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Globe and Mail
9 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
1 Unstoppable Stock That Could Join Nvidia, Microsoft, and Apple in the $3 Trillion Club
Key Points Eight American companies are worth $1 trillion or more, but only Nvidia, Microsoft, and Apple have surpassed the $3 trillion milestone so far. Meta Platforms could join that exclusive club thanks to its efforts in the artificial intelligence (AI) space, which are transforming its social media business. Meta stock has soared by 200% over the past five years, but it's still surprisingly cheap. 10 stocks we like better than Meta Platforms › Eight American companies are valued at $1 trillion or more, but only three graduated into the ultra-exclusive $3 trillion club: Nvidia, Microsoft, and Apple. I think Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) could join them. Meta owns social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, but it has also become a clear leader in the artificial intelligence (AI) race thanks to its Llama family of large language models (LLMs), which are among the most powerful in the industry. 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 » Meta stock soared by 11% on July 31, after the company reported a stellar set of operating results for the second quarter of 2025 (which ended on June 30). The move lifted its market capitalization to almost $2 trillion, meaning investors who buy the stock today could earn a return of 50% if it ascends into the $3 trillion club. Here's why I think it will get there sooner rather than later. AI is supercharging Meta's business Almost 3.5 billion people were using at least one of Meta's social media apps every day during the second quarter of 2025. As that figure approaches half of the global population, it will become harder to attract new users, which will have consequences for the company's advertising revenue in the future. However, Meta can also generate more advertising dollars by increasing the amount of time each user spends on its apps, and AI is central to that strategy. Meta's recommendation engine uses AI to learn what type of content each user enjoys viewing, and then it feeds them more of it. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said this resulted in a 6% increase in the amount of time users spent on Instagram during the second quarter, and a 5% increase on Facebook. Simply put, the longer each user spends online, the more ads they see, and the more money Meta makes. AI also boosts the efficiency of Meta's ad-recommendation model by targeting users more accurately, which led to a 5% increase in conversions on Instagram during the second quarter and a 3% increase on Facebook. Businesses will normally pay more money per ad when conversions are increasing, which is another big tailwind for Meta. Higher engagement and more conversions sent Meta's second-quarter revenue soaring 22% year over year to $47.5 billion, which was comfortably above the company's forecast range of $42.5 billion to $45.5 billion. Management also issued bullish guidance for the third quarter (which ends on Sept. 30), telling investors the company's revenue could top $50 billion for the first time ever. Zuckerberg says AI superintelligence is in sight Meta launched its Llama family of LLMs in early 2023. They are open source so Meta leans on a community of millions of developers to troubleshoot technical issues, which is why they have caught up to the best closed-source models so quickly. The latest Llama 4 models now rival the most advanced releases from top start-ups like OpenAI and Anthropic. Meta is using the Llama models to power new features across its social media apps, which is another way it's boosting engagement. The Meta AI chatbot, for instance, already has over 1 billion monthly active users who tap into its capabilities for homework assistance, image generation, and everything in between. Zuckerberg says AI superintelligence -- which is when AI models surpass human intelligence by every metric -- is now in sight. Whoever reaches this milestone first could have a significant advantage over every other AI developer, which is why Zuckerberg recently established a new division called Meta Superintelligence Labs. Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang will lead the team, after selling 49% of his company to Meta in a $14 billion deal in June. But achieving superintelligence won't be cheap. Meta allocated $17 billion to capital expenditures (capex) during the second quarter alone, most of which went toward building data center infrastructure and buying chips from suppliers like Nvidia. The company also increased its capex forecast for 2025; it now expects to spend between $66 billion to $72 billion, up from $64 billion to $72 billion previously. The gigantic capex spending could dent Meta's profitability in the short term, but the company hopes it will lead to accelerated growth over the long run as AI (and potentially superintelligence) improves user engagement and ad conversions even further. Meta has a clear path to the $3 trillion club Fortunately, Meta's strong beat at the top line led to a very strong result at the bottom line during the second quarter. Its earnings per share (EPS) soared by 38% year over year to $7.14, crushing Wall Street's