It's only natural to want to make portfolio moves this time of year. The calendar is running out of pages to rip out, and perhaps you want to get in on a hot trend or take advantage of a cool pricing opportunity. The good news is that investing in volatile companies doesn't require a significant amount of money.
If you're willing to stomach the risk, $1,000 can go a long way in Applied Digital (APLD 17.61%) and Netflix (NFLX 1.51%). The three companies are moving in different directions with very different businesses. Let's take a closer look at both opportunities for your next $1,000 investment.
Image source: Getty Images.
1. Applied Digital
There is no shortage of stocks that have emerged as artificial intelligence (AI) plays this year. The key for investors is to separate the artificial intelligence stocks from the artificial artificial intelligence stocks.
Applied Digital has more than tripled in 2025, nearly a six-bagger over the past five years. That's a lot of helium, but in this case, the upticks feel justified. Applied Digital has earned its racing stripes as a leading player in AI infrastructure. And the story could be just getting started.
NASDAQ: APLD
Key Data Points
Applied Digital's business rose a sleepy 6% for fiscal 2025, which wrapped up at the end of May. However, its business has accelerated sharply in recent quarters, going from 22% top-line growth in its fiscal third quarter to 41% and then 84% in subsequent reports.
Spicing up its data center revenue these days are lucrative AI infrastructure leases, such as the one it signed in fiscal 2025 with CoreWeave (CRWV 7.94%). The AI hyperscaler can't build out its capacity fast enough to keep up with surging demand, inking what was initially a $7 billion deal with Applied Digital. The 15-year deal was recently expanded to a contract value of $11 billion.
Applied Digital expects the lease to eventually generate nearly $500 million in annual net operating income. That's a good chunk of change, given Applied Digital's market cap, which is just shy of $8 billion, following a 9% decline on Friday. If you were looking for a pullback to create a buying opportunity, the stock is now down 31% from its all-time high reached just two months ago.
NASDAQ: NFLX
Key Data Points
2. Netflix
You probably didn't expect the world's leading premium streaming service to be hungry for a major content acquisition, but Netflix is the streaming service stock that would eventually strike the winning bid for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD 0.78%). The deal is valued at $82.7 billion in cash, stock, and assumed debt after Warner Bros. Discovery spins off some properties, including CNN, to its shareholders.
Netflix finds itself in a win-win situation here, especially now with a potentially higher bid for the company in the form of a hostile bidding war. As long as it doesn't find itself sweetening its offer, Netflix will inherit a collection of assets that it is the best positioned to capitalize on, given the scalability of its business with more than 300 million premium subscribers worldwide. If someone else wrestles Warner Bros. Discovery away, Netflix stands to collect a juicy termination fee.
Right now, this media stock can't seem to catch a break. It took a hit after a rare earnings miss in the latest quarter. The stock also took a step back when Netflix was revealed as the winner of the Warner Bros. Discovery sweepstakes, and surprisingly it took another step back last week, when it seemed as if a bidding war would get in the way of the deal. Add up the downticks -- or subtract them, if you prefer -- and Netflix is down by a third since its earnings release for the third quarter.
Applied Digital and Netflix are some of the best stocks to buy with $1,000 right now. Both have rosy near-term prospects for appreciation. The current prices, following recent pullbacks, make them both that much more interesting.
