Investors

You’re reading a free article with opinions that may differ
from The Motley Fool’s Premium Investing Services. Become a Motley Fool member today to
get instant access to our top analyst recommendations, in-depth research, investing resources,
and more. Learn More

In the second quarter of 2025, MP Materials‘ (MP -0.76%) revenue declined sequentially from the first quarter. Its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) and earnings both fell deeper into the red. That’s not a change that most investors will find pleasing to read, but the company’s future remains very bright.

Here’s why MP Materials’ growth isn’t stalling, even though there’s a lot of heavy lifting for the company to do from here.

What does MP Materials do?

MP Materials mines for and processes rare earth metals. These metals are vital to the technology sector and get used in everything from cellphones to missiles. That said, MP Materials is really best viewed as a mining company.

Image source: Getty Images.

That’s important because mining is a very capital-intensive business. A company has to find a place to mine, get approval for it, build the mine, operate it (in this case also process the output into usable rare earth metals products), and then return the mine back to its pre-mine state once it is depleted. MP Materials is really just at the very beginning of this process, which is the most expensive from a capital investment point of view.

That said, MP Materials finds itself in a very enviable position thanks to geopolitical issues. The new U.S. tariff regime has led to friction with China, which is the world’s largest producer of rare earth metals. China has been very willing to limit access to these vital metals as it vies for the best tariff deal. That, essentially, has put the world on notice that China can’t be counted on as a supplier of rare earth metals.

MP Materials has a huge opportunity to exploit

MP Materials didn’t just magically find itself here. The company’s specific goal was to create a rare earth metals supplier that is located in an economically and politically stable region. The company is exactly where it wanted to be and that is leading to a huge influx of cash.

The U.S. government has invested in MP Materials. Apple has inked a sizable deal with the company. And, after the stock advance following these two events, the company was able to sell shares into the market at attractive prices. Demand was so strong for MP Materials’ stock that it was able to sell more shares than it had originally planned.

This is all very good news from a growth perspective. It means that MP Materials has the cash it needs to keep building out its business. And that, in turn, means that it still has a huge growth opportunity ahead that will be easier to achieve since access to capital is less of a constraint. If anything, the growth opportunity isn’t stalling out, it is getting more attractive.

Don’t expect instant results at MP Materials

Despite the positives here, there’s still one small problem. MP Materials is a young miner that is building out its business. That takes time and will likely mean red ink for at least a while longer.

MP Materials stock is up over 350% over the past year, with most of that gain coming after the U.S. government’s investment in the company. So while the business has huge growth potential, a lot of that appears to have been priced into the stock in a very short period of time. Investors should probably tread cautiously with MP Materials, which looks like it has become a story stock at this point.

If the story doesn’t happen as expected (including as quickly as expected), the shares could quickly turn lower again even if the long-term opportunity for the business remains robust.

Highly specialized tech stock Datadog (DDOG 4.49%) received quite a treat from stock market investors on Monday, as they collectively sent the company’s shares up by well over 4%. It was clear they took an analyst’s bullish update on the stock to heart, since that increase trounced the S&P 500 index’s 0.3% rise.

A generous price target lift

That prognosticator was BMO Capital’s Keith Bachman, who published a new take on Datadog before market open. In that note, he raised his price target on the stock to $154 per share, which was quite the boost from his previous $130 assessment. In doing so, Bachman kept his outperform (i.e., buy) recommendation on the shares intact.

Image source: Getty Images.

Bachman’s revision was based on a new calculation of his revenue estimate in the coming quarter for the company, according to reports. With that, he changed the price target to reflect what he believes is a fair multiple of 14 to 15 times Datadog’s expected fiscal 2026 top line.

Formerly, he had pegged this at 13 to 14 times the forecast revenue.

Second-quarter success

For the most part, there hasn’t been much proprietary news coming from Datadog recently. In early August, it published quite an encouraging quarterly earnings report, in which it not only scored a double beat on the consensus analyst estimates for the period, but also comfortably beat projections for the entirety of this year.

This was on the back of some rather encouraging growth numbers for the company. Revenue rose by 28% year over year to hit $827 million, while non-GAAP (adjusted) net income advanced 7% to almost $164 million.

Sometimes old dog meme coins can learn new tricks, and for Dogecoin, (DOGE 2.38%) that process may finally be underway. After years of little in the way of protocol changes, the coin’s developers are now circulating a few proposals that could expand Dogecoin’s capabilities in ways that actually matter.

Two ideas are on the table right now. If either gets developed and sees use, Dogecoin’s appeal might widen beyond memes and momentum. Here’s what’s being considered and how it could change things.

Image source: Getty Images.

This would be quite the new trick

Presently, Dogecoin does not natively support smart contracts, which is why decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and complex decentralized apps (dApps) never had a chance to grow on its base layer.

What’s new is a concrete proposal to add a feature to the coin’s protocol that would let Dogecoin nodes verify a type of cryptographic proof called zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs as part of a transaction. That would enable Dogecoin to host Layer-2 (L2) chains for faster and more efficient transactions, and also provide virtual machines that execute off-chain. This means it would create a separate but closely linked system for quickly running certain complex calculations.

But why should investors care?

Because this route could bring Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible smart contract execution to Dogecoin, thereby enabling Ethereum’s huge corps of developers to easily create applications for the chain if they choose to do so. In other words, this is the shortest bridge between Dogecoin’s powerful brand and the programmable crypto economy, the area where most of the value lies.

This proposal lives in Dogecoin Core’s developer forum. If it’s agreed on, it would still need to be implemented, and it’s unclear how much time a major addition like this one would take. Plus, there is still community debate about the complexity of the proposal and also its scope.

So don’t hold your breath waiting for this new feature because it might not ever come to fruition, even if it would be enormous for the coin’s odds of gaining value over time.

There’s a potential revenue flywheel here

The second idea that investors need to know is more subtle, but potentially even more powerful for holders.

If Dogecoin can verify cryptographic proofs on-chain as the proposal calls for, submitting those transactions will require network fees, which are paid in Dogecoin’s native coin, DOGE. So each proof-verified action on the L2 chain would create more marginal demand for the coin than transactions on the main chain currently do.

Today, fee revenue on Dogecoin is modest, a byproduct of transfers; so far in Q3 2025, it generated just $281,557 in fees. Fees are paid to miners, and no portion of the fees are burned, taking coins out of circulation. If proof verification becomes a new transaction class, a flywheel could potentially form, with more useful apps, more proofs, more fees, more miner incentives, and more reasons for users and platforms to hold some DOGE to interact with the network. And there’s some early evidence that the team behind the proposal is building with those goals in mind.

As positive as these proposals could be, investors should keep three caveats front and center. First, as stated before, proposals are not products, and Dogecoin’s culture is conservative about base-layer changes. Don’t expect anything to move forward without the developer community spending at least a bit more time deliberating publicly.

Second, the coin’s supply is expansionary by design. Roughly 5 billion new coins are issued each year, so any utility that it develops needs to create economics that grow faster than that to meaningfully move the value needle over time.

Finally, there still isn’t an investment thesis for buying this coin yet. While that could change in the future, given what’s being considered, you should wait for some strong evidence of actual progress before even considering whether it would be smart to make a small investment.

