to benefit from investments in AI infrastructure, CoreWeave's growth prospects appear more robust over the long term.

• Wall Street is forecasting CoreWeave's revenue to triple over the next couple of years, which should help pave a path to profitability.

• 10 stocks we like better than CoreWeave ›

Following the end of each quarter, financial services firms that manage over $100 million in stocks are required to file a form 13F with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These filings represent an itemized breakdown of all the stocks that the fund bought and sold during the most recent quarter.

While investors may not realize it, corporations can also invest their cash into equity positions of other businesses. According to Nvidia's recent 13F filing, the semiconductor darling currently holds positions across six stocks. Two of its holdings are spread between artificial intelligence (AI) data center stocks, Nebius Group and CoreWeave (NASDAQ: CRWV).

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Fresh off a hot initial public offering (IPO) earlier this year, CoreWeave has emerged as an integral player in the AI infrastructure market. Let's dive into CoreWeave's business and explore how the company is transforming the AI landscape.

What does CoreWeave do?

For the last few years, investors have learned about the important role that advanced chipsets known as graphics processing units (GPUs) play in the development of generative AI. The GPU market is largely dominated by Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices, both of which are able to command hefty price tags for their coveted data center hardware.

While AI has served as an unprecedented tailwind for the chip market, one of the subtle nuances is that this demand has brought a series of complications to supply and demand dynamics.

This is where CoreWeave comes into play. CoreWeave operates as a "neocloud," which is a specialized type of business that allows companies to access GPU architecture through cloud-based infrastructure. This flexible model appeals to businesses that may not be able to purchase GPUs directly from Nvidia or its cohorts due to rising price dynamics.

By offering an agile and potentially more affordable model than cloud hyperscalers such as Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and Google Cloud Platform, CoreWeave has been able to attract a number of high-profile customers and ink a series of multiyear, billion-dollar deals.

What does CoreWeave's growth look like?

For the quarter ended March 31, CoreWeave generated $982 million in revenue -- up 420% year over year. While the company's net loss widened more than twofold compared to the year-ago quarter, CoreWeave has some catalysts that should quickly turn around the dynamics of its profitability profile. See estimates in the chart below.

CRWV Revenue Estimates for Current Fiscal Year data by YCharts

During the earnings call, management raised guidance for both revenue and capital expenditures (capex). While more spending may stifle profitability in the short term, these investments are necessary foundations for the longer-term opportunity in AI infrastructure.

As Wall Street's estimates pictured in the chart above showcase, CoreWeave's investments today should help secure more access to Nvidia's Blackwell GPU architecture and should ultimately serve as a tailwind for more accelerated growth down the road.

Is CoreWeave stock a buy right now?

In the chart below, I compare CoreWeave to Oracle on a price-to-sales (P/S) basis. Oracle is also a leading player in infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), having just signed a $30 billion cloud deal of its own, so it's comparable to CoreWeave. That single deal is expected to bring in nearly twice the amount of CoreWeave's total 2027 revenue. And yet, investors are placing a twofold premium on CoreWeave's P/S multiple when compared to Oracle.

CRWV PS Ratio data by YCharts

I think there are a couple of nuances to point out when it comes to CoreWeave's valuation relative to a peer such as Oracle.

First, Oracle is experiencing a transition period -- effectively replacing slow-growth (or no-growth) segments of the business with its new, budding data center infrastructure operation. For this reason, investors are likely applying a discount to Oracle relative to a high-growth AI stock such as CoreWeave.

Moreover, CoreWeave completed an IPO earlier this year. Since then, the company has inked an $11.2 billion deal with OpenAI, announced the planned acquisition of Core Scientific to bolster its platform, and earned a spot in some of Wall Street's most respected institutional portfolios.

This confluence of factors is more than enough to garner outsize excitement and enthusiasm from investors. For these reasons, I'm not surprised to see CoreWeave trading at such a premium.

I think the most prudent course of action for investors is to buy CoreWeave stock at different price points over a long-term time horizon. If you invest the same amount of money at set time intervals, that is known as dollar-cost averaging, and can help mitigate risk by removing specific timing and price points from the equation.

Overall, I see CoreWeave as a compelling opportunity that is well positioned to dominate the infrastructure chapter of the AI narrative. If I could buy only one Nvidia-backed data center stock, CoreWeave would be it.

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

Before you buy stock in CoreWeave, 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 CoreWeave 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 $636,628!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,063,471!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 1,041% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 183% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.

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*Stock Advisor returns as of July 21, 2025

Adam Spatacco has positions in Amazon, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Amazon, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends Nebius Group 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

• IonQ, Rigetti Computing, D-Wave Quantum, and Quantum Computing have reached valuation levels well beyond those seen during prior stock market bubbles.

• Each of these companies has recently raised capital through a series of equity offerings and stock issuances.

• These moves could suggest that the valuation levels for these businesses are not only abnormally high, but unsustainable.

• These 10 stocks could mint the next wave of millionaires ›

Last summer, companies such as IonQ (NYSE: IONQ), Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ: RGTI), D-Wave Quantum (NYSE: QBTS), and Quantum Computing (NASDAQ: QUBT) were unknown penny stocks.

However, as quantum computing steadily made its way toward center stage in the artificial intelligence (AI) realm, each of these companies witnessed meteoric rises in their share prices. Over the last 12 months, IonQ stock has blasted higher by 517%, while Rigetti, D-Wave, and Quantum Computing have experienced surges of at least 1,500% as of this writing (July 21).

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With valuations reaching historically high levels, could investors be on the verge of witnessing a quantum computing bubble bursting?

Is quantum computing in a bubble?

The chart below illustrates valuation trends among popular quantum computing stocks on a price-to-sales (P/S) basis.

IONQ PS Ratio data by YCharts.

As I outlined in a prior article, the quantum computing stocks above are trading at far higher P/S multiples compared to levels seen during the dot-com and COVID-19 stock bubbles.

