The Beatles memorialized the line, "You say you want a revolution." Investors might not realize it, but they've experienced several revolutions in recent years with more to come.
Technological advances are changing life as we know it. And some companies are both profiting from those advances and giving investors an opportunity to profit. Here are three revolutionary stocks I'd buy right now.
1. Alphabet
The world is different now than it was 20 years ago in multiple ways thanks to Alphabet (GOOG 9.96%) (GOOGL 10.22%). Google has become a verb. YouTube regularly attracts more viewers than TV networks do.
Alphabet isn't finished shaking things up. The company ranks as a leader in artificial intelligence (AI). In particular, its Google Cloud unit stands to benefit from increased AI adoption. Alphabet's Waymo self-driving car business could also be a big winner with the rise of robotaxis and other autonomous vehicles.
Quantum computing stands out as another area to keep your eyes on with Alphabet. This field holds the potential to radically speed up computer processing. Alphabet has achieved several major milestones in quantum computing.
The stock isn't all that expensive with shares trading at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 23. Although that's higher than the S&P 500's forward earnings multiple, it seems reasonable to me considering Alphabet's long-term growth prospects.
2. Brookfield Renewable
Wind and solar power have been around for a long time. However, they have never been a serious source of major energy production until recently. Brookfield Renewable (BEP 0.19%) (BEPC 0.09%) is one of the companies making large-scale renewable energy a reality.
The company's current production capacity totals around 31.6 gigawatts. Brookfield Renewable has focused more heavily on hydroelectric power than wind and solar in the past. That's changing, though.
Brookfield Renewable's development pipeline capacity now stands at nearly 132 gigawatts. The recently announced plan to acquire Duke Energy Renewables from Duke Energy will especially boost the company's wind power capacity.
The scramble to reduce carbon emissions creates a clear pathway for growth for Brookfield Renewable. In the meantime, the company pays an attractive distribution that yields more than 4.2% for its limited partnership shares trading under the BEP ticker and nearly 3.9% for its corporate entity shares trading under the BEPC ticker.
3. Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Ask thousands of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients across the world if Vertex Pharmaceuticals' (VRTX -0.06%) products are revolutionary. The big biotech markets the only therapies that treat the underlying cause of CF.
But CF is just the beginning for Vertex. The company awaits regulatory approvals in the U.S. and in Europe for what could be the first CRISPR gene-editing therapy on the market -- exa-cel. The therapy effectively cures sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia.
Vertex hopes to address the downsides associated with opioid drugs with VX-548, a non-opioid painkiller in late-stage testing. It's targeting APOL1-mediated kidney diseases, an indication that affects more patients than CF, with another promising pipeline candidate. On top of all of that, the company is developing a potential cure for type 1 diabetes.
If you say you want a revolution, Vertex is definitely bringing one. And it's doing so at an attractive price. The stock trades at a low price/earnings-to-growth (PEG) ratio of 0.55.
