The Best Stocks to Invest $1,000 in Right Now

Key Points

• Nvidia's annual product cycle should persist in driving growth.

• Amazon's core businesses continue to fire on all cylinders.

• Alphabet is performing well despite recent adversity.

• 10 stocks we like better than Nvidia ›

When you put money into the stock market today, you're making money moves to benefit your future self -- and so it's a good idea to keep a forward-thinking attitude about potential opportunities ahead.

You've probably heard the buzz about artificial intelligence (AI), but it's become harder to deny that it will play a big role in the future. Researchers estimate that AI will create trillions of dollars in economic output over the next five years, so the companies that lead the way will likely continue to reap significant growth.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More »

So if you're deciding where to put $1,000 right now, you may want to consider these three top AI stocks. They are already winners and could continue to perform well into the future.

Image source: Getty Images.

1. Nvidia

There may not be a bigger winner in the AI era than Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA). The company's chips are the gold standard used by AI hyperscalers, which continue to build massive data centers to house clusters of Nvidia's chips that work together to train and operate AI models. Some estimates peg Nvidia's data center GPU market share at over 90%.

The rapid pace of innovation has made it difficult for competitors to keep up with Nvidia, whose next-gen AI chip is Rubin due next year, with Rubin Ultra scheduled for 2027. Even if competitors begin to chip away at Nvidia's dominance, the pie is growing so fast that Nvidia should continue to thrive. Experts believe global data center investments will approach $6.7 trillion over the next five years.

Nvidia's business and share price have grown tremendously over the past few years, so growth is bound to slow for a company now worth over $4 trillion. Still, at a price-to-earnings ratio of 58, Nvidia remains a solid long-term buy, assuming it meets Wall Street's expectations of nearly 30% annualized long-term earnings growth as the AI era continues to hit its stride.

2. Amazon

E-commerce and cloud computing giant Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) continues to plant seeds for expansion and long-term growth. Amazon Web Services is the world's largest cloud services platform, making the company a natural beneficiary of AI demand, which fuels cloud computing consumption.

Additionally, its legacy e-commerce business still has plenty of upside. E-commerce accounts for less than 20% of total retail in the United States, and Amazon only recently began widespread same-day grocery delivery.

Amazon also has other long-term catalysts in the works. It has quietly become one of the world's largest digital advertising platforms and has a vast subscriber base via its Prime membership, with an estimated 220 million paid subscriptions. That serves as a distribution channel for services, including Prime Video and telehealth.

The company's core businesses still have plenty of juice to squeeze, which is why analysts estimate the company will grow earnings at an impressive 18% annualized pace over the long haul. That makes Amazon a strong buy at its current valuation and its current P/E ratio of 35.

3. Alphabet

Google's parent company, Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG)(NASDAQ: GOOGL), faced some adversity over the past couple of years. Regulators successfully came after its search engine dominance, and investors have wondered whether the explosive popularity of AI chatbots like ChatGPT would render traditional search engines obsolete. At least thus far, Google continues to generate more revenue, so it seems that the two can coexist at this point.

Meanwhile, Alphabet is investing to become a central player in AI. Google Cloud is the world's third-largest cloud services platform, and Alphabet has developed its own AI model, Gemini, to compete with ChatGPT and others. The company has even created and sold custom AI data center chips, making it arguably the most complete competitor in the AI space, having in-house offerings across the cloud, chips, and AI software.

Alphabet's core business remains intact, and there is potential upside from other projects, such as Waymo, its autonomous ride-hailing subsidiary, and active development efforts in quantum computing. Wall Street anticipates Alphabet generating nearly 15% annualized long-term earnings growth. Despite the stock running to all-time highs, Alphabet remains an excellent deal for its expected earnings growth -- it trades at a P/E of just under 22 right now.

Should you invest $1,000 in Nvidia right now?

Before you buy stock in Nvidia, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Nvidia wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $671,466!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,115,633!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 1,077% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 185% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of August 18, 2025

Justin Pope has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.