Investors looking for tomorrow's winners should focus on the stocks that are outperforming the market today. Great companies can see their stocks fall occasionally, but over time, they will consistently hit new highs.
Let's examine two exceptional businesses that are experiencing insatiable demand for their services yet are still in the early stages of growth.
Image source: Getty Images.
Palantir Technologies
Artificial intelligence (AI) could boost the economy by trillions of dollars over the next decade, according to research by professional services provider PwC. Increasingly, businesses are leveraging AI to streamline supply chains and other operations. Investment in this technology is ultimately driven by the need to remain competitive, which is benefiting Palantir Technologies (PLTR +1.45%).
Palantir's commercial business is on fire, with revenue from deals in the U.S. surging 121% year over year in the third quarter. More enterprises are turning to the company to adopt cutting-edge software solutions that can deliver immediate operational savings with AI.
NASDAQ: PLTR
Key Data Points
It's generating substantial profits, indicating a competitive advantage. Its Rule of 40 score, a key metric that analysts use to evaluate software companies, hit 114% last quarter. This is calculated from Palantir's 51% adjusted operating margin plus its 63% year-over-year revenue growth rate. The higher these two numbers, the more valuable the business is to investors.
What sets Palantir apart from other software companies is its ability to seamlessly integrate large language models, workflow automation, and software that can identify relationships between data points, enabling organizations to save money and make informed decisions. It is seeing more customers expand their use cases once they realize the value of Palantir in their operations.
Customer count grew 45% over the year-ago quarter to 911. At this rate of adoption, Palantir's annual revenue has the potential to rise from its trailing-12-month total of $3.9 billion to the tens of billions over the next few decades.
Image source: Getty Images.
Robinhood Markets
More than $80 trillion in wealth is set to be transferred from baby boomers to their heirs in the next 20 years, according to financial intelligence provider Cerulli Associates. This could drive tremendous growth for fintech companies, and one of my favorite stocks to bet on is Robinhood Markets (HOOD 3.52%).
Robinhood is rapidly releasing new features and products, thanks to superb execution by management. It aims to develop a financial super app for the next generation of investors, and its growth over the past year shows it's succeeding.
The fintech is just getting started on its long-term growth path. It ended November with $325 billion in total platform assets, up from the $195 billion reported in the same month of 2024. While cryptocurrency and options trading have been key revenue drivers for the past few years, Robinhood is also increasing its Gold premium subscriber base and retirement assets, while launching new trading products.
NASDAQ: HOOD
Key Data Points
A crucial competitive advantage with Robinhood is its investments in building its own advanced AI models, which culminated in the recent launch of Robinhood Cortex. Over the long term, Cortex will expand from showing users what is driving their investment performance to helping them plan for retirement, taxes, and estate planning.
Over the past year, the company has shown that the more it innovates, the more it grows. The number of users signing up for Gold memberships surged 77% year over year last quarter to 3.9 million. This helped drive average revenue per user up 82% to $191.
The stock returned 213% in 2025, and there is still much room for growth. Robinhood Banking has just started rolling out for Gold members. As it introduces new products, the fintech can grow to rival large brokerages like Schwab, which has more than $11 trillion in client assets. This gives Robinhood the potential to be one of the best growth stocks to hold over the next 20 years, especially ahead of the great wealth transfer.
