My 2 Favorite Stocks to Buy Right Now

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, so if you've come looking for stock picks, I'm grateful that you made your way here. As an investor for the past 35 years, I've seen a lot in the market. I'm hoping I've learned a lot along the way.

Two of my favorite stocks to buy now are Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU). They did cross paths earlier this year in an interesting partnership, but I still think either one will work on its own as a winning investment. Let's take a closer look.

Image source: Getty Images.

1. Amazon

It's fitting that this week is the official start of the holiday shopping season. I'm kicking off this list with a company that will become popular with many of us looking for gifts in the coming weeks.

Amazon wasn't handed a membership card to join the "Magnificent Seven" club. It earned its right to be in the elite list of megacap stocks by operating the world's largest online marketplace. With great power comes great scalability, and you see that in action with the booming popularity of Rufus.

Rufus is Amazon's AI-fueled chatbot. This isn't Alexa, Amazon's voice-activated virtual assistant. Rufus is a chatbot embedded in the shopping process that is ready to offer help or ideally product recommendations, as needed. Amazon has the ability to amplify a good thing into becoming a great thing, and that's happening here. Rufus has seen 250 million active customers give it a shot, a 140% increase over the past year. An even more encouraging metric is that interactions are up 210% this year. Seeing the number of interactions outpace users is a strong sign of engagement. Amazon notes that Rufus is on a pace to deliver $10 billion in incremental annualized sales. This may be less than 2% of Amazon's trailing annual sales, but that's substantial for a company growing its net sales in the pre-teens.

Speaking of growth, after three years of seeing annual net sales rise between 9% and 12%, Amazon's top line has increased 13% in back-to-back quarters. Sure, the 13% uptick in its latest quarter checks down to 12% on a foreign-exchange adjusted basis. Its business is still accelerating overall and in key segments.

Its high-margin Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud-hosting business is growing at its fastest clip in three years. AWS accounted for just 22% of its total net sales in the third quarter, but it represents a much larger slice -- 66% -- of operating profit pie. Advertising is another business that is starting to pick up the pace and move the needle. Ad revenue has accelerated for three straight quarters, posting 22% year-over-year growth in its latest report.

Why do I like Amazon here? Pull up a stock chart. Despite a year of improving fundamentals in key growth areas, the stock is essentially flat this year. It's up a mere 0.6%, one of the weaker Magnificent Seven stocks in 2025. Sure, it's heading into the telltale holiday shopping season at a time when there are growing concerns about consumer sentiment. I feel it will only gain market share in any scenario, making this a smart time for Amazon investors to take advantage of the lull to warm up to the global e-commerce leader.

2. Roku

Unlike Amazon, Roku is beating the market this year with its 25% gain. The streaming service stocks pioneer is the North American leader in operating systems for consuming streaming content through TVs. The 36.5 billion hours that its growing user base spent being entertained through their Roku devices is a 14% increase over the previous year.

Roku has some pretty impressive streaks in play. Based on fresh guidance for the current quarter, it expects to stretch its run of double-digit revenue growth to 11 quarters. Annual double-digit growth will continue for at least 10 years. After building on its surprise profitability in the second quarter of this year, Roku's bottom line will accelerate again in the fourth quarter. It has beaten analyst profit targets by at least 25% for five consecutive quarters.

Not all streaks are positive. With the 14% top-line growth it posted in the third quarter -- and its outlook calling for a 12% increase in the current quarter -- it will be the fourth straight report of decelerating top-line growth.

Amazon and Roku already crossed paths earlier this year in a partnership of two leading ad tech companies. The deal -- powered by Amazon's connected TV ad serving -- would give marketers access to 80% of the country's streaming video. The trend is on the side of both companies. Neither one may be conventionally cheap, but they are both positioned to beat the market in the year ahead and beyond.

Rick Munarriz has positions in Roku. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon and Roku. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.