The year is going to be over in less than three weeks, but there's still time to buy excellent stocks to supercharge your portfolio. Many investors take inventory of their stocks toward the end of the year and see what needs to go and where there are gaps. And if you're a long-term investor, the best time to buy is today.
If you're considering new stocks right now, Amazon (AMZN +0.55%), Apple (AAPL +0.00%), and Costco Wholesale (COST 0.27%) are three that can still skyrocket before the end of the year. More importantly, though, they're all great long-term bets.
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1. Amazon: AI updates
Amazon stock is up a measly 5% in 2025 while the market is flying more than 18% higher. That's despite healthy growth and many positive updates. But it continues to upgrade its businesses and position itself to take market share.
It updated investors that it's planning to spend $125 billion on artificial intelligence (AI) by the end of this year and accelerate spending next year. Sales for Amazon Web Services (AWS) are accelerating, up more than 20% year over year in the third quarter, its highest growth in 11 quarters.
It has a $200 billion backlog in projects, not including several new ones that were unannounced as of the third-quarter results. Recently, it announced a $50 billion investment in its government and defense segments.
NASDAQ: AMZN
Key Data Points
New deals and rumors of announcements continue to abound as the major hyperscalers each try to stake their claim as the top AI platform. Amazon, through AWS, is the largest cloud computing company today, but the market seems to be worried about it losing its edge. Management has a history of pulling out all the stops, and it wouldn't be a surprise to see it pull another trick out of its hat before the end of 2025 and for its stock to finally kick higher.
2. Apple: The holiday shopping choice
Apple was the major laggard of the AI tech giants for much of 2025, and although it's still trailing the S&P 500, it found its footing and is up 12% year to date.
The market hasn't been impressed with Apple Intelligence, but the company has demonstrated its power with a strong iPhone 17 debut. According to early results from Counterpoint Research, the iPhone 17 outsold the iPhone 16 by 14% in its first 10 days on the market in the U.S. and China.
Fiscal 2025 fourth-quarter results were strong. Sales increased 8% year over year to $102.5 billion, and earnings per share (EPS) were up 13% to $1.85.
NASDAQ: AAPL
Key Data Points
But the reason Apple could still jump past the S&P 500 this year is if the new iPhone becomes a huge holiday seller, like it often is. Considering its success so far, there's a good chance it could be on a lot of shoppers' holiday buy lists this year. CEO Tim Cook said, "We expect the December quarter's revenue to be the best ever for the company and the best ever for iPhone."
Investors are likely to get a glimpse of how the holiday shopping season panned out before the year is over, and positive results could send Apple higher.
3. Costco: Healthy earnings
Costco stock, usually a strong market beater, is down 2% as the year moves closer to its end. It has continued to report solid growth, but the market may be sensing a changing model and rough terrain ahead.
In the 2025 fiscal fourth quarter (ended Aug. 31), sales increased 8% year over year, and comparable-store sales were up a healthy 5.7%. E-commerce has become a major growth driver, and what it calls digitally enabled sales -- which encompass all sales that have a digital aspect, rather than just being bought online -- were up 13.6%. EPS rose from $5.29 last year to $5.87 this year.
NASDAQ: COST
Key Data Points
The company continues to sign up new members and convert more basic members to the executive membership, and its renewal rates are strong.
The market may be concerned about how well it can keep up growth as inflation stays high, especially because Costco stock is quite expensive, trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 49. Wall Street may also be waiting to hear more about how the company's digital business is going.
If it reports positive earnings for the fiscal first quarter, which are set to be released later this week, the stock could still take off before the end of the year. In the long term, Costco is still a strong bet for growth.