When people in the U.S. think about flying, Delta Air Lines (DAL 0.74%) and United Airlines (UAL -1.01%) might be the first companies that come to mind. They both have large market capitalizations and many travelers have flown with one or the other, but they employ very different strategies. Because of this difference, investors can tell which airline is truly first-class.

Different tracks

United CEO Scott Kirby is betting on initiatives such as adding planes and making upgrades like better in-flight Wi-Fi. I like this plan, but it also has risks. Operational mistakes, rising labor costs, and headwinds in other countries are cutting into United’s profits.

Image source: Getty Images.

Delta, led by CEO Ed Bastian, is acting differently. Instead of rushing to get more planes, Delta is focusing on making customers happier and being careful with money. The airline is investing in things like Delta Concierge AI, which is supposed to make travel feel more personal and smooth. Its business model counts on premium seats and loyalty programs. Almost 60% of Delta’s money now comes from these sought-after seats and perks.

Delta is often ranked high in customer surveys and for being on time. This good reputation helps it avoid the price wars that can quickly hurt profits in the airline business.

A cleaner balance sheet

Airlines traditionally carry a lot of debt, but Delta is different here, too. In the most recent quarter, Delta had about $16 billion in net debt, equating to a 30 net-debt-to-enterprise-value ratio (which shows how much of the business’s value has been financed with debt). This is quite a lot, but it is less than United’s $18 billion, which gives it a 36 net-debt-to-enterprise-value ratio.

This difference is important. Delta has its best credit rating in years, and leaders have said that controlling debt is a main goal. United, on the other hand, has more debt, which makes it riskier if fuel prices go up, travel decreases, or international expansion plans run into hiccups and the business is pressured.

Hubs vs. horizons

The two airlines also use their networks differently. Delta has strong hubs in cities such as Atlanta, which allow it to group flights together and run its operations smoothly. United is more focused on international growth, which could be beneficial if everything goes well, but it is more complex and risky. Recent global issues, including tariffs and travel restrictions have revealed how fragile this type of growth can be.

By the numbers

The financial results confirm the story. Delta regularly has higher operating and profit margins than United, and it still manages to increase revenue at a steady rate. It also makes more free cash flow, which is needed for a company to pay down debt and give money back to shareholders. Delta’s stock yields about 1.3% at current prices, while United does not pay a dividend.

Even with its stronger financial base, Delta’s stock is slightly cheaper than United’s. Delta’s valuation is about 6.9 based on enterprise value to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), compared to 10.6 for United. Investors are paying less for a company that makes more reliable profits and is better managed.

What matters for investors

United’s growth plan sounds exciting, and it might work if international markets do well and its operations run smoothly. But there are a lot of risky ifs. For investors who want more reliable returns, Delta’s mix of reliability, profits, and a strong financial base makes it a safer choice.

Delta could be harmed by rising fuel prices, labor disputes, or a decrease in travel. But compared to United’s game plan, the company seems better prepared to handle potential complications without causing trouble for shareholders.

If you had to pay more for a dollar of earnings from either of these airlines, which would it be: The one pursuing growth with a lot of debt, or the one quietly producing higher margins, happier customers, and a stronger financial base?

For me, the choice is clear. Delta isn’t just another airline stock — it’s the first-class option in the sector.

Ken Griffin, the billionaire hedge fund manager and CEO of Citadel, recently turned heads after making a striking observation about Alphabet (GOOG 0.21%) (GOOGL 0.28%). During an interview at Stanford Business School, Griffin proclaimed that Alphabet wields comparable levels of computational power as the fifth-largest country in the world.

This is not mere hyperbole. Griffin’s remark underscores the vast scale of Alphabet’s technological infrastructure and its dominance in shaping the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution.

For investors, this comment is more significant than a memorable sound bite. It highlights Alphabet’s role at the center of AI’s growth, where demand for compute power and data processing is only accelerating.

Ken Griffin just made a bold statement about Google

When most people think of Alphabet, Google Search and YouTube are usually the first properties that come to mind. But the company’s influence stretches far beyond the internet.

Today, Alphabet operates across a diverse set of industries — ranging from cybersecurity through its investment in Wiz, to cloud computing with Google Cloud Platform, consumer electronics with Android, autonomous driving via Waymo, and even custom AI hardware with its tensor processing units (TPUs). In effect, Alphabet has quietly engineered one of the most powerful computing backbones in the world.

By comparing Alphabet’s resources to those of a nation, Griffin underscores the staggering scale of its capabilities in processing, storage, and advanced data workloads. For perspective, the world’s fifth-largest country in terms of electricity consumption falls between Japan and Russia — industrialized economies that power hundreds of millions of people.

If a single company like Alphabet commands that level of computational power, it signals just how central the company has become to the global digital economy.

Image source: Getty Images.

Alphabet is purpose-built for the AI infrastructure era

At the heart of Alphabet’s AI strategy is TensorFlow, its open-source framework for machine learning. TensorFlow is more than a toolkit — it’s an ecosystem powering advanced applications in natural language processing (NLP), robotics, computer vision, and more.

Griffin’s observation ties directly to this computational muscle: Alphabet’s vast infrastructure is the foundation for training and deploying AI models, at a scale few rivals can match. This isn’t simply about producing isolated AI-powered products — it’s about providing the tools, frameworks, and cloud infrastructure that enable developers, enterprises, and entire global communities to innovate.

That network effect is what strengthens Alphabet’s competitive moat. Just as Google Search became the default gateway to the internet two decades ago, Alphabet’s AI backbone is positioning the company as an enduring platform on which the next era of computing is built.

The impact on investors

Griffin’s comment underscores why Alphabet should no longer be seen merely as a cyclical play on digital advertising. Viewed through the lens of AI, Alphabet emerges as a long-term compounder — an essential force powering the AI economy. For investors, the takeaway is clear. Griffin’s perspective shines light on Alphabet’s deeply entrenched position across various corners of the AI landscape.

The company’s ability to marshal computational power on par with a nation highlights not only the durability of its entire business, but stresses the importance of its competitive advantages across both hardware and software — domains with enormous capital requirements and high barriers to entry.

GOOGL PE Ratio (Forward) data by YCharts

Yet despite its technological leadership, the stock continues to trade at a steep discount relative to other megacap tech peers based on forward earnings multiples.

This disconnect suggests that the broader market has yet to fully price in Griffin’s astute insight — leaving long-term investors with meaningful upside potential as Alphabet’s position in the high ground becomes even more pronounced, while rivals scramble to keep pace.

It’s been just six months since CoreWeave (CRWV -4.96%) went public, and the stock has more than tripled in its short life as a public company, despite witnessing bouts of volatility during this period. The stock’s rapid rise has been fueled by its fast-improving revenue pipeline, but at the same time, investors have been worried about certain factors.

From CoreWeave’s rapidly rising debt to stock dilution on account of its $9 billion Core Scientific deal, shares of the company have slipped significantly since hitting a high nearly three months ago. However, the company’s latest deal with Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) could help assuage investors’ concerns to some extent and set CoreWeave up for more upside.

