Nvidia has been one of the hottest stocks on the market in recent years, as the semiconductor giant’s shares have risen noticeably thanks to staggering demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips deployed in data centers. However, a closer look at returns over the past decade shows that some investors may have become millionaires during this period.
An investment of just $3,700 made in Nvidia stock a decade ago is now worth just over $1 million. So investors who are smart enough to put that much money into Nvidia stock back then and hold on to it all these years are probably millionaires now.
Do you miss the morning spoon? Breakfast news delivers it all in one fast, silly and free daily newsletter. Register for free »
The good thing is that the company has now found a solid catalyst in the form of AI, and it may be able to continue its impressive growth in the future.
However, Nvidia is now the largest company in the world, with a market cap of almost $3.6 trillion at the time of this writing. So expecting it to replicate the stunning returns it has achieved over the past decade in the future now seems difficult. That’s why investors looking for the next big growth stock that could add to a million-dollar portfolio may want to look at other companies that are currently in their early growth stages and on track to take advantage of lucrative end market opportunities.
Here’s a closer look at two such potential candidates.
The demand for AI software is expected to grow rapidly in the future. According to ABI Research, the AI software market could achieve annual growth of 30% through 2030, generating annual revenues of $391 billion by the end of the forecast period. Invest in C3.ai (NYSE:AI) can help investors make the most of this enormous opportunity.
C3.ai offers business AI software solutions to customers, and the good thing is that its business has been gaining momentum in recent quarters. The company’s revenue in the first quarter of fiscal 2025 (which ended July 31) rose 21% year over year to $87 million. That was an improvement on the 11% revenue growth it posted in the same period last year, indicating it is winning more customers and generating more revenue.
It turns out that C3.ai closed 71 deals this quarter, an impressive 122% increase from last year’s quarter. Meanwhile, the company also improved its potential revenue pipeline by entering into 52 new pilot projects, an increase of 117% from the previous year. It’s worth noting that the majority of the revenue C3.ai brings in comes from partnerships with major cloud computing providers such as Alphabet‘s Google, AmazonAnd Microsoft.
More specifically, 51 of the agreements last quarter were concluded through partners, an increase of 155% compared to the same period a year ago. It has signed 40 agreements through Google Cloud alone. C3.ai offers its suite of enterprise AI tools through its partners, allowing customers to build, deploy and scale generative AI applications that can be used to improve business processes across multiple industries.
The success that C3.ai is achieving through its partner model explains why the company is focused on further strengthening this channel. It recently announced an expansion of its partnership with Microsoft, which will make C3.ai’s full suite of business AI applications available on the Azure Marketplace. Additionally, both companies will collaborate on product development and marketing, which should help expand C3.ai’s reach in enterprise AI software.
C3.ai’s press release also states that the agreement “makes C3 AI a preferred provider of AI application software on Microsoft Azure.” So it was no surprise that investors reacted positively to this development, as it could help C3.ai achieve faster growth in the future.
The company expects fiscal 2025 revenue of $382.5 million, at the midpoint of expectations, which would be a 23% increase over fiscal 2024. Analysts expect the company to see healthy double-digit revenue growth over the next few years persist. years too.
However, the possibility of C3.ai achieving faster revenue growth cannot be ruled out given the pilot projects the company is engaged in, its presence on major cloud computing platforms, and the rapidly growing demand for AI software. That’s why investors may want to consider buying C3.ai stock and holding it for the long term, as it seems to have the potential to earn healthy profits and even help them achieve their goal of building of a million dollar portfolio.
The digital advertising market is already quite large, generating an estimated $680 billion in revenue last year. By 2028, the size of this market is expected to exceed $965 billion, with further growth expected in subsequent years. Tech giants Alphabet, Metaplatformsand Amazon are the dominant players in this massive industry, accounting for more than 60% of global digital advertising revenue last year.
However, there is one company that gives these bigwigs value for their money. The Trade Bureau (NASDAQ: TTD) provides a programmatic advertising platform that allows marketers and brands to automate their ad inventory purchases, optimize campaigns, and improve audience targeting in real-time using data.
The company’s revenue in the first nine months of 2024 increased 27% to $1.7 billion. Earnings for the same period showed an identical jump to $1.07 per share. Meta Platforms, on the other hand, have witnessed a 22% increase in revenue in the first three quarters of 2024. Google’s advertising revenue, meanwhile, has increased by 11% in the first nine months of the year.
The Trade Desk is therefore taking market share from its larger rivals in the digital advertising market. That’s not surprising, as the adoption of programmatic advertising within the digital advertising space is growing rapidly. Market research firm TechNavio estimates that the programmatic advertising market could generate incremental revenue of $725 billion between 2024 and 2028, at an annual growth rate of over 38%.
The Trade Desk is therefore at the beginning of a solid growth curve that could help it maintain healthy growth levels for a long time to come. The company’s revenue is expected to increase by more than 26% to $2.46 billion by 2024, followed by robust growth over the next few years.
The stock has made excellent gains since going public just over eight years ago, turning a €100 investment into over €4,100 during this period.
We’ve already seen how big the digital advertising market is and the potential revenue opportunities available through programmatic advertising. As a result, The Trade Desk’s strong growth is likely to continue over the next two years, and it could repeat its multibagger performance in the long term as well. Therefore, it seems like an ideal solution for a million-dollar portfolio.
Before purchasing shares in The Trade Desk, consider the following:
The Motley Fool stock advisor The analyst team has just identified what they think is the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and The Trade Desk wasn’t one of them. The ten stocks that survived the cut could deliver monster returns in the coming years.
Think about when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you had $1,000 invested at the time of our recommendation, you would have $869,885!*
Stock Advisor provides investors with an easy-to-follow blueprint for success, including portfolio building guidance, regular analyst updates, and two new stock picks per month. The Stock Advisor is on duty more than quadrupled the return of the S&P 500 since 2002*.
View the 10 stocks »
*Stock Advisor returns November 25, 2024
John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Suzanne Frey, a director at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister of Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Harsh Chauhan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool holds positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and The Trade Desk. The Motley Fool recommends C3.ai and recommends the following options: long calls in January 2026 for $395 at Microsoft and short calls in January 2026 for $405 at Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Should You Forget Nvidia and Buy These 2 Millionaire-Maker Stocks Instead? was originally published by The Motley Fool
