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Globe and Mail
3 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
5 Brilliant Growth Stocks to Buy Now and Hold for the Long Term
Key Points Alphabet's AI strengths are being overlooked by the market. Amazon is using AI behind the scenes to become more efficient and drive growth. Meta Platforms and Pinterest are both using AI to drive advertising revenue growth. 10 stocks we like better than Alphabet › The artificial intelligence (AI) boom continues to drive growth and transform industries, but it's not just infrastructure players that are benefiting. Some of the best long-term opportunities are with companies deploying AI behind the scenes. Let's look at five brilliant AI-related growth stocks to buy and hold for the long haul. 1. Alphabet Investors continue to underestimate Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG)(NASDAQ: GOOGL), as they worry about AI disrupting its search business. But that view ignores what Google, its major component, actually does. This is a company built around content discovery -- not just traditional search -- and it's integrating AI into tools billions of people already use. And no other company is better at monetizing that content discovery through advertising than Alphabet. Its search data and digital ad network just cannot be matched. The Chrome browser and Android operating system give it unmatched distribution; Chrome is the default search engine on the majority of devices, giving it a huge built-in advantage. And a recent Oppenheimer survey revealed that users found Google Search's new AI Mode more helpful than not only traditional search but also ChatGPT. YouTube remains the world's largest ad-supported streaming platform. Google Cloud, Alphabet's cloud computing unit, is growing fast, helping companies build, train, and run AI models. Google is also becoming a chip leader. Its Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) are helping to power AI development, while its Willow quantum computing chip may be a future growth driver. And Alphabet subsidiary Waymo is expanding its robotaxi footprint. Taken altogether, Alphabet is one of the most innovative companies in the world, and one you want to own. 2. Amazon Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) is using AI to become even more dominant. While it's best known for e-commerce and cloud computing, the company's behind-the-scenes work is where the real long-term value is being built. On the logistics and warehouse side, Amazon is using AI to determine where to store inventory, create more efficient delivery routes, and even navigate hard-to-find drop-off points. Its robotics division just passed 1 million deployed units, and some of its AI-powered robots can detect damaged products or even repair themselves. Amazon also created a new AI model called DeepFleet that coordinates its entire robot fleet to help boost throughput. The company's largest and fastest-growing business is Amazon Web Services (AWS). It helps customers build AI models and apps with tools like Bedrock and SageMaker, and then has them run those programs on its infrastructure. It's also developed custom AI chips that give it a cost advantage, and continues to invest in AI infrastructure to meet rising demand. Overall, Amazon is well positioned for an increasingly AI-focused world. 3. Meta Platforms Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) owns one of the world's most valuable digital advertising businesses, and AI is making it better. Its Llama models are driving more engagement across Facebook and Instagram, boosting user time spent on the apps. That gives Meta more ad inventory to sell. It's also using AI to help advertisers create better campaigns and target potential customers, which is increasing demand and leading to higher ad prices. But Meta's growth story is just getting started. The company is only now beginning to serve ads on WhatsApp, which has over 3 billion users. It's also rolling out ads on Threads, its new social platform, which had 350 million users at the end of the first quarter. With two massive platforms still early in their monetization cycles and AI continuing to drive performance, Meta looks like a long-term winner in the AI-powered digital economy. But the company is not stopping there. CEO Mark Zuckerberg is spending aggressively to poach top AI talent. This is all part of an effort to -- as Zuckerberg says -- "deliver personal superintelligence to everyone in the world." If it's successful, Meta could become the top AI stock to own. 4. Pinterest Meta isn't the only social media company using AI to drive growth. Pinterest (NYSE: PINS) has been using AI to evolve into a more shoppable and advertiser-friendly platform. The company has built a multimodal model that understands both images and text, allowing for better personalization and powering new features like visual search. Users can now click on items within images and shop for similar products directly, making Pinterest far more transactional and more attractive to both users and advertisers. It's also working to simplify advertising on its platform. Performance+, its new AI-powered ad product, automates everything from campaign creation to targeting and bidding. That makes the platform easier to use for advertisers and helps them save time and drive better outcomes. Pinterest has a global user base that has historically been undermonetized, especially compared to those of its peers. But with AI improving engagement, search, and ad performance, the company has a big opportunity to start to close that gap. If it can continue executing on its vision of merging content discovery with commerce, Pinterest could be a breakout growth story over the long term. 5. Toast Toast (NYSE: TOST) has become one of the leading software platforms for the restaurant