For example, during the internet boom in the late 1990s, stocks such as Amazon, Cisco, and Microsoft experienced peak P/S ratios in the range of 30x and 40x. Taking this a step further, popular COVID stocks such as Zoom Communications and Peloton saw P/S multiples top out at 124x and 20x, respectively.

The big theme here is that IonQ, Rigetti, D-Wave, and Quantum Computing are each trading for valuation multiples that could be seen as historically high, even when compared to prior bubble events.

With that said, other AI companies that are also exploring quantum computing -- such as Nvidia, Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft -- currently trade for much more reasonable valuation multiples when compared to the companies in the chart above.

For this reason, I do not think the entire quantum computing landscape is at risk of experiencing a bubble-bursting event. However, IonQ and its peers have been dropping some breadcrumbs in recent months that lead me to think the smaller quantum computing players could be on the verge of a harsh sell-off.

What's going on under the hood with quantum computing stocks?

After some digging into certain filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), I think IonQ, Rigetti, D-Wave, and Quantum Computing may be trying to signal some important things to investors:

• In February, IonQ announced that it planned to raise up to $500 million through a series of stock issuances. The company doubled down on its capital-raising ambitions more recently, offering 14,165,708 shares at a price of $55.49 -- raising nearly $1 billion in the process.
• In June, Rigetti raised $350 million in capital after completing an at-the-market (ATM) equity offering.
• Between June 11 and June 27, D-Wave Quantum raised $400 million through an ATM offering. Of note: This followed a prior raise of $150 million that occurred in January.
• In late June, Quantum Computing raised $200 million following the issuance of 14 million shares at an average price of $14.25.

What's really going on here? With each of these quantum computing stocks trading near all-time highs, it appears to me that management is looking to take advantage of frothy market conditions.

IONQ data by YCharts.

Quantum computing is a research-heavy, capital-intensive industry. Management at IonQ and its peers surely understand this, and so I see these capital raises as a calculated move to capitalize on inflated, overstretched valuations.

Should you invest in quantum computing stocks?

To me, any hint of a bubble surrounding IonQ and its smaller peers may already be in the process of bursting. Under the surface, the various stock issuances and equity offerings annotated above could suggest that management does not believe current price levels are sustainable.

By using the dot-com and COVID bubbles as benchmarks, history would suggest that a major correction could be on the horizon for these small quantum computing stocks. Issuing stock to raise funds is not sustainable in the long run. Furthermore, consistently diluting shareholders through these offerings could call into question how these companies are allocating capital.

In my eyes, if investors are seeking exposure to the quantum computing industry, they are best off exploring more diversified opportunities in big tech as opposed to the smaller, more speculative players analyzed in this piece.

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Key Points

• Palantir has witnessed a meteoric rise in its share price thanks to the company's successful foray into the artificial intelligence (AI) arena.

• Several respected investors on Wall Street have been applying different approaches when it comes to investing in Palantir, making it hard to discern how "smart money" feels about the company.

• Palantir is trading for a historically high valuation, and broader buying and selling themes from institutional money managers could suggest a sell-off is on the horizon.

• 10 stocks we like better than Palantir Technologies ›

Outside of Nvidia, I'd argue that no other company has benefited from the tailwinds of the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution as much as data mining specialist Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR).

Over the last three years, shares of Palantir have gained more than 1,300%. Just this year alone, Palantir stock has rocketed by 97%. To put that into perspective, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indexes haven't even posted gains of 10% in 2025.

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While it can be tempting to follow the momentum in hopes of more outsize gains, smart investors understand that hope is not a real strategy.

Let's explore the catalysts behind Palantir's generational run, and assess some recent trading activity to help discern whether Palantir stock could be headed even higher.

The unprecedented rise in Palantir

When AI first started to emerge as the next megatrend during late 2022 and early 2023, investors were consistently bombarded with news around big tech's splashy investments in the space. Microsoft plowed $10 billion into OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. Both Amazon and Alphabet invested hefty sums into a competing platform, called Anthropic. Tesla was touting its advancements in self-driving cars and humanoid robots. You get the drift -- the AI narrative largely hinged on the moves big tech was making.

But in the background, Palantir was building. In April 2023, the company launched its fourth major software suite -- the Palantir Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP).

PLTR Revenue (TTM) data by YCharts

As the graph above illustrates, Palantir was a relatively slow-growth, cash-burning enterprise prior to the release of AIP. But since AIP's launch a little more than two years ago, Palantir's revenue has accelerated considerably. On top of that, the company has been able to command improving unit economics underscored by a sweeping transition to positive net income and generating billions in free cash flow.

At the end of 2022, Palantir had 367 total customers. As of the end of the first quarter this year, Palantir boasted 769 total customers. Perhaps even more impressive is that the company's commercial customers (non-government) have risen by more than twofold over the last couple of years.

To me, AIP is serving as a gateway for Palantir to expand its reach beyond federal contracts with the U.S. military, which is what Palantir is best known for. AIP represents a transformational shift as a defense contractor to a more ubiquitous software platform capable of penetrating the private sector, despite relentless competition from larger companies such as Salesforce or SAP.

As a Palantir bull myself, I've been blown away by management's ability to outmaneuver big tech and deliver on lofty growth targets time and again. But as an investor, I can't help but wonder if the company's share price trajectory is sustainable.

Is Wall Street trying to tell investors something?

In addition to analyzing financial trends and operating metrics, investors can augment their due diligence process by listening to how Wall Street analysts talk about a company or even dig into the trading activity of notable investors. Thanks to a nifty tool called a form 13F, investors can access an itemized breakdown of all of the buys and sells from hedge funds during a given quarter.

During the first quarter, famed billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller sold out of his fund's Palantir position. In addition, Cathie Wood has been trimming exposure to Palantir in Ark's portfolio as well.

On the flip side, billionaire investors Ken Griffin and Israel Englander both added to their funds' respective Palantir positions during the first quarter. Given these dynamics, it might be hard to discern how Wall Street really feels about Palantir.

