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If you’re looking for some monster returns, the stocks that can provide them come in many shapes and sizes. For this exercise, we’re going to identify three stocks that show significant revenue growth as well as improving free cash flow and gross margins.

These indicators emphasize better financial health, flexibility for growth, or returning extra value to shareholders. Here’s a look at three companies with rising top lines, while simultaneously bringing more dollars to their bottom lines.

One seller’s trash, another buyer’s treasure

First up is a company called Copart (CPRT -0.33%), which operates an online salvage-vehicle auctions that 11 countries across North America, Europe, and the Middle East. Copart makes over 3.5 million transactions annually through its virtual bidding platform that connects vehicle sellers with over 750,000 registered buyers.

CPRT data by YCharts; TTM = trailing 12 months.

Copart has quickly grown into the largest online salvage-vehicle auction operator in the U.S. market and has grown its top line nearly fivefold since 2009 thanks to a strategy of land expansion and higher salvage volume. The company has contracts with large auto insurers, which have a plethora of vehicles deemed a total loss and sell them on consignment for high margins to dismantlers.

Image source: Getty Images.

Copart has been expanding. It’s crucial for the company to have ample land capacity to handle an influx of salvage vehicles on short notice and has nearly tripled its acreage since 2015, with an emphasis on areas at high risk of natural disasters. It’s also expanding into the salvage-vehicle resale process with offerings such as vehicle title transfer and salvage estimation services.

The company is expanding its business and its top line and has durable competitive advantages with the land it owns, creating a high-liquidity marketplace for buyers and sellers that isn’t easily replicable.

A recurring revenue dream

Autodesk (ADSK -2.19%) is an application software company servicing industries that span architecture, engineering, construction, product design and manufacturing, media, and entertainment. The company essentially enables the design, rendering, and modeling needs of those industries and has over 4 million paid subscribers across 180 countries.

ADSK data by YCharts.

Autodesk, while providing leading industry computer-aided design software, drives its success and durable competitive advantages through switching costs and network effects, which actually tend to reinforce each other. Widespread training on its software, often early in careers, not only gives people familiarity with the software, it also makes the cost of learning a competing software undesirable, unproductive, and time-consuming.

Furthermore, according to Morningstar, over 95% of its revenue is now recurring after the company transitioned away from licenses to a subscription model over the better part of the last decade. The change should enable the company to drive its top line even higher as it extracts more revenue per user with upsells and a more mature and loyal user base.

Autodesk even has upside if it can capture a chunk of the estimated 12 million to 15 million people using pirated versions of its software.

A hotel for every need

As of the end of 2024, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG -1.01%) operated nearly 990,000 rooms across 19 brands that span from midscale through luxury segments. Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express are its largest and most recognizable brands, but it also has an assortment of lesser-known lifestyle brands that are recording strong demand.

IHG data by YCharts.

While there’s a bit of U.S. economic uncertainty in the near term, InterContinental should be able to leverage its strong brand of assets to drive room share (i.e., market share) over the next decade. It has renovated and newer brands focusing on attractive midscale and extended-stay segments, as well as a loyalty program with roughly 145 million members to help drive growth.

The company also holds significant assets in international markets with those outside of the Americas generating 47% of total rooms for 2024, and it’s well positioned for the more than 1 billion middle-income consumers expected to be joining the global population over the next 10 years.

The company has over 99% of rooms managed or franchised, which provides an attractive recurring-fee business model highlighted by high return on invested capital (ROIC) as well as high switching costs for property owners.

Contracts often last from 20 to 30 years, also providing noteworthy cancellation costs for owners — all helping drive durable competitive advantages for IHG.

Are they buys?

For long-term investors, these three potentially monster stocks have proved they can rapidly grow their top line while also improving gross margins and pushing more dollars into free cash flow.

The kicker is that all three possess some form of competitive advantage that should sustain and enable growth over the next decade. If you’re looking for market beating returns, these three stocks are a great place to start your research — and perhaps a small position.

If I could only own one stock for the next decade, it would be Alphabet (GOOGL -2.05%) (GOOG -1.99%). The company has dispelled fears that artificial intelligence (AI) is a threat, while its biggest risk around its antitrust case is now behind it. Meanwhile, it probably has one of the best long-term growth setups of any stock out there.

Alphabet’s dominance starts with search. Google remains the front door to the internet for billions of people, and that’s not changing anytime soon due to the huge distribution advantage the company has. It controls both the world’s leading smartphone operating system and web browser in Android and Chrome, respectively, while its search revenue-sharing deal with Apple makes it the default search engine for Safari.

Image source: Getty Images.

Meanwhile, Alphabet is now incorporating AI throughout Google to make its offering even stronger and help drive query growth. With new features like Lens and Circle to Search, Alphabet has found new ways to help people search instead of just typing in text. This is driving more queries, many of which have a shopping intent that feeds into its massive ad network. Meanwhile, AI Overviews and its new AI Mode, which lets users toggle between traditional results and chatbot-style answers, are also driving more engagement.

Google’s data advantage also shouldn’t be underestimated. The company has decades of user data, as well as videos through YouTube, that it can use to make its Gemini AI models better. Alphabet’s strength in multimodal AI is another area of strength that gets overlooked. The Gemini chatbot app has been taking off, largely due to Nano Banana, its newest AI image editor and creator, while Google Veo 3 is a video AI leader.

Alphabet has also spent decades creating one of the most wide-reaching ad networks on the planet. It can handle anything from global campaigns to local merchants. Creating great search and AI products is just half the battle; you need to be able to monetize them, and Alphabet’s unmatched ad network puts it light-years ahead of any emerging competition.

To the clouds and beyond

While search is Alphabet’s biggest business, it is far from a one-horse pony. Cloud computing has become the company’s fastest-growing business. Last quarter, Google Cloud revenue jumped 32% to $13.6 billion, while operating income more than doubled to $2.8 billion. Demand is so strong that Alphabet raised its 2025 capital expenditure (capex) budget by $10 billion to $85 billion to expand data center capacity. Unlike many peers, Google Cloud is vertically integrated from top to bottom. Google is the only company with its own world-class AI model and its own custom chips, called Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), that it’s using at scale. Those TPUs provide both cost and performance advantages, especially as workloads shift toward inference rather than training.

Alphabet is also taking AI deeper into the enterprise with its new Gemini Enterprise and Gemini Business subscriptions. These offerings let companies build and deploy AI agents without writing code. The launch includes pre-built agents and access to partner-built ones, all backed by enterprise-grade security features like Model Armor. This positions Google to compete directly with Microsoft and OpenAI for corporate AI spending, and early adopters such as Gap and Virgin Voyages are already reporting measurable productivity gains.

Behind all this, Google Cloud benefits from technology that’s hard to replicate. It developed Kubernetes, which is now the standard for containerized apps, and it owns one of the largest private fiber networks in the world, delivering low-latency performance on a global scale. Its pending acquisition of Wiz, meanwhile, will add a best-in-class cloud security platform. Google Cloud may be the third-largest cloud provider by market share, but its technology stack and integration with Gemini give it a differentiated position that could drive outsize growth over the next decade.

In addition to cloud computing, Alphabet also has some promising emerging bets. The one furthest along is Alphabet’s robotaxi unit Waymo, which is already operating in multiple U.S. cities and expanding rapidly. If it can lower costs, it could eventually become a huge profit driver for the company. The company’s quantum computing team, meanwhile, is also making real progress with its Willow chip, which has shown reduced error rates as it scales.

A cheap stock with big growth ahead

Despite all this, Alphabet’s valuation still looks attractive. The stock trades at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of roughly 22.5 times projected 2026 earnings, which is a clear discount to its mega-cap AI peers. So, despite the rally in the stock this year, it still is not fully getting the respect it deserves.

