You don't have to hunt for small-cap stocks to outperform the S&P 500. Some of the biggest wealth builders are hiding in plain sight. Analyzing current trends and how people spend their time can lead to new investment ideas.
Most people spend a lot of time on social media and invest their money to generate long-term wealth. Keeping these two facts in mind can lead to captivating stocks like Interactive Brokers (IBKR 2.91%) and Meta Platforms (META 2.44%).
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Interactive Brokers gets more engagement from its customer base
Interactive Brokers lets investors trade stocks, options, and other assets while capitalizing on some of the most competitive margin rates in the industry. The fintech company has delivered solid gains for long-term investors, with the stock more than quadrupling over the past five years.
Despite those gains, investors have reasons to believe that the stock has more room to run. Interactive Brokers delivered 23% year-over-year revenue growth, with net interest income jumping by 21% year over year, driven by strong lending demand. The company also reported higher average customer margin loans and customer credit balances.
Interactive Brokers also told investors that its customer accounts increased by 32% year over year, reaching 4.13 million. The company is also approaching $80 billion in customer margin loans, which act as passive income. High demand for stock investing should remain a long-term tailwind for Interactive Brokers and reward long-term investors.
NASDAQ: IBKR
Key Data Points
All of that growth has also come with rising profits. Interactive Brokers net profit margin jumped by 10.4% year-over-year, closing out at 17.1% in the third quarter. The financial firm has boosted its return on equity over the past three years, showing that it is efficiently turning shareholders' equity into tangible profits.
Meta Platforms funds AI ambitions with a robust social media business
Meta Platforms stock was flat over the past year, but its business has continued to grow. This mismatch makes the growth stock more attractive to new investors, as the company's 26% year-over-year revenue growth in Q3 2025 hasn't been adequately reflected in the current price.
Meta Platforms' high revenue growth comes as its online advertising segment continues to outperform. Facebook's parent company has 3.54 billion daily active users across its social networks, which gives the company many opportunities to display ads.
All of the profits from Meta Platforms' social networks make it easier to invest in AI. The company's AI smart glasses are flying off the shelves, with the social media giant aiming to double production by the end of the year.
Admittedly, Meta Platforms' smart glasses aren't profitable just yet. They are in the company's Reality Labs segment, which generated $470 million in Q3 revenue while producing a $4.4 billion operating loss. Losses from the segment held steady year-over-year, while revenue soared by more than 70%.
NASDAQ: META
Key Data Points
The smart glasses may take a similar path to Google Cloud, another AI beneficiary. The cloud platform wasn't profitable for its first 15 years, but it is now a major part of Alphabet's long-term growth story and profit margin expander.
Some investors have wondered whether Meta Platforms could diversify its revenue beyond online ads, as Google has done. That seems to be taking shape with Meta Glasses gaining market share. While Meta Glasses remains a small but growing segment, the stock already looks like a good buying opportunity based on its social media platforms. Its family of apps delivered $25.0 billion in net operating income, which represents a 14.6% year-over-year improvement.