I think there are some nuances to point out given the details above. First, both Druckenmiller and Wood have been in and out of Palantir stock in the past -- this is not the first time each investor reduced their exposure to the data analytics darling.

On top of that, I think Griffin's and Englander's activity should be taken with a grain of salt. Both investors run highly sophisticated, multistrategy hedge funds. From time to time, some of this activity may include being a market maker.

Although it may appear bullish that Palantir stock is held in Griffin's Citadel and Englander's Millennium Management portfolios, I wouldn't quite buy that narrative. Neither fund is necessarily known for holding positions for the long term.

Moreover, as a multistrategy fund with a number of different teams and objectives, I think that it's highly likely that Citadel and Millennium have a layered and complex hedge strategy when it comes to owning a volatile growth stock such as Palantir.

Where will Palantir stock be at the end of 2025?

The chart below illustrates institutional buying and selling of Palantir stock over the last few years.

PLTR Shares Bought By Institutional Investors data by YCharts

Given that buying (the purple line) remains elevated over selling (the orange line), this could suggest that Palantir remains a favorite among institutional portfolios. However, as I expressed above, not all hedge funds and money managers have the same strategy. In other words, some of this elevated buying could be part of a broader, more complex trading strategy and less so an endorsement of long-term accumulation.

Over the last few months, Palantir stock has become increasingly more expensive. In fact, the company is trading well beyond levels seen during peak days of the dot-com or COVID-19 bubbles.

While it's impossible to know for certain where Palantir stock will be trading by the end of the year, smart investors know that nothing goes up in a straight line forever.

A good indicator for how investors feel about Palantir's prospects should come after the company reports second-quarter earnings in a couple of weeks. As a reminder, shares fell off a cliff for a brief moment following the company's first-quarter blowout report. Expectations are rising with each passing report, and I would not be surprised to see Palantir stock sell off again -- even if its Q2 results are stellar.

Given the convergence between institutional buying and selling, combined with Palantir's increasingly expensive valuation, I can't help but be cautious at this point. I do think a valuation correction could be in store sooner or later and would not be surprised if shares are trading for a considerably lower price by the end of the year.

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

Before you buy stock in Palantir 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 Palantir 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 $636,628!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,063,471!*

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*Stock Advisor returns as of July 21, 2025

Adam Spatacco has positions in Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, Nvidia, Palantir Technologies, and Tesla. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, Nvidia, Palantir Technologies, Salesforce, and Tesla. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Key Points

• Alphabet now expects to lay out $85 billion in capital expenditures this year -- up from a previously planned $75 billion -- and expects to further accelerate that spending next year.

• Alphabet's AI capex will be allocated toward servers, accelerated data center buildouts, and cloud computing infrastructure.

• Rising AI infrastructure spending from hyperscalers such as Alphabet bodes well for Nvidia and its thriving GPU business.

• 10 stocks we like better than Nvidia ›

Over the next several weeks, companies will report financial and operating results for the second quarter of 2025. As usual, technology investors will be focused on one thing: artificial intelligence (AI).

"Magnificent Seven" member Alphabet kicked things off earlier this week, reporting robust results across its search, advertising, and cloud computing divisions.

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While Alphabet shareholders should be encouraged by the internet giant's strong performance, I saw Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) as the real winner from the company's second-quarter performance.

Let's dig into some of the important moves Alphabet is making and assess how Nvidia is benefiting from them.

Alphabet is picking up the pace on AI infrastructure construction

During the Q2 earnings call, Alphabet's management updated some details of its financial guidance. Alphabet now plans to spend around $85 billion on capital expenditures (capex) in 2025. Of note, this is a $10 billion increase over the company's prior guidance.

And there's more. "Looking out to 2026, we expect a further increase in capex due to the demand we're seeing from customers as well as growth opportunities across the company," said Chief Financial Officer Anat Ashkenazi.

Despite its increasingly aggressive spending on AI infrastructure over the last few years, Alphabet has stated that it doesn't plan on slowing down anytime soon. This should be music to Nvidia's ears.

GOOGL Capital Expenditures (TTM) data by YCharts.

Why is this good for Nvidia?

Management consulting juggernaut McKinsey & Company is forecasting that AI infrastructure spending could reach $6.7 trillion by 2030. And its research suggests that almost half of that money will be allocated toward AI hardware for further data center construction.

In addition, research from Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan indicates that generative AI could add between $7 trillion and $10 trillion to global gross domestic product in the long run.

From a macroeconomic perspective, these secular trends bode well for Nvidia's compute and networking empire. Moreover, I think that Alphabet's decision to bump up its AI infrastructure spending again adds some credibility to those industry forecasts.

Alphabet's management specified that it is raising its planned capex in order to accelerate the construction of data centers and position itself to fill the rising demand for capacity on the Google Cloud Platform.

Increased spending on network equipment, servers, and cloud infrastructure should lead to rising demand for graphics processing units (GPUs). I see this as a major positive development as Nvidia is still scaling up production of chips made using its latest Blackwell architecture.

Considering Nvidia holds an estimated 90% share of the data center GPU market, I see Alphabet's investments in AI infrastructure as a major tailwind for the chip king and further propels the company's momentum over competition in the chip space.

Is Nvidia stock a buy right now?

With a market cap north of $4.2 trillion, Nvidia is currently the most valuable company in the world. While this might lead one to assume that the stock is expensive, its underlying valuation trends tell a different story.

NVDA PE Ratio (Forward) data by YCharts

Nvidia currently trades at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple of 40. While this isn't "cheap" by traditional benchmarks, it is notably lower than the peak levels Nvidia has witnessed during the AI revolution.

What makes these dynamics interesting is that Nvidia's growth trajectory is arguably far stronger today than it was 18 months ago when its forward P/E valuation peaked. The company remains at the center of the AI revolution, providing massive amounts of fast parallel-processing power to hyperscalers and accelerating AI workloads.