industry. What started as simply a point-of-sale system is now a full-stack software platform that helps restaurants streamline operations and drive more sales. Its newest tools -- like the AI-powered intelligence engine ToastIQ and the agent and assistant Sous Chef -- are designed to help restaurants make better decisions in real time. Meanwhile, the company said a restaurant piloting its new menu upsell tool saw average order volume increase by 6%, while another restaurant group testing its new AI-powered advertising tool saw more than a "10x return on ad spend" with Google Ads. Toast directly benefits from its customers' success, earning a cut of sales through payment processing. That creates a strong alignment between the business and its customers, so the company continues to innovate to help drive restaurant sales. Toast added 6,000 new locations in Q1 and now serves more than 140,000 restaurants. It's also expanding into chains like Applebee's and Topgolf, as well as adjacent verticals like hotel food service and retailers. It's slowly expanding overseas as well. Toast's pace of innovation and expanding customer base give it a long runway of growth. This makes it a growth stock you want to own for the long term. 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 $636,774!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,064,942!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,040% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 182% 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 July 21, 2025
Globe and Mail
10 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
The Best Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock to Buy With the Market At All-Time Highs
Key Points Alphabet stock is still trading at a cheap multiple. It has many growth vectors to benefit from artificial intelligence. Margin can help the company's profits explode in the next few years. These 10 stocks could mint the next wave of millionaires › The S&P 500 keeps soaring to new highs, making it feel impossible to find a cheap large-cap stock to buy today. This is especially true in technology and artificial intelligence (AI). Stocks such as Nvidia and Microsoft have price-to-earnings (P/E) ratios approaching 40 or higher, making them risky for investors. Growth expectations are high for many companies, which can make it increasingly difficult to buy stocks for your investment portfolio, especially if you care about value investing. That isn't the case with every AI stock. Here's why Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG)(NASDAQ: GOOGL) is the one AI stock you can buy right now with stocks at all-time highs. Alphabet's matrix of growth Some pundits have deemed Alphabet -- parent company of Google -- an AI loser because of competition from ChatGPT. I think this underplays the big picture. Alphabet has perhaps the most to gain from AI through its various subsidiaries, while also employing the best data advantage of any big technology player because of all the user data from Google, YouTube, and other properties. AI is not going to eliminate Google Search -- it will take it to the next level. AI overviews are already growing like a weed for Google Search results, while the Gemini chatbot is helping with advanced conversational queries. An explosion in new AI technologies will greatly expand the addressable market for Google and its related properties. That's why revenue is growing at a 10% annual rate for Google Services, even though it generated $77 billion in revenue just in the first quarter. Another way Alphabet can benefit from AI demand is Google Cloud, which is growing revenue at an astonishing 28% year-over-year clip, and is close to surpassing $50 billion in annualized revenue (it may surpass that mark next quarter). AI workloads will need huge amounts of specialized computing power to function, which Google Cloud is set to provide. Let's not forget self-driving start-up Waymo, which is taking over the streets of America's big cities, using Alphabet's infrastructure, engineering, and AI expertise. It is an entire matrix of growth for Alphabet that can be supercharged by AI. Profit margin expansion? AI requires a lot of upfront spending on data centers and computer chips in order to train and operate. Alphabet is planning to spend $75 billion on capital expenditures in 2025, mostly related to AI. This will increase depreciation and require steady growth in order to get a return on this investment, which some investors are skeptical about. Google Cloud used to be unprofitable, but it posted an 18% operating margin last quarter, a number that can keep expanding as it reaches larger scale. Due to these factors plus better hiring efficiency employed by Alphabet coming out of the pandemic, I think Alphabet's profit margins are set to keep inching higher over the next few years. Its operating margin recently hit a record of 33%. With huge operating leverage on its fixed-cost investments, I think this figure can grow to 40% over the long term, which is similar to Microsoft. With revenue at $359 billion that could grow to $400 billion or even $500 billion within a decade, a 40% operating margin could help Alphabet grow its operating income to $200 billion within a few years. That would make it the most profitable company in the world. GOOG PE Ratio data by YCharts. Buybacks and a cheap stock With all the earnings flowing to its balance sheet, Alphabet is returning capital to shareholders through buybacks and dividends. It pays a dividend yielding 0.42% that is set to grow steadily, while shares outstanding have fallen by 12% in the last 10 years. Alphabet plans to keep repurchasing stock at these cheap prices. It has a P/E ratio of 21, which is the cheapest among the " Magnificent Seven" stocks. This is shocking to see, given how much Alphabet can benefit from AI and cloud computing growth. Add everything up, and Alphabet looks like a fantastic stock to buy today, even with the market at all-time highs. Where to invest $1,000 right now When our analyst team has a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,040%* — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 182% for the S&P 500. They just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 21, 2025
