Finding companies with dazzling backstories is easy. Picking investments that can actually build real wealth, however, is a different story. Most stocks end up being just average performers, at best. You want to own businesses that are not only better than average, but can remain better than average for long enough to really matter.
With that as the backdrop, here's a closer look at three prospects with above average potential to build real long-term wealth.
DraftKings
It's been a tough year for DraftKings (DKNG 3.38%) shareholders. The sports-betting stock has been easily upended, once earlier in the year after the company paid out more wagering winnings than expected, then -- seemingly on the verge of a rebound -- it fell again in September after event-wagering platform Kalshi pushed its way further into the sports-betting market. November's dialed-back full-year revenue guidance didn't help any either. Never even mind concerns that the pace of state-based legalization of online sports-betting seems to be slowing down now that a majority of them allow it in one form or another.
There's a reason, however, DraftKings shares continue to test the waters of recovery even against a backdrop of seemingly bad news. That is, enough investors are keeping the bigger picture in mind by keeping two things in focus.
First, DraftKings' growth isn't being solely driven by more and more states legalizing sports-wagering. The company also gets bigger and better within a state the longer it's allowed to operate within it, and gather more regular customers as a result. DraftKings' sportsbook hold percentage -- the amount of wagered money "the house" keeps -- has continued to grow since 2021, reaching a record 10.4% through the first three quarters of this year. Net profit margin rates on its sportsbook have grown accordingly, reaching 6.7%. Look for margins to continue widening going forward even if the wave of legalization does end up slowing down.
Image source: DraftKings' Q3 2025 earnings conference call slide deck.
And second, while the entry of platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket into the sports-wagering arena is a noteworthy concern, the company is countering by tiptoeing onto their turf. Leveraging its October acquisition of prediction-market platform Railbird, DraftKings will soon be launching its own event-based wagering rival that will be able to use the company's highly marketable brand name.
This might help convince you: Despite all of its current challenges, analysts still expect the company's top line to grow by 20% in the year ahead, and then repeat the feat the following year to push itself even deeper into the black.
Alphabet
There's no denying Alphabet (GOOG +1.08%) (GOOGL +1.09%) isn't the growth outfit it used to be. Not only is the search engine market mature, but this $3.8 trillion behemoth is fighting against tough comparisons stemming from its sheer size.
If you don't think Alphabet still has an incredibly bright future, though, guess again. It just lies beyond its search engine advertising business, and its Android mobile operating system.
Cloud computing is one of these other growth engines. Last quarter's cloud revenue improved to the tune of 33% year over year, pumping up its profits by more than 80%. This is still just the beginning, though. An outlook from Precedence Research suggests the worldwide cloud computing market is on pace to more than quintuple in size between now and 2034, mostly driven higher by an artificial intelligence industry that Alphabet is increasingly ready to serve with its home-grown Tensor Processing Units (or TPUs) that excel at inference learning. And, although it's still a few years away from being ready for widespread commercialization, this tech giant stands ready to bring quantum computing to the world in an accessible way.
Image source: Getty Images.
In the meantime there's YouTube. While it's not a major profit center just yet, with most streaming services raising their prices while the industry itself continues to consolidate, don't be surprised if more and more displaced consumers start tuning in to free-to-watch YouTube more often. Underscoring this prospect is the fact that YouTube is already the United States' most-watched on-demand streaming platform, according to Nielsen.
Meanwhile, although not a major growth driver anymore, Alphabet's Google remains a serious cash cow. It handles 90% of the planet's web queries, according to data from Statcounter.
The point is, Alphabet may be an aging company, but it's far from being past its prime.
Amazon
Finally, add Amazon (AMZN +0.16%) to your list of stocks that could be -- and should be -- easy wealth builders.
In many ways it's a lot like Alphabet. It's old, and big, and dominant, but it dominates an industry that's as mature as it is saturated -- at least in North America. That's e-commerce, of course. Numbers from Digital Commerce 360 indicate Amazon accounts for well over one-third of the United States' online sales. And it's unlikely to give up any of that share.
NASDAQ: AMZN
Key Data Points
The bullish thesis here isn't about stunning perpetual growth of Amazon's digital shopping mall, though. Indeed, last quarter's 10% increase in product sales was actually better than its recent average.
Amazon is a must-have business, rather, because its digital ecosystem has such a strong grip on so many consumers, which can be monetized in a number of ways. This of course includes selling them merchandise, but increasingly, Amazon.com is a means to a different end. Its digital storefront is proving to be an even more powerful advertising platform, producing nearly $65 billion worth of high-margin ad revenue over the course of the past four reported quarters. Amazon just needs to make sure it keeps consumers coming back to its online mall, which of course it's more than proven it can do.
Then there's the company' cloud computing arm Amazon Web Services, or AWS. Although it only accounts for a little less than 20% of its top line, AWS produces 60% of Amazon's operating profits. As long as this business is growing, the company will have plenty of cash to invest in whatever growth opportunity is worth investing in.
Perhaps more important to interested investors, Amazon is forever evolving to ensure it's always relevant. Some of its experiments don't work out, like the Fire smartphone or its attempt to build an online auction site. Others do work, however, like Prime or the aforementioned Amazon Web Services. The fact that the company is willing and able to successfully navigate some failures in exchange some big payoffs is a significant long-term bullish argument.