To me, buying Nvidia stock at its current price is a no-brainer, and I see Alphabet's rising AI infrastructure spending as a long-term catalyst that should not be overlooked by growth investors.

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

Before you buy stock in Nvidia, 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 Nvidia 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 $636,628!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,063,471!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 1,041% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 183% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.

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*Stock Advisor returns as of July 21, 2025

JPMorgan Chase is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Adam Spatacco has positions in Alphabet and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Goldman Sachs Group, JPMorgan Chase, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Key Points

• Quantum computing stocks have been on a tear this year, despite the technology's nascent scale and still speculative nature.

• Unlike the broader artificial intelligence (AI) theme, many popular quantum computing stocks are small companies with limited traction.

• While it can be tempting to follow the momentum, several quantum computing stocks boast valuation multiples that echo those seen during prior stock market bubbles.

• 10 stocks we like better than IonQ ›

This year has been tough for investors, particularly those who flock toward growth stocks. Just about every major industry has been impacted in some form or fashion by President Donald Trump's new tariff policies.

While the broader implications of these import taxes are still unfolding, one sector that has faced abnormally large headwinds is technology. For the first time in nearly three years, investing in the artificial intelligence (AI) market hasn't necessarily resulted in outsized gains.

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Nevertheless, one pocket of the AI realm that has managed to circumvent the panic-selling this year is quantum computing. As of this writing (July 17), the Defiance Quantum ETF has gained 17% so far this year -- roughly double the returns seen in the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite.

With quantum computing stocks trouncing the broader market, now may be an appropriate time to assess valuations in the sector and compare them to prior periods of heightened enthusiasm.

What is a stock market bubble, and what are some examples?

One of the most basic mistakes investors make is assessing a company's valuation based on its stock price. In other words, if the stock price is low, an investor might mistakenly view the company as "cheap" (and vice versa).

Smart investors understand that there are far more parameters than the share price that help determine a company's valuation. Underlying financial metrics, such as revenue, gross margins, profitability, free cash flow, cash, and debt, should all play a factor in assessing the health of a business.

From there, more sophisticated analysis requires investors to benchmark these figures and their growth rates against a set of peers to get a better sense of how the business in question compares to the broader competitive landscape.

Many investors do not take the time to perform the due diligence exercise above and instead choose to follow broader momentum. Unfortunately, this can lead to abnormally inflated stock prices -- those that are incongruent with the underlying fundamentals of the business.

Generally speaking, reality begins to set in and these companies are unable to sustain their overstretched valuations, eventually leading to harsh, dramatic sell-offs. This phenomenon is known as a stock market bubble.

In the charts below, I've illustrated some valuation trends across two notable stock market bubbles.

AMZN PS Ratio data by YCharts. PS Ratio = price-to-sales ratio.

The chart above illustrates the price-to-sales (P/S) ratios for a number of high-flying internet stocks during the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s. As the trends above make clear, each of the companies in the peer set above trades at much more normalized valuation multiples today when compared to their peaks during the internet boom.

ZM PS Ratio data by YCharts. PS Ratio = price-to-sales ratio.

Investors witnessed a similar theme in overstretched valuations during the peak days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Companies such as Zoom Communications, Wayfair, and Peloton witnessed abnormal demand for their respective product offerings as remote work became the norm.

As the trends seen above demonstrate, however, these growth tailwinds were not permanent. Today, none of these COVID stocks are seen as compelling growth opportunities, and their cratering valuations are a sobering reminder of the aftermath of bubbles bursting.

How do quantum computing stocks compare to the valuations above?

Over the last year, IonQ (NYSE: IONQ), Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ: RGTI), D-Wave Quantum (NYSE: QBTS), and Quantum Computing (NASDAQ: QUBT) have emerged as popular names fueling the quantum computing movement.

IONQ PS Ratio data by YCharts. PS Ratio = price-to-sales ratio.

With a P/S multiple of over 5,700, the tiny Quantum Computing business is the clear outlier in the quantum computing cohort illustrated above. Even so, Rigetti, IonQ, and D-Wave each boast P/S ratios that are either considerably higher or in line with the darlings of the dot-com and COVID bubbles.

Are we in a quantum computing stock bubble?

The quantum computing stocks referenced above are highly speculative -- arguably even more so than the highfliers during the internet era. Unlike then, today's technology behemoths, such as Amazon, Microsoft, eBay, and Cisco, have evolved into sophisticated platform businesses with diversified ecosystems.

This provides them with the scale and financial flexibility to explore emerging fields such as quantum computing. Smaller players, such as IonQ, Rigetti, D-Wave, and Quantum Computing, currently face intense competition from big tech -- something the dot-com businesses did not.

Given the valuation analyses explored above, many popular quantum computing stocks are clearly trading at abnormally high and historically unsustainable valuation levels. For these reasons, I think companies such as IonQ, Rigetti, D-Wave, and Quantum Computing have entered bubble territory.

With that said, many big tech companies in the "Magnificent Seven" are exploring quantum applications as well. Many of these companies trade for much more reasonable valuations. While I am not convinced the broader quantum computing opportunity is necessarily in a bubble, I believe investors need to be cautious and thoughtful when selecting which quantum computing stocks to invest in.

And the best choices will rarely be high-flying specialists with big dreams and small revenue streams.

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

Before you buy stock in IonQ, consider this:

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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. Adam Spatacco has positions in Amazon and Microsoft. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Cisco Systems, Microsoft, Peloton Interactive, VeriSign, Zoom Communications, and eBay. The Motley Fool recommends Wayfair 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

• Ackman holds Alphabet stock and cites the AI trend as a major catalyst for its search and cloud businesses.

• Laffont questions how dominant Google Search will still be in the face of competition from generative AI.

• Alphabet is leveraging OpenAI as a strategic partner, potentially mitigating the risks that concern Laffont.

• 10 stocks we like better than Alphabet ›

Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman's approach to portfolio management is rather simple. The founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management keeps its portfolio concentrated in a small number of large-cap stocks that he buys when they are arguably trading below their intrinsic values.

