The last couple weeks of springtime have seen the market itself spring to life. There are investing opportunities in both stocks that have fallen out of favor and some popular growth stocks.
Some of my favorite stocks right now are Sirius XM Holdings (NASDAQ: SIRI), Nintendo (OTC: NTDOY), and Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU). They are well positioned to keep rising from here, armed with some obvious and some not-so-obvious bullish catalysts. Let's take a look.
Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More »
Don't let the weak stock chart facade dissuade you from taking a closer look at the country's satellite radio monopoly. Sirius XM stock was cut in half last year, and it still hasn't bounced back in 2025. There are some solid reasons for the media stock's meandering ways, but there are also a compelling valuation, chunky yield, and potential tailwinds to consider.
Let's start with the negatives. It's been more than a decade since Sirius XM posted double-digit top-line growth, and revenue is now declining slightly for the third year in a row. Auto sales are the funnel that leads to new subscriptions, and that market has been weak. Young drivers are also turning to streaming smartphone apps for in-car entertainment, bypassing Sirius XM's premium offering. If this looks pretty bleak, turn the corner. Sirius XM may be about to do exactly that a lot sooner than the market thinks.
Image source: Getty Images.
It was easy to see why Sirius XM was struggling coming out of the pandemic. Folks were working from home, so it was easy to justify sidestepping in-car subscriptions for a product that eases daily commutes. This is starting to change, with more and more companies calling employees back to the office. Gas prices are low, down 12% across the country over the past year and 22% lower than they were three years ago. This should be an incentive to get folks driving more, increasing the value proposition of coast-to-coast coverage of Sirius XM's premium content. Meanwhile, if financing rates start to ease up and the economic outlook improves, there's going to be a lot of pent-up demand for new vehicle sales with factory-installed Sirius XM satellite receivers.
The valuation is better than you might think for a company on the cusp of turning things around. You can buy Sirius XM stock for less than 8 times this year's projected earnings. If the recovery takes some time, it literally pays to be patient. The stock's 4.9% yield is a lot better than both the market average and what sideline sitters are generating in money market yields.
Don't take it from me, though. Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) (NYSE: BRK.B) has boosted its stake three times since the fall of last year. Warren Buffett's holding company now owns more than a third of Sirius XM. I'm happy to own a much smaller chunk of the company.
Let's play a different game with this one. Nintendo isn't out of favor like Sirius XM. Shares of the Japanese video game pioneer hit another all-time high this month. The market is buzzing about next week's rollout of the Switch 2, Nintendo's first new gaming system in more than eight years.
This is a pretty big deal. Revenue and earnings for Nintendo tend to triple if not quadruple in the three to four years after a major new console comes out. The business itself is already well ahead of where Nintendo was when the original Switch hit the market in March of 2017. Nintendo's multigenerational appeal continues to widen. Nintendo has successfully jump-started its presence as a theatrical property, and it now has a presence with a dedicated land in three of the world's largest theme parks. Nintendo is richly priced based on recent financials, but the future is what is fueling renewed interest here. With demand for Switch 2 outstripping supply, the next couple of years should treat investors to stellar growth.
There's no sugarcoating the ugly multiyear stock chart here. Roku shares are trading 85% lower than their peak in the summer of 2021. That doesn't mean that Roku isn't in a much better place now. The company behind North America's leading operating system for TV streaming has never entertained an audience this large with engagement levels perpetually rising.
The 16% revenue growth it posted in its latest results extends its streak of double-digit gains to eight quarters. Losses continue to narrow, and Roku is forecasting a return to profitability in the second half of this year. With time spent on the platform having risen 16% over the past year, it has a firm hold on its viewers, who spend hours a day channeling their TV consumption through Roku's landing page. Its guidance for the second quarter did come in a bit light, but it's still stretched its streak of double-digit revenue growth to nine quarters.
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 $653,389!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $830,492!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 982% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 171% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.
*Stock Advisor returns as of May 19, 2025
Rick Munarriz has positions in Nintendo, Roku, and Sirius XM. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Berkshire Hathaway and Roku. The Motley Fool recommends Nintendo. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Warren Buffett doesn't make many mistakes when it comes to investing, as evidenced by his supreme long-term track record in public markets. He and the team at Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B) seem to have made a mistake by investing in SiriusXM (NASDAQ: SIRI) -- at least, so far. The automotive satellite radio provider is down over 60% in the last five years, while the broad market indices have soared.
