Many investors follow Warren Buffett's philosophy of putting money into stocks trading at attractive valuations. Then there are those who care first and foremost about growth. Buying businesses with solid revenue and earnings gains could be a ticket to market success.
Investors don't need to look far and wide to identify these kinds of opportunities. There's one hiding in plain sight. Here's the ultimate growth stock to buy with $1,000 right now.
Image source: Amazon.
Riding multiple secular trends
It's reasonable for investors to focus on businesses with the fastest growth rates. But in my view, what matters perhaps even more is durability. Amazon (AMZN 0.09%) isn't expanding at a rapid clip like it used to. However, investors can have confidence that the company's growth isn't a one-off or short-term phenomenon. That's what makes it the ultimate growth stock.
Amazon benefits from numerous secular trends. The most notable is online shopping, which has been a major shift in the retail sector that this business helped propel. Consumers love the convenience and experience, getting to choose from a vast selection of inventory from the comfort of their homes, and having low prices and fast shipping. Physical shopping still dominates, giving Amazon a long runway.
The company's Prime Video streaming service has now become a top player in the industry. According to Nielsen data, Prime Video commands 3.5% of daily TV viewing hours in the U.S. While the cord-cutting trend is in the later stages in the U.S., there's more opportunity in developing markets to bring on subscribers.
In 2024, Amazon raked in $56 billion from its digital advertising efforts, a burgeoning business line that I'm sure many investors weren't even familiar with. The company displays ads on its popular online marketplace and Prime Video. Ad sales jumped 19% year over year in the first quarter of 2025.
Today, Amazon isn't far behind the juggernauts in the industry, Alphabet and Meta Platforms, in terms of ad revenue. Given the profitability of these internet giants, Amazon's ad segment is likely putting up impressive margins that can boost the company's bottom line.
Looking to the future
There's one secular trend that has yet to be mentioned: cloud computing. Amazon Web Services (AWS), with Q1 revenue and operating income of $29.3 billion and $11.5 billion, respectively, is the industry leader. CEO Andy Jassy estimates that 85% of IT spending is still on-premises, showcasing how much room there is for cloud spending to gain. "It seems pretty straightforward to me that this equation will flip in the next 10 to 20 years," he said on the Q1 2025 earnings call.
AWS will be the most important business line for Amazon going forward, as it drives revenue and profit growth. And adding to this is the advent of artificial intelligence (AI). As companies of all sizes try to figure out how to leverage this technology, they'll continue to lean on cloud platforms like AWS that offer various AI tools.
Amazon has been hiding in plain sight
Everyone knows about Amazon. With a market cap of $2.4 trillion and trailing-12-month sales of $650 billion, this business doesn't fly under the radar. So it might surprise investors that there's even a buying opportunity here.
Amazon's valuation isn't expensive. As of July 11, the stock traded at a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.5. This is much higher than the S&P 500 index's multiple. However, it's not troubling when you consider that Amazon's net income in Q1 2025 was 584% higher than the same period in 2020.
Investors looking to add durable growth to their portfolios could do far worse than buying Amazon.
