As the market hovers near its all-time highs, investors might be reluctant to chase the market's hottest growth stocks. Sticky inflation, trade wars, geopolitical conflicts, and other macroeconomic headwinds could all drive investors back toward more conservative investments.
However, investors who can afford to hold their stocks for at least a few years shouldn't fret too much over those near-term headwinds. Instead, they should accumulate some promising growth stocks with longer-term secular tailwinds.
Here are two stocks that fit this description: Figma (FIG 0.82%) and CoreWeave (CRWV 3.11%). Both of these companies are growing rapidly, exposed to the booming artificial intelligence (AI) market, and trading at reasonable valuations. Let's see why they could be great stocks to buy and hold in 2026 and beyond.
Image source: Getty Images.
Figma
Figma, a developer of cloud-based user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) design tools, is growing like a weed. In 2024, the number of customers generating at least $10,000 in annual recurring revenue (ARR) grew 45% year over year to 10,517, and the cohort's net dollar retention rate expanded by 12 basis points to 134%. Its total revenue rose 48% to $749 million.
Figma's cloud-based tools can natively run within a web browser without requiring local software installation, making them more lightweight and scalable than older UI/UX development tools from Adobe (ADBE +0.26%) and other software makers. It also provides cloud-based collaboration tools that enable multiple users to work on the same project simultaneously in real-time. It offers a free tier for individuals and small teams, as well as a paid tier for larger organizations.
NYSE: FIG
Key Data Points
Adobe nearly bought Figma for $20 billion in 2022, but antitrust regulators scuttled the deal. Today, Figma has a market cap of $19 billion -- which might seem a bit pricey at 15 times its 2026 sales. However, its robust growth rates could support that premium valuation.
From 2024 to 2027, analysts expect Figma's revenue to grow at a CAGR of 27% to $1.53 billion as it narrows its net loss from $732 million to $331 million. Its new AI-powered creation and workflow tools, third-party integrations, and overseas expansion should fuel that growth.
CoreWeave
CoreWeave was once an Ethereum (ETH +0.07%) mining company, but the 2018 crypto crash drove it to abandon that business model and repurpose its GPUs for remotely processing machine learning and AI tasks. It now operates 33 data centers, all loaded with servers running on Nvidia's (NVDA +1.09%) high-end data center GPUs, across the U.S. and Europe.
By outsourcing those AI tasks to CoreWeave's cloud-based GPUs, large AI software companies can avoid the need to install their own on-site servers and purchase Nvidia's expensive GPUs. CoreWeave's dedicated AI infrastructure can process AI tasks roughly 35 times faster and 80% more cost-effectively than larger and more diversified cloud infrastructure platforms.
NASDAQ: CRWV
Key Data Points
In 2024, CoreWeave's revenue surged 738% to $1.92 billion. From 2024 to 2027, analysts expect its revenue to grow at a CAGR of 116% to $19.2 billion and turn profitable by the final year. Its massive AI infrastructure deals -- with Microsoft (MSFT 0.06%), OpenAI, and other AI software giants -- should support that growth as it opens more even data centers. As its scale improves, its gross margins should expand as operating costs decline.
With a market capitalization of $38.1 billion, CoreWeave's stock appears surprisingly affordable at three times its projected 2026 sales. The near-term concerns about its rising debt and ongoing dilution -- which are necessary to fund its expansion -- are likely compressing its valuations. However, it could command a significantly higher valuation if its ambitious expansion plans are successful.