Image source: Getty Images

Nvidia’s guarantee is great news for CoreWeave investors

CoreWeave has built its business by offering dedicated artificial intelligence (AI) data centers powered by graphics processing units (GPUs) from Nvidia. It rents out its cloud computing capacity to the likes of Meta Platforms and Microsoft, which account for the majority of its top line. It has also added a third big customer in the form of OpenAI.

The ChatGPT maker offered an initial contract worth $11.9 billion to CoreWeave in March this year, before enhancing the size of the deal by another $4 billion. And now, Nvidia has signed a $6.3 billion contract with CoreWeave that will guarantee the latter’s revenue growth in the long run. Under this agreement, Nvidia will be purchasing any unsold data center capacity from CoreWeave through April 2032.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), CoreWeave pointed out that “Nvidia is obligated to purchase the residual unsold capacity” of its data centers in case its “data center capacity is not fully utilized by its own customers.” CoreWeave’s existing data center capacity is falling short of demand.

CFO Nitin Agrawal remarked on the August earnings conference call that CoreWeave’s “growth continues to be capacity-constrained, with demand outstripping supply.” This is evident from the fact that its contractual backlog increased by close to $14 billion year over year in Q2, driven by the multibillion-dollar contracts the company signed in the quarter.

For comparison, CoreWeave’s Q2 revenue increased to $1.2 billion from $395 million in the year-ago period. Not surprisingly, the company is laser-focused on bringing online more data center capacity so that it can fulfill its massive revenue backlog worth $30 billion. It currently operates 33 dedicated AI data centers in the U.S. and Europe, with active power capacity of 470 megawatts (MW).

However, it has been increasing its contracted data center power capacity at a nice clip so that it can bring more active capacity online. Specifically, CoreWeave’s contracted data center power capacity increased by 600 MW in the previous quarter to 2.2 gigawatts (GW). But even that might not be enough in the long run, as according to McKinsey, data center capacity demand could grow by 4x between 2023 and 2030.

The firm estimates that global data center capacity demand could hit 220 GW in 2030 from 55 GW in 2023 in a midrange scenario. So there is a good chance that CoreWeave could remain capacity-constrained in the long run thanks to the AI-powered data center boom. For instance, McKinsey is expecting a deficit of more than 15 GW in data center power capacity in the U.S. itself by 2030.

As such, CoreWeave may not be left with any residual capacity to sell to Nvidia going forward, as there is a good chance that data center demand will continue to be stronger than supply on account of AI. And now, Nvidia’s guarantee gives CoreWeave investors an extra cushion that should ensure healthy long-term growth for the company, even if there’s a drop in AI computing capacity requirements.

What should investors do?

Nvidia’s guarantee suggests that the demand for AI computing is likely to remain robust in the long run. This should ideally translate into a bigger backlog and stronger growth for CoreWeave, which is just what analysts are expecting from the company through 2028.

CRWV Revenue Estimates for Current Fiscal Year data by YCharts

The massive opportunity in the cloud AI infrastructure market should help CoreWeave sustain impressive growth rates beyond 2028. For instance, even if it clocks 20% annual top-line growth in 2029 and 2030, its revenue could hit $25.6 billion. If the stock is trading at even 5 times sales at that time, in line with the Nasdaq Composite‘s average sales multiple, its market cap could get close to $130 billion. That would be more than double CoreWeave’s current market cap.

Importantly, CoreWeave can now be bought at 16 times sales, which isn’t all that expensive when we consider its remarkable growth.

So investors looking to capitalize on the AI cloud infrastructure market’s long-term growth potential can consider buying this AI stock right away, especially considering that the Nvidia deal is a vote of confidence in CoreWeave’s — and the AI data center market’s — prospects.

PA Media

LinkedIn

Legal barriers

In this podcast, Motley Fool contributors Rick Munarriz, Lou Whiteman, and Jason Hall discuss selling decisions they wish they could take back. They also look at some stocks that could thrive in the new normal. There’s also a sporty look at some of this year’s biggest winners and losers.

To catch full episodes of all The Motley Fool’s free podcasts, check out our podcast center. When you’re ready to invest, check out this top 10 list of stocks to buy.

A full transcript is below.

This podcast was recorded on Sept. 08, 2025.

Rick Munarriz: Don’t go on a path to sell destruction. Motley Fool Money starts. I’m Rick Munarriz, and today I’m joined by two of my favorite voices in Fooldom, Jason Hall and joining us for Hidden Gems, Lou Whiteman. We’re going to take a look at some stocks that we believe will head higher in the coming months. We’re also going to play a new game called Double Trouble. But first, investors spend a long time treating their stocks as soul mates. Sometimes they should be treated as cell mates. We spend a lot of time discussing meat cutes when it comes to stock ideas. Today, I want to talk about breakups. More to the point, what’s the decision to sell that you regret the most? Mine is easy, but I want to start with you, Lou. Like trying to figure out what to do with a blank spreadsheet square, let’s talk about your worst sell decision.

Lou Whiteman: I’m a terrible person to ask this because it’s so boring, Rick. Not because I’m brilliant, not because I don’t have terrible mistakes, but rather I don’t tend to dabble in the early stage companies that get these great explosions later higher. I assure you, if I would have owned Amazon or if I would have owned Tesla back in the day, I would have sold them, and I would have regretted them now. But I do have a lot of regrets, and I do think there’s a lesson there because I share a theme. Two really good companies I sold years ago. One, Axos Financial, the online bank. I think it’s up like 200% since then. I really regret that. The other is Loews, not the home improvement company, but the financial hotel conglomerate. It’s almost a double since then. The similarities, the reason I regret them, these aren’t the oh, my gosh, I’d be a trillionaire now, but I’ll be honest, I sold them without any good reason. I had no magic process. I had no guiding principle. I basically got bored with them, and I saw something shinier and flashier, and that is the worst reason to sell. Not dramatic declines. This just eats at me because this is the danger of acting on the whim instead of with real intent. Every time I look at those, I get a little sad inside.

Rick Munarriz: A lot of real world relationships end for the same reason, Lou. Jason, what’s on your plate?

Jason Hall: I could go with one that Lou mentioned. I could go with Tesla. I bought I believe in around 2016. I sold a couple of years later for a decent little profit. Stocks up 2,000% since I held. Rule Breaker investors that that followed the Rule Breakers portfolio have enjoyed 16,000% in wins owning Tesla. Now, clearly a financial mistake, but not sure that I regret it because I didn’t sell it for concerns about the business as much as just concerns about Elon Musk’s ability and interest in staying focused on Tesla, and concerns about the company’s ability to deliver more than just EVs and maybe batteries. I could also go with selling half of my Nvidia stake about two years ago. Stock is up 446%, and it’s never been below the price that I sold. I don’t really regret that though because I sold it at this point in my financial life where I’m thinking about position sizing, and it had become such an out-sized position in my portfolio. I’m still OK with that decision even though maybe I should have let that problem become a much bigger problem. But the one that I really regret, Rick, I even wrote about it on fool.com in August of 2013, and that was selling Microsoft, and it was right as Steve Ballmer was leaving and set to be replaced by Satya Nadella. I sold entirely because I just ran out of patience at really the absolute wrong time to have been running out of patience with Microsoft, and it’s been an 18-bagger since I wrote that article and since I sold my shares.