Coatue Management founder Philippe Laffont has a different philosophy. Coatue's portfolio boasts a number of high-growth stocks that appear poised to dominate emerging trends.

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One company that Ackman and Laffont seem to have different views on is "Magnificent Seven" member Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NASDAQ: GOOG).

Let's start by exploring what drives Ackman's conviction in the megacap artificial intelligence (AI) stock. From there, I'll detail a major risk factor that Laffont recently called out for the stock. Lastly, I'll provide my own breakdown of Alphabet and whether or not the stock could be worth a look right now.

Why does Bill Ackman like Alphabet?

Pershing Square's position in Google parent Alphabet makes up about 14% of the value of its portfolio, based on the fund's most recent 13F filing. In its latest annual investor presentation, the firm identified Alphabet as an "underappreciated" opportunity in the AI landscape.

It went on to highlight new opportunities in digital advertising and cloud computing as catalysts for Alphabet that could drive accelerated revenue growth and profit margin expansion.

For example, Google's search responses now highlight AI-crafted summaries. So far, this feature has shown some encouraging metrics such as higher user engagement trends among those who use the summaries. This puts Google in an advantageous position when it comes to enticing advertisers to its platform.

In addition, Alphabet's cloud computing business has made meaningful investments in cybersecurity tools over the last few years. The integration of AI-powered cybersecurity services into the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is a major differentiator from peers such as Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS). Moreover, it also opens the door to another enormous addressable market and provides Alphabet with more direct ways to compete with the likes of CrowdStrike and other leading cybersecurity players.

GOOGL Net Income (TTM) data by YCharts.

Over the past year, Alphabet generated more net income than its closest cloud infrastructure peers. Yet it's trading at a forward-price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple of just 18.4 -- roughly half the ratios of Amazon and Microsoft. Given Alphabet's discounted valuation and the potential value to be gained from integrating AI and cybersecurity across its vast ecosystem, I can see why the company earned a position in Pershing Square's portfolio.

Laffont just called out a major risk factor for Alphabet investors

During a recent panel discussion on CNBC's Squawk Box, Laffont detailed his thoughts on Alphabet. The billionaire was bullish on some of its businesses, such as video platform YouTube and autonomous driving company Waymo. However, Laffont expressed concern over the outlook for Google Search. He believes that the rise of OpenAI could pose a threat to Google's search business.

Is Alphabet stock a buy right now?

I completely understand Laffont's stance, and I would go as far as to say that his opinion is rooted in reality. Some search trends have already been indicating that Google is losing some of its momentum, likely due to the rise of OpenAI and competing large language models (LLMs).

With that said, I'd like to call out an interesting development between Alphabet and OpenAI. The two companies recently formed a strategic partnership under which OpenAI will leverage Google Cloud's network.

As Ackman's thesis shows, Alphabet has some creative ways to grow its budding cloud infrastructure business relative to the competition. Considering OpenAI's closest ally throughout the AI revolution has been Microsoft, I see the expansion of its relationship with Google Cloud as an incredibly savvy deal and potentially lucrative opportunity for Alphabet.

Furthermore, if OpenAI does begin to meaningfully take business from Google Search, then Alphabet appears to have identified a new way to offset that headwind while monetizing the very company that potentially threatens it.

Although I understand Laffont's view, I think the bearish sentiment surrounding Alphabet is more academic than reality. Moreover, I think the potential downside is baked into Alphabet's stock at this point, considering the steep discount and wide disparity in valuation multiples it trades at relative to its near peers (despite being the most profitable of the three).

I see Alphabet stock as a dirt-cheap, no-brainer opportunity right now.

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

Before you buy stock in Alphabet, consider this:

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

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $694,758!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $998,376!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 1,058% — 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.

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*Stock Advisor returns as of July 7, 2025

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

Key Points

• Microsoft and Amazon were early investors in AI, plowing tens of billions into upstart companies.

• No doubt, OpenAI and Anthropic have helped spur new growth for Microsoft and Amazon.

• Yet, Meta's decision to branch out beyond internally built AI systems and products looks savvy.

• These 10 stocks could mint the next wave of millionaires ›

Big tech has not been shy about opening the pocketbook for artificial intelligence (AI)-related investments over the last few years. While the billion-dollar price tags are what made headlines, the real value of these investments came with their strategic intent. Many of these deals involved alliances with big tech leaders, who swiftly integrated a host of new AI-powered products and services into their legacy ecosystems.

Until recently, Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) took a different approach. It chose to allocate its capital expenditure (capex) budget to custom silicon chips, developing new wearable tech, and building its own large language model (LLM). However, following its massive $14.3 billion bet on start-up Scale AI, it's fair to wonder if Meta's approach to building an AI empire is too little, too late.

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Let's explore some of the more notable AI deals that big tech has made in recent years. From there, I'll detail the underlying thesis behind Meta's interest in Scale AI, and why the timing of this deal is so important.

Is Meta late to the AI party?

Microsoft was the first major tech company to make a mark in the AI landscape. In early 2023, the company structured a multi-year investment worth $10 billion in ChatGPT developer OpenAI. The strategic rationale behind this deal was to integrate OpenAI's services into Microsoft's Azure cloud platform.

Amazon followed in Microsoft's footsteps. Amazon initially invested $4 billion into creating an OpenAI competitor, a start-up called Anthropic. Similar to Microsoft's integration of ChatGPT into the Azure ecosystem, the partnership with Anthropic has so far revolved around leading cloud platform Amazon Web Services (AWS). Amazon has now invested a total of $8 billion into Anthropic since the initial investment a couple of years ago.

How have these deals panned out so far?

It's one thing to outlay significant capital toward new assets. But how beneficial have these deals been for big tech so far? Per Microsoft's most recent earnings report, revenue from Azure and other cloud services grew by 33% year over year. Management pointed out that 16 points of this growth (roughly half) were attributable to AI services.

Meanwhile, since Amazon's investment in Anthropic in September 2023, AWS has grown its annual revenue run rate by 27% while expanding operating income margins by roughly 9 percentage points.

