• Israeli Air Force planes struck Iranian military targets and nuclear facilities on Thursday.
• Israel's F-35I stealth fighter jets participated in the strikes targeting Iran's nuclear program.
• The planes also aided defenses against Iranian missiles in 2023 and 2024.

Israel launched a preemptive strike against Iran's nuclear program on Thursday with its fleet of F-35I stealth fighter jets on the front lines.

The Israeli variant of the US-made Lockheed Martin Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter plane is known as "Adir," meaning "Mighty One" in Hebrew. With advanced stealth capabilities and a customized electronic warfare system, the F-35I is one of the most powerful tools in Israel's air defense arsenal.

In addition to Israel's assault on Iran, the Israeli planes also took down a missile fired by an Iran-backed group in Yemen in 2023 and intercepted hundreds of drones, missiles, and rockets fired by Iran in a retaliatory attack in 2024, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Here's a closer look at the "Mighty One" military aircraft.

F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter jets, produced by Lockheed Martin, are some of the most advanced military aircraft in the world.

The F-35 stores its weapons and fuel internally, and its aligned edges and radar-absorbent coating also help the aircraft evade detection. The planes cost $44,000 per hour to fly, The National Interest reported in January.

They feature advanced stealth and information-processing capabilities and can reach supersonic speeds of Mach 1.6, or 548.8 meters per second.

Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn A. Hewson said in 2018 that the planes "can fly in what we call 'beast mode,' carrying up to 18,000 pounds of internal and external ordnance, in a mix that can include 5,000-pound-class weapons."

In 2016, Israel became the first country other than the US to acquire F-35 fighter jets.

Israel was the first country to select the model through the US Foreign Military Sales process and bought 50 planes, according to Lockheed Martin.

Israel has made significant modifications to the jets.

Israel manufactures its own wings and electronic warfare system for the F-35I. It also developed its own version of the high-tech helmet that displays the plane's airspeed, altitude, targeting information, and other crucial stats directly on the pilot's visor.

The Israeli Air Force named its F-35I variant "Adir," meaning "Mighty One" in Hebrew.

The Israeli Air Force also added a six-pointed Star of David to the design, a Jewish symbol that also appears on the Israeli flag.

In 2018, Israel became the first country to use the F-35I in combat, its air force chief said.

"We are flying the F-35 all over the Middle East and have already attacked twice on two different fronts," then-Israeli Air Force chief Major-General Amikam Norkin said in a speech at a gathering of foreign air force leaders, Reuters reported.

In July 2023, Israel acquired an additional 25 Adir planes in a $3 billion deal.

The deal was financed through the military aid Israel receives from the US, Reuters reported.

In November 2023, Israel's F-35I Adir fighter jets took down a missile fired by an Iran-backed group in Yemen, according to the IDF.

It was the first known intercept of a cruise missile by an F-35 plane.

The Israeli Air Force released footage of the encounter on X, writing in Hebrew that its personnel are "preoccupied at every moment with planning and managing the defense response and are prepared for any threat in any area."

Iran appeared to target the Nevatim air base, which houses Israel's fleet of F-35I jets, during an attack in April 2024.

Out of the over 350 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and UAVs, or unmanned aerial vehicles, launched at Israel by Iran and its proxies in Iraq, Yemen, and Lebanon, around 99% were intercepted by Israel and its allies. The IDF released photos showing minor damage near a runway at the Nevatim Airbase and to a road in Hermon caused by the few projectiles that landed.

The missiles appeared to target Israel's Nevatim Airbase in the Negev desert, which houses its fleet of F-35I stealth fighter jets. The base remained operational throughout the attack, according to the IDF, with the Adir fighter jets aiding the defensive mission.

"Iran thought it would be able to paralyze the base and thus damage our air capabilities, but it failed," IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a statement.

On Thursday, the Israeli Air Force launched over 200 fighter jets, including F-35I planes, in a preemptive strike targeting Iran's nuclear program.

An IDF spokesperson said that Israeli fighter jets struck over 100 sites across Iran on Thursday to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon, including military targets and its largest uranium enrichment site in Natanz.

The IDF said that Iran's nuclear program has "accelerated significantly" in recent months and called it "clear evidence that the Iranian regime is operating to obtain a nuclear weapon." Iran maintains that its nuclear program is solely for civilian purposes.

"This is a critical operation to prevent an existential threat by an enemy who is intent on destroying us," Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the IDF's Chief of the General Staff, said in a statement.

The IDF released photos showing planes used in the large-scale operation, including F-35I jets.

Iran launched a retaliatory attack with over 100 drones on Friday morning, which were mostly intercepted by Israeli forces, the IDF said.

The ongoing war in Gaza has prompted new scrutiny of US military aid to Israel.

The October 7 terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas killed around 1,200 Israelis and captured over 240. Around 53 hostages remain in Gaza, though it is unknown how many are still alive.

Israel's counteroffensive airstrikes and military actions in Gaza have resulted in over 55,000 Palestinian fatalities, according to figures provided to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs by the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza. The IDF reports that 17,000 of these fatalities were Hamas militants.

According to the United Nationals Relief and Works Agency, over 1.9 million Gazans, around 90% of the population, have been displaced by the war.

The devastating human toll of the war in Gaza with US-funded planes like the F-35I has prompted new scrutiny of US aid to Israel, with some lawmakers in Congress raising the possibility of conditioning military and economic aid.

Like a well-hit golf ball sailing through the air toward its destination, Topgolf Callaway Brands (NYSE: MODG) stock was vaulting higher in price this week.

According to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence the sporting goods company's shares were up by nearly 23% in price week to date as of early Friday morning, thanks in no small part to a series of insider stock buys. The announcement of a new Topgolf facility also helped lift investor sentiment.

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Big insider buys

While no investor should ever buy or sell a company's shares purely on the basis of insider transactions, often they signal confidence by a person familiar with the business.

Image source: Getty Images.

