The "Magnificent Seven" are some of the most dominant businesses in the world. As a result, their shares, which have soared in price in recent times, are in many investors' portfolios.

At its current market cap of $2.8 trillion, Apple (AAPL -0.35%) doesn't need an introduction. The maker of popular hardware and software products is a financially lucrative enterprise. And its stock has climbed 316% in the last five years, crushing the returns of the Nasdaq Composite index.

Apple is also Berkshire Hathaway's largest equity position by far. But is it the best Magnificent Seven stock to buy right now?

Low growth, high price

Apple isn't putting up growth numbers like it used to. Revenue increased by 2.1% in its fiscal 2024 first quarter, which ended Dec. 30, but dropped in each of the four previous quarters. On average, Wall Street analysts expect sales to rise at an annualized clip of 4.2% over the next three fiscal years.

That's hardly any reason to get excited. In fact, it puts Apple dead last when compared to the other Magnificent Seven businesses. The other six are forecast to post much faster top-line growth, according to consensus analyst estimates.

Blame it on macro headwinds or consumers no longer feeling the need to upgrade to the newest Apple device as often. But investors are probably smart not to expect double-digit percentage revenue gains from Apple anymore.

However, the stock trades as if strong growth is a foregone conclusion. Its price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 28.2 is a huge premium compared to its trailing-10-year average of 21. This is a stock that's best kept on the watch list for now, in my opinion.

Digital ad giants

Of all the Magnificent Seven stocks, I believe two stand out as the best to buy right now. I'm talking about the giants in the digital ad market: Alphabet (GOOGL 10.22%) (GOOG 9.96%) and Meta Platforms (META 0.43%).

Growth isn't a concern for these internet enterprises. Alphabet reported revenue of $307 billion in 2023, up 8.7%, while Meta's sales climbed 15.7% to $135 billion. Because the global digital advertising industry has many years of expansion ahead, these two businesses are poised to remain major beneficiaries. Combined, they command nearly 60% of the worldwide digital advertising market.

It's hard to ignore the fact that both Alphabet and Meta possess powerful competitive advantages, the most notable of which are their network effects. Alphabet's Google Search and YouTube are incredibly popular internet services that get better with more information, content, and users, as are Meta's various social media apps -- a situation that makes things extremely difficult for their smaller rivals.

In the last five years, Alphabet and Meta have averaged operating margins of 25.8% and 34.2%, respectively. Plus, they both produce ridiculous amounts of operating cash flow, giving them the financial resources to invest aggressively in artificial intelligence capabilities, while at the same time repurchasing a lot of their outstanding shares.

Investors are being asked to pay forward P/E multiples of just 20.3 for Alphabet and 24.1 for Meta. By that metric, they are the cheapest Magnificent Seven stocks, which makes them no-brainer investments in my book.

While Apple is surely one of the highest-quality companies in the world, its current setup doesn't position it favorably to deliver market-beating long-term returns. Based on their attractive business characteristics and compelling valuations, Alphabet and Meta are the best Magnificent Seven stocks to buy right now.