Given its valuation, wide moat, growth prospects, and the optionality of its emerging bets in robotaxis and quantum computing, Alphabet is the one stock I’d own if I could only own one stock.

Like it or not, and whether we trust driverless vehicles yet or not, they’re on the way, and the future is coming faster than many investors realize. The driverless vehicle market has enormous growth potential and is projected to be worth trillions of dollars in a decade’s time.

Don’t take it from me: Goldman Sachs Research predicts that robotaxis’ ride-share market alone is on the path for a 90% compound annual growth rate between 2025 and 2030, and that’s merely scratching the surface. If you’re looking to dip your toes into what could be a generational investing opportunity, here are three stocks to keep an eye on.

One way to play robotaxis

Mobileye Global (MBLY -6.56%) is in the business of developing and deploying Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving technologies and solutions. With a comprehensive collection of software and hardware technologies, Mobileye can offer end-to-end products and services for automakers. Investors should look at Mobileye as a solid robotaxi investment for those who don’t want to deal with the drama currently surrounding Tesla.

With the automotive industry heading toward driverless vehicles, Mobileye’s technology and systems will bolster automotive safety, productivity, and vehicle utilization through solutions such as Supervision, Chauffeur, Drive, and EyeQ. Meanwhile, management has been working hard to secure new ADAS deals with large customers, while finding new opportunities with untapped clients. One driving force for the company is a growing adoption of multicamera setups due to the need for increased safety and a push toward hands-free highway driving.

Adding to Mobileye’s growth is its strategic partnerships, including ZEEKR, using Mobileye as its launch partner for its ADAS, and its design wins with automakers such as Porsche and Mahindra, among other major OEMs. Just this spring, Volkswagen announced a collaboration with Mobileye to improve safety and driving comfort for some of its upcoming vehicle pipeline.

The company remains unprofitable, with full-year guidance expecting an operating loss between $436 million to $512 million. That said, Mobileye boasts roughly $1.7 billion in cash and cash equivalents, rising free cash flow, very little debt, and should be able to navigate choppy waters as the industry slowly figures out the path to full autonomous vehicles.

The business of connectivity

Aptiv PLC (APTV -2.47%) is a technology company working to bring the next generation of active safety, autonomous vehicles, smart cities, and connectivity through its decades of experience pioneering advances in the automotive industry.

While the stock has faltered from its all-time highs as electric vehicle hype died down with slower-than-anticipated adoption in the U.S. market, it’s still performing well, with earnings expected to check in at $7.48 per share in 2025, up significantly from $2.61 in 2021 — a compound annual growth rate of 30%.

Image source: Aptiv.

But its growth prospects might improve even more, with the company’s business split on the horizon for the first quarter of 2026. Aptiv plans to split into two companies: one that will focus on slower-growth electrical distribution systems (EDS), and the second on faster-growth safety and software — the latter aimed at a more driverless vehicle focus.

It’s easy to understand the rationale behind the business breakup when you consider the EDS business generated 2024 sales of $8.3 billion at earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) profit margins of 9.5%, while the safety and software generated 2024 sales of $12.2 billion with EBITDA margins nearly double at 18.8%.

The new Aptiv with a focus on safety and software that enable higher levels of autonomous functions won’t be limited to vehicles either, with potential applications for planes and other machines. Aptiv has already begun branching out its overall business with its communications software acquisition of Wind River in 2022.

All things autonomous

Hesai Group (HSAI -11.13%) is a global leader in lidar solutions, with its products enabling a wide range of applications including passenger and commercial vehicles ADAS, autonomous vehicles, robotics, and nonautomotive applications such as last-mile delivery robots.

Throughout the company’s second quarter, Hesai secured a notable number of new design wins through 2026, with 20 models from nine leading OEMs, highlighted by a platform win for multiple 2026 models with one of its top two ADAS customers. The design wins help cement lidar as a standard feature across the specific customer’s model lineups and will drive the company’s order book higher in the near term.

Outside its automotive wins, the company’s robotics business is also doing well, ranking No. 1 in lidar shipments in China for the first half of 2025, per Gaogong Industry Research Institute. Its robotics business is well positioned for the wave of physical artificial intelligence (AI), with lidars becoming essential for AI to perceive and sort the dynamic world we operate in, especially in driverless vehicles.

“In the first six months of 2025, total shipments have already surpassed those of full-year 2024. According to Gasgoo, we ranked first in installation volume among long-range lidar suppliers during this period,” said Hesai cofounder and CEO Yifan “David” Li in a press release.

Are the stocks buys?

The number of robotaxis and driverless vehicles on the roads is set to increase in the coming years, especially as leading autonomous vehicle operators reduce costs and begin scaling the business. Right now, roughly 1,500 such vehicles operate across a handful of U.S. cities, but that figure is expected to soar to about 35,000 across the country in 2030.

Even then, driverless vehicles will represent a fraction of the rideshare market, leaving plenty of long-term growth for investors who believe these companies have injected their technologies and solutions into the industry. Mobileye, Aptiv, and Hesai are all proven companies with products poised to push the boundaries of driverless vehicles, robotaxis, and ADAS going forward, and savvy investors would be wise to keep them on a watch list.

Hamas and allied Palestinian factions have reiterated that any decision on the future governance of Gaza is “an internal Palestinian matter” as the ceasefire in the territory takes effect.

In a joint statement on Friday, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) joined Hamas in lauding the steadfastness of Palestinians, which they said foiled Israel’s plans for mass forced displacement in Gaza.

“We renew our rejection to any foreign guardianship, and we stress that the nature of the administration of the Gaza Strip and its institutions are an internal Palestinian matter to be determined by the national component of our people directly,” the statement said.

The groups added that they are working on an “urgent comprehensive national meeting” to discuss next steps after the ceasefire.

“This will unify the Palestinian position, formulate a comprehensive national strategy, and rebuild our national institutions on the foundations of partnership, credibility, and transparency,” they said.

It is not clear whether Fatah, the faction that dominates the Palestinian Authority, has agreed to be part of the meeting.

United States President Donald Trump’s 20-point Gaza plan includes the creation of a new international body, dubbed the “Board of Peace”, that would be tasked with overseeing an interim authority of technocrats to govern Gaza.

According to the scheme, Trump himself would chair the board, which would also include former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The first stage of the ceasefire, to which both Hamas and Israel agreed, is linked to Trump’s plan, but it remains unclear how Gaza will be governed going forward.

Captive releases; aid trucks for Gaza

Al Jazeera obtained a copy of the stipulations of the agreement, which calls on Hamas to hand over the Israeli captives within 72 hours without any public celebrations or media ceremony.

The deal also would ensure that at least 600 aid trucks reach Gaza daily, as well as the rehabilitation of water stations and the establishment of camps to shelter people in the enclave.

Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians began their journey to their homes in the north of the territory on Friday as the Israeli military started to withdraw from coastal areas.

The Palestinian Civil Defence said it retrieved 63 bodies from the streets of Gaza City after the truce came into effect on Friday. Thousands of Palestinians remain missing amid difficulty in pulling victims from under the rubble and reaching areas under Israeli military control.

Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud described near total destruction in Gaza City after weeks of intense Israeli bombardment.

“On the way to Gaza City, as we approached the main entrance on the coastal road, it was already unrecognisable by the vast destruction and devastation of many of the buildings,” Mahmoud said.

“During our displacement journey, when we left the city, we counted 15 buildings either partially standing or still fully intact, inhabited by some of the displaced families. On our way back, we did not see them.”

Later on Friday, the Gaza Government Media Office stressed the need for a comprehensive reconstruction plan for the territory.