This was the dynamic with Adebayo Ogunlesi, a member of Topgolf Callaway's board of directors. After divulging last Friday in a regulatory filing that he had bought 383,701 shares of the company via open-market purchases last week, he made a subsequent disclosure detailing more buys. A filing submitted this past Tuesday itemized three additional purchases totaling 461,583 shares.

Such filings detail only the facts and figures of insider transactions, but do not provide any reasons for such moves -- and Ogunlesi has not publicly commented on his purchases. A veteran of the financial services industry, he might consider the stock a fine play in advance of the company's upcoming spinoff of more than 80% of the Topgolf business.

New Florida facility

Ogunlesi might also be simply buying into Topgolf Callaway's expansion. On Thursday it announced that it will open its newest Topgolf facility in Florida -- marking the 10th one in the state. However this will be the first Topgolf to be located on the Emerald Coast, a stretch of land in the state's panhandle fronting the Gulf. It's slated to open on Friday, June 27.

While the director's moves are certainly bringing attention to the stock, they shouldn't distract from the always-important fundamentals of the company. Personally I don't feel golf offers much of a growth opportunity, no matter how well conceived and appealing those Topgolf outlets may be.

Should you invest $1,000 in Topgolf Callaway Brands right now?

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Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Topgolf Callaway Brands. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

The Polkadot (CRYPTO: DOT) cryptocurrency is going through some pretty exciting changes these days. The Web3 Foundation's official crypto coin is becoming a distributed supercomputer, ready to provide a wide variety of apps and services. Yet, the coin price keeps falling.

Should you pick up a few Polkadot coins while they're available for less than $5 apiece? I think that's a good idea, and here's why.

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Polkadot's big internet ambitions

First things first. Polkadot was designed to support a Web3 future. The social networks and paywalls of the Web2 world were unstoppable over the last 20 years. These days, a lot of web users are getting tired of this aging structure, looking around for new ideas. The Web3 idea is one alternative, bringing more personal freedom and giving content creators more control over their creations. In this system, gigantic hubs of advertising and social media connections are replaced by decentralized services. And Polkadot's app-building ecosystem provides a handy platform to get all the Web3 ideas done in the real world.

It's still a futuristic ideology with just a handful of early success stories. But in the long run, Web3 apps could take over your online community connections, your day-to-day financial management processes, and your favorite channels for text, video, and audio infotainment. The tools won't even run in the centrally managed cloud you know and love today, but in a new global network of blockchain-based systems. When tweaked just right, the crypto world's smart contracts can run any kind of program and perform all sorts of services. And that's what Polkadot is doing, with the help of many other cryptocurrency systems.

Image source: Getty Images.

Meet JAM: The next big step in Polkadot's evolution

So far, Polkadot is mostly known for its ability to interact with other blockchain networks. This coin's smart contracts can tap into Bitcoin's (CRYPTO: BTC) monetary value storage, Ethereum's (CRYPTO: ETH) sophisticated contracts, and Chainlink's (CRYPTO: LINK) real-world data reports, just to name a few.

It's also known as a complicated and cumbersome system, but that's changing in 2025. Polkadot's central blockchain will soon be replaced by a more flexible and standards-based system known as JAM (the Joint-Accumulate Machine, if you're curious). This is actually a virtual machine in the blockchain universe. It can compile and run any code for bog-standard central processors, because it's a software-driven and full-featured RISC-V processor.

For example, Polkadot co-founder Gavin Wood has made it a habit to show off old-school computer games running on a test version of JAM. His personal laptop is good enough to make that work, but the full JAM upgrade will run on hundreds of server-class computers around the world. Imagine what this on-demand supercomputer can do for the Web3 vision.

Don't expect instant fireworks

JAM is coming up, probably in the second half of 2025. It won't cause an immediate frenzy in the Polkadot community, because it takes time for people to use new tools. Then the tools must create useful apps, which in turn need to find a target audience of actual users. So it's not a magic wand that will make Polkadot's developer community's dreams come true in a heartbeat, and it won't lift Polkadot's usage-based coin price right away.

But this is a much-needed step toward a true Web3 version of the online world. In the long run, I expect Web3 alternatives to disrupt the online experience as you know it today. Web2 leaders such as Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META), Spotify (NYSE: SPOT), and TikTok will either join the Web3 revolution or put up roadblocks instead. I can't wait to see how true innovators like Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) and Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) will find their place in the Web3 era.

Take it easy out there, Polkadot investors

I could be wrong, of course. Web2 may stick around for another decade or two, as the current leaders focus on protecting the old social media world. Other cryptocurrencies can also support Web3-worthy apps, though they'll need to overcome Polkadot's built-in advantages first.

So I'm not betting the proverbial farm on Polkadot coins. I simply recommend any investor who agrees with the Web3 project's ideas to pick up a few Polkadot coins while they're cheap.

This cryptocurrency is only worth $6.6 billion today, which is a far cry from the trillion-dollar titans you see ruling today's Web2 structure. The coin price could multiply by 10 or 100 and still look small next to Meta and Alphabet. In short, Polkadot can be a big long-term winner even if it never matches the Magnificent 7 group's trillion-dollar market caps. I think that's worth a modest position in your long-term crypto portfolio.

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

Before you buy stock in Polkadot, 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 Polkadot 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 $657,871!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $875,479!*

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Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Anders Bylund has positions in Alphabet, Bitcoin, Chainlink, Ethereum, Netflix, and Polkadot. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Bitcoin, Chainlink, Ethereum, Meta Platforms, Netflix, and Spotify Technology. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

We aren't even halfway through 2025, and already, it has been a roller-coaster year in the stock market. The major indexes incurred steep sell-offs, only to snap back like nothing happened.

Some investors may be looking for ways to take their feet off the gas by investing in stocks that distribute a portion of their profits to shareholders through dividends. Dividends are a great way to generate passive income, no matter what the stock market is doing. This can be a good approach for risk-averse investors, folks looking to preserve capital, or even investors who feel they have plenty of exposure to growth stocks and are looking to balance their portfolios.