Today, the stock trades at a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 8 and a dividend yield of 5%. Does Berkshire Hathaway see something in SiriusXM that the rest of the market is missing? Let's dive in further and investigate this fallen internet stock and see if it is a buy for your portfolio today.
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 »
SiriusXM made its money selling satellite radio subscriptions in conjunction with automotive purchases. Today, this business is facing multiple headwinds with the rise of Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube taking share from satellite radio for talk and music. Its subscribers stood at 32.86 million last quarter, which is below its user count at the end of 2018.
Lower subscriber figures have led to declining revenue, with sales now off 4.4% from all-time highs last quarter. This is coming at a time when the streaming music services such as Spotify are growing like gangbusters, which are putting a world of hurt on SiriusXM's business. With the rise of Google and Apple Car Play, users can stream the same applications in vehicles that they use on their phones, which has disrupted SiriusXM's competitive edge.
It has tried to fight back with a stand-alone SiriusXM streaming application, acquiring rights to podcasts, and even acquiring Pandora Radio back in the day. It has not lived up to expectations, with this other segment seeing a 2% decline in revenue year over year last quarter. Management is guiding for $1.15 billion in free cash flow this year, but that is still well below all-time highs set a few years ago. If revenue keeps sliding, free cash flow will eventually disappear.
Image source: Getty Images.
Just because a stock is owned by Berkshire Hathaway does not mean it was a Warren Buffett investment. The company has two investors -- Todd Combs and Ted Weschler -- who manage billions of dollars of investments. One of these investors may be the purchaser of SiriusXM stock instead of Buffett, who at this point only dabbles in investments that can move the needle for the trillion-dollar market-cap stock.
At a market cap of just $7 billion, SiriusXM is not going to be a meaningful contributor to Berkshire Hathaway's stock portfolio even if it goes up by 10 times. The company owns $2.8 billion worth of SiriusXM stock. If that stock is worth $28 billion someday, that is barely 2% of Berkshire's market value. A 10 times move upwards is highly unlikely too.
SIRI Dividend Yield data by YCharts.
With a dividend yield of 5%, you might think SiriusXM stock is a buy just because Berkshire Hathaway owns it. In this case, following Berkshire Hathaway blindly has led an investor to lose money.
The problem with SiriusXM is not just its declining subscribers and declining revenue. It is the huge debt load carried on its balance sheet. The company has over $10 billion in long-term debt vs. its $1.1 billion in projected 2025 free cash flow. Free cash flow will decline if revenue keeps sliding. The debt is mostly due before 2030, meaning that SiriusXM is going to have to scramble to pay back these loans or refinance at higher interest rates. Either way, this is not good for shareholders.
SiriusXM is a stock with declining revenue and heavy indebtedness in a declining industry. Even with a high dividend yield of 5%, it is best to stay away from this stock. It's unclear what Berkshire Hathaway sees in this business.
Before you buy stock in Sirius XM, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Sirius XM wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $617,181!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $719,371!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 909% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 163% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.
*Stock Advisor returns as of May 5, 2025
Brett Schafer has positions in Spotify Technology. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Berkshire Hathaway and Spotify Technology. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Voice control expert SoundHound AI (NASDAQ: SOUN) has been a volatile investment recently.
The stock soared in February 2024 as Nvidia ( bought a few shares. It cooled down a bit when the artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant didn't follow up with a larger investment or a tight partnership. Then the meme stock community stepped in, driving SoundHound AI's share price skyward in an attempt to cause a lucrative short squeeze.
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 »
But short-sellers largely held on to their negative bets on the stock, and the broader market's volatility also weighed on these high-priced shares. Today, SoundHound AI is trading 62% below last December's record price.
Where will SoundHound AI go from here? Is this a good time to buy into a hot growth story, or is the stock still overpriced? Let's see what the company might do over the next year, and how investors should treat this promising but unpredictable investment right now.
Let's start with the basics.
The most optimistic SoundHound AI bulls argue that the stock price should be calculated from that beefy order backlog, resulting in a hypothetical price-to-sales ratio (P/S) of 3.2. However, the average deal in that order book is about six years, so the average annual value over that period works out to $200 million. Then I'm back to an adjusted P/S ratio of 19.1, and the revenue conversion will be a gradual increase rather than a crisp jump.
To be fair, the order backlog also keeps growing. It's up from about $1 billion in the previous quarter and $661 million in the year-ago report. So the annual revenue value of this growing contract list should account for some continued growth, too. But the whole discussion only gets more theoretical and less realistic with these extra adjustments.
