Consumer goods stocks have been hot recently, despite the looming shadows of inflation and unpredictable tariffs. The Vanguard 500 Index Fund (VOO -0.28%) posted a total return of 17.6% over the past year, as I write this on Aug. 18. That's well above average for the popular S&P 500 (^GSPC -0.24%) tracker. But its sister fund in the consumer goods sector, the Vanguard Consumer Discretionary ETF (VCR -0.94%), saw a total return of 22.7% over the same period.
In other words, cyclical consumer goods stocks are beating the broader market these days, largely without any help from artificial intelligence (AI) market darlings.
But there's still room to grow in this booming market, even in the red-hot consumer discretionary sector. I'm particularly interested in two leaders in the gig economy right now. Read on to see why you might want to grab some Uber Technologies (UBER -1.64%) and Fiverr International (FVRR -0.44%) shares in August 2025.
Uber still rules the road
Let's start with ride-sharing veteran Uber.
First and foremost, Uber's business is thriving. In the recent second-quarter report, revenue rose 18% year over year with stable average revenues per user. In other words, the company is boosting its top-line results by earning more ride-share requests, not by increasing service prices.
At the same time, Uber's operations are growing more efficient. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) rose 35% and free cash flow jumped 44% higher.
And that's not the whole story. Uber also plans to put 20,000 self-driving vehicles in use over the next six years -- a drop in the ocean of more than 7 million drivers, but an important step toward a safer and more profitable future.
The stock has gained 27% over the last year, without becoming expensive. You can get Uber shares at the affordable valuation ratios of 16 times earnings and 4.1 times sales. That's a bargain in this economy.
Don't judge Fiverr's book by its P/E cover
Then there's freelance service wrangler Fiverr. If you thought Uber's stock was affordable, you ain't seen nothing yet.
Sure, Fiverr's stock trades at a rich price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of 50.0, but that's an outlier. Fiverr suddenly looks undervalued when you base your analysis on cash gains instead of after-tax accounting profits, with a price to free cash flow ratio of 9.3. And if you include growth expectations in your earnings review, Fiverr's forward P/E ratio stops at 8.5. From either one of these perspectives, Fiverr is hanging out in Wall Street's bargain bin.
This stock never got the memo about rising in 2025. It has gained only 2% in 52 weeks and fallen 25% year to date. Keep in mind that Fiverr hasn't missed a consensus analyst target for earnings or revenues since the end of fiscal year 2023. That includes July's second-quarter report with 15% year-over-year sales growth and expanding adjusted EBITDA margins.
Image source: Getty Images.
Part of the problem is AI, as some investors see ChatGPT and other large language models as direct threats to Fiverr's business. That's a big mistake, though.
Fiverr's management agrees that "AI is fundamentally reshaping how work gets done," but in a different way. People play critical parts in the AI ecosystem, as demand for prompt-writing and AI model-tweaking services is soaring. As a result, the thing that looks like a major threat to Fiverr is actually boosting its business in 2025.
Sorry for sneaking an AI business into this consumer goods writeup. I just can't help myself. Fiverr has been one of my favorite stocks to buy in the past five years, and the investment thesis is only getting clearer over time. This little company is doing big things, and the stock is severely underpriced at this point.