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Here's why Devon Energy (NYSE: DVN), Brookfield Infrastructure (NYSE: BIP) (NYSE: BIPC), and Clorox (NYSE: CLX) stand out as three dividend stocks to buy in June.

Image source: Getty Images.

Devon Energy offers a sustainable dividend to energy investors

Lee Samaha (Devon Energy): Now, I know what you are thinking, and you have a point. How can an oil and gas exploration and production company be an ultra-reliable dividend stock? The answer lies in your degree of comfort with the price of oil.

To put matters into context, Devon Energy's management calculates that its "breakeven funding level" is $45 per barrel. In other words, that's the minimum price of oil the company needs to fund all its costs, operations, debt, and its fixed dividend.

Suppose you are comfortable with the implied assumption regarding the price of oil. In that case, you will be comfortable with the notion that Devon can sustain its current $0.96-per-share dividend, which translates to a dividend yield of more than 3%.

Moreover, based on the current price of oil of $63 per barrel, Devon could pay even more in dividends and/or continue buying back shares. Assuming a price of oil of $60 per barrel, management believes it will generate $2.6 billion in free cash flow (FCF) in 2025, a figure equivalent to 12.9% of its current market capitalization. In theory, that's what Devon's dividend yield could be if it used all its FCF to pay the dividend. All in all, Devon's dividend appears sustainable, barring a significant decline in oil prices.

Brookfield Infrastructure is a high-yield dividend stock that's on sale to start summer

Scott Levine (Brookfield Infrastructure): Building positions in trustworthy dividend stocks is a tried-and-true way for investors to fortify their portfolios. When reliable stocks like Brookfield Infrastructure -- along with its 5.2% forward-yielding dividend -- are available at a discount, therefore, investors would be wise to sit up and take notice. And that's exactly the opportunity that's now presented with shares of Brookfield Infrastructure trading at a discount to their historical valuation.

While investing in Brookfield Infrastructure doesn't offer a sizable growth opportunity like those artificial intelligence stocks or space stocks may offer, it does provide a conservative approach to procuring plentiful passive income. The company operates a massive portfolio of global infrastructure assets including (but not limited to) rail, data centers, and oil pipelines.

The allure of Brookfield Infrastructure for income investors is that the company generates ample funds from operations to cover its dividend payments.

BIP FFO Per Share (Annual) data by YCharts.

Over the past 15 years, the company has excelled at growing its funds from operations. From 2009 to 2024, Brookfield Infrastructure has increased its funds from operations at a 14% compound annual growth rate. While this doesn't guarantee the same results for the next 15 years, it's certainly an auspicious sign that should inspire confidence in management's ability to grow the business -- which is encouraging for those looking for passive income.

Currently, Brookfield Infrastructure stock is changing hands at 3.1 times operating cash flow, a discount to its five-year average cash-flow multiple of 4. Today's clearly a great time to load up on the stock while it's sitting in the bargain bin.

A safe dividend stock for passive-income investors

Daniel Foelber (Clorox): Clorox stock has been hit hard by a slower-than-expected turnaround, tariff risks, and cost pressures. But the maker of Clorox cleaning products, Kingsford charcoal, Burt's Bees, Hidden Valley Ranch dressing, Glad trash bags, and more could be a great high-yield dividend stock to buy for patient investors.

The great news for investors considering Clorox now is that the bulk of challenges related to its turnaround are likely over. The company's multiyear efforts to improve its internal operations -- known as its enterprise resource planning (ERP) system -- is set to begin adding cost benefits to Clorox in calendar year 2026.

Clorox's results have been improving. The company has achieved 10 consecutive quarters of gross margin expansion, showcasing better cost management even amid slower sales. Clorox expects to finish the fiscal year (ending June 30) with a 150-basis-point improvement in gross margin compared to fiscal 2024 -- even when factoring in tariff and cost pressures.

Clorox is heading in the right direction, but the stock may be selling off simply because investors have grown impatient with the company's multiyear turnaround. Another factor could be opportunity cost.

Clorox yields a hefty 3.8% and has 48 consecutive years of dividend increases -- but with three-month Treasury bills at 4.4%, some investors may prefer to go with the risk-free option.

Clorox is far from the only struggling high-yield consumer-focused brand to see its stock price around multiyear lows. Another example is Target, which has an even higher dividend yield than Clorox and has over 50 consecutive years of increasing its payout. Yet investors have grown impatient due to sluggish sales growth and weakening margins.

All told, Clorox is an excellent high-yield dividend stock for folks who want to participate in the stock market to collect passive income rather than go with non-equity products like T-bills.

Should you invest $1,000 in Devon Energy right now?

Before you buy stock in Devon Energy, 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 Devon Energy 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 $657,871!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $875,479!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 998% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 174% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of June 9, 2025

Daniel Foelber has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Lee Samaha has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Scott Levine has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Target. The Motley Fool recommends Brookfield Infrastructure Partners. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

You'll often hear that it's best not to retire on Social Security alone, but rather, to have additional income streams at your disposal. And you have several options in that regard.

If you manage to save well for retirement, you can tap your nest egg for money as needed. You might also own stocks, bonds, and other assets that pay you on a regular basis.

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Image source: Getty Images.

Plus, you might choose to hold down a job for extra cash. On top of the added money, a job might be a great way to anchor your days.

Another option for generating retirement income is to purchase a rental property. And you may like the idea of getting to collect a check from a tenant every month. But before you decide that owning a rental property in retirement is the right move, consider the drawbacks.

The upside of owning a rental property

A rental property could be a great way to diversify your income streams later in life. We don't know if Social Security will end up cutting benefits. If it does, those monthly checks of yours could be whittled down.

It's also a pretty common thing for the stock market to experience bouts of volatility. That could affect your retirement income, depending on how much money you keep in the market.