At the end of the day, I think it's fair to call the stock "very expensive" and leave the exact sales-based calculations alone. Some investors will be ready to take the high-priced risk of buying into SoundHound AI's long-term growth story at a lofty price. Others will stay away until one of two things happens: The stock price could drop to a more reasonable level, or the underlying business performance could rise.
Both of these value-boosting trends could very well play out simultaneously, and that idea looks likely to me. If so, today's SoundHound AI buyers will be fine in the long run -- but those who wait for a better entry price will probably enjoy even stronger returns.
2025 could go down as a transformative year in SoundHound AI's history. Management expects full-year revenues to land near $167 million, about double the $84.7 million seen in 2024. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) is also supposed to turn positive this year, compared to a $61.9 million EBITDA loss last year.
Of course, these targets were set in February and the global economy looks very different two months later. Whether you plan to buy now or wait for a better entry point, you should probably wait for May 8's first-quarter report. Management will probably provide more accurate full-year targets, either underlining or undermining your investment thesis.
Before you buy stock in SoundHound AI, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and SoundHound AI wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $594,046!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $680,390!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 872% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 160% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.
*Stock Advisor returns as of April 21, 2025
Anders Bylund has positions in Nvidia and SoundHound AI. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
For more than a century, the stock market has been the premier wealth creator for investors. But this doesn't mean stocks move higher in a straight line.
Over the last seven trading sessions, investors have witnessed historic levels of volatility in the iconic Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI), benchmark S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC), and growth-focused Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC).
Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More »
For example, the 90-day pause on higher reciprocal tariffs for most countries, which was announced by President Donald Trump on April 9, led the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq to their largest single-session point increases in their respective histories. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq endured three of its five biggest single-day point declines from April 3 to April 10, with the S&P 500 navigating three of its six-largest single-session point drops during this same span.
Volatility is the price of admission investors pay for access to this proven wealth creator. Thankfully, stock market corrections, bear markets, and crashes tend to be short-lived. Putting your money to work during periods of historic volatility is usually a smart move.
Image source: Getty Images.
But well before the stock market's bout of historic volatility, some of Wall Street's brightest money managers were purchasing safe stocks that can thrive in virtually any environment. What follows are five of the safest stocks billionaire investors have bought for their respective funds.
Lone Pine Capital's billionaire chief Stephen Mandel purchased four new stocks for his fund's portfolio during the December-ended quarter, as well as added to five existing positions. Arguably, none of these additions stands out more than the 1,987,716 shares purchased of tobacco giant Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM).
Tobacco stocks may not be 100% impervious to stock market volatility and short-term fear, but they're pretty close to it. Cigarette smokers have demonstrated a willingness to absorb substantial price hikes over time, and the addictive nature of the nicotine found in tobacco keeps most users loyal to the product.
Philip Morris also has the advantage of operating globally. With a presence in more than 180 countries, it's able to move the organic growth needle in emerging markets where tobacco is still a luxury, as well as rake in generally predictable operating cash flow in developed countries.
Lastly, Philip Morris International is benefiting from its ongoing but increasingly successful transition to a smokeless future. The introduction of Zyn nicotine pouches and its Iqos heated tobacco system have reignited sales and profit growth for the company. While Philip Morris stock is unlikely to move significantly higher during the current market tumult, its downside is, presumably, limited.
Billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller of Duquesne Family Office closed out 2024 overseeing a 78-stock, $3.72 billion fund. Though turnover tends to be high in Druckenmiller's fund, he's been aggressively adding to an existing position in brand-name and generic-drug developer Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NYSE: TEVA). Druckenmiller green-lit the purchase of 7,569,450 shares of Teva in the fourth quarter.
What's great about healthcare stocks is they're highly defensive. This is to say that people don't stop becoming ill or requiring prescription drugs just because Wall Street had a rough couple of weeks. With demand for brand-name and generic drugs constant and/or climbing, Teva's cash flow can be forecast well in advance.
Teva's recent return to sales growth is a function of the company shifting its strategy more toward novel-drug development. Whereas generic drugs offer low margins and pricing power can be weak at times, novel therapies sport juicy margins and strong pricing power. Tardive dyskinesia drug Austedo, which is Teva's top-selling brand-name therapy, may surpass $2 billion in sales this year after generating $1.23 billion in revenue in 2023.