The first phase of the agreement calls for the entry of equipment to remove the rubble – a first step towards reconstruction.

The deal also says that United Nations agencies and other aid groups would distribute the humanitarian assistance, effectively sidelining the controversial Israel and US-backed GHF.

Hundreds of Palestinians were killed over the past months as they tried to reach GHF sites deep inside Israeli lines of control. Rights groups have described the mechanism as a death trap.

But GHF announced on Friday that it will continue to operate despite the ceasefire.

“GHF’s team on the ground continues to provide humanitarian aid and food to all those who need it,” GHF executive director John Acree said in a statement.

“We will not rest so long as there are Gazans in need. It’s our mission, and it continues on.”

GHF whistleblowers have documented horrific abuses committed in and around the private foundation’s sites.

Thousands of displaced Palestinians have begun returning to their abandoned and mostly destroyed homes, as the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas takes hold, with Israeli forces withdrawing from parts of Gaza.

Families started moving from western residential areas on Friday back towards Gaza City’s main districts, areas from which they were previously forced to flee.

Several Israeli military brigades and divisions have pulled out from central Gaza regions as well.

At the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, families have begun travelling northward, though many remain waiting to enter areas in the Netzarim Corridor, where Israeli forces were stationed. They are holding there until the final Israeli tank departs the area.

Concerning developments include heightened activity of Israeli drones, fighter jets, and warships since early morning. Multiple attacks were reported in the morning at locations where people were gathering to return home.

A huge procession of displaced Palestinians moved northward through dust-filled roads towards Gaza City, the territory’s largest urban centre, which had experienced intense Israeli military operations just days earlier.

“Thank God my house is still standing,” said Ismail Zayda, 40, in the Sheikh Radwan area in Gaza City. “But the place is destroyed, my neighbours’ houses are destroyed, entire districts have gone.”

The Israeli military announced the ceasefire agreement took effect at noon local time (09:00 GMT). Israel’s government ratified the ceasefire with Hamas early Friday, setting in motion a partial troop withdrawal and complete suspension of hostilities in Gaza within 24 hours.

Israeli captives are scheduled for release within 72 hours afterwards, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.

The first phase of United States President Trump’s plan to end the two-year Gaza conflict requires Israeli forces to withdraw from major urban centres, though they will maintain control of approximately half the enclave’s territory.

Once the agreement takes effect, aid trucks carrying food and medical supplies will enter Gaza to assist civilians, hundreds of thousands of whom have been living in tents after their homes were destroyed and entire cities reduced to rubble.

Oct. 6 (UPI) — The U.S. Senate is expected to hold a vote on a stopgap funding bill Monday evening as the government enters the sixth day of a shutdown.

The upper chamber is scheduled to hold its first vote on reopening the government at 5:30 p.m. EDT, according to ABC News.

Lawmakers must reach a supermajority, or 60 votes, to pass a continuing resolution that would fund the government. The Senate’s 53 Republicans need the votes of seven Democrats to reach that supermajority.

At issue are subsidies for Affordable Care Act premiums set to expire in the new year. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said his party wouldn’t support the stopgap legislation unless Republicans provisions extending the ADA subsidies.

The Trump administration has said it’s against extending the ADA subsidies, falsely claiming undocumented immigrants are taking advantage of it. Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for health insurance under the ADA, according to the federal healthcare.gov website.

Speaking Sunday on CBS’ Face the Nation, Schumer said Republicans must negotiate with Democrats on the short-term funding bill.

“We ought to be talking about the real issue here, which is that we have a healthcare crisis in America caused by Republicans,” he said. “They’ve … barreled us towards a shutdown because they don’t want to deal with that crisis. Plain and simple.

President Donald Trump has threatened to cut government agencies supported by Democrats if they don’t vote to reopen the government.

Kevin Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council, warned the president will “start taking sharp measures” Monday.

“You know, my friends over at the Council of Economic Advisors gave ma report at the end of the week that said that it costs the U.S. GDP about $15 billion a week for a shutdown, or about a 10th of a percent of GDP,” Hassett said on an appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box on Monday.

“And so, if the shutdown continues for a long time, then there’s going to be a lot of things that don’t happen, and it will show up at the GDP number.”

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration said Wednesday that it was putting a hold on roughly $18 billion to fund a new rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River between New York and New Jersey and the city’s expanded Second Avenue subway project because of the government shutdown.

The White House budget director, Russ Vought, said on a post on X that the step was taken due to the Republican administration’s belief that the money was “based on unconstitutional DEI principles,” a reference to diversity, equity and inclusion.

But an administration official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and insisted on anonymity to discuss the hold, said the government shutdown that started at midnight meant that the Transportation Department employees responsible for reimbursing workers on the projects had been furloughed, so the money was being withheld.

The suspension of funds is likely meant to target Senate Democratic leader Charles E. Schumer of New York, whom the White House is blaming for the shutdown.

In a 2023 interview with the Associated Press, Schumer said he and then-President Biden were both “giddy” over the rail tunnel project, adding that it was all they talked about in the presidential limousine as they rode to the site.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, reacting to the news at a news conference about the federal government shutdown, told reporters, “The bad news just keeps coming” and that “they’re trying to make culture wars be the reason why.”

“That’s what a partnership with Washington looks like as we’re standing here. We’ve done our part, we’re ready to build, it’s underway,” she said. “And now we realize that they’ve decided to put their own interpretation of proper culture ahead of our needs, the needs of a nation.”

The Hudson River rail tunnel is a long-delayed project whose path toward construction has been full of political and funding switchbacks. It’s intended to ease the strain on a 110-year-old tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey. Hundreds of Amtrak and commuter trains carry hundreds of thousands of passengers per day through the tunnel, and delays can ripple up and down the East Coast between Boston and Washington

The Second Avenue subway was first envisioned in the 1920s. The subway line along Manhattan’s Second Avenue was an on-again, off-again grail until the first section opened on Jan. 1, 2017. The state-controlled Metropolitan Transportation Authority is working toward starting construction on the line’s second phase of the line, which is to extend into East Harlem.

Boak writes for the Associated Press. AP writers Anthony Izaguirre in Albany, N.Y., and Jennifer Peltz in New York contributed to this report.

Pittsburgh are six-time Super Bowl winners – a record they share with the New England Patriots – and their defence of the 1970s became known as the Steel Curtain.

The franchise has continued to be renowned for its defence and this would have been a performance to make proud the Steelers’ late president Dan Rooney, who was the US ambassador to Ireland from 2009 to 2012.

Minnesota earned more first downs, more yards and had more time in possession, yet back-up quarterback Carson Wentz was stifled by the Steelers throughout.

The 32-year-old was sacked six times and intercepted twice, and the second of those picks – by TJ Watt late in the third quarter – drew one of the biggest cheers of the day as the Steelers’ star linebacker raced to the sideline and booted the ball into the Croke Park crowd.

Rodgers said Pittsburgh’s offence is still a work in progress after the four-time MVP and star receiver Metcalf were brought in during the off-season, and he said on Friday that the “next big improvement will be the run game, getting over 100 yards”.

Their previous best this season was 72, but they managed 131 in Dublin, with Gainwell registering 99 himself, while Rodgers and Metcalf connected for the kind of highlight-reel play the Steelers hope they will produce time and again this season.

Veteran Rodgers completed an impressive 18 passes from 22 attempts for 200 yards, but it was Pittsburgh’s defence that again stepped up as Minnesota threatened a fightback in the final minute.

It was reminiscent of the team’s golden era and raised hope of Mike Tomlin’s men mounting a play-off push this season after improving their record to 3-1.

“It’s an honour to represent American football here in Dublin,” said coach Tomlin. “It was just a great trip.