The nice thing about owning a rental property is that you'll have an income stream to fall back on that may not be impacted by stock market movement. And remember, even in the worst of economic times, people still need housing. So while you're not guaranteed to have your rental occupied each month, if you buy in the right location, you may find that the income is steady.

Plus, if you get tired of being a landlord, you could always look at selling your rental. Under the right circumstances, you could walk away with a nice profit.

The downside of owning a rental property

Before you get your mind set on owning a rental property in retirement, understand the risks involved. It's true that your rental might provide steady income. But if you struggle to get a tenant, it could end up being an expense rather than an income source.

Also, when you own physical real estate, you take on all of the risks that come with it, from insurance premium hikes to property tax increases to repairs. You may not want to take on that risk at a time when you're no longer bringing home a paycheck from a job.

Furthermore, you might think retirement is a great time to own a rental property because you'll have time to manage it. But some of the work may be more than you've bargained for, especially if you have needy tenants or tricky maintenance. And if you can't maintain your rental on your own, you'll incur expenses to have someone else do it.

Should you buy a rental property for retirement income?

It's certainly not a bad idea to include a rental property in your retirement income plans -- as long as you understand the risks you're taking on. If you're having second thoughts but like the idea of investing in real estate for retirement income, you could consider REITs, or real estate investment trusts, instead.

REITs are similar to stocks in that you buy shares you house in your portfolio. The value of those shares can rise and fall, but a big benefit of REITs is that they're required to pay out at least 90% of their taxable income as dividends. So if a goal of yours is to secure steady retirement income, you may find that REITs are able to do the trick just like a rental property would -- only without all of the extra work and hassle.

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• We asked chefs for some of the best and worst ways to use ground beef in meals.
• Tacos, soups, and meat-based sauces can be filling and easy to prepare.
• They said you should avoid using prepackaged ground beef to make burgers or beef stroganoff.

Ground beef is a popular base for many meals, but they aren't all created equally.

So, we asked chefs for some of their favorite things to cook with ground beef and a few recipes they'd probably skip.

Bolognese sauce with pasta is simple and delicious.

Palak Patel, a chef with the Institute of Culinary Education, told Business Insider that one of her favorite easy weeknight dinners is a hearty Bolognese or Italian meat sauce served over pasta.

"It's very easy to make a small or large batch to freeze for later," Patel said, "because all you have to do is combine ground beef with herbs and tomato. You can cook it slowly on the stovetop, slow cooker, or even an Instant Pot."

For a lighter version of this dish that's perfect for warmer months, use fresh tomatoes instead of canned for the sauce.

Ground-beef tacos are easily customizable.

Jessica Randhawa, a chef with The Forked Spoon, told BI that ground beef can be a scrumptious taco filling.

"Ground-beef tacos are easy to make at home and can be full of flavor," she said. "Plus, you can control the fat content based on your personal needs by choosing leaner or fattier ground beef."

You can make an easy taco filling by simmering ground beef with tomato sauce and spices like paprika, garlic powder, and cumin. Add chopped vegetables or shredded cheese for extra flavor.

Cajun rice is a cheap and filling way to enjoy ground beef.

Cajun rice, also known as dirty rice for its color, is a traditional Louisiana Creole dish made with seasoned rice, chopped peppers, and spiced meat such as ground beef.

"Cajun rice is a great way to use ground beef," Randhawa said. "Though it's usually known as a spicy dish, you can omit spicy ingredients like jalapeño if you're sensitive to heat."

In addition to being a versatile meal that can easily be scaled up or down to feed groups of different sizes, Cajun rice is an ideal way to use up different cuts of meat — toss in leftover steak, sausage, or even chicken gizzards.

Meatballs are a classic way to showcase quality ground beef.

Mila Furman, a private chef and recipe developer with Girl and the Kitchen, told BI that meatballs are an ideal way to use high-quality ground beef.

"Meatballs are one of the most versatile meals to have in your [arsenal] as a chef," Furman said. "They're super simple to put together and will always be a hit for the whole table."

Whether you're making classic meatballs with tomato sauce or whipping up a batch of creamy Swedish meatballs, using ground beef with a slightly higher fat percentage will keep them juicy and tender.

Add ground beef to soup for extra protein.

If you're struggling to think of ways to use up a small portion of leftover ground beef, putting it in a soup may just be the answer.

"Using ground beef in soups isn't just for chili," Furman said. "Add ground beef — especially in the form of leftover meatballs — into soup with plenty of hearty vegetables for a complete meal."

Lasagna can keep ground beef from tasting dry or overcooked.

A great way to infuse prepackaged ground beef with tons of moisture and flavor is to bake it into a lasagna.

"Lasagna is a versatile ground-beef meal because it's very hearty and works well with all kinds of veggies, like mushrooms, squash, or corn," Patel said. "Plus, you can add a fried egg on top to turn leftovers into a weekend brunch."

On the other hand, you shouldn't use a typical package of ground beef to make burgers.

Patel said that using an average grocery-store package of ground beef to make burgers is a mistake.

"It is important to know the type of beef that you're buying," Patel said. "Prepackaged grocery-store ground beef is not processed daily or in-house, so the resulting burgers tend to be dry and chewy."

Instead of grabbing a package of ground beef, ask the deli or butcher to grind a portion of quality beef for you. Cuts such as chuck steak usually have a better ratio of fat to lean meat, which makes for a juicier burger.

It can be difficult to make good beef stroganoff with ground beef.

Beef stroganoff is traditionally made with sautéed pieces of whole beef, but some recipes call for ground beef instead. Unfortunately, this variation is hard to get right.

"This is a very classic recipe for ground beef, but often the beef is left bland and dry while the delicate egg noodles are overcooked," Patel said.

Patel added that if the ratio of cream to beef is not balanced, this dish can become overly creamy and even soggy.

Steak tartare is tricky to prepare at home, and it isn't always safe to eat.