Teva's turnaround has also featured a remarkable improvement in its financial flexibility. Following its August 2016 buyout of generic drugmaker Actavis, Teva's net debt clocked in around $35 billion. It ended last year at closer to $14.5 billion. With Teva's forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio now below 5, the risk-versus-reward profile strongly favors optimists.
Image source: Sirius XM.
Despite Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett being a persistent net seller of stocks for the last nine quarters, he's done a little bit of shopping recently. In particular, he's been scooping up shares of satellite-radio operator Sirius XM Holdings (NASDAQ: SIRI). Between Jan. 30 and Feb. 3, Berkshire's billionaire chief oversaw the purchase of 2,308,119 shares of Sirius XM.
One reason Sirius XM can be viewed as something of a safe stock amid historic market volatility is its legal monopoly status. It's the only licensed satellite-radio operator. Although it still fights for listeners with terrestrial and online radio companies, being the only licensed satellite-radio provider affords it a good degree of subscription pricing power.
Sirius XM's revenue diversification also helps it stand out from its peers. While most radio operators generate the bulk of their revenue from advertising, which is prone to significant weakness during periods of uncertainty for the U.S. economy and Wall Street, Sirius XM brought in just 20% of its net sales from ads last year. A majority of its revenue (76% of 2024 net sales) comes from self-pay subscriptions. These subscribers are less likely to cancel their service than businesses are to pare back their marketing budgets during periods of turbulence.
Sirius XM's valuation provides a solid floor, too. Valued at just 6.5 times forward-year earnings, there's reason to believe the company's downside is minimal at this point. A dividend yield north of 5% doesn't hurt, either.
Billionaire Leon Cooperman closed out 2024 holding 45 securities valued at more than $2.6 billion. While there were more than a dozen stocks newly purchased and/or added to during the fourth quarter, the stand-out buy was the addition of 107,400 shares of health insurance juggernaut Elevance Health (NYSE: ELV).
Circling back to the discussion of Teva, demand for healthcare services tends to be highly predictable, regardless of what's happening with the U.S. economy or stock market. The advantage for health insurers is that it typically affords them relatively strong premium pricing power. In other words, they're often able to increase premiums to ensure they can cover rising treatment costs.
In addition to strong premium pricing power, Elevance has relied on acquisitions to expand the reach of its potentially higher-margin healthcare services subsidiary Carelon. This includes the buyouts of home health provider CareBridge, as well as BioPlus, which is a specialty pharmacy catered to patients with complex and chronic conditions. This healthcare services focus can increase margins and keep users within Elevance Health's ecosystem.
Shares of Elevance Health are currently valued at 11 times forecast earnings for 2026, which represents a 19% discount to its average forward earnings multiple over the last half-decade. This should provide ample downside protection amid heightened stock market volatility.
The fifth billionaire money manager who was purchasing shares of an exceptionally safe stock in advance of Wall Street's historic volatility is Viking Global Investors' Ole Andreas Halvorsen. Among the 86 stocks Halvorsen holds stakes in, the brand-new acquisition of 897,340 shares of specialty real estate investment trust (REIT) American Tower (NYSE: AMT) is what stands out.
American Tower is best-known for its ownership of roughly 149,000 cellular communication towers in the U.S. and 21 other countries. Large telecom companies lease access to these towers for the antennas that make their 4G and 5G wireless networks tick. Approximately 45% of American Tower's fourth-quarter revenue came from America's big-three telecom companies, with another 28% in sales tracing back to international telecom tenants. More than half of these existing leases extend to 2030 or beyond, which leads to highly consistent funds from operations.
However, American Tower is also dipping its toes into the water to take advantage of the growing artificial intelligence (AI) and tech boom. As of the end of 2024, it was operating 29 data centers, many of which were in metropolitan U.S. cities. Though data center leasing represents only 10% of total sales at the moment, it's the company's fastest-growing segment.
The final puzzle piece that makes American Tower a safe stock to own is its dividend. In exchange for preferred tax treatment, REITs dole out most of their profits in the form of a dividend. American Tower stock is currently yielding in excess of 3%.
Before you buy stock in Philip Morris International, 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 Philip Morris International wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $495,226!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $679,900!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 796% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 155% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.
*Stock Advisor returns as of April 10, 2025
Sean Williams has positions in Sirius XM and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends American Tower and Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool recommends Philip Morris International and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $180 calls on American Tower and short January 2026 $185 calls on American Tower. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Login