Maybe it's the euphoria of the S&P 500 being at an all-time high, but I'm excited about investing in stocks right now. One might think that there are no good opportunities left, given that the market is up so much already. But I'm having a hard time narrowing things down to just my best ideas.
After some reflection, I've landed on my five favorite stocks to buy right now: language-learning platform Duolingo (DUOL 3.79%), home-improvement retailer Floor & Decor (FND 4.00%), restaurant chain Wingstop (WING 7.29%), financial-technology (fintech) provider Shift4 Payments (FOUR 7.09%), and Latin America's MercadoLibre (MELI 5.20%).
Image source: Getty Images.
Allow me to share a brief investment thesis (an explanation of why I believe the stock will rise) for each of these exciting companies.
1. Duolingo
Duolingo has a language-learning app that's quite popular with users. The company excels at attracting users with a gamified experience, and it keeps them engaged with rigorous A/B testing. With 135 million monthly active users as of the end of the third quarter of 2025, it's clearly doing something right. But the impressive part is the speed at which users convert into paying subscribers, with paying subscribers climbing 34% year over year to more than 11 million.
NASDAQ: DUOL
Key Data Points
Growth in paying subscribers translates into impressive revenue growth for Duolingo -- Q3 revenue jumped 41%. This isn't a flash in the pan. To the contrary, the slowest growth the company has ever reported since going public in 2021 is 38%.
Fears regarding disruption from artificial intelligence (AI) have led to a decline in Duolingo stock, and it now trades at a price-to-free-cash-flow valuation of 25. In my opinion, that's far too cheap for a strong brand and growth company. And it's why I believe Duolingo stock will handily outperform the S&P 500 in the coming years.
2. Floor & Decor
According to the National Association of Realtors, sales of existing homes have hovered near multi-decade lows for about 2.5 years. That's bad news for Floor & Decor's business and explains why the stock has lost 30% of its value over the last five years. Flooring projects thrive when existing home sales are strong.
The economic headwinds are fierce, but Floor & Decor is still doing better than one might think. The company's sales are at an all-time high, and it remains profitable with a profit margin of approximately 5%. In short, things could certainly be worse.
Floor & Decor has 262 locations as of the end of the third quarter of 2025, but plans to expand to at least 500 locations in the coming years. As the company marches toward this goal, I believe it's reasonable to expect existing home sales to rebound, providing a tailwind for sales and profits. Trading at less than 2 times its sales, Floor & Decor is well positioned for nice gains if this happens.
3. Wingstop
Wingstop is posting historic growth numbers. The chicken wing chain has opened 1,000 new locations in less than three years, with its 3,000th location worldwide having opened in November. The company's franchised operating model facilitates rapid development, and it remains on track to reach its long-term goal of 10,000 locations.
To be clear, Wingstop's franchisees want to open new locations as quickly as possible because it just makes too much sense. It costs about $500,000 to open a new location. But considering they generate average annual sales volume of $2.1 million and have strong profit margins, franchisees earn a substantial 70% cash-on-cash return.
NASDAQ: WING
Key Data Points
With numbers like these, it will be challenging to slow down Wingstop's expansion -- franchisees are hard-pressed to find a better use of cash than opening new restaurant locations. This is why CEO Michael Skipworth says its development pipeline is at a record high. And it's why my long-term conviction in Wingstop stock is also high.
4. Shift4 Payments
Fintech stocks took a beating in 2025, but I believe that Shift4 Payments stock is ready to soar. Adjusting for network fees (a common adjustment in this space), the company expects to generate full-year 2025 revenue of about $2 billion, which would be a sharp year-over-year increase of about 47%. Meanwhile, the stock trades at just 17 times its free cash flow.
In my opinion, Shift4 stock is just too cheap compared to its growth and profits. I'm not alone in that opinion: Management also can't believe how cheap it is and recently authorized a $1 billion stock buyback plan to take advantage of it -- its biggest buyback ever.
For perspective, Shift4 has a market cap of about $4.6 billion, as of this writing. If management quickly executes its authorized buyback, this could be a substantial boost to the stock.
5. MercadoLibre
I've saved the best for last: MercadoLibre is a dominant force in Latin America, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. In the third quarter of 2025, items sold on its e-commerce marketplace were up 39% year over year, payment volume for its financial services was up 54%, and 95% of items purchased on the platform were handled by its own logistics network, making it one of the largest logistics companies in the world.
NASDAQ: MELI
Key Data Points
As MercadoLibre's management says, "Our ecosystem is our strength." Growth in any one part of the business supports growth in another. This is why the company continues to grow stronger, and why I like it for at least the next decade.
Investors seeking the best value stock among these five options today may consider Shift4 stock -- its growth is fantastic, and the price is right. But investors looking for the surest thing should consider MercadoLibre. Payments and commerce will only continue to digitize in the coming years among the economies of Latin America. And there may not be a better-positioned business for the trend than MercadoLibre.
