How much does it cost to change the world? Sometimes billions of dollars. But what's the cost for you to profit from the companies that are achieving this monumental change? Not much at all.
Lots of companies claim that they have revolutionary products and services. Many of them are more sizzle than steak. However, there are some that truly could disrupt the status quo. If you've got $500, here are three game-changing stocks to buy right now.
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1. Facebook
Facebook (META -0.52%) might seem like an unlikely candidate to rank at the top of the list of potential game-changers. The company is currently facing blowback from an expose in The Wall Street Journal that stirred up more controversy about Facebook's policies and the impact of Instagram on the mental health of teenage girls.
However, Facebook's social media platforms aren't what could make the company a major disruptive force in the future. Instead, the company's efforts to develop the metaverse should be what really excites investors.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in the company's second-quarter conference call, "In the coming years, I expect people will transition from seeing us primarily as a social media company to seeing us as a metaverse company." Zuckerberg envisions the metaverse as a place where people can "hang out, play games with friends, work, create, and more" with a virtual presence that makes it feel like they're really there.
The company is investing billions of dollars to make the metaverse a reality. It's already planning to roll out a building block for the metaverse with smart glasses, the first step toward full augmented reality glasses.
If the metaverse fulfills its potential, it could become the successor to today's internet. It could also make Facebook a much bigger giant than it currently is. Thanks to Facebook's recent challenges, the stock is available at less than $350 per share.
2. Matterport
Speaking of virtual spaces, Matterport (MTTR 0.87%) basically created the market for 3D digital twins of physical spaces all on its own. The company provides apps and hardware for creating those digital twins as well as a software platform for accessing them.
To say that Matterport leads this market is an understatement. The company has 5.6 million spaces under management -- 100 times the rest of the market combined. And Matterport is growing fast. In the second quarter of this year, its subscriber base totaled 404,000, up 158% year over year.
Who uses Matterport's technology? Perhaps the most well-known customers are real estate and travel businesses such as Airbnb and Redfin. Building designers use digital twins to improve efficiency. Insurers use the platform to decrease risk and increase compliance. Construction companies use it to reduce time in the field.
The company has an addressable market totaling $240 billion. Matterport only has to capture a small percentage of that market to be a huge winner for investors. With its share price below $20, this is an especially inexpensive game-changer to buy right now.
3. Beam Therapeutics
You probably won't be surprised that a gene-editing stock made this list. CRISPR gene editing has been hailed as the "biggest biotech discovery of the century." But Beam Therapeutics (BEAM -3.11%) isn't an ordinary CRISPR-focused biotech.
CRISPR can be compared to scissors that cut out part of the genome. Beam's base-editing approach is more like a pencil with an eraser. It enables precisely rewriting a single "letter" of the genomic code.
Base editing could offer several advantages over other gene-editing methods. Most importantly, it holds the potential to more precisely edit targeted sequences. Beam believes its technology could one day be customized to treat and even cure a wide range of diseases.
The main drawback with Beam is that the company is only in its very early stages. Beam doesn't have a candidate in clinical testing yet, although it hopes to file later this year for U.S. approval to begin a phase 1 evaluating BEAM-101 in treating rare blood disorders beta-thalassemia and sickle cell disease.
Beam is without question the riskiest of these three potential game-changing stocks. However, you won't need much cash to take the risk: Beam's share price is under $100. And if the company's base-editing approach is successful, this stock could be an even bigger winner than Facebook or Matterport over the long term.
