When investing, the focus should always be on a company's long-term potential. It's easy to get caught up in a company's short-term happenings (I'm also guilty of this), but the long-term matters because that's where true wealth is built.
The following two companies both operate in industries that are early in what many expect them to ultimately become. They've each had hiccups, but when you zoom out and look at their operations and potential, they seem like no-brainer buys at current prices.
1. CrowdStrike
Cybersecurity company CrowdStrike (CRWD 2.82%) has been in the news quite a bit lately, and not for good reasons. After a faulty software update triggered the largest global IT outage in history, the company's stock price plunged as investors left in droves.
The outage was unfortunate for CrowdStrike and everyone affected, but investors' response may have been a little over the top. The good news, though, is that CrowdStrike is now priced much more reasonably than it was before the incident.
There are still some short-term uncertainties surrounding CrowdStrike, including the financial impact of the outage and how many of its customers decide to switch to another provider, but results from its recent quarter show the business is still thriving.
CrowdStrike ended the second quarter of its 2025 fiscal year (ended July 31) with more than $3.8 billion in annual recurring revenue (ARR), up 32% year over year. In the quarter alone, it added $218 million in new ARR, helping to bring its revenue to $964 million, also up 32% year over year.
That's continuing its impressive growth, which has seen its revenue grow by almost 2,000% in the past six years.
CRWD Revenue (Quarterly) data by YCharts
It's not just that CrowdStrike is generating more revenue that's impressive, either. It's that the company is doing so more profitably than before. Its $227 million in operating income (profit from its core business) in the second quarter was $71 million more than in 2023, and its margins on the income went from 21% to 24% in that span.
Even with the IT outage, one thing remains true: It's not easy for companies -- especially larger ones with more complex operations -- to completely change cybersecurity providers. And considering CrowdStrike's problem wasn't the result of a cyberattack, I don't believe customers will lose faith in the effectiveness of its product.
Now may not be the time to go all in on the stock, but the 30% drop from its early July peak makes it a compelling time to begin (or increase) a stake in the company.
2. Amazon
It hasn't been the best past half year for Amazon (AMZN -0.87%), with the stock down in that span, but it remains one of the more compelling companies on the market.
First, let's take a look at Amazon's e-commerce business. It's what has made Amazon a household name and largely the reason the company only trails Walmart when it comes to revenue generation. In the past four quarters, Amazon has generated more than $600 billion in revenue. In its latest quarter, it generated $148 billion (up 10% year over year), with e-commerce accounting for the vast majority of it.
Amazon's e-commerce business speaks for itself. However, its growth -- and where it makes the most profit -- comes from its cloud service, Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS is the world's leading cloud computing platform, with a 31% market share that leads Microsoft's Azure 25% and Alphabet's Google Cloud 11%.
AWS generated $26.3 billion in revenue, more than most S&P 500 companies generate in a single quarter. Its $9.3 billion in operating income also accounted for more than 63% of Amazon's total operating income.
AMZN Operating Income (Quarterly) data by YCharts
The cloud industry has a lot of growth opportunities ahead, and Amazon stands to gain a lot as the market leader. Microsoft's Azure has been gaining ground and new artificial intelligence (AI) developments have bolstered platforms' offerings. However, AWS is positioning itself as the one-stop-shop platform companies can use to create their own generative AI, machine learning, and other AI tools.
Being developer-friendly can help AWS attract and retain top companies globally who need to develop AI tools efficiently without dedicating the resources (talent, time, and money) it often takes to do so in-house. This strategy should help AWS sustain its leadership position in the market for the foreseeable future.
With a bustling e-commerce business and a thriving cloud business with (presumably) much growth ahead of it, Amazon could be a cornerstone piece in many investors' portfolios.