Rick Munarriz: Ouch, Jason. I have a story to share too. Invest long enough, and you’ll get a 10-bagger. If your aim is true, you may even wind up with 100-bagger, 1,000-bagger, a 10,000-bagger, or understandably even more rare. I have 100,000 bagger in my portfolio, and it’s killing me. I bought 500 shares of Netflix in October 2002 when it was a broken IPO, just a few months after hitting the market. After a pair of stock splits, I would have 7,000 shares worth $8.7 million today. Unfortunately, I have sold 99% of my shares over the past 23 years. I sold 80% just a couple of months into my shareholder tenure, and I regret that a lot more than the other 19% I paired back much later as the position became a larger part of my portfolio.

Lou Whiteman: My heart goes out to all of us, and terrible stories. Also, I don’t think we should be afraid to sell. If anything, I feel like I should be more open to selling for the right reasons. I think you can make bad decisions if you refuse to sell. But again, I come back to, looking at mine, you have to have a reason. You have to have a process and stick with it. If the thesis has changed, you should probably sell. If you don’t believe it anymore, it’s selling because you actually want to use the money for a life event, if you’re going to get married or you have kids. Look, that’s a reason to sell. We’re going to use the money. I’ve tried to work on being more purposeful to slow things down, to not react, not look for shiny objects. I think you can avoid the worst regrets by just have a plan, stick to it. It’s just, gosh, Jason, there’s so much stimulus coming at us. How do you stay on a plan?

Jason Hall: Yeah, Lou, you’re right. I think regret minimization is something that as investors, we have to sharpen that skill and really build that muscle. That doesn’t mean ignoring mistakes and pretending like they don’t happen. You have to learn from them. But one of the things that I’ve learned to do is to build a framework that helps me reduce the unforced errors, basically making short term decisions with long term investments. That’s a lot of times the things that leads us to sell too soon, and better align my actions with all of my financial goals, whether they are the long term ones, but also the short term ones too. Aligning those decisions based on what the asset itself is can be one of the most important steps to take. It’s certainly the one that’s helped me avoid most of the worst mistakes. You know what? My heart doesn’t go out to you, Rick. My heart doesn’t go out to you, Lou. I don’t feel sorry for myself here because I look at my portfolio, and overall, mistakes are part of the process, and I know all three of us have done quite well and we’re set out to reach all of our short term and long term financial goals. It’s part of the process, and hopefully, sharing these stories with others that have made mistakes. Fools listening, I hope this helps you out a little bit too.

Lou Whiteman: Yeah.

Rick Munarriz: My lesson is that you should never buy a stock just because it goes down. By the same metrics, you also shouldn’t sell a stock just because it goes up. I agree with you both, not dwelling on the selling, learn something and move on. Or in the words of Nicole Kidman as she walks into an empty AMC theater, somehow heartbreak feels good in a place like this. Coming up next, we shift gears to talk about stocks we like right now. Lou, Jason, we’re not a boy band yet, but like NSYNC, we’re going to go over some buy-buy-buys.

The market came under pressure on Friday after a week jobs report made it even more likely that the Fed will start to cut rates later this month. Every move creates an opportunity. I want to go around the room and see what stocks is on your radar as a potential buy ahead of what could be three months of small but potent rate cuts. Jason, what’s one stock you think will rise in the fall?

Jason Hall: I’m going to go on a limb here, and I’m going to bring up one that I don’t think that rate cuts directly are the reason that the stock is going to go up, and I’m going to give you a hot take on Starbucks. I’m going to give it to you in a lot less time than it would have taken you to get your favorite cup of caffeine from that coffee giant over the past couple of years. Starbucks’ shares are basically on a six-year highly volatile losing streak. Revenue growth has stalled. Tons of legit competition has emerged all over the world. We’ve got another IPO that’s coming up pretty soon in that coffee space. I know that sounds like a terrible stock to expect to go up, right, Rick?

Rick Munarriz: Yeah, but you had me percolating, Jason. Why do you think Starbucks will rise in the fall?

Jason Hall: In short, Starbucks looks like it’s finally working through years of problems that have hurt the business, and these problems were happening before we realized they were problems. The collision of too much technology that was driving a ton of orders ran into too much complexity behind the counter, along with a number of other poor operational decisions, hurt the customer experience, hurt the company’s relations with its workers. Here’s a stat. Starbucks hasn’t had a positive quarter of comps. That’s that important measure of retail of sales at stores that have been open for at least one year. Hasn’t had a positive comps quarter since the end of 2023. That’s seven straight negative comp quarters, seriously. Now, Brian Niccol, I believe is the best operator in the restaurant industry, was brought in just 13 months ago to fix really a broken business that’s attached to an incredible brand. There have been signs of life the past couple of quarters. Comps have still been down, but much less worse than prior to Niccol’s implementing the Starbucks’ Back to Starbucks initiative. When we combine that positive momentum over the past six months with a really brutal comp period that was last year’s fall quarter. It was particularly bad, comps were down a brutal 7%. I think the combination of low expectations and a low bar for what could look like pretty good results that sets Starbucks up to beat expectations when it reports in October, and I think there’s going to be momentum that can drive the stock up.

Rick Munarriz: Yeah, let’s hope so. Lou, tell us about a stock that you like here.

Lou Whiteman: Conventional wisdom has it that small caps do better in a rate cut environment because the cost of borrowing should come down, and smaller companies tend to be more on the edge when it comes to debt. With that in mind, what I’m watching is a stock called Montrose Environmental, ticker MEG. They’re only about $1 billion market cap. They’re a roll up, and they’re an active acquirer, so they have a lot of debt, specifically 330 million debt compared to just 11 million in cash. They’re the type of company that gets a longer lifeline or life gets a lot easier for them if their cost of debt can come down.

Rick Munarriz: Lou, I remember you writing about Montrose a couple years ago when it was a beneficiary of COVID-related testing. Why do you think it will rise in the fall?

Lou Whiteman: Yeah, that was more of a distraction. What they do at a core, they provide necessary services with environmental cleanup and environmental air quality monitoring, water quality monitoring. These are long term needs, Rick. These are things that we just any administration, whatever’s going on, there’s a need for this. Montrose has a lot of patents in areas like neutralizing micro plastics and getting them out of the water. What sets them apart from me is this roll up. It is a risk, but in an industry full of, basically, small and regional players, they are a national player. They’ve been a consolidator. They have the scale to take on bigger projects, and also large corporate customers that have operations all over the country. They have the option with Montrose to just do business with one vendor. If you’re a mining company, you can work with them nationwide instead of having to find a partner in every market they operate. This is no sure thing, but it’s intriguing, and if they can get borrowing rates down, their odds of success improve.

Jason Hall: One of the things that’s so compelling about what you’re talking about, Lou, is the market is littered with these sleepy little underappreciated companies in markets like that that are massively fragmented that have a good record of rolling up and consolidating. I think that’s worth taking a look at.

Lou Whiteman: It’s just expensive, and if the debt gets cheaper, just life gets easier.

Rick Munarriz: Yeah, find a consolidator in a fragmented sector, and you can make a lot of money that way. My stock is Zillow Group. There are two classes of shares here, but I’m going with the Class A voting stock trading on the ticker symbol ZG. Zillow operates the leading residential real estate portal with 243 million average monthly unique users.