Steak tartare is made with lightly seared or raw ground beef, usually served as a patty topped with a raw egg yolk.

Randhawa said home chefs — and restaurant diners — should generally avoid steak tartare for safety reasons.

"Unlike other raw-meat recipes from around the world, steak tartare does not include an acidic citrus juice," Randhawa said. Acidic citrus juice can cause meat to seem somewhat cooked, but it doesn't actually make it entirely safe to eat.

"Uncooked meat can have both dangerous parasites and potentially life-threatening bacteria," Randhawa added.

You may want to avoid adding warm ground beef to chilled salads.

Some salad recipes call for ground beef as a topping. But the temperature difference between warm ground beef and a cold salad can cause the melted fats in the meat to solidify.

"Do not put ground beef in your salads if you can help it," Furman said. "You often end up with a situation where beef fat leaks down through the greens and congeals."

You could avoid this stomach-turning scenario by chilling the cooked ground beef beforehand.

This story was originally published on June 2, 2023, and most recently updated on June 9, 2025.

Not too many Wall Street analysts have name recognition, but Wedbush's Dan Ives is one of the best-known commentators and AI cheerleaders.

Ives is a frequent guest on CNBC and other financial news outlets, as well as social media, typically wearing a bright-colored jacket and a loud shirt. He's known for his bullish commentary on stocks like Nvidia and Palantir. In fact, Ives recently said that Palantir would hit a market cap of $1 trillion within three years.

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Now, the Wedbush analyst has taken the next logical step, creating an exchange-traded fund (ETF). On Wednesday, Wedbush Fund Advisers launched the Dan Ives Wedbush AI Revolution (NYSEMKT: IVES), which trades on the New York Stock Exchange and is based on his picks and research in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector.

The ETF holds 30 stocks, ranging from semiconductors to hyperscalers to cybersecurity, robotics, and other industries. Ives says he is more focused on themes and disruptive impact, rather than valuation, and the ETF features many of the best-known names in AI.

What's in the IVES ETF?

The top 10 holdings in the IVES ETF are as follows:

That list shouldn't come as a big surprise. It includes the "Magnificent Seven" and three other well-known AI stocks, Broadcom, Taiwan Semiconductor, and Palantir. Combined, those stocks make up nearly half of the fund.

Of the remaining stocks, there are several cloud software and cybersecurity names like ServiceNow, Palo Alto Networks, Salesforce, Adobe, Snowflake, and Zscaler.

Among the lesser-followed stocks it owns are Innodata, Elastic, and Pegasystems, which are all relatively small positions in the fund. Each stock is at least 1% of the fund.

As of June 4, the fund had net assets of $26.4 million, and its expense ratio is 0.75%, meaning investors will pay $0.75 out of every $100 invested in the fund to Wedbush to manage it.

Why it matters for investors

The launch of the IVES ETF matters to investors for a few reasons. First, if the fund serves as a big draw, bringing billions into the fund, it will funnel that money to the stocks it holds, helping them rise further.

The fund is also contributing to a greater proliferation of AI ETFs, potentially making it easier to invest in AI stocks.

We're about 2.5 years into the AI boom, which kicked off with the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, and some AI ETFs have been created. However, the formation of AI ETFs has generally lagged in the sector, and many of the funds that purport to track AI stocks don't invest in the household names that investors might expect an AI ETF to hold.

For instance, the Global X Robotics & Artificial Intelligence ETF holds little-known stocks like ABB, Keyence, and Fanuc, which are focused on robotics and automation, among its top five holdings.

The IVES ETF gives investors exposure to the more traditional AI stocks that have become associated with the AI boom.

Image source: Getty Images.

Is the IVES ETF a buy?

If you backtested the IVES ETF over the last year or two, it would have outperformed the S&P 500. The ETF doesn't get credit for that, but the top holdings are many of the stocks that Ives has been publicly bullish on during that time.

If the AI boom continues, the IVES ETF is likely to be a winner as it offers exposure to a range of stocks driving the "AI revolution."

With an expense ratio of 0.75%, the IVES ETF is more expensive than most ETFs, but on par with actively managed funds. For investors looking for easy exposure to a range of AI stocks, investing a bit of money into the IVES ETF is a good way to do it.

Should you invest $1,000 in Wedbush Series Trust - Dan Ives Wedbush Ai Revolution ETF right now?

Before you buy stock in Wedbush Series Trust - Dan Ives Wedbush Ai Revolution ETF, consider this:

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

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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. Jeremy Bowman has positions in Amazon, Broadcom, Meta Platforms, Nvidia, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Abb, Adobe, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, Palantir Technologies, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Snowflake, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Tesla, and Zscaler. The Motley Fool recommends Broadcom, Elastic, Fanuc, Palo Alto Networks, and Pegasystems 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.

For decades, international payments have been routed through the SWIFT network, which is a messaging system that connects thousands of banks. SWIFT transactions can take days, sometimes weeks, because of intermediary banks, currency conversions, and messaging delays. The main users, banks, need to carry liquidity buffers to cover the risk of those issues. This means that using SWIFT, which stands for Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, comes with a capital burden for banks.

XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) is a cryptocurrency designed for nothing flashier than moving value from A to B almost instantly and for almost nothing in fees. Banks wrestling with faster-payments mandates and cross-border fee pressure now have a tool that settles transactions in the time it takes to blink, so long as they're willing to abandon SWIFT. Here's why some of those banks and other financial companies are starting to consider XRP as a core reserve they might keep for decades rather than merely as a cryptocurrency investment to hold on the balance sheet.

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It's a lot faster and cheaper than the status quo

On the XRP ledger (known as XRPL), a transfer finalizes in roughly three to five seconds, with typical network fees of less than 0.001 XRP, or about a tenth of a cent at recent prices. For the sake of comparison, consider that SWIFT's own progress report touts a "dramatic" improvement to a 24-hour average for cross-border settlement last year, down from 96 hours in 2019.