estimate of $5.92. It carried the company's trailing-12-month EPS to $27.62, which places its stock at a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of just 28. That's a noteworthy discount to the Nasdaq-100 index, which is trading at a P/E ratio of 32.7, and it's an even steeper discount to the median P/E ratio of the " Magnificent Seven" stocks, which stands at 38.1. The Magnificent Seven (which includes Meta) is an elite group of technology companies operating on the front lines of the AI industry. PE Ratio data by YCharts Therefore, despite logging an eye-popping 200% gain over the last five years alone, Meta stock might still be undervalued. It would have to rise by a further 36.1% just to trade in line with the median P/E ratio of the Magnificent Seven, which would catapult its market cap to almost $2.7 trillion. At that point, Meta's annualized EPS would have to grow by just 11% to push its market cap above $3 trillion. Meta grew its EPS at a compound annual rate of 36% during the recent decade between 2014 and 2024. That growth rate is unsustainable over the long term for any company, but Meta's EPS soared at an above-trend pace of 37% during the first quarter of 2025, and then 38% in the second quarter, so it should have no trouble mustering 11% growth over the next year or two. Even if Meta's P/E ratio holds steady at 28 -- which I predict is unlikely because it seems so cheap -- it's only a matter of time before the company's rapid earnings growth carries it into the exclusive $3 trillion club. Should you invest $1,000 in Meta Platforms right now? Before you buy stock in Meta Platforms, 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 Meta Platforms 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 $624,823!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,064,820!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,019% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 178% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 4, 2025 Anthony Di Pizio has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Netflix, Nvidia, and Tesla. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
CBC
40 minutes ago
- CBC
As Beer Stores shut their doors, who will take your empties?
Social Sharing With more and more Beer Stores closing across Ontario, charities and non-profits that rely on bottle collection are hoping to cash in on your empties. The Beer Store currently processes about 1.6 billion empty alcohol containers per year. But it has closed dozens of locations across the province since the arrival of beer in convenience stores, and plans to shutter still more this September. At least five of the actual or planned closures are in Ottawa, including one in the Glebe, where Operation Come Home runs a bottle drive as part of its BottleWorks social enterprise. Executive director John Heckbert hasn't noticed any impact yet — but he's hoping more residents will call on BottleWorks to collect their empties. "We would be very happy to help people if they find that they're accumulating bottles or that they would like somebody to come pick them up," he said. "It's definitely bad news for the people that are affected by the closures," he added. "But it is a positive for our program in the sense that we can provide more employment opportunities and more activity for our youth." Operation Come Home provides housing, employment and eduction programs for homeless youth, who staff the BottleWorks program. They ride around in the truck and collect from practically anywhere in Ottawa, though suburban areas have higher minimums for collection. Residents can fill out a form on the BottleWorks website and schedule a collection date. They can get a tax receipt in return. "We are going to be adding two new trucks to the road in the coming year," Heckbert said. "We're going to expand the capacity of the program and this timing will help us make sure that the trucks are always full." Animal rescues also hopeful BottleWorks isn't the only group that will pick up empties. Fundraisers for animal rescues also collect bottles and cans to pay for food and vet bills. Darlene Charman of Empties for Paws Orleans said empties play a major role in their fundraising. She saw a major uptick in collections during the COVID-19 pandemic, when it was tougher for people to get out for returns. She wonders whether the Beer Store closures might trigger a similar trend. "It could bring a little bit more of an influx of the empties to the animal rescues, because the people won't be bothered to drive further out," she said. Melody Lachance collects empties for several animal rescues through her fundraising group, Barrhaven & Area Empties. She too is hoping for a boost. "They may just contact us and say, 'Do you want my empties, because I'm not going to drive to wherever to cash them in,'" she said. Lachance is already looking to nearby Manotick, where a store is set to close later this month. But further closures could also be a hindrance, since both Lachance and Charman rely on the Beer Store for returns. Waste reduction advocate worried Duncan Bury of Waste Watch Ottawa agreed that charities can pick up some of the slack left as Beer Stores closed, but not enough to compensate for the overall decline of a collection system he already sees as severely lacking. Where other provinces