Jason Hall: Wow, housing, not a beautiful market right now, Rick. What’s got you thinking that Zillow can rise in the fall?

Rick Munarriz: If financing rates start moving markedly lower in the coming months, it’s going to breathe new life into the depressed residential real estate market that has seen its transaction volume inch just 1-2% higher over the past year. Demand will spike as homebuyers cash in on getting more bang for their mortgage buck. Supply will also finally start to ease once homeowners aren’t afraid to cash out of their low rates on existing digs. Zillow lights the housewarming candle on both ends. The surge in demand creates more app and website traffic, and that’s a dinner bell for the real estate agents and other advertisers paying for exposure to this lucrative audience. More homes hitting the market will make it even more important to pay up to stand out on the platform. Zillow’s stock is beating the market over the past year, but it’s also flat with where it was five years ago. It doesn’t seem fair. Zillow is back to posting double-digit revenue growth, and adjusted earnings is growing even faster. It’s doing well now. It should really be doing well a few months from now.

Lou Whiteman: Rick, I love the stock idea, but I’m more intrigued with the three of us as a boy band. We need to talk about that more after this is over.

Rick Munarriz: We will, in harmony. When we get back, I break out a new game to see if Jason and Lou can sort this year’s biggest gainers from its biggest losers. Stick around. We’ll end the show in sync.

Jason, Lou, from our culture Exchange Program with Hidden Gems, let’s play Double Trouble. Let’s go over the rules because it’s a brand new game. I will mention a stock that’s been on the move this year. If you think it has more than doubled, say double. If you think it’s lost more than half of its value in 2025, say trouble. Simple enough, let’s go. First one, Freshpet, FRPT, the company behind refrigerated dog and cat food. Double or trouble, Jason?

Lou Whiteman: I’m going to say trouble. I hear about it so much, but maybe. I was going to say double. Well, just let’s have fun.

Rick Munarriz: We are having fun. But Jason is right, trouble, down 63%. Freshpet is still posting double digit sales growth, but it began the year with a steep valuation that’s high even in dog years. Next up, Wayfair. ticker symbol W, online furniture retailer. We probably know this company. Double or trouble, Lou?

Lou Whiteman: I haven’t personally bought anything in a while, but I think other people have. I’ll say double here.

Jason Hall: I think it’s bounced back. It’s struggled so much coming out of the pandemic. I think there’s been a little bit of a recovery.

Rick Munarriz: Yeah, it’s been quite a recovery, at least for the stock. Up 103%, so a double, you’re both correct. Wayfair is getting market share during a cyclical downturn, but in its latest quarter, adjusted earnings nearly doubled. Third up, we’re traveling far away for Banco Santander, SAN is the ticker symbol, Spain’s largest bank. Double or trouble? Start with you, Jason.

Jason Hall: Man, I think I’m wrong here, but I’m going to say double because I know European banks have just taken it on the chin, but I think there’s some life coming back into that sector.

Lou Whiteman: Yeah, definitely double for me, just where Europe’s going.

Rick Munarriz: Yeah, up 110%. The banking giant has been expanding across Europe and Latin America for some time, and early this year, it formed a partnership with Verizon to boost its presence in the US. Next up, C3.ai. Ticker symbol, AI. A provider of AI software tools for the energy industry and other enterprises. Double or trouble, Lou?

Lou Whiteman: This is trouble.

Jason Hall: Yeah, absolutely trouble. I don’t want to get sued, so I’m not going to say anything but trouble.

Rick Munarriz: Yeah, down 55%, net losses keep widening, and revenue is now going the wrong way. Having some challenges there, despite its awesome ticker symbol for the times. Finally, Newegg Commerce, NEGG, consumer electronics retailer. Double or trouble, Jason?

Jason Hall: I’m going to say double. I’m making a wild guess here. Completely coming from the perspective of a consumer of computer electronics, they’re still the gold standard.

Lou Whiteman: They were crazy a while ago. They’ve come back to Earth. It’s not trouble. It’s got to be a double.

Rick Munarriz: Yeah, not just a double. Up 452%.

Lou Whiteman: Still, wow.

Rick Munarriz: Yeah, revenue growth has turned positive in 2025 after three years of decline. That’s the good thing. But what’s really carrying it is mostly the fact that it’s riding the new wave of meme stock, so that’s happening right now for that stock. But clearly, the company that’s fundamentals at least are starting to turn the corner. Jason and Lou, thank you for going over the highs and lows of investing and price moves with me today. If you want to give the boy band a shot, we can try try try.

Lou Whiteman: Rick, I’m bullish on you. You’re a double.

Rick Munarriz: That sounds like trouble. Thank you. Thank you to the two of you. A double dose of wisdom to my me them. As always, people on the program may have interest in the stocks they talk about, and the Motley Fool may have formal recommendations for or against, so don’t buy or sell stocks based solely on what you hear. All personal finance content follows Motley Fool editorial standards and is not approved by advertisers. Advertisements are sponsored content and provided for informational purposes only. To see our full advertising disclosures, please check out our show notes. For Jason Hall, Lou Whiteman, and the entire Motley Fool Money team, I’m Rick Munarriz. May your days be sunny and your life, Motley Fool Money.

Cryptocurrency prices slumped Sept. 22 with Ethereum (ETH 0.01%) losing 9% in the early hours of Monday morning. The second-biggest cryptocurrency fell from almost $4,500 to $4,075, before finishing the day at $4,200. Bitcoin (BTC 1.56%) dropped 3% and the total crypto market cap slipped back below $4 trillion.

Crypto positions saw more than $1.6 billion in liquidations in 24 hours — the biggest liquidation this year, according to CoinGlass data. Ethereum was hardest hit with more than $500 million wiped out. It’s a reminder of the way excessive leverage in crypto can quickly snowball. The market moved against investors who had borrowed to fund bullish positions. As it did, their positions were forcibly closed, which added to the broader downward pressure.

Let’s dive in to find out what the rocky start to the week means for crypto investors.

What investors need to know about the sell-off

When cryptocurrency prices are rising, it’s often easy to forget about the risk involved. Dramatic shifts and liquidations remind us that this is still a relatively new and evolving asset class.

1. Cryptocurrency volatility hasn’t gone away

Bitcoin is still a volatile asset. That volatility has lessened as it has gained traction as a store of value and attracted institutional investment, particularly through exchange-traded funds (ETFs). According to Fidelity, Bitcoin was less volatile than shares of Netflix in the two years running up to March 2024. However, the volatility is still there.

This is even more so for Ethereum, which serves a different purpose than Bitcoin and has not yet benefited from the same inflows of corporate and institutional capital. Ethereum is starting to be viewed as the smart contract workhorse of crypto, supporting a wealth of stablecoin and decentralized finance applications. However, it is still more volatile than Bitcoin as this week’s dramatic price swing demonstrates.

2. Keep an eye on crypto leverage

Investing using margin and leverage involves using borrowed funds to take a larger position in an investment. It can work in different ways, but for many crypto investors, it involves depositing assets as collateral to increase purchasing power. As an investor, it can be risky because you could lose your collateral — known as liquidation — if the market doesn’t rise or falls.