Globe and Mail
2 days ago
- Globe and Mail
Companies focused on AI see surge this earnings season
Businesses focused on artificial intelligence are raking it in so far this earnings season. Those catering to actual people, less so. The AI spending surge is providing a big boost for semiconductor and software giants like Google parent Alphabet Inc. GOOGL-Q, while companies from airlines to restaurants and food manufacturers are struggling to navigate an erratic U.S. trade policy which is boosting costs, upending supply chains and hurting consumer confidence. Along with Alphabet, SK Hynix and India's Infosys exceeded market forecasts on Thursday and predicted brighter days to come, with Alphabet and SK Hynix both flagging plans to boost spending. SK supplies the world's most valuable company Nvidia Corp. NVDA-Q, the AI chipmaking giant that recently surpassed US$4-trillion in market value. By contrast, executives at many consumer names were less enthusiastic, from luxury bellwether LVMH, packaged food giant Nestle, to toymakers Hasbro and Mattel and airlines Southwest and American. They, along with automakers and giants like Coca-Cola, have indicated that some segments of the buying public have pulled in their spending as prices and interest rates remain high. The dichotomy is evident in IBM's results. Sales in Big Blue's 'AI book of business' grew 25 per cent in its most recent quarter to US$7.5-billion, while its software segment fell short of expectations and the company sounded cautious about how much its consulting segment might grow this year. The equity market has accentuated the positive. News that the U.S. had struck a trade deal with Japan and was closing in on a deal with the European Union ahead of an Aug 1. deadline boosted markets. The broad S&P 500 notched another record this week and the Eurostoxx was just a few points shy of that mark. Airlines are using AI to set ticket prices. Here's how you can avoid price manipulation when booking flights 'The market is getting friendly with a view that tariffs ending up higher than they have ever been for 100 years will not have a negative impact on economic growth, because we haven't seen any negative impact on economic growth so far,' said Van Luu, head of solutions strategy, fixed income and foreign exchange at Russell Investments. Whether companies continue to absorb that hit remains to be seen. So far, companies have reported over July 16-22 a combined full-year loss of as much as US$7.8-billion, with automotive, aerospace and pharmaceutical sectors hurt the most by tariffs, according to a Reuters tariff tracker. U.S. averages have been buoyed by the so-called Magnificent Seven, a group of tech giants that has benefited heavily from spending plans on artificial intelligence, and currently accounts for more than 30 per cent of the value of the S&P. 'AI is one of the strongest areas of growth for the economy, and the market mirrors the economy,' said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of 50 Park Investments. To be sure, the market's reaction may be in part because a larger-than-normal percentage of companies are clearing a lowered bar for estimates. Walmart unveils AI super agents roll-out to boost e-commerce growth At the beginning of April, the market expected 10.2 per cent year-over-year S&P earnings growth, but by July, that number had dropped to 5.8 per cent, according to LSEG data. With about 30 per cent of constituents reporting results, the blended earnings growth rate sits at 7.7 per cent. AI-focused businesses continued to print money in the most recent quarter. Nvidia supplier SK Hynix posted record quarterly profit, boosted by demand for artificial intelligence chips and customers stockpiling ahead of potential U.S. tariffs. Indian IT services provider Infosys raised the floor of its annual revenue forecast range to 1 per cent to 3 per cent, from flat to 3 per cent, matching analyst expectations. 'The tech community is going ahead full speed ahead ... and banks are in a very strong position now,' said Bill George, former chairman and CEO of Medtronic and executive education fellow at Harvard Business School. 'Other companies will struggle to get growth.' Consumer companies have been less upbeat. Nestle, the world's biggest packaged food maker, reported softer demand as it struggled to win thrifty shoppers to its big brands. U.S. airlines Southwest and American Airlines warned that Americans are travelling less, the latest signal that U.S. consumers are remaining cautious about their spending. Toymakers Mattel and Hasbro both said uncertainties around tariffs are acting as a headwind. Carmakers are among firms dealing with the most difficulty. The auto giants are resisting raising prices, eating the cost of tariffs that may cost them millions or billions of dollars. Levies on metals, copper and auto parts made it harder to navigate changing tariff policies. South Korea's Hyundai Motor on Thursday posted a 16-per-cent decline in second-quarter operating profit, saying U.S. tariffs cost it 828-billion won (US$606.5-million) in the second quarter, with a bigger hit expected in the current quarter. General Motors still expects a US$4-billion to US$5-billion hit to its bottom line this year. On Wednesday, Tesla chief executive Elon Musk said U.S. government cuts in support for electric-vehicle makers could lead to a 'few rough quarters,' as his firm reported its worst quarterly sales decline in over a decade.