While this growth is impressive, there are some subtle nuances that investors should be aware of as well. First, OpenAI recently signed a new cloud deal with Alphabet. OpenAI has also been working closely with Oracle on Project Stargate, a $500 billion AI infrastructure initiative.

These new relationships could suggest that OpenAI is looking for strategic opportunities beyond its existing relationship with Microsoft. For that reason, it's hard to project how accretive Microsoft's investment in OpenAI will be going forward.

On top of that, the Anthropic and OpenAI deals primarily revolve around cloud computing services. While this is a critical component of the AI narrative, it's not entirely related to or competitive with Meta -- which mostly seeks to monetize consumer engagement through social media, gaming, and the metaverse.

Meta is scaling for the future, and its timing looks pretty smart

Then there's Meta Platforms' deal with Scale AI. One of the pillars supporting this deal was that it helped pave the way for a new component of the company's ecosystem, known as Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL). Scale AI CEO Alexander Wang now leads MSL as Chief AI Officer. In addition to the Scale AI team, Meta has hired a number of technologists and researchers from OpenAI, GitHub, Anthropic, and Alphabet to build the MSL team.

Meta's largest source of revenue and profits stems from its advertising empire. With billions of people engaging with its apps on a daily basis, advertisers are eager to get in front of Meta's users.

However, Meta's advertising model relies on predictive analytics around which ads users actually click on. This data is used to train recommendation models in order to feed ads that will actually convert to clicks and sales from its users. Scale AI is a data labeling platform that can be used to augment and fine-tune Meta's existing ad targeting techniques.

Although Microsoft and Amazon have been able to jump-start their respective cloud operations thanks to their aggressive and early moves in the AI start-up landscape, I think Meta may have been more calculated in the development of its own roadmap.

In my eyes, Microsoft could face rising competition from Oracle and Alphabet in the cloud arena. Meanwhile, investors will likely want to see how Amazon plans to integrate AI beyond AWS to source further growth from its other businesses.

With Scale AI and a host of new hires now closely aligned across Meta's various applications and services, I think the company is uniquely positioned to bolster its existing AI platforms while others in the big tech landscape now face rising competition and may need to pivot.

While it may have looked like Meta's big tech peers were sprinting right by, I think the company's recent investments and creation of its new AI research lab were perfectly timed.

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

Key Points

• Archer manufactures electric air taxis that it plans to sell to cities, commercial airlines, and the U.S. military.

• Morgan Stanley estimates that Archer is operating in a market that could be worth $9 trillion in the long run.

• While Archer's potential is exciting, the young company's valuation requires a thoughtful look right now.

• 10 stocks we like better than Archer Aviation ›

When it comes to the electric vehicle (EV) market, most investors probably don't look past companies such as Tesla or Rivian Automotive. While both of these companies have built strong brands in the car landscape, there are other opportunities beginning to emerge within the broader EV realm.

One of the more popular areas includes electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircrafts, such as those built by Archer Aviation (NYSE: ACHR). Archer is looking to disrupt the aviation industry through its futuristic electric air taxis. From offering a new form of mobility in densely populated environments such as cities to introducing new stealth aircraft for the military, Archer has no shortage of interesting use cases. Among its fans is popular tech investor Cathie Wood.

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With shares trading for about $10 as of July 7, is now a good time for investors to invest in Archer? Read on to find out.

Archer Aviation is an exciting company with a lot of potential, but...

Investment bank Morgan Stanley recently published a report in which research analysts estimated the size of what the organization calls the "low altitude market." By 2050, Morgan Stanley is forecasting the total addressable market (TAM) for low altitude aircraft to be around $9 trillion.

While Morgan Stanley's research includes other types of aircraft besides eVTOLs (i.e., drones) in its report, it is encouraging to see Archer's primary opportunity in air mobility is so large. When you explore Archer's potential to disrupt traditional modes of transportation while bringing much-needed innovation to the aviation industry, it's not surprising to learn that companies such as United Airlines and Stellantis have been eager to partner with the company.

On top of that, Archer's recent partnership with Palantir Technologies also suggests the company is exploring how software and artificial intelligence (AI) can play a role in the company's new aviation system.

With an order book worth roughly $6 billion, institutional investor support, partnerships with leading vehicle and aviation businesses, and use cases spanning commercial aviation as well as defense contracting, Archer might look like a no-brainer investment opportunity.

...smart investors understand reality versus narrative

For now, Archer remains a pre-revenue business. In other words, the company's partnerships and growing order book haven't exactly led to tangible sales coming through the door just yet.

ACHR Cash and Equivalents (Quarterly) data by YCharts

While the chart above might imply that Archer's cash balance is strong, the company's rising research and development (R&D) costs and ongoing burn rate could quickly diminish its liquidity position. Despite this financial profile, Archer boasts a market capitalization of $5.4 billion. To me, that valuation reflects an exciting hype narrative as opposed to concrete fundamentals.

Is Archer Aviation stock a buy right now?

Although Archer stock may look "cheap" at $10 per share, the company's multibillion-dollar valuation seems overstretched considering there aren't any sales to back it up yet. In reality, Archer could be seen as analogous to a late-stage venture capital (VC) type of investment. The payoff could be enormous, but the risk profile is equal (if not larger) in size.

Another layer that could complicate the company's commercialization efforts revolves around regulatory approvals from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). In my view, there are too many uncertainties around Archer right now. While I am hopeful that the company has the potential to disrupt the aviation world, I think investing in Archer stock right now is too speculative.

It could be years before the company reaches critical scale and the stock price really takes flight. For these reasons, I would encourage investors to monitor Archer's progress but remain on the sidelines when it comes to buying the stock right now.

Should you invest $1,000 in Archer Aviation right now?

Before you buy stock in Archer Aviation, consider this:

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Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $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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Adam Spatacco has positions in Palantir Technologies and Tesla. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Palantir Technologies and Tesla. The Motley Fool recommends Stellantis. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Key Points

• Ark Invest has been adding several chip stocks to its portfolio in recent months.