On a broader level, leverage amplifies market activity. That’s why it’s concerning that the levels of crypto leverage are coming close to those of Q4 2021 and Q1 2022. An August Galaxy report showed that total crypto-collateralized lending increased to more than $53 billion in the second quarter of 2025. That’s a 27% increase from on the quarter before.

In 2022, we saw the way that excessive leverage can quickly spiral and exacerbate market volatility. Markets are cyclical by nature, and history shows us that cryptocurrency bull runs don’t last forever. When prices start to fall, as they did at the start of the week, those declines are magnified by the various forms of buying crypto using borrowed money.

There’s also growing concern about crypto corporate treasury companies, some of which are using debt to fund their Bitcoin and Ethereum purchases. Adding crypto to company balance sheets using borrowed money has become popular this year. The danger is that when prices fall, they may need to sell their crypto to service debts, causing prices to fall further.

Image source: Getty Images.

3. Bitcoin and Ethereum are still trending upward

Dramatic price swings are always unsettling, but it’s important to keep them in context. Bear in mind that both Bitcoin and Ethereum are still outperforming the S&P 500 — in spite of the recent sell off. As of Sept. 24, the S&P 500 has gained about 16% year over year. Bitcoin is up almost 77% and Ethereum increased 57% in the same time period.

Prepare for further turbulence

Crypto prices seem to have stabilized today, with Bitcoin holding its head over the $113,000 mark and Ethereum at almost $4,200. However, Bloomberg warns that the market is braced for further volatility. It says Bitcoin options traders are betting on two extremes — a slide to $95,000 or a rally to over $140,000, showing that we may yet see more dramatic price swings.

Bitcoin and Ethereum have rallied this year, buoyed by a crypto-friendly administration, changes in regulation, and — most recently — hopes for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts. Potential Securities and Exchange Commission approvals of spot altcoin ETFs may also give the industry a boost in the coming months. Even so, economic doubts and inflation concerns continue to weigh on prices. If further rate cuts do not materialize as anticipated, crypto prices may not be able to sustain recent gains.

As a long-term investor, one way to manage volatility is to use dollar-cost averaging, buying a set amount of crypto at regular intervals rather than in a lump sum. It’s also important that crypto only make up a small amount of your portfolio, and that you set clear goals to avoid making panic investment decisions.

Nvidia (NVDA -0.73%) is no stranger to investing in its customers. The company has put billions to work to expand the artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem, aiming for more growth and investment from its core growth market. The company’s latest deal with OpenAI — the maker of ChatGPT — is a prime example of this strategy.

Here’s what the deal between Nvidia and OpenAI means

The first thing to understand about this deal is that it is simply a letter of intent. That means the partnership is non-binding, with no legal obligation for either of the companies to follow through on the deal framework discussed below. Even if the deal is non-binding, however, the spirit of the partnership is clear: Nvidia and OpenAI will be working closely together to enable each other’s businesses.

Next, let’s discuss the figures you may have seen in the headlines. Nvidia, for example, has pledged to invest $100 billion into OpenAI. The details, however, paint a slightly different picture than the headlines. What the deal essentially outlines is OpenAI’s intention to purchase Nvidia hardware for a massive, multiyear infrastructure buildout. According to a press release, OpenAI intends to “build and deploy at least 10 gigawatts of AI data centers with NVIDIA systems representing millions of GPUs for OpenAI’s next-generation AI infrastructure.” In return, Nvidia will invest in OpenAI equity in tranches, with each funding tranche being initiated as the infrastructure gradually expands.

OpenAI gets two things from this partnership. First, it gets funding in the form of direct cash for equity. Second, it gets preferential treatment from Nvidia when it comes to technology sourcing. Nvidia’s chips are in high demand, at one point facing 12-month shipping delays. OpenAI has now secured a long-term strategic advantage, gaining the ability to scale its infrastructure with the best chips on the planet, chips that the competition may not be able to source.

Nvidia, meanwhile, gains an even stronger backlog. It locks in a huge customer for years to come. It also helps fund an accelerated buildout of AI infrastructure — another long-term tailwind for its business.

Image source: Getty Images.

Should you buy even more Nvidia stock?

This is the type of deal that only Nvidia and OpenAI could pull off. Both are industry heavyweights with sizable competitive advantages. By joining forces, both companies stand to gain even more ground on the competition.

Should you buy stock in Nvidia due to this deal alone? Probably not. The deal, as mentioned, is simply a signal of intent. Nothing is legally binding. Plus, the tie-up could draw the scrutiny of regulators. According to Reuters:

The scale of Nvidia’s latest commitment could attract antitrust scrutiny. The Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission reached a deal in mid-2024 that cleared the way for potential probes into the roles of Microsoft, OpenAI and Nvidia in the AI industry. However, the Trump administration has so far taken a lighter approach to competition issues than the Biden administration.

Even if there are changes to the deal due to regulators or external influences, investors should be very bullish simply about Nvidia’s ability to forge such a deal. It has a huge lead on the competition when it comes to real-world chip performance, access to capital, and industry influence. By making moves like this, the company is ensuring that its dominant market shares have the possibility of continuing far into the future. So while shares aren’t a buy simply due to the deal with OpenAI, investors should take this news as a strong positive for Nvidia’s future.

CoreWeave (CRWV 2.77%) just announced that it has landed an order from AI chip giant Nvidia (NVDA 0.34%) worth at least $6.3 billion. The deal obligates Nvidia to purchase its residual unsold capacity until April 13, 2032, if it is not already purchased by CoreWeave’s customers.

CoreWeave is a longtime Nvidia client. It has purchased hundreds of thousands of GPUs, which CoreWeave rents out to clients. With the agreement, CoreWeave gains an additional revenue source.

Still, investors need to remember that the spare capacity was valuable enough to pay CoreWeave $6.3 billion, raising questions about which company will reap the greater benefit. Thus, investors should take a closer look at the deal to see whether CoreWeave or Nvidia benefits more.

Image source: Getty Images.

How CoreWeave benefits

CoreWeave obviously benefits from the deal since it has a guaranteed customer, and it will receive $6.3 billion in revenue over the length of the agreement.

But understanding the benefit fully means knowing what CoreWeave offers to the market. CoreWeave is an artificial intelligence (AI) based cloud computing company. It differs from cloud providers like Amazon‘s AWS as it builds servers specifically for workloads related to AI, machine learning, high-performance computing, and visual effects.

It also provides customers with the latest hardware, can handle heavy workloads at lower costs, and its per-instance pricing allows customers to manage their costs more closely. Such an approach makes CoreWeave valuable to the AI industry, but it can also leave it with unused capacity. Nvidia’s move to claim that spare capacity should therefore provide CoreWeave with some degree of stability.

Knowing that, investors should note where CoreWeave stands financially. Its $58 billion market cap is a tiny fraction of Nvidia’s $4.25 trillion size. Also, even though CoreWeave’s revenue of $2.2 billion in the first half of 2025 grew by 275% yearly, it still lost $605 million during that time. Such losses mean it will likely have to turn to capital markets to raise funds.