“We made it a little more entertaining than maybe it should have been, but the Vikings had a lot to do with that. That group’s got a lot of fight.”

Vanguard has a long history of offering a variety of great exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that not only give you exposure to a variety of investments, but also do it at a a very low cost. Most of Vanguard’s ETF charge industry-low expense ratios, allowing you to keep more of the investment returns you make.

But which Vanguard ETFs should you consider, if you’ve got $1,000 to invest today? Here are three great options — including one that’s one of my top holdings.

Image source: Getty Images.

1. Vanguard S&P 500 ETF: Buy a whole basket of stocks

Legendary investor Warren Buffett recommends that most investors put their money into S&P 500 index funds because they provide exposure to the biggest companies and do so at a very low cost. He even went so far as to recommend one such fund in a Berkshire Hathaway annual letter, noting, “I suggest Vanguard’s.”

Buffett was referring to the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO 0.59%), which invests in stocks in the S&P 500 and has the goal of closely tracking the index’s returns. This fund is personally one of my largest holdings and is a great option for investors who want to put money into stocks but would rather not have to make regular changes to their investment strategy.

Aside from being a great way to invest in a wide variety of stocks across all sectors, you’ll get the added benefit of one of the cheapest expense ratios available. The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF charges just 0.03% in annual fees, which works out to be just $0.30 for every $1,000 invested.

2. Vanguard Information Technology ETF: Ride the tech wave

The Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT 0.25%) is designed for investors who want to focus their investment strategy on technology companies, while still spreading out some of the risk. The fund tracks the MSCI US Investable Market Information Technology 25/50 index, which includes more than 300 small- and large-cap technology companies.

That’s important because it means the Vanguard Information Technology ETF helps you invest in some of the leading artificial intelligence stocks of today — including Nvidia and Palantir — while also giving you exposure to the smaller tech companies that could become big players in the coming years. The fund also charges a very reasonable annual expense ratio of just 0.09% — equal to $0.90 for every $1,000 invested — allowing you to keep more of the returns you make.

3. Vanguard Growth ETF: Grow with the biggest companies

If you want to focus your investments on more growth stocks, then the Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG 0.48%) may be the right fund for you. This ETF tracks the performance of the CRSP US Large Cap Growth Index and includes more than 300 of the largest U.S. growth stocks.

Growth stocks are often technology-focused in the U.S., so you’ll have plenty of exposure to trends like AI and cloud computing — through companies including Nvidia — but you’ll also have exposure to consumer stocks, including Eli Lilly. You’ll also pay a low annual fee of just 0.04% with the Vanguard Growth ETF, far less than the average 0.93% similar funds charge.

Just remember that in order for these ETFs to work their magic, you’ve got to hold onto them for the long haul. Dipping in and out of these funds won’t do you much good — the real gains will come as you hold them (and buy more) through boom and bust cycles.

Some companies seem like obvious slam-dunk investments. They have a combination of durable business models, visible growth profiles, and strong financials. Because of that, you don’t have to think twice when considering whether to buy these stocks.

Enbridge (ENB 0.04%), Brookfield Infrastructure (BIPC 2.58%) (BIP 4.92%), and Brookfield Asset Management (BAM 0.15%) stand out to a few Fool.com contributing analysts as no-brainer buys for 2025 and beyond. Here’s why they think these stocks will be great long-term investments.

Image source: Getty Images.

Enbridge has dividend investors covered today and tomorrow

Reuben Gregg Brewer (Enbridge): It is easy to get caught up in the fact that Enbridge has increased its dividend, in Canadian dollars, for 30 years and currently has a lofty 5.5% dividend yield. Those two facts do, indeed, make it a very attractive dividend stock.

But what about the business that backs the dividend? That’s where the real magic is here. Enbridge started out largely transporting oil through its fee-based energy infrastructure system. Looking at the direction the world was going, it started to add more and more natural gas transportation assets to its system, including regulated natural gas utilities. And, along the way, it dipped its toe into clean energy investments, with some sizable stakes in offshore wind farm assets in Europe. The trend is what’s important to note.

Essentially, Enbridge is a reliable dividend-paying energy stock that is changing its business along with the changing energy needs of the world. That is, in fact, the goal that management is pursuing. And it means that you, as a dividend investor, can comfortably own Enbridge even through the ongoing, likely decades-long, shift from dirtier fuels to cleaner ones.

The only drawback here is actually tied to the lofty dividend yield. Enbridge isn’t likely to be a fast-growing business, so the yield is going to make up a huge portion of your total return. But if you are focused on generating a large income stream from your investments, that probably won’t bother you much, if at all.

Strong earnings and dividend growth ahead

Neha Chamaria (Brookfield Asset Management): Brookfield Asset Management is among the largest alternative asset managers in the world, with over $1 trillion of assets under management (AUM). It’s a global powerhouse, operating in over 50 countries across five verticals: infrastructure, renewable power and energy transition, real estate, private equity, and credit. Here’s why the stock has caught my attention: The company has just announced bold growth plans through 2030.

Of its $1 trillion AUM, roughly $560 billion is fee-bearing capital. That’s the portion of its assets on which Brookfield Asset Management charges management fees, also its primary source of revenue. As of Dec. 31, 2024, 87% of that fee-bearing capital was perpetual (fees coming from its permanent capital vehicles and funds) or long-term (fees locked in for at least 10 years). That makes Brookfield Asset Management’s revenue and cash flows incredibly stable and predictable and also supports dividend growth. Brookfield Asset Management last increased its dividend by 15% earlier this year.

Brookfield Asset Management expects to more than double its fee-bearing capital base to $1.2 trillion by 2030, driven by growth in existing businesses and new verticals like insurance and wealth management. The company is off to a strong start in 2025, with its fee-based earnings rising 16% year over year in the second quarter. Notable recent announcements include an agreement with tech giant Google to deliver up to 3,000 megawatts of hydroelectric capacity in the U.S. during the quarter and a $10 billion investment in Sweden to develop artificial intelligence infrastructure.

With its earnings stability and massive growth targets, Brookfield Asset Management is a rock-solid stock to buy for 2025 and beyond.

Focused on capitalizing on these megatrends

Matt DiLallo (Brookfield Infrastructure): Brookfield Infrastructure is a leading global infrastructure investor. Part of the Brookfield Corporation family, along with Brookfield Asset Management, this entity owns and operates a diversified portfolio of crucial infrastructure assets across the utility, energy midstream, transportation, and data sectors.

The company focuses on deploying capital into infrastructure that capitalizes on three major global investment megatrends: digitalization, decarbonization, and deglobalization. The company sees a multitrillion-dollar investment opportunity ahead across these themes, particularly in infrastructure to support AI, such as data centers, semiconductor fabrication facilities, and natural gas power plants. Brookfield has already committed to investing significant capital to capitalize on this opportunity, including building a backlog of $5.9 billion of data infrastructure capital projects that it expects to complete over the next two to three years.

Brookfield has also secured several acquisitions this year. It’s investing $1.3 billion to buy interests in a U.S. refined products pipeline system, a U.S. bulk fiber network provider, and a North American railcar leasing portfolio. These new investments will boost its cash flow as the deals close in the coming quarters.

Brookfield’s powerful combination of organic growth drivers and acquisitions-driven expansion positions it to deliver more than 10% annual funds from operations (FFO) per share growth in 2025 and beyond. That will drive Brookfield’s ability to increase its more than 4%-yielding dividend by 5% to 9% annually. This compelling mix of income and growth makes Brookfield a no-brainer stock to buy and hold for the long term.

The semiconductor industry is the beating heart of the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution. Developing AI models wouldn’t be possible without powerful chips and advanced networking equipment, and for them to continue getting “smarter,” semiconductor suppliers will have to deliver more and more computing capacity.

