Finding stocks that are still early in their growth journeys can lead to big eventual gains down the road. These stocks carry more risk, but if they execute, they can become huge long-term winners. Let's look at two breakout growth stocks you can buy and hold for the long term.
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1. IonQ
With quantum computing an emerging field still very much in its infancy, IonQ (IONQ 0.35%) is a bit of a lottery ticket. However, it's a long-term bet that could pay off in a big way. There are a couple of things I like about the IonQ story and why it has the potential to be a big winner in the space.
The first is that its trapped-ion technology has proven to be one of the most accurate, with it recently achieving a 99.99% fidelity (accuracy) rate. While other technologies are faster, many are not as accurate, and for quantum computing to become commercially viable on a wide scale, it essentially needs to be completely error free.
While 99.99% fidelity seems high, the company still has a long way to go, but it does allow it to start adding error-correcting software to its machines to continue to push fidelity higher.
NYSE: IONQ
Key Data Points
What I also really like about IonQ's approach is that it is trying to build an entire quantum computing ecosystem. The company took advantage of its high stock price earlier in 2025 to raise a lot of capital. It's using this to not only fund research, but to add important technological pieces through acquisitions.
One of its most important deals was to acquire LightSynq, which gave it photonic interconnect technology that will allow it to connect "small traps" together. While IonQ can add more ions to increase the power of its systems, this can become unwieldy. By using small traps, which can hold a more manageable number of ions, and linking them together, the company will be able to more easily scale its systems.
IonQ has also made other deals to acquire technologies such as space-based quantum networking and high-precision sensing. If the company's approach pans out, the stock has a lot of long-term upsides.
2. UiPath
UiPath (PATH +3.17%) is looking to become one of the most important players in agentic artificial intelligence (AI). The company started out as a leader in robotic process automation (RPA), which uses software bots to perform repetitive, rule-based tasks. However, it's taken the governance and compliance foundation of that platform and created an AI agent orchestration platform called Maestro.
Like other AI agent platforms, Maestro users can create their own AI agents using its no-code and low-code tools. However, the platform's key differentiator is that its main purpose is to help manage all AI agents and bots that an organization encounters. As more and more vendors create their own AI agents, agent sprawl will become a bigger issue, and organizations will need a solution to handle and manage these AI agents. UiPath is positioning itself as one of the primary companies in this area.
NYSE: PATH
Key Data Points
Meanwhile, UiPath offers the added benefit of having its platform be able to also manage software bots. While AI agents can handle more complex jobs, software bots still have their place, since they are much cheaper. With Maestro, the platform is able to assign which tasks are best suited to particular AI agents and bots, helping organizations ultimately save money.
UiPath is still in the early innings of its agentic AI orchestration pivot, but it did see revenue growth accelerate to 16% growth last quarter, up from 14% growth in Q2. Meanwhile, the stock is cheap, trading at a forward price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 5 times to go along with a cash-rich balance sheet.
If UiPath can become an AI orchestration leader and see its growth continue to accelerate, it's going to be a huge long-term winner.