That need is even more acute because it pledged to spend between $20 billion and $23 billion in capital expenditures (capex) in 2025 alone. So it needs deals like the one with Nvidia so it can recoup its capex investments and eventually grow into a profitable operation.

Why Nvidia made this agreement

What may confuse investors is how the deal helps Nvidia. Even though Nvidia and CoreWeave are close partners, CoreWeave’s business requires it to purchase Nvidia’s latest AI accelerators. But investors may not understand why it chose to spend $6.3 billion to help this particular customer.

For one, Nvidia owns 24.3 million shares of CoreWeave as of June 30, about 5% of the outstanding shares. The agreement goes a long way toward solidifying Nvidia’s investment and the relationship between the two companies.

Intense demand for AI has led to a shortage of cloud capacity, so this deal also gives Nvidia a claim over a scarce commodity. Thanks to this deal, Nvidia will have to rely less on large cloud providers like Amazon and Microsoft, giving it more control over its destiny in this regard.

Furthermore, having CoreWeave in a more solid financial position means CoreWeave will more likely meet the aforementioned goals on capex spending. With that, it will spend more on Nvidia GPUs, helping to boost the size and expanse of the AI ecosystem over which it has considerable control.

What may look like charity to CoreWeave will likely serve Nvidia’s interests in the end.

Does CoreWeave or Nvidia benefit more from the deal?

This deal will probably benefit both companies, although CoreWeave is likely to derive more benefit, at least from an investor perspective.

Nvidia may benefit more in an abstract sense, as it gains influence over the AI ecosystem. Nvidia’s larger size also makes it a safer investment, a welcome relief to investors who feel uncomfortable buying into a money-losing company spending heavily on capex.

Still, the Nvidia deal offers a considerable boost to CoreWeave’s top line. This makes it more likely that CoreWeave’s massive spending will ultimately deliver positive returns for the company.

CoreWeave’s much smaller size also means it can attain higher percentage growth from a much smaller base. The doubling of CoreWeave’s value takes its market cap to $116 billion. The same percentage move would take Nvidia’s market cap to $8.5 trillion, a challenging feat in a market that has yet to see a company with a $5 trillion market cap.

In the end, CoreWeave comes with higher risks than Nvidia. However, if you are willing to take a chance, CoreWeave offers greater potential for higher-percentage returns.

For the first time since artificial intelligence (AI) captured Wall Street’s imagination, investors are beginning to broaden their scope beyond the “Magnificent Seven.” Two names that have attracted growing attention this year are Oracle and CoreWeave.

Unlike the tech titans that dominate headlines, Oracle and CoreWeave are carving out their niche at the infrastructure layer of the AI ecosystem. The opportunity they’ve identified is straightforward but also mission-critical: providing cloud-based access to GPUs. These chips — designed primarily by Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices — remain supply constrained as they are largely absorbed by the world’s largest companies.

This supply imbalance has created an opportunity to enable AI model development by offering GPUs as a service — a business model that allows companies to rent chip capacity through cloud infrastructure. For businesses that cannot secure GPUs directly, infrastructure services are both time-saving and cost-efficient.

In the background, however, a small, albeit capable, company has been competing with Oracle and CoreWeave in the GPU-as-a-service landscape. Let’s explore how Nebius Group (NBIS 5.54%) is disrupting incumbents and why now is an interesting time to take a look at the stock for your portfolio.

17.4 billion reasons to pay close attention to Nebius

Last week, Nebius announced a five-year, $17.4 billion infrastructure agreement with Microsoft. For reference, up until this point, Nebius’ management had been guiding for $1.1 billion in run rate annual recurring revenue (ARR) by December. I point this out to underscore just how transformative this contract is in terms of scale and duration.

The Microsoft deal not only places Nebius firmly alongside peers like Oracle and CoreWeave in the AI infrastructure conversation, but it also serves as validation that its technology is robust enough to meet the standards of a hyperscaler.

For Microsoft, the partnership is equally strategic. With GPUs in chronically short supply and long lead times to expand data center capacity, this agreement allows Microsoft to secure adequate compute resources without stretching internal infrastructure or assuming the upfront capital expenditure (capex) budget and execution risks that come with it.

Image source: Getty Images.

Why this deal matters for investors

AI investment is not a cyclical trend — it’s a structural shift. Enterprises are deploying applications into production at unprecedented speed, workloads are scaling rapidly, and new use cases in areas like robotics and autonomous systems are emerging.

For companies that supply the compute underpinning this increasingly complex ecosystem, these dynamics create durable secular tailwinds. By securing Microsoft as a flagship customer, Nebius has established itself within this foundational layer of the AI infrastructure economy.

Is Nebius stock a buy right now?

Since announcing its partnership with Microsoft, Nebius shares have surged roughly 39% as of this writing (Sept. 16). With that kind of momentum, it’s natural to wonder whether the stock has become expensive. To answer that, it helps to put its valuation in context.

Prior to the Microsoft deal, Nebius was guiding for $1.1 billion in ARR by year-end. If I assume Microsoft’s $17.4 billion commitment is evenly spread across five years (2026 to 2031), that adds about $3.5 billion annually — bringing Nebius’ pro forma ARR closer to $4.6 billion.

Against its current market cap of $21.3 billion, Nebius stock trades at an implied forward price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 4.6. On the surface, that looks meaningfully discounted to peers like Oracle and CoreWeave.

ORCL PS Ratio data by YCharts

That said, there are important caveats to consider. My analysis assumes no customer attrition over the next several years — this is unrealistic due to competitive pressures. While Nebius may continue winning large-scale contracts, it’s also reasonable to expect some customer churn.

Moreover, comparing Nebius’ future ARR to Oracle’s and CoreWeave’s current revenue base is not an apples-to-apples match. Oracle, for example, has reportedly inked a $300 billion cloud deal with OpenAI. Meanwhile, CoreWeave also has multiyear, multibillion-dollar commitments tied to OpenAI. The catch is that OpenAI itself doesn’t have the cash on its balance sheet to fully fund these agreements — leaving questions about their viability.

In short, Nebius appears attractively valued relative to its peers — but the landscape is evolving quickly and riddled with moving parts. The more important takeaway is that Nebius is now winning significant business alongside its brand-name peers.

In my eyes, this validation in combination with ongoing structural demand tailwinds makes Nebius a compelling buy and hold opportunity as the AI infrastructure narrative continues to unfold.

$8,000.

That’s what the typical American has in the bank, according to the Federal Reserve. Most people need to use the money in their bank accounts to cover everyday expenses. However, some people, particularly those with more than $8,000 in the bank, may be able to invest a portion of their savings as a way to grow their money.

Let’s examine two stocks that investors on a budget may want to consider.

Image source: Getty Images.

AT&T

First, there’s AT&T (T -1.12%).

The telecommunications giant fits the bill as a bargain stock for several reasons. Let’s start with the most obvious: Its stock recently cost less than $30 — meaning most investors can afford to own a decent number of AT&T shares.

However, it’s not just AT&T’s low stock price that makes it appealing for investors looking for a bargain. There’s also the fact that AT&T’s valuation is affordable. AT&T’s price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio, which compares its stock price to its earnings per share, is around 17x.

