Every investor is looking for that magical stock that will take off and set you up for life. The problem is, you'll never know in advance which ones will be the winners, which is one of the reasons it's so important to diversify your money into many different stocks.
If you put $1,000 into several different growth stocks, even if only one really takes off, it can make up for any losses many times over. Think about it; you can only lose the amount you put in, but your investment can gain thousands of percentages.
Amazon (AMZN 1.43%) and Apple (AAPL 2.03%) are two stocks that have achieved this; you'd have more than $2 million if you'd invested $1,000 in their stocks at different points. Neither stock is likely to repeat this kind of performance, but they remain top stocks today for their reliability and value.
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Amazon: E-commerce and AI
Although it's only been around for about three decades, Amazon has grown to become the second-largest company in the world by sales, and there's a good chance that it will reach the No. 1 spot in 2026. It has accomplished this through a combination of spotting trends early, acquiring the competition, and staying true to its "Day One" culture of innovation.
Amazon stock doubled and tripled early on, and it shouldn't have been hard for investors to see that it had tremendous potential. However, it may not have worked for the most risk-averse investor.
NASDAQ: AMZN
Key Data Points
These days, Amazon has $691 billion in trailing 12-month revenue, and third-quarter sales increased 13% year over year. That's an impressive feat considering its size. Many smaller companies eventually slow to single-digit increases as they get bigger, but Amazon is still keeping it up.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the company's major growth driver right now, although e-commerce isn't doing too badly, either. CEO Andy Jassy keeps mentioning the opportunity, which he sees as massive, as companies shift operations to the cloud to engage with AI. Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company's cloud services division, has 29% of the global market share according to Statista, and sales growth accelerated to 20% year over year in the third quarter.
Jassy says cloud still accounts for only about 10% to 15% of the addressable market, but that trends will shift over the next decade or so, boosting sales for the foreseeable future.
Apple: The device ecosystem
Apple has created an ecosystem of high-quality products that customers love to use. Its iPhone has become the top smartphone for about half of U.S. smartphone users, which is a remarkable moat. The success of the recent iPhone 17 launch demonstrates that Apple still has the lead in this market, and Apple is integrating AI in more of its products and services. Although it hasn't released any Apple Intelligence features that have dazzled investors, customers continue to see incredible value in Apple's products.
Today, Apple is a lot more than iPhones, though. It has developed a wide array of products that work together neatly. Apple users generally stay within the Apple ecosystem, leading to what's almost a recurring revenue stream of customers upgrading to new products and buying complementary ones that all fit together. In addition to the iPhone 17 launch, Apple has also recently rolled out the AirPods Pro 3 and a new selection of tech-driven Apple Watches.
NASDAQ: AAPL
Key Data Points
The company also has a growing services business that adds to that ecosystem and improves the company's overall margins. These are subscription services like Apple Fitness and Apple TV, which are also recurring revenue streams. Apple has a very healthy and growing operating margin of about 32%, which is likely one of the features Warren Buffett loves about it.
As Apple keeps its hold on tech devices and consistently ups its game, it should continue to be a winner for investors.