Why does that transaction time and cost gap matter to banks when it comes to choosing a technology to use?

If you're a bank, capital that's trapped in transit is capital that isn't earning a yield. Every hour shaved off transaction settlement frees up capital that can be redeployed, thereby enabling the bank to generate more earnings than it would otherwise. Thus, there's a strong financial incentive here for banks to switch, and little that keeps them tied to the legacy solution except for inertia.

Image source: Getty Images.

Furthermore, XRP's fee structure is predictable. SWIFT's message charges, foreign exchange spreads, and flat fees can be on the order of $50 per transfer. Typically, those exchange fees are billed as a percentage of the transfer amount, with 1% being a common take, so costs add up quickly for players that need to transact frequently and in large sums. With XRP, costs stay microscopic regardless of notional transaction size, and there is no currency being exchanged, so there are no exchange fees at all.

That reliability underpins the token's appeal as a utility reserve rather than a speculative investment. Once adopted, if it's anything like SWIFT, banks will be loath to transition to something else unless the benefits of doing so are very compelling.

Compliance matters too

The speed of a solution alone has probably never sold a big bank's chief compliance officer on adopting a new technology. What moves the needle is control and traceability.

XRP's ledger natively bakes a slew of regulatory compliance features directly into the protocol. Asset issuers, including those with key assets like stablecoins, can freeze individual trust lines, enact a global freeze, or enable deposit authorization so an account only accepts funds it has vetted. These features let banks satisfy know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money-laundering (AML) obligations without incorporating external smart contract code, which is a tremendous headache on many other chains, particularly Ethereum.

As a result of XRP's compliance features and potential to cut costs, real-world pilots of financial businesses and organizations trialing XRP are piling up. Bhutan's central bank began a central bank digital currency (CBDC) sandbox on XRP's tech three years ago, looking to extend financial inclusion across its mountainous villages. More recently, Dubai green-lit a property tokenization platform that records deeds on XRPL, targeting $16 billion in real estate. Each project requires the ledger to prove it can handle regulated assets at scale, which is progress that risk officers and bank executives watch far more closely than investors typically do.

If those trials mature into production systems, banks holding XRP as an operational reserve gain a second benefit of optionality. The same tokens that are useful for making large international payments can also pay ledger fees for tokenized bonds or be used for trading other tokenized financial instruments. That versatility hedges against the risk that today's fast payment rails become tomorrow's legacy drag in the way that SWIFT is.

Thus, the durability of XRP as an asset is starting to look more persuasive than ever.

XRP's price can be volatile, yet the direction of travel toward faster payments, programmable compliance, and institutional custody is hard to miss.

For investors, that means the thesis behind buying and holding XRP today hinges less on a meme-driven price spike and more on the quiet decisions banks make to incorporate it over the next decade. Ripple, the company that issues XRP, is highly motivated to ensure that banks keep adopting the coin for their back-end use.

If XRP becomes the solution for tokenized deposits, CBDCs, and cross-border wholesale flows, demand from institutions with no intention of selling could easily anchor the coin's long-term value. And so far, the evidence is that things are moving in that direction.

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

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

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

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 792% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 173% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of June 2, 2025

Alex Carchidi has positions in Ethereum. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Ethereum and XRP. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

If everyone only invested in what they fully understood, I suspect quite a few stocks wouldn't exist today. We can probably put quantum computing stocks in that category. The quantum physics used by companies pioneering quantum computing can make your head spin.

Fortunately for many investors, quantum computing stocks do exist. Two of them have been especially big winners -- D-Wave Quantum (NYSE: QBTS) and IonQ (NYSE: IONQ). D-Wave Quantum has delivered the more impressive performance over the last 12 months. Is it a better quantum computing stock than IonQ?

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Image source: Getty Images.

The case for D-Wave Quantum

Despite the market turbulence experienced in 2025, D-Wave Quantum has generated a staggering return of nearly 1,200% over the last 12 months. Even with this tremendous gain, though, the company's market cap remains below $5 billion.

D-Wave's financial performance has been impressive, too. The company's revenue soared 509% year over year in the first quarter of 2025. Its cash position totaled $304.3 million at the end of Q1. D-Wave's management believes that's enough to fund operations until the company achieves profitability.

The huge stock gains and strong revenue growth are the result of increasing interest in D-Wave's technology. The company boasts the world's largest quantum computer. D-Wave recently introduced its most advanced system to date, its sixth-generation Advantage2 quantum computer. CEO Alan Baratz said this new system is "so powerful that it can solve hard problems outside the reach of one of the world's largest exascale GPU-based classical supercomputers."

D-Wave has completed more than 20 proof-of-concept engagements over the last 18 months. Its customer base includes Deloitte, Fort Otosan (a Turkey-based automaker owned by Ford and Koç Holding), Lockheed Martin, and Japan Tobacco).

The case for IonQ

IonQ hasn't delivered the kind of gains that D-Wave has over the last 12 months, but it's nonetheless been sizzling hot. The quantum computing pioneer's stock is up roughly 380%. Thanks to this great return, IonQ's market cap now tops $9 billion.

At first glance, you might wonder about IonQ's growth. The company's revenue dipped slightly year over year in Q1. However, IonQ's revenue has increased by a compound annual growth rate of 170% since 2021. The company expects that 2025 revenue will nearly double year over year based on the midpoint of its guidance range.

IonQ believes that its ion trap architecture gives it distinct competitive advantages. Its quantum computers can operate at room temperature instead of requiring cooling to zero degrees Kelvin. The company thinks its error correction process is superior to rivals. IonQ also maintains that its architecture is more modular and scalable than the competition.

All three of the largest cloud platforms offer IonQ's quantum hardware, a claim no other quantum computing company can make. IonQ has a growing customer base that includes big companies such as Ansys, AstraZeneca, and Toyota Tsusho.

Better quantum computing stock?