In comparison, the S&P 500 market index has a P/E ratio of about 30x. Moreover, many high-flying tech stocks sport P/E ratios north of 100x. Media-streaming veteran Spotify, for example, has a P/E ratio of 164x, as of this writing.

Finally, AT&T is a bargain buy for another reason: Its business model is solid, if not all that exciting. The company has refocused its efforts on delivering wireless and fiber service. It divested its media assets, spun off its WarnerMedia holdings, and sold its stake in DirecTV.

As a result, the company is better positioned to pay down debt — it still has more than $141 billion in net debt on its balance sheet — and return value to shareholders through dividend payments. The company pays a quarterly dividend of $0.2775, which works out to an annual dividend amount of $1.11 per share, resulting in a dividend yield of 3.75%.

AT&T offers a solid value, making it a name that investors on a budget should consider.

Alphabet

Next, there’s Alphabet (GOOG 1.04%) (GOOGL 1.06%).

At first blush, Alphabet might seem like a strange stock for bargain-seeking investors to consider. After all, shares of Alphabet recently were trading at around $249 each.

However, bargains aren’t only found in low-priced stocks. Indeed, with the widespread availability of fractional share trading, the market price of a stock no longer matters the way it did in the past.

What makes Alphabet a stock for bargain-seeking investors is its wonderful mix of business segments. Alphabet is no one-trick pony.

Let’s start with its most profitable and best-known operation: Google Search. The company’s search business is its crown jewel. It generates more than $200 billion in annual revenue. What’s more, this online behemoth is still growing like a weed. Search revenue increased 12% year over year in the recent second-quarter report, despite concerns that ChatGPT and other AI-powered chatbots would eat away at Google’s search engine dominance.

In addition to its powerful search segment, Alphabet has other powerful divisions. Its Google Cloud segment, the third-largest player in the red-hot field of cloud services, racked up $13.6 billion in revenue last quarter (the three months ended June 30, 2025). That’s a year-over-year growth rate of 32%. The company also recorded more than $17 billion in quarterly ad revenue from its YouTube division and its Google network (Gmail, etc.).

All in all, Alphabet’s mix of business segments and solid growth make it a stock that investors on a budget should strongly consider.

A healthy rise in its core cryptocurrency and several positive new analyst notes were the key factors sending Cipher Mining (CIFR -4.28%) stock higher in recent days. The Bitcoin miner was up by more than 9% week to date as of Thursday evening, according to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

A boost from Bitcoin

After something of a slump in August, Bitcoin has generally been on the rise in the current month. The Federal Reserve’s rate cut on Wednesday was only the latest catalyst pushing the No. 1 cryptocurrency higher.

Image source: Getty Images.

Prior to that, on Monday, analyst Michael Donovan of Compass Point assumed coverage of Cipher Mining, flagging it as a buy at a price target of $8 per share. The following day, Canaccord Genuity’s Joseph Vafi changed his take on the company by raising his price target substantially. He reset it to $13 per share from $9, maintaining his existing buy recommendation.

Vafi values Cipher Mining using a sum-of-the-parts method. One of its more valuable assets, in his opinion, is the Barber Lake facility. The analyst believes this mining operation is one of the most profitable in the cryptoverse, as it is extremely efficient and has relatively low power costs. The pundit also pointed to the 1,063 Bitcoin held by the company and its Black Pearl site as high-value holdings.

A happy surprise

It’s possible Cipher Mining is continuing to bask in the warmth of its second-quarter earnings, the results of which were published near the start of August. The company posted a surprise net profit (of $0.08 per share), which seemed to mitigate its significant revenue miss ($43.6 million reality versus the consensus analyst estimate of $50.6 million.

In 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued a company called Ripple, alleging it was in breach of financial securities laws for the way it was issuing its cryptocurrency token, XRP (XRP 1.08%). The lawsuit threatened to derail Ripple’s business model, and it suppressed the price of XRP for years.

But everything changed when President Donald Trump was reelected last November. He promised to make America “the crypto capital of the world,” which involved taking a friendlier approach to regulation. He appointed crypto-advocate Paul Atkins to run the SEC, and the agency has since withdrawn from several active cases against industry giants like Binance and Coinbase.

The SEC also dropped its case against Ripple in August, bringing the brutal five-year legal battle to an official end. Here’s what might be in store for XRP from here.

Image source: Getty Images.

Why the SEC sued Ripple

Ripple created a unique payments network called Ripple Payments. It facilitates instant cross-border transactions by enabling global banks to deal with one another directly, no matter what existing infrastructure they use. Without Ripple Payments, banks using the SWIFT (Society of Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) network would have to use an intermediary to send money to banks that don’t use the system, delaying payments by several days.

Ripple created XRP as a bridge currency to standardize each transaction within Ripple Payments. For example, an American bank might send XRP to a European bank rather than sending U.S. dollars, cutting out costly foreign exchange fees. The cost of a single transaction using XRP is typically 0.00001 of a token, which is a fraction of one U.S. cent.

XRP has a total supply of 100 billion tokens. There are 59.6 billion in circulation, and the rest are controlled by Ripple, which gradually releases them to meet demand. As a result, XRP is a centralized cryptocurrency. Decentralized cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC 0.08%) aren’t controlled by any person or company, and they are typically earned through a process called “mining.”

That’s why the SEC sued Ripple in 2020. The regulator argued that XRP should be classified as a financial security, just like stocks and bonds, which are also issued by companies. This would have forced Ripple to operate under a very strict regulatory framework, potentially derailing its business model.

In August 2024, a judge issued a ruling that mostly favored Ripple. The SEC lodged an appeal which could have dragged the legal battle on for several more years, but the Trump administration’s pro-crypto agenda changed things. The Atkins-led SEC officially dropped the appeal last month, formally closing the case.

Here’s what might happen next

XRP hit a new record high in July for the first time in seven years, in anticipation of Ripple’s settlement with the SEC. Bullish sentiment was also fueled by the approval of a new exchange-traded fund (ETF) called the ProShares Ultra XRP ETF on July 18. It invests in futures contracts, so it doesn’t own any XRP directly. But investors are speculating that regulatory approval for spot ETFs could follow, and those funds would start buying up XRP tokens.

There is some precedent, because futures-based Bitcoin ETFs came before spot ETFs, so investors are hoping XRP follows the same path. This proved to be very bullish for Bitcoin because many investors already viewed it as a legitimate store of value, so ETFs gave financial advisors and institutions a safe, regulated way to own it.

I’m not convinced that spot ETFs would have the same effect on XRP, because it doesn’t have a proven reputation as a store of value. It’s a bridge currency in the Ripple Payments network, and ETFs wouldn’t improve that use case at all.

That brings me to a crucial point. Ripple Payments supports the use of fiat currency, so banks don’t have to use XRP. This means that the success of the network won’t necessarily lead to a higher value per token over the long term.

Therefore, if Ripple Payments isn’t a reliable value creator for XRP, and ETFs fail to become a tailwind like they are for Bitcoin, then volatility is likely to be the overriding theme from here. When XRP hit its previous record high in 2018, it plunged by more than 90% over the following year.

The token is in a better position today, but I don’t see a clear fundamental case for sustainable long-term upside from here, which leaves investors exposed to potential price corrections in the future.