For that reason, Nvidia (NVDA -0.82%) CEO Jensen Huang expects data center operators to spend up to $4 trillion on upgrading their infrastructure to meet demand from AI developers by 2030. Nvidia will be a major beneficiary of that spending over the next five years, but so will many of its peers and competitors.

Here are five semiconductor stocks to buy right now.

Image source: Getty Images.

1. Nvidia

Let’s start with the most obvious pick. Nvidia’s graphics processing units (GPUs) for data centers are the gold standard for AI development. The company just started shipping a new GPU called the GB300, which is based on its Blackwell Ultra architecture, and it’s up to 50 times more powerful in certain configurations than its flagship H100 chip, which dominated the market in 2023 and most of 2024.

The latest AI reasoning models consume significantly more tokens (words and symbols) than older one-shot large language models (LLMs), because they spend more time “thinking” in the background to weed out errors before generating outputs. This calls for more computing power, which is expected to drive explosive demand for the GB300 from the best AI developers like OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta Platforms, and xAI.

Nvidia generated a record $41.1 billion in data center revenue during its fiscal 2026’s second quarter (ended July 27), which was up 56% year over year. That number also grew by a staggering 1,081% compared to the same quarter in fiscal 2023, which was right before the AI revolution started gathering momentum. If AI infrastructure spending really does hit $4 trillion over the next five years, Nvidia will probably be one of the best stocks investors can own.

2. Broadcom

Broadcom (AVGO 0.15%) supplies AI accelerators (a type of data center chip) to at least three hyperscalers, including Alphabet. These chips have become a popular alternative to GPUs because they can be customized to suit the needs of each customer, so they offer more flexibility.

Broadcom is also a top supplier of networking equipment. Its Ethernet switches regulate how fast data travels between chips and devices, and its new Tomahawk Ultra variant delivers industry-leading low latency and high throughput, which facilitates faster processing speeds with less data loss.

Broadcom’s AI semiconductor revenue soared by 63% to $5.2 billion during its most recent quarter, but it might just be getting warmed up. The company says its three hyperscale customers plan to deploy over 1 million AI accelerators each in 2027, creating a $90 billion opportunity. Separately, a new mystery customer recently placed a $10 billion order for accelerators, and Wall Street is speculating it could be OpenAI.

3. Advanced Micro Devices

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD -0.03%) supplies chips for some of the world’s most popular consumer electronics, from Sony‘s PlayStation 5, to the infotainment systems inside Tesla‘s electric vehicles. However, the company is now laser-focused on catching up to chipmakers like Nvidia in the AI data center business.

AMD’s latest MI350 series of GPUs are based on a new architecture called Compute DNA 4, and they are 35 times faster than its previous generation that launched less than two years ago. Next year, AMD will start shipping the MI400 series, which will be paired with specialized hardware and software systems to create a fully integrated data center rack called Helios, delivering a tenfold improvement in performance relative to the MI350 series.

This highlights how quickly AMD is progressing from a technological perspective. The company is slowly capturing market share already, but these new chips could cement its position as a real player in the data center space for the long term.

4. Micron Technology

GPUs wouldn’t be as efficient without high-bandwidth memory (HBM), which stores data in a ready state to accelerate processing speeds. Simply put, more HBM capacity allows the GPU to unleash its maximum performance, which is essential in data-intensive AI workloads.

Micron Technology‘s (MU -2.83%) HBM3E solution for the data center offers industry-leading capacity and energy efficiency, and it’s embedded in Nvidia’s Blackwell Ultra GPUs and also AMD’s MI350 series. But the company will raise the bar again next year with its HBM4 solution, which will offer 60% more performance and 20% less power consumption.

Simply put, investors who believe Nvidia and AMD will sell truckloads of data center GPUs over the next five years should also be bullish on Micron’s business.

But it gets better, because some smaller AI workloads are slowly migrating to personal computers and smartphones, so they also require higher memory capacities. That’s great news for Micron because it’s a major player in those markets, too.

5. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing

Finally, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM -0.58%) could be the ultimate picks-and-shovels play as AI infrastructure spending ramps up. It’s the world’s largest semiconductor fabricator, and Nvidia, Broadcom, and AMD are just a few of its top clients.

Taiwan Semi offers unmatched expertise when it comes to manufacturing the most advanced chips. It works with the smallest nodes in the industry, so it can pack more transistors into each chip which is the key to unlocking processing power and energy efficiency. That is an ideal combination when it comes to AI GPUs.

Investors who own Taiwan Semi stock won’t be too concerned about which chip giant wins the AI race, because whether it’s Nvidia, Broadcom, or AMD, the demand for manufacturing capacity is only heading in one direction: up.

Costco Wholesale (COST -0.78%) is not only one of America’s favorite retailers. It’s also been a top retail stock to own over its history.

Over the last decade, it’s up 570%, easily outpacing the S&P 500‘s increase of 240%, and most investors would argue that Costco is lower-risk than the broad-based index. After all, the retailer is a classic defensive stock. As a consumer staples company, it sells primarily products that people need, like groceries, paper products, and health and beauty products. It’s also known for its buy-in-bulk bargain prices, which attract consumers in both good times and bad.

Costco has actually underperformed the market this year as it’s up just 4% through Sept. 19, pulling back from its recent peak. Is this a buying opportunity for the retail giant? Let’s take a look at the arguments to buy, sell, or hold Costco.

Image source: Getty Images.

Buy Costco

Costco is one of the most, if not the most, reliable retailers in the industry. It’s the leader in the membership-based warehouse retail sector, well ahead of competitors like BJ Wholesale and Walmart‘s Sam’s Club.

Costco regularly ranks among the top in customer satisfaction among retailers, and it has a strong renewal rate, at 93% in fiscal 2024 in North America and 90.5% globally.

Costco’s business model has also proven to be rock-solid in any market, and its low prices keep customers coming back. The company makes most of its net income through membership fees, essentially selling goods at near-cost to incentivize buying memberships.

That’s created a wide economic moat as it has grown its membership base by about 10% annually in recent years. Costco is also continuing to open new stores, expanding its footprint in the U.S. and internationally. Given the demand for new stores, as well as its growth in e-commerce, Costco’s growth runway appears to be longer than it is for most large retailers.

And given the stability of its business, Costco is a great bet to deliver steady growth, which is why it trades at a premium.

Additionally, Costco also has a track record of paying special dividends every three years or so, rewarding shareholders.

Sell Costco

Costco’s results speak for themselves. The company has a long track record of delivering steady same-store sales growth and expanding profits.

However, Costco’s growth seems to be generously priced into the stock at this point as it trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of 54, which is more expensive than about any other brick-and-mortar retailer.

Costco trades at a premium in part because the business is so reliable, but the stock’s growth has been driven over the years by multiple expansion, rather than just earnings growth. A stock can’t grow like that forever, and that might explain why Costco has underperformed the S&P 500 this year.

A good business alone isn’t enough of a reason to buy a stock. It has to trade at a good value as well.

Hold Costco

Costco is a classic buy-and-hold stock. While it could go through ups and downs according to market trends and company-specific events, it has a business model that should continue to endure despite pressure from e-commerce or potential economic turmoil.

Given the balance between the success of the business and the high valuation, holding the stock makes sense.

What’s the verdict?

Under normal circumstances, there’s a good argument for Costco being a long-term buy, but the stock is expensive enough, at double the price-to-earnings ratio of the S&P 500, that there’s better value to find elsewhere.

Holding Costco looks like the best option now. While it could underperform the market in the short or even medium term, it still looks like a winner over the long term.

It’s the classic deserted desert island scenario: I have to pick just one stock that I would buy today and then hold forever. I can’t move the goalposts by picking an exchange-traded fund (ETF) and I’m not planning to build a portfolio around this name.