• Advanced Micro Devices and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing now make up sizable positions for Ark.

• Both companies are compelling opportunities for any AI investor right now.

As CEO and chief investment officer of Ark Invest, Cathie Wood might be best known for her high conviction in speculative opportunities across industries such as genomics and cryptocurrency.

When it comes artificial intelligence (AI), many of Ark's biggest positions are in volatile stocks such as Tesla and Palantir Technologies. Over the last couple of months, however, Wood has quietly been rounding out her exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with semiconductor stocks.

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Let's explore two AI chip stocks that have recently become rising stars in the Ark portfolio. Is now the time to follow Wood's moves? Read on to find out.

1. Advanced Micro Devices

While Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) has been part of Ark's portfolio for quite some time, the investment firm began aggressively adding to its position throughout late April and most of May.

According to public trading data, Ark added approximately 800,000 shares of AMD between June 17 and 30. The position is spread across the Ark Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF, Ark Next Generation Internet ETF, Ark Fintech Innovation ETF, and Ark Innovation ETF. As of this writing, AMD has now become the 11th biggest position for Ark Invest overall.

In fairness, AMD's rise at Ark has been influenced by some pronounced share price gains in recent weeks too. Since Ark began adding to its AMD position in late April, shares have gained roughly 61%.

In my eyes, AMD's recent gains can be tied to the company's accelerating data center business as well as bullish anticipation for its new AI accelerators during the second half of this year.

Data by YCharts.

Nevertheless, even with such a massive move in the share price, AMD trades for roughly 36 times forward earnings. Although this isn't exactly cheap, shares of AMD are well within their usual valuation range.

My hunch is that AMD is still being discounted by some investors, primarily due to the enormous competitive threat the company faces from Nvidia.

Considering how much momentum is fueling AMD stock right now, I think I'd sit on the sidelines for the time being. To me, the company's long-term prospects are somewhat ambiguous so long as Nvidia remains king of the chip industry. While there is likely still good money to be made in AMD stock, there are more reasonable price points to build a position.

2. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing

Ark complemented its AMD purchases with some exposure to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE: TSM) back in May. The firm doubled down on this decision by adding over 190,000 shares of TSMC throughout June.

I see TSMC as the most interesting opportunity within the broader chip landscape. Unlike Nvidia, AMD, Broadcom, or the cloud hyperscalers, TSMC doesn't specialize in designing its own chipsets. Rather, the company offers industry-leading fabrication services that bring semiconductor designs to life.

This puts TSMC in a unique position as the company stands to benefit from rising spend in AI infrastructure over the coming years, regardless of which specific chipsets are witnessing the most demand.

Looked at another way, investors in TSMC need not overanalyze which chip company will sell the most graphics processing units (GPUs). Rather, an investment in TSMC could be viewed similarly to a call option on ongoing investment in data center infrastructure and AI chips for the long term.

Data by YCharts.

While TSMC has witnessed some notable valuation expansion throughout the AI revolution, the company's forward price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple of 25 is still reasonable. Unlike AMD, I do not think rising competition is what concerns investors over a position in TSMC, though.

Rather, it's geopolitical tensions with China that give way to uncertainty over TSMC's growth prospects. Given the company's ongoing investments in geographic expansion, though, I think the concerns over China are exaggerated and likely baked into the stock at this point.

As I wrote a few weeks ago, TSMC might be the best bargain in the AI market right now. Compelling secular tailwinds, combined with an industry-leading position in the fabrication market, strong institutional backing, and a reasonable valuation, make TSMC a no-brainer for long-term investors.

Should you invest $1,000 in Advanced Micro Devices right now?

Before you buy stock in Advanced Micro Devices, 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 Advanced Micro Devices 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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Adam Spatacco has positions in Nvidia, Palantir Technologies, and Tesla. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Nvidia, Palantir Technologies, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, and Tesla. The Motley Fool recommends Broadcom. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Key Points

• Waymo and Tesla are investing heavily into autonomous driving technology.

• The companies have different approaches in building their self-driving cars, but Waymo may have just unintentionally endorsed its rival.

• While Tesla's approach to autonomous driving seems valid, the company has a long way to go before it catches the competition.

Autonomous driving is emerging as one of the most exciting opportunities in the artificial intelligence (AI) landscape. Developing self-driving vehicles stitches together semiconductors, software development, and robotics. Hence, there are several different ways to invest in the technology.

For now, the most mainstream opportunities in the autonomous vehicle market seem to be through Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) and Alphabet, which owns self-driving car business Waymo. What most investors likely overlook is that Waymo and Tesla have approached building fleets of self-driving cars through different lenses.

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While Waymo has a first-mover advantage in scaling self-driving taxi fleets, some findings from the company's recent academic research paper titled "Scaling Laws of Motion Forecasting and Planning" could suggest that Tesla may have a technological edge.

Let's explore Waymo's progress so far and assess why Tesla could be the superior autonomous driving opportunity in the long run.

Waymo beat Tesla to the punch

According to Alphabet's first-quarter earnings report, Waymo completes more than a quarter of a million paid rides on a weekly basis. Not only is this a fivefold increase compared to last year, but Waymo's serviceable markets are still quite limited. For now, Waymo primarily operates in Austin, Texas, and has planned expansions in Washington, D.C., and Miami over the next year.

By contrast, Tesla just launched its long-anticipated robotaxi service in Austin a couple of weeks ago. Considering Waymo's successful early adoption rates, investors may be wondering how Tesla plans to close the gap against competitive forces.

Did Waymo just quietly admit Tesla has an edge?

There are several differences between how Waymo and Tesla have approached building self-driving car fleets. From a technical standpoint, the two companies have opposing views on variables such as mapping, sensors, and developing the compute power needed to train and hone AI models.

Waymo's approach is grounded in simulating real-world environments and driving behaviors. By contrast, Tesla's general approach has been to use a data-heavy feedback loop from its actual drivers.