like B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan collect about 80 per cent of their empties, Ontario brings in only about half. "That 50 per cent number will surely fall," Bury said. "The whole system, which is not very good to start with, is just going to get worse." Buty noted that most other provinces accept non-alcoholic containers and offer far more locations for residents to return their empties. Quebec has 1,200, while B.C. has 600. Currently, the Beer Store is required to keep at least 300 locations open as part of a contract with the provincial government. But that will end as of Jan. 1. Bury fears that could mean more closures and even fewer options for returns. "The options to recover those containers are frankly disappearing," said Bury. On that same date, the province will require grocery stores that sell alcohol to accept empties for collection. Bury said that could work. It's a major component of British Columbia's successful system. "If they can do it in British Columbia, there's absolutely no reason they shouldn't be able to do it in Ontario," he said. But he's concerned it won't happen. The province already requires about 70 grocery stores in areas without Beer Stores to accept empties. But a report in May found that few were actually complying. Bury said the province needs to be tough with the grocers, but it should also do more. He said Ontario should open stand-alone depots for bottle returns, like Quebec and British Columbia. Heckbert said BottleWorks could help businesses that sell alcohol by taking the empties off their hands. "I could imagine that for a grocery store, space and inventory will be an issue. It's the same thing that our bars and restaurants encounter," he said.
CBC
40 minutes ago
- CBC
On-demand transit hits the streets in Pembroke
Pembroke, Ont., has launched a three-year on-demand transit pilot project, giving residents of the eastern Ontario city access to long-awaited public transportation. Two eight-seater vehicles will operate within city limits starting Aug. 5, with a third backup vehicle on standby to ensure uninterrupted service. "It's big news for our community," said Brian Abdallah, the city's deputy mayor and council's lead for the project. Pembroke, he noted, hasn't had any public transportation service for about 12 years, when its system was discontinued due to long wait times and low ridership. The city has now partnered with Mobility Transportation Specialists and Blaise Transit to deliver and monitor the on-demand pilot project. The vehicles won't follow a set route. Instead, people can book trips at a fare of five dollars per ride by using an app or web portal powered by Blaise Transit or by calling the city's on-demand transit phone line. The goal is to have riders walk no more than five minutes to and from their chosen pick up and drop off point. "The issue of transit has been a long outstanding issue with the community," said Angela Lochtie, Pembroke's director of corporate services and executive lead on the transit pilot. "It's very exciting, and the excitement that we've received in the community so far has been wonderful." During the first year of the pilot, Lochtie said the city is anticipating monthly ridership of between 1,200 and 1,700 people. The vehicles will have ramps and capacity to accommodate two wheelchairs, Lochtie said, although the Pembroke and Laurentian Valley Handi-Bus will still provide fully accessible door-to-door transit service in the area. Drawing from other municipalities Pembroke officials looked to other municipalities to develop their pilot, with a particular focus on North Grenville's on-demand bus service. The benefit of the on-demand transit, Abdallah said, is that "it's a more responsive system and saves time" by serving riders when and where they need to go. Last year, Ottawa had a go at a similar project in the east-end community of Blackburn Hamlet. The service shuttled riders between Blair station and the Gloucester Centre on Sundays and some holidays in place of OC Transpo's Route 28, using spare Para Transpo minibuses. Orléans West-Innes Coun. Laura Dudas said the pilot was "incredibly successful," totalling about 191 unique trips during the four months it ran. "It's not an Uber, but it is very close to that kind of door to door service and the connection to our LRT station was quite beneficial," Dudas said. "I'd also think that rural communities could benefit from this. Because although they're farther spread [out], if you were to book your ride, you're not having a giant articulated bus come down a rural road to pick up one user." Service to operate six days a week On-demand transit service in Pembroke will initially operate six days a week, excluding Sundays and statutory holidays, with the following hours: Monday to Wednesday: from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday: from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. After Sept. 1, service will be extended to 10 p.m. Monday to Friday. While the pilot is currently funded primarily through fare revenue and property taxes, the city is pursuing federal grant applications in the hopes of adding two electric vehicles to the fleet next year. The city is encouraging riders to provide feedback and will conduct a formal review of the service's performance six months into the pilot.