It’s just one stock, and it will be my only investment for all time. All alone.

Mind you, I don’t recommend actually doing this with real money. Diversification matters, and no stock is absolutely risk-free. This is just a fun little thought experiment.

That being said, I could imagine entrusting my life savings to Amazon (AMZN 0.23%) today. Here’s how Jeff Bezos’ empire earned this rare honor.

I’m almost cheating — Amazon is like an ETF in disguise

If I can’t diversify my single-stock holding with an ETF, I’ll go with a leader across many different industries instead. Amazon fits the bill to perfection:

• With $137 billion of second-quarter sales, Amazon is a world-leading e-commerce titan.

• The Amazon Web Services (AWS) division didn’t exactly invent cloud computing, but it was an early provider in that field and remains a top name today. In the second quarter of 2025, AWS sales landed at $30.9 billion.

• Within the AWS envelope, you’ll find Amazon in several distinct positions of leadership. AWS is a top choice for artificial intelligence (AI) services, both on the systems training and real-time AI operations sides. Amazon’s digital advertising platform proved its worth on September 10 when it won the Netflix (NFLX 1.59%) ad-selling contract in 11 key markets.

• The massive e-commerce business requires a world-class shipping infrastructure, and Amazon is reselling these services to other online retailers nowadays.

That’s an online shopping portal, the world’s largest cloud computing service, top-notch advertising and AI services, and a winning physical logistics business — all wrapped in a single stock. That’s a pretty respectable single-business impersonation of a truly diversified investment portfolio.

When corporate synergy actually works

Amazon’s conglomerate structure comes with some unique benefits, too. Let’s play some buzzword bingo! Here are a few examples of corporate synergy with material benefits:

• AWS started as a little side gig, trying to make some money from the online infrastructure Amazon had installed and wasn’t always using. Now, it’s the other way around — any time Amazon’s retail business needs a digital tool (web server space, AI support, data analytics, ad-tech innovation…) AWS is the obvious in-house choice.

• Profits collected in the incredibly lucrative AWS division can be deployed in other projects. The shipping infrastructure saw massive expansion in the 2020-2022 era, for example. This push would not have been possible without the AWS segment’s booming profits.

• Amazon’s advertising platform benefits from the enormous bank of transaction data in the company’s own retail operations.

• The Prime customer loyalty program has become the digital glue that holds Amazon’s growth drivers together. Come for the free one-day shipping, stay for the award-winning Prime Video shows or the Echo/Alexa smart home system. Or, you know, the other way around.

The Prime directive: Borrowing brilliance from Costco

Speaking of Prime, by the way, that’s Amazon borrowing a page out of the Costco Wholesale (COST -0.05%) playbook. Costco’s operations would lose money without its membership program. With it, you make Costco shoppers more likely to choose that store (because I’m paying for that precious card anyway) while generating a rich stream of nearly pure profit.

Amazon uses Prime in a similar fashion — unlocking synergies and collecting profits as a direct result.

Image source: Getty Images.

Wrapping up this trillion-dollar thought experiment

If you’re skipping to the final chapter of my Amazon analysis, here’s the short version.

I expect Amazon to remain a business leader for decades to come. It’s among the 5 most valuable businesses today, measured by market cap, and I see no reason why that would change in the long run.

This little trillion-dollar stock should serve me well on that hypothetical desert island.

We’re quite possibly at the start of what could be a major technological shift with the onset of artificial intelligence (AI). No one knows what new products, services, or companies will be created. However, with estimates of 25-fold growth in the AI market between 2023 and 2023 (according to a UN Trade and Development report), this can’t be ignored.

Smart investors will consider ways of betting on this trend. But you don’t have to search far and wide. If you’re ready to invest $3,000, here are two top AI stocks to buy and hold for the long term.

Image source: Getty Images.

Dominant forces in the internet age

Two of the most successful businesses of all time are Alphabet (GOOG 1.27%) (GOOGL 1.23%) and Meta Platforms (META -0.26%), which rose to dominance as the internet became much more prevalent. Without a doubt, these are two of the best AI stocks investors should look at.

Alphabet and Meta are in very advantageous positions. They already have thriving business models with offerings that reach vast audiences. Alphabet has six products that each serve more than 2 billion people. During the month of June, Meta’s family of apps had 3.48 billion daily active users.

I believe a sound strategy is to find businesses that are leveraging AI to improve their existing offerings. In this way, the new technology can be used to upgrade the user experience instead of trying to create something completely new. These companies are doing a great job in this regard.

Alphabet’s Gemini model is embedded in its various products and services. And Search, which investors have worried could easily get disrupted by chatbots, counts more than 100 million monthly active users combined on the AI Mode feature in the U.S. and India.

Meta is using AI to provide better content recommendations. This is working so well that it led to a 6% jump in time spent on Instagram in the latest quarter.

These companies generate their revenues primarily from digital advertising efforts. They’re both utilizing AI to help their customers create more effective, creative, and successful ad campaigns. Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg called out the opportunity of improving the ad experience.

“If we deliver on this vision, then over the coming years I think that the increased productivity from AI will make advertising a meaningfully larger share of global GDP than it is today,” he said on the first-quarter earnings call in 2025. This could lead to much more revenue down the road.

I think AI will simply widen the already huge economic moats that Alphabet and Meta have developed. It seems extremely unlikely that these businesses will get disrupted anytime soon. As they push forward with their respective AI capabilities, it becomes even more challenging for companies to encroach on their territory.

Money is not a concern

Businesses are spending huge amounts of money on AI strategies. Alphabet and Meta are no different. Combined, their capital expenditures are set to total $154 billion in 2025, with increases coming in the years ahead. These numbers are hard to overlook.

While the returns from this AI investment are uncertain, which is the market’s biggest worry, these companies are in such strong financial shape that it should be less of a concern. Alphabet ended Q2 with $95 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities on its balance sheet. Meta had $47 billion. With incredibly lucrative business models, demonstrated by the tens of billions in profits generated each quarter, they have the resources to move fast and position themselves to be leaders in the AI age.

Cheapest of the “Magnificent Seven”

What’s particularly exciting about these two companies is that investors don’t have to chase expensive valuations in order to gain exposure to AI in their portfolios. There’s undeniably a lot of buzz in this area of the market. However, Alphabet and Meta trade at the cheapest price-to-earnings ratios of all the “Magnificent Seven” constituents.

With $3,000, investors can buy about six shares of Alphabet and about two shares of Meta. These might be the only AI stocks you’d need to own.

Diving into the stock market can be an excellent way to build lasting wealth. One type of stock that you may find appealing is dividend stocks. A study conducted by Hartford Funds found that, over a 50-year period, dividend stocks consistently outperformed non-dividend payers with lower volatility.

Dividend Kings are companies that have consistently increased their dividends for 50 years or longer. These stalwarts have earned the trust of their shareholders and consistently demonstrated a proven ability to grow payouts year after year, regardless of the economic conditions.

If you’re looking to boost your portfolio with a passive income component and seek steady returns, here are three dividend stocks that could make excellent additions today.

Image source: Getty Images.

Federal Realty Investment Trust

Federal Realty Investment Trust (FRT -0.59%) operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT). It specializes in high-quality retail-based properties, which include shopping centers and mixed-use properties. As a REIT, Federal Realty is required to distribute 90% of its taxable income to shareholders, making it a popular choice among dividend investors.

Federal Realty holds the distinction of being the only REIT to earn Dividend King status, having raised its payout for 57 consecutive years. This impressive streak is a testament to its diversified holdings and strong balance sheet in what can be a volatile real estate market.

