If Shiba Inu (SHIB -8.07%) were a company, it would be bigger than more than one-fifth of the S&P 500 based on market cap. Of course, it's not a company. Instead, Shiba Inu ranks as a super-successful cryptocurrency that has made some investors quite wealthy in a short period of time.
However, Shiba Inu does compete in a key way with the stocks of companies that are in the S&P 500 and those that aren't. All investors have a finite amount of money to put to work. Every potential asset competes against each other for those limited investing dollars.
And there are plenty of stocks that are arguably much better picks than Shiba Inu for generating solid long-term gains. Here are three such stocks with significantly lower market caps than Shiba Inu to buy right now.
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1. Brookfield Renewable Corporation
One of the biggest criticisms of many cryptocurrencies is their energy consumption and the resulting environmental impact. Brookfield Renewable Corporation (BEPC -0.09%) offers a solution to this problem -- renewable energy.
The company's market cap of $6 billion is well below Shiba Inu's market cap of $15.6 billion. (Note: Brookfield Renewable Partners (BEP), a limited partnership that has the same underlying business as Brookfield Renewable Corporation, has a market cap of $9.4 billion.)
Brookfield Renewable ranks as one of the leading global renewable energy providers. Brookfield Renewable's hydroelectric, wind, and solar facilities currently have a total capacity of more than 21,000 megawatts. Its development pipeline capacity stands at close to 62,000 megawatts.
The company should ride a wave of increased renewable energy adoption for decades to come. An estimated annual investment of up to $5 trillion is expected to be required to support the decarbonization of energy systems over the next 30 years.
In addition to its strong growth prospects, Brookfield Renewable is a top dividend stock. Its dividend yield currently stands at close to 3.6%. With the dividend included, Brookfield Renewable expects to deliver annual total returns of around 15% over the long term.
2. Innovative Industrial Properties
Innovative Industrial Properties (IIPR 0.06%) stands out as another great stock to buy that sports a market cap much lower than Shiba Inu's. The cannabis-focused real estate investment trust (REIT) is currently worth around $4.4 billion.
But while there's a lot of uncertainty about how Shiba Inu might perform going forward, IIP's path to growth is straightforward. The company simply needs to continue buying properties and leasing them to cannabis operators.
This shouldn't be a huge challenge for IIP. The REIT currently owns 105 properties in 19 states. There's plenty of room for expansion in these states. And another 18 states have legalized cannabis in some form where IIP doesn't have operations right now.
REITs are also known for their dividends. IIP doesn't disappoint on that front. Its dividend yield stands at nearly 3.2%. The company has increased its dividend by 10x over the past five years.
3. Novocure
Novocure (NVCR 2.36%) probably has only one thing in common with Shiba Inu. Like the meme coin, its price has crashed more than 60% from the high set last year. Novocure's market cap of nearly $8 billion makes it much smaller than Shiba Inu. However, its growth prospects appear to be more bankable.
Many investors categorize Novocure as a biotech stock. The company doesn't make drugs, though. Instead, Novocure developed an innovative way of treating cancer called Tumor Treating Fields (TTF) -- electric fields that disrupt the ability of tumor cells to replicate.
Novocure has already won U.S. regulatory approvals for TTF in treating glioblastoma (an aggressive type of brain cancer) and mesothelioma (a type of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos). But it hopes to expand its approvals to also include other types of cancer, including non-small cell lung cancer, ovarian cancer, and pancreatic cancer.
Results from several key clinical studies are on the way later this year and in 2023. Novocure could be poised to rebound in a major way if those results are positive.