Both D-Wave Quantum and IonQ could have tremendous growth potential. Quantum computing could transform many areas, including drug discovery, logistics, and materials science. Consulting firm McKinsey & Co. estimates that quantum computing and networking could create up to $880 billion in economic value by 2040.

However, these two companies also face significant risks. Neither D-Wave nor IonQ is profitable yet. Although their respective technological approaches show promise, the competition is intense, with some rivals possessing much greater financial resources.

If I had to pick one of these quantum computing stocks right now, I'd go with IonQ. It's generating more revenue than D-Wave. Its intellectual property portfolio is larger, with 950 patents related to quantum computing and networking that should soon be under the company's control.

I also like IonQ's business development strategy. Recent acquisitions of ID Quantique and Lightsynq position IonQ well in the quantum networking space.

Investing in IonQ isn't for everyone because of the inherent risks with a small company in a fledgling market. However, I think aggressive investors could see market-beating returns from this stock over the long run.

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

Before you buy stock in IonQ, consider this:

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

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

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 792% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 173% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of June 2, 2025

Keith Speights has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Ansys, AstraZeneca Plc, and Lockheed Martin. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

• President Donald Trump may have other routes to impose tariffs if the court strikes down his current duties.
• A pause on Trump's use of the IEEPA to impose tariffs has been halted by an appeals court.
• International trade experts say other ways to hike tariffs may be limiting and time-consuming.

President Donald Trump has four more swings at implementing his tariffs — even if courts strike down his use of the IEEPA.

Experts in international trade told Business Insider that Trump could take four different routes to imposing trade barriers without Congress. All four are doable, though significantly more complicated, and are unlikely policies he could change at will overnight.

"Now we're over a hundred days into the tariffs, and tariffs are a very top-of-the-agenda item," Drew DeLong, lead in geopolitical dynamics practice at Kearney, a global strategy and management consulting firm, told BI.

"There are a number of motivations underneath tariffs, and whether his current tariffs stay, he will find ways to continue to amplify pressure on trading partners," DeLong added.

After small businesses sued Trump and his various trade officials over tariffs, the US Court of International Trade ruled unanimously on May 28 that he doesn't have the authority to levy sweeping tariffs using the IEEPA — a 1970s law typically used for economic sanctions during national emergencies.

The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit resumed the tariffs a day later, but their fate remains uncertain.

"That decision, if it is favorable to Trump, would still go to the Supreme Court for review," said Kent Jones, Professor Emeritus of international economics at Babson College. "Many conservative judges, even Trump appointees, have tended to view Trump's use of IEEAP as overstepping the limits of delegating tariff-making power from Congress to the President."

Here are four things the Trump administration could do next to keep trade barriers up without Congress.

Section 122

DeLong said Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, also known as the Balance of Payments Act, could be the White House's first choice if it wants to "continue the pressure immediately" on trading partners.

The act's official language allows it to be applied only if there are "large and serious United States balance-of-payments deficits," otherwise known as trade deficits.

"Section 122 is probably going to be a top pick," Robert Shapiro, an attorney of international trade at Thompson Coburn LLP, told BI. "That gives Trump some vehicle, but it's a limited 15% for 150 days, and then he has to go to Congress."

"That would open the door for Congress to pass a whole bunch of trade actions, but the administration obviously didn't want to go through that first," Shapiro added.

Section 232

Section 232 under the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 allows the White House to raise duties on imports it deems a threat to national security.

A recent probe into critical mineral imports, for example, argued that the US is overly dependent on foreign sources for materials essential to defense, infrastructure, and innovation.

DeLong said that at the moment, there are at least eight ongoing Section 232 investigations, including those involving copper, timber, and semiconductors. He said the recent June 3 tariff hike on steel and aluminum from 25% to 50% is also being done under section 232.

Jones said, however, that each section 232 tariff requires a formal investigation, and the sectors it could be applied to are limited.

"The problem with section 232 is that it requires a separate action for each industrial category of goods against which tariffs can be imposed," said Jones. "The perceived advantage of the IEEPA was that it allowed broad tariff coverage across the board to all industries."

Section 301

Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 gives the US Trade Representative — now Jamieson Greer — broad authority to investigate whether other countries are violating existing trade agreements or hurting American businesses.

DeLong said that the first Trump administration leaned heavily on the provision to impose tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of Chinese goods and aircraft from the European Union.

But section 301 would require a formal investigation and even a public comment period.

"The problem with sec. 301, however, is that it requires a separate determination of specific foreign unfair or discriminatory trade practices, country by country," said Jones.

"The IEEPA, again, seemed to give the President more flexibility in declaring an emergency against all global imports into the US without the need to document specific foreign practices," Jones added.

Section 338

DeLong said Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 could theoretically allow any US president to impose up to a 50% tariff on countries that discriminate against the US. However, he said this would be a very uncommon approach that could again bring the tariff argument into uncharted territories.

"That has not been used — and I don't think I'm understating this —in decades, or ever," said DeLong of section 338. "That would be relatively new."

AGNC Investment (NASDAQ: AGNC) has a gigantic 15%+ dividend yield. That lofty yield sounds very enticing, but sometimes things that sound too good to be true are, in fact, too good to be true. Here's why investors need to take a very nuanced view of AGNC Investment and how the company may actually be helping you decide when to buy the stock.

What does AGNC Investment do?

Property-owning real estate investment trusts (REITs) buy physical properties and lease them out to tenants. That's what you would do if you owned a rental property, so it's probably fairly easy to wrap your head around the business model. Mortgage REITs like AGNC Investment buy mortgages that have been pooled together into bond-like securities. That's a lot more complex and you probably couldn't mimic that in your own investment life.

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

Image source: Getty Images.

Everything from interest rates to mortgage repayment rates can impact the value of mortgage securities. So even tracking what is going on within AGNC Investment's portfolio, or within any mortgage REIT, would be hard for most investors. Adding to the complexity is that mortgage securities trade all day long, so the portfolio's characteristics can change fairly quickly.