The REIT primarily invests in real estate regions characterized by high population density and affluent populations. This approach helps insulate it from changing economic conditions, as more affluent households can be resilient in the face of recessions or inflation in the economy. With a strong business and robust development pipeline supported by steady funds from operations growth, Federal Realty is a quality dividend stock to consider buying today.

Cincinnati Financial

Cincinnati Financial (CINF 0.06%) provides property and casualty (P&C) insurance to corporate and individual customers. It’s one of the top 25 largest P&C insurers in the United States.

In the insurance industry, underwriting profitable policies is the name of the game. Insurers like Cincinnati Financial operate in a highly competitive environment, so accurately assessing risk and pricing policies is crucial.

Over the past five years, Cincinnati Financial’s combined ratio has averaged a solid 94.6%. This means that for every $100 in premiums it writes, it has generated roughly $5 in profit. In the highly competitive insurance industry, the combined ratio tends to average around 100%, so consistently generating an underwriting profit is key to sustainable, long-term growth.

Cincinnati Financial boasts an impressive history of raising its annual cash dividend over the past 65 years. Only seven companies can boast a longer streak. Its long track record is a testament to its sound underwriting and stellar capital management. With a conservative dividend payout ratio of 29%, Cincinnati Financial is well-positioned to keep rewarding investors with a growing dividend.

S&P Global

S&P Global (SPGI -0.03%) provides credit ratings to entities that issue debt worldwide and serves an important role in financial markets. As a credit rating agency, it provides opinions about credit risk and the ability and willingness of entities to meet their financial obligations. Investors rely on these opinions on credit quality to help manage risk.

The company also owns the S&P 500 index (in a joint venture with CME Group), along with a variety of other index benchmarks used by professional investors. Finally, it provides data and analytics, such as through its Capital IQ Pro platform, which offers another stream of cash flow that’s uncorrelated with credit ratings.

S&P Global enjoys a robust 50% share of the credit ratings market, giving it a strong competitive advantage, especially considering the importance of credit ratings for the global economy. With its stable and diverse business model and strong balance sheet, S&P Global has grown its dividend payout for 52 consecutive years and has a solid platform to keep this streak going.

Ryan Gravenberch’s 10th-minute stunner set Liverpool on their way to a 2-1 win against Everton in the Merseyside derby.

Liverpool stretched their perfect Premier League start to maintain their stranglehold of the Merseyside derby with a 2-1 win over Everton and open up a six-point lead at the top of the table.

Goals from Ryan Gravenberch and Hugo Ekitike were the defending champions’ reward for a dominant first half on Saturday and enough for a fifth consecutive Premier League win.

But Liverpool ran out of steam after the break and were left hanging on after Idrissa Gana Gueye fired Everton back into the contest.

Arne Slot’s men had needed late goals to win all of their previous four Premier League games and Champions League opener against Atletico Madrid in midweek.

This time the Reds did the bulk of their good work inside the first 30 minutes to leave Everton still without a win at Anfield in front of a crowd in the 21st century.

Slot left both his 100 million pounds ($135m) plus signings Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak on the bench, but Liverpool were all the better balanced for the return of Alexis MacAllister alongside Dominik Szoboszlai and the impressive Gravenberch in midfield.

The Dutch midfielder broke the deadlock just nine minutes in with a deft finish on the half-volley from Mohamed Salah’s cross.

Salah came close to a second moments later with a powerfully struck effort on his trusty left foot that flew just wide.

Everton had been on a four-game unbeaten run thanks in large part to the form of the resurgent Jack Grealish.

The Manchester City loanee was unsurprisingly at the heart of their best first-half move with a pass through to Kieran Dewsbury-Hall, who fired wide from a narrow angle.

Liverpool responded in style to a fine team move culminated in Ekitike rolling Gravenberch’s pass through the legs of Jordan Pickford for his third goal in five Premier League games since his move from Eintracht Frankfurt.

But the second half was a completely different story as Liverpool almost saw another two-goal lead disappear after being pegged by Bournemouth, Newcastle and Atletico already this season.

Fatigue this time seemed to play a part with kickoff just more than 60 hours after Virgil van Dijk’s stoppage-time winner against Atletico on Wednesday.

Everton had a lifeline just before the hour mark when Grealish’s deep cross was turned back into the path of Gueye, who blasted his past Alisson Becker.

Slot turned to Wirtz and Isak off the bench to try and wrestle back control to little effect.

Liverpool, though, did manage to see out a nervy finale to inflict an unwanted record on Everton boss David Moyes.

The Scot has now failed to win in 23 trips to Anfield as a visiting coach, the most any Premier League manager has played at a stadium without victory.

US and Chinese presidents to discuss deal to keep popular social media app online in US, trade relations.

Global spending on information technology is expected to reach nearly $5.4 billion in 2025, driven primarily by the growing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI). This massive wave of investment is creating long-term opportunities for businesses that can scale with these digital shifts. Companies with robust competitive advantages and proven business models are positioned to benefit most from this trend.

Image source: Getty Images

As this trend accelerates, here’s why these two growth stocks can prove to be exceptional buy-and-hold picks for the next decade.

Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms (META 0.70%) remains a leading player in the social media and digital advertising landscape, and it’s now accelerating its investment in AI infrastructure to drive the next phase of growth.

Meta’s core business is a cash-generating machine that can fund future growth opportunities. In the second quarter of 2025 (ending June 30), revenues rose 22% year over year to $47.5 billion, with an operating margin of 43% and free cash flow of $8.5 billion.

It is indisputable that digital advertising remains the primary driver of growth. Meta is leveraging advanced AI technologies to enhance ad targeting and recommendations as well as user engagement across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads, strengthening its digital advertising business.

The company serves over 3.4 billion daily active users and uses AI models, including Andromeda, GEM, and Lattice, to enhance ad conversions and pricing across its applications, resulting in stronger monetization.

Its push beyond its core apps into newer platforms may also begin to generate fresh advertising growth. Threads has already surpassed 350 million users, and ads are starting to appear across its feed. Advertisements are also being introduced in the status and channels features of WhatsApp. Business messaging is scaling, with U.S. click-to-message revenue up more than 40% year over year in the second quarter.

Meta is also rolling out subscriptions for WhatsApp channels — a feature that can help businesses connect with over 1.5 billion daily active users who visit the channels. Meta AI, a consumer-facing AI-powered assistant integrated into its app ecosystem, has already built a user base of over 1 billion monthly active users. Besides improving user engagement through personalized recommendations and enhanced content discovery, it can also become a new monetization avenue in the coming quarters.

The tech giant is aggressively investing to expand its AI infrastructure. Meta expects capital expenditures of $66 billion to $72 billion in 2025, with even higher figures in 2026 as it builds AI data centers to support advanced AI models. While this may affect margins and cash flows in the near term, the long-term payoff of leveraging in-house AI capabilities to strengthen the core business may be exceptionally impressive.

Meta’s shares trade at a rich valuation of nearly 28.5 times forward earnings. While the company’s growth to date has been awe-inspiring, this may be just the beginning of an AI-powered multiyear growth story. Hence, considering Meta’s scale, cash generation potential, and AI investments, the stock remains an attractive choice for the next decade.

Amazon

E-commerce and cloud computing giant Amazon (AMZN -0.74%) is also doubling down on cloud computing, advertising, and AI to fuel its next chapter of growth.

The company’s core business is strong, and it clearly has enough financial flexibility to fund future growth opportunities: Amazon’s revenue increased 13.3% year over year to $167.7 billion while operating income soared 31% year over year to $19.2 billion in the second quarter of fiscal 2025 (ending June 30). The company also reported trailing-12-month free cash flow of $18.2 billion at the end of the second quarter.

Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company’s cloud computing business, accounted for 30% of the global cloud infrastructure services market in the second quarter of 2025, up from 29% in the prior quarter. With 85% to 90% of global IT spend focused on the on-premises environment and enterprises increasingly shifting workloads to the cloud, there is huge scope for AWS to grow in the coming years.

AWS revenue grew 17.5% year over year to $30.9 billion in the second quarter. The business has now reached an annualized run rate of $123 billion.

AWS had a backlog worth $195 billion at the end of the second quarter, reflecting strong demand for Amazon’s infrastructure and AI services. AWS is giving customers the use of Nvidia‘s cutting-edge graphics processing units as well as its own custom chip, Trainium2, to ensure better performance and lower costs to clients running AI workloads.

Additionally, Amazon Bedrock (a fully managed service enabling clients to build and scale generative AI applications on AWS) is adding several leading large language models like Anthropic’s Claude and the company’s own model, Nova. 

Amazon’s e-commerce business is also speeding up, especially as the company leverages automation and robotics to improve cost efficiencies, which could boost margins. Faster delivery is becoming a significant competitive advantage in the e-commerce market. In the second quarter, the company delivered 30% more items on the same day or the next day in the U.S. than it had in the same period last year. The company is planning to expand this same-day and next-day delivery to over 4,000 smaller U.S. towns by the end of 2025.

Finally, advertising is fast becoming a major growth catalyst. Amazon’s advertising revenues grew 22% in the second quarter of 2025 to $15.7 billion. With proprietary shopping, browsing, and streaming data secured from its platforms, advertisers can optimize their efforts, leading to improved outcomes. Advertising is proving ever more effective on platforms such as its retail marketplace, Prime Video, Fire TV, Twitch, and live sports.

Despite the many tailwinds, Amazon’s shares trade at 34.6 times forward earnings, which is not cheap. But considering AWS’s growth, fueled by rising AI adoption and improving e-commerce and advertising businesses, the stock may be attractive to investors seeking long-term growth opportunities.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has taken over the business world during the past couple of years. The stock market has followed as investors rush to take advantage of the new growth opportunities the technology has presented. At this point, it seems impossible to avoid a tech company that isn’t dealing with AI in some form or fashion.

Not all companies dealing with AI are created equal, though. Many may use the technology but lack the long-term appeal. If you have $3,000 available to invest, the following three AI stocks are worth buying and holding for the long term. They have proven business models and stand to gain a lot from the emerging technology.

Image source: Getty Images.

1. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing

On the outskirts, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM 4.58%) — also known as TSMC — may not seem like an AI company, but it’s just as important to advancing the technology as virtually any other participant. TSMC is a semiconductor (chip) foundry that manufactures chips for a wide range of applications, including smartphones, electric vehicles, game consoles, TVs, and graphics processing units (GPUs). The latter is why it’s important to AI.

TSMC’s AI role comes down to manufacturing the critical chips that go inside the data centers that train AI models. It has around a 70% market share in the global foundry industry, but when it comes to the advanced AI chips, it’s virtually a monopoly. This new demand is largely why its high-performance computing (HPC) segment accounted for 60% of its total revenue in the second quarter.

TSMC is the start of the AI pipeline. Without it, companies like Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices wouldn’t be able to ship their AI chips at their current scale. TSMC expects AI-related revenue to double this year.

TSM Revenue (Quarterly) data by YCharts.

AI aside, TSMC’s role in the tech ecosystem has made it indispensable. It’s not as if there aren’t other semiconductor foundries; they just don’t compare to TSMC’s effectiveness and scale. This position makes it a company that should be successful for quite some time.

2. Alphabet

Google’s parent company Alphabet (GOOG 0.41%) (GOOGL 0.34%) is also a key piece to the AI ecosystem, especially when it comes to research. It’s responsible for key breakthroughs that have advanced the technology to where it is today.

Alphabet’s Google Cloud also continues to grow impressively. In the second quarter, its revenue increased 32% year over year to $13.6 billion, leading all of Alphabet’s segments. Having a strong in-house cloud platform allows the company to power and scale its own AI models.

It’s not just for in-house use, either. It’s a service that many companies can rely on, including Meta Platforms, which just signed a six-year, $10 billion deal to make Google Cloud its main AI infrastructure provider. The co-signing by Meta shows that even Alphabet’s big-name peers (and competitors) trust its capabilities.

It also helps that Alphabet’s stock seems to be valued cheaply right now. It’s trading around 23.4 times expected earnings over the next 12 months, which is the lowest of the “Magnificent Seven” stocks, by far. If you’re buying and holding onto the stock for the long term, this will likely work out well in your favor.

TSLA PE Ratio (Forward) data by YCharts.

3. Microsoft

Some tech companies excel at one thing, while others do a few things pretty well. Microsoft (MSFT 0.74%) is one of the handful that does a lot of things extremely well. It has its hands in many industries and is a top player in virtually all of them.

Similar to Alphabet, Microsoft has a cloud platform (Azure) that allows it to be a key piece of AI infrastructure. It also has a long-term partnership with ChatGPT’s creator OpenAI, which gives it direct and early access to industry-leading AI technology.

This is a key advantage for Microsoft because it allows it to integrate the technology into its ecosystem of products and services. Microsoft has Office software (Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, etc.), Windows operating systems, GitHub, and many other platforms, and all of these stand to gain from AI integration.

Microsoft already has a stronghold on enterprise software, which should only increase its value proposition as these products and services become more efficient. If you’re going to be in the tech world for the long term, it helps to have corporate customers because they spend more, tend to have longer contracts, and are less likely to cut back on services whenever the economy isn’t ideal.

Microsoft is a staple in the business world that thousands of companies rely on for their daily operations. If I had to pick one Magnificent Seven stock to hold onto for life, it would be Microsoft.

Sept. 8 (UPI) — A 24th anniversary national day of remembrance to honor victims of the 9/11 terrorists attacks will be held this week by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs at dozens of national VA cemeteries.

The VA said Monday that Patriot Day on Thursday will be observed at more than 60 VA-run national burial grounds in collaboration with the nonprofit Carry The Load. The groups are hosting volunteer activities such as cleaning headstones and other acts of beautification in honor of 9-11-2001 — the day in which some 2,977 people were killed in the single largest loss of life resulting from a foreign attack on American soil.

“This Patriot Day, we invite all Americans to visit participating VA cemeteries, where they can help honor and preserve the legacies of the victims, first responders, service members and families touched by 9/11,” Sam Brown, the VA’s under secretary for memorial affairs, said in a statement.

On September 11, 2001, multiple extremists associated with the Islamist extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial airplanes in a coordinated attack. Terrorists intentionally flew two of the planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, causing them to collapse. One plane crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and another crashed in a field in Somerset County, Pa., near the town of Shanksville.

Patriot Day, established by Congress at the end of 2001, is intended to honor the victims.

The VA will again join forces with Carry the Load as in years past to pass out cleaning supplies and other materials at no cost to attendees.

“We encourage Americans to honor the memory of those lost on 9/11 by serving in their communities and sharing stories of the first responders and military who sacrificed to keep us safe,” added Stephen Holley, Carry The Load’s chief.

On Monday, Brown said that VA cemeteries are an “ideal” place to reflect on “the heroism and sacrifice of 9/11.”

According to the VA, some 47 U.S. vets and their dependents who died on 9/11 are buried in cemeteries run by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

VA officials said most of the veteran 9/11 victims are laid to rest at Calverton on Long Island and its adjoining plots.

Meanwhile, participants may pre-register for the day via CTL’s website.

“Together we can make a positive impact and show our gratitude for those who sacrificed so much for our freedom,” stated Holley, a veteran U.S. Navy SEAL.