Tesla vehicles are constantly collecting loads of sample data from drivers such as speed and braking patterns or interventions. Subsequently, Tesla trains and iterates its models on this large and expanding data set to improve its autonomous driving software platform and budding robotaxi fleet. Tesla collected more than 3.5 billion miles' worth of driver data from its Full Self-Driving (FSD) software platform.

In Waymo's research report, the company suggests that "collecting more data" could be advantageous when building and scaling autonomous vehicle platforms. Waymo goes on to say that "every 10 observed miles are equivalent to 2 to 3 demonstrated miles."

To me, these statements seem to suggest that building a sophisticated model alone is not enough to perfect autonomous vehicle software. Rather, collecting data at scale is a critical part of the equation. Furthermore, it appears that Waymo is saying that using large volumes of real driver behavior (i.e., non-autonomous vehicle platforms) is important for training these models over time.

In essence, Waymo's study seems to endorse many of the pillars supporting Tesla's approach to developing self-driving cars -- learning from actual driver behaviors, collecting billions of various data points, and ultimately iterating and scaling the technology based on these takeaways.

Is Tesla stock a buy right now?

At the moment, Tesla stock appears to be pricing in a lot of upside from the robotaxi launch. I wouldn't chase momentum at these valuation levels, per se. Tesla stock often trades on narratives, which smart investors know can change quickly.

As a long-term investor, I encourage readers to think about the bigger picture here. Self-driving cars are still a new, evolving technology and I do not personally think there is a single correct way to build and scale these platforms.

Candidly, I don't see Waymo's study as some sort of veiled admission that Tesla's approach to autonomous driving is right and theirs is wrong. I simply think Waymo's takeaways subtly imply that Tesla's technological approach has some merit.

What will determine who wins the autonomous driving opportunity will boil down to which company can acquire more customers, expand to new markets, strategically partner with existing ridehailing applications, and scale its fleets more rapidly and profitably. For these reasons, I do not think Tesla necessarily has Waymo is a checkmate position -- at least not yet.

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• Nvidia: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2009, you’d have $397,573!*
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Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Adam Spatacco has positions in Alphabet and Tesla. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet and Tesla. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Since OpenAI released ChatGPT to the world on Nov. 30, 2022, shares of semiconductor powerhouse Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) have risen by 818% (as of June 26). To put that another way, over the last two and a half years, Nvidia's market capitalization went from $345 billion to $3.8 trillion. making it the largest company in the world as measured by market cap.

Some investors are already thinking about who the next breakout candidate in the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution will be, with signs pointing to another chip stock -- perhaps Advanced Micro Devices? What about Broadcom or Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing? While each of these companies stands to benefit from rising AI infrastructure spend over the next several years, I see another business that is better positioned as "the next Nvidia."

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You see, Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) has been investing in AI over the last couple of years, and the technologies it's developing could transform Meta's social media empire and position the stock for superior gains over the competition.

How can AI transform Meta's ecosystem?

Meta operates across two core segments: advertising and Reality Labs.

Reality Labs represents Meta's metaverse ambitions, which include virtual reality interactions, gaming, and consumer wearables. While Reality Labs stands to benefit from AI, this segment of the company remains unprofitable and is more of a longer-term vision to turn Meta into something beyond just a social media platform.

The main source of revenue and profits for Meta comes from advertising -- specifically, ads that appear across the company's social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. It's this area of the business that is ripe for disruption thanks to the power of AI.

If you have ever scrolled on any of Meta's social media apps, chances are that you've been bombarded with a series of advertisements. However, how many of those ads actually appealed to you?

As sophisticated as Meta's user algorithms have been in the past, my hunch is that you still receive postings or notifications for content, goods, and services that aren't of high interest to you. By leveraging AI, however, Meta can improve its data workloads as it relates to user engagement and consumer behaviors. As a result, the company can improve its predictive analytics to better position more relevant and customized listings for its users.

In turn, advertisers, which can be somewhat unpredictable and exhibit cyclical budgeting strategies, will be more inclined to allocate funds across Meta's various platforms. By keeping advertisers sticky to the ecosystem, Meta has an opportunity to employ pricing power over the competition and accelerate its revenue growth. At the same time, improving ad feeds for its users can also help Meta from a cost structure perspective -- as the unit economics on clicks and customer acquisition should become lower over time.

The combination of accelerating revenue and lower costs could result in meaningful profit margin expansion for Meta in the long run.

What could this mean for Meta's valuation?

Since ChatGPT's release, the share prices of Meta have gained more than 500%. I bring this up to make it clear that Meta has also benefited from the bullish AI trade over the last couple of years.

Data by YCharts.

However, except for a notable spike during the first half of 2023, Meta's price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple has remained fairly consistent over the last 18 months or so.

These dynamics suggest a couple of ideas. First, the relative normalization in Meta's P/E could imply that investors think the company's earnings profile is maturing. In addition, while a P/E of 28 isn't exactly dirt cheap, this valuation is clearly a steep discount based on prior levels.

Meta is positioning itself for a meaningful boost in profitability as AI becomes more integrated throughout its ecosystem. For this reason, Meta's valuation multiples could expand in the coming years as the company's "Nvidia moment" comes into focus. That suggests the company has meaningful upside from current levels.

Is Meta stock a buy right now?

I think Meta is a no-brainer when it comes to megacap AI stocks. The valuation analysis explored above suggests that Meta stock still trades at a reasonable price point despite an already generous return throughout the AI revolution. Moreover, I think the company is still in the early stages of its AI development, and investors have yet to see the full potential these investments could yield for Meta in the long run.

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 $409,114!*
• Apple: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2008, you’d have $38,173!*
• Netflix: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2004, you’d have $713,547!*

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

See the 3 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of June 23, 2025

Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Adam Spatacco has positions in Meta Platforms and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Meta Platforms, Nvidia, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. The Motley Fool recommends Broadcom. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.