This is not an investment for conservative income investors. That fact is highlighted by the steady downtrend in the dividend over the last decade or so, as the chart below highlights. Not surprisingly, the price of the stock has trailed the falling dividend.

AGNC data by YCharts

What is AGNC Investment worth?

That said, AGNC Investment's value is basically the value of its portfolio of mortgage securities. In that way it is kind of similar to a mutual fund. And, like a mutual fund, AGNC Investment reports the value of its portfolio on a per-share basis. It calls this number tangible net book value per share. It only reports that number quarterly, but it is an important figure to monitor.

At the end of the first quarter of 2025 AGNC Investment's tangible net book value per share was $8.25. At the end of the first quarter of 2022 it was $13.12. Tangible net book value per share can rise and fall fairly dramatically at times, depending on the market environment. Over the past year, for example, this metric has risen and fallen by 5% between quarters multiple times. It is, at best, a rough gauge for investors to monitor between quarters.

But the really interesting thing here is that AGNC Investment's stock price often trades above tangible net book value per share. Sometimes dramatically above the number -- the 52-week high is $10.85 even though the reported tangible net book value per share never rose above $8.84 in any of the last four quarters.

This is great news for shareholders, since AGNC Investment frequently sells new shares to the public to raise additional capital. Every penny above tangible net book value that a new buyer pays is tantamount to giving current shareholders free money. Management even explains this fact when it discusses stock sales, saying things like the company "opportunistically" raised money "at a considerable premium to tangible net book value" and that this brings "meaningful book value accretion to our common stockholders."

AGNC data by YCharts

The takeaway here is pretty clear. Nobody should pay more than tangible net book value per share for AGNC Investment unless they believe that number is going to be headed sharply higher. But sometimes AGNC Investment's share price dips below that figure, with the 52-week low coming in at $7.85. The company would likely not be raising capital at that price, given that it would destroy value for current shareholders. However, if you buy the stock on the open market below book value you are increasing the chances that you are getting a good deal on the stock.

AGNC data by YCharts

The fly in the ointment is the dividend

The problem with this discussion is that it doesn't address the dividend or the dividend yield. That's because the company's focus isn't income, it is total return. The dividend is a part of total return, but total return assumes the dividend is reinvested. But a key part of total return is also the price you pay for the investment.

If you bought at the 52-week high price of $10.85 per share, your total return would be terrible here even with the huge dividend yield. However, if you kept a close eye on tangible book value per share and only bought when the stock price was at or below the last reported figure, your total return would likely still be positive, helped along by that lofty yield.

Should you invest $1,000 in AGNC Investment Corp. right now?

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

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

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 792% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 173% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of June 2, 2025

Reuben Gregg Brewer has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

A million dollars is enough to change most people's lives. For example, putting that money into relatively low-risk assets like 30-year Treasury bonds would earn you more than the U.S.'s median annual income without reducing the principal. But while investing a million dollars is easy, making it is significantly harder.

To earn multibagger returns in the stock market, you typically have to bet on innovative companies with strong economic moats and massive addressable markets. Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) has historically fit this bill with its industry-leading artificial intelligence (AI) chips. That said, past returns don't guarantee future success. Let's dig deeper to see if this megacap technology leader is still a long-term winner.

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

First-quarter earnings were a mixed bag

Many analysts were optimistic about Nvidia's first-quarter results, which saw its sales jump by 69% year over year to $44.1 billion while net income increased by 31% to $22.1 billion. Big tech companies continue to pour billions into Nvidia's hardware to run and train their generative AI workloads. And Nvidia's CEO, Jensen Huang, continues to strike an optimistic tone, claiming that entire countries are beginning to realize that AI is an "essential infrastructure" alongside electricity, water, and the internet.

However, behind the hype, there are some signs that Nvidia's business is slowing. While sales grew 69% this year, that represents a deceleration from last quarter when they grew by 78% compared to the prior-year period. Furthermore, Nvidia's gross margins are also shrinking (down from 73% last quarter to 60.5% this quarter). Net income actually fell by 15% from the previous quarter -- an undeniable sign that things are changing.

Some of the weakness is due to recent regulatory challenges in China, where the Trump administration made it harder for Nvidia to sell its H20 chips, leading to a $4.5 billion impairment charge based on losses on excess inventory and failed purchase obligations. And while Nvidia plans to reenter the market with new products, investors should keep in mind the risk of continued regulatory setbacks.

Over the long term, Nvidia will face competition from homegrown Chinese rivals such as Huawei, which aims to take its market share with advanced AI chips of its own. And it is unclear if Chinese consumers will be comfortable building their businesses around Nvidia hardware that can be taken away at the whim of the U.S. government.

Nvidia also faces challenges in the U.S., where major customers like OpenAI are investing in their own custom chip design capacity to reduce their reliance on Nvidia and other third-party hardware suppliers.

Image source: Getty Images.

Investors should change how they look at Nvidia

Nvidia has historically been a growth stock capable of multibagger returns. However, with its current market cap of $3.4 trillion, this is becoming less likely. If Nvidia were to repeat the 1,500% return it has enjoyed since 2020, its market cap would swell to $51 trillion. That would be more than the combined value of all companies on the NASDAQ stock exchange, which currently totals approximately $30 trillion.

While this level of expansion is technically possible, it looks doubtful, even in the best-case scenario. Even though Nvidia has a strong moat, free-market capitalism typically leads to competition and falling margins, which already begins to show up in Nvidia's most recent earnings report.

That said, although Nvidia might be too big to be a typical millionaire-maker stock, that doesn't mean it can't return value to investors in other ways. With a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 32.4, shares are still reasonably affordable, considering the company's growth rate. Investors should expect Nvidia to eventually start returning some of its massive profits to shareholders through dividends and buybacks, which can help support slow and steady stock price appreciation.

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

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 792% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 173% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of June 2, 2025

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