Investors don't need to take chances with their savings to build wealth in the stock market. All you need to do is buy strong businesses, preferably those that lead their industry, and still offer attractive growth prospects.
Two stocks I would consider buying with $2,000 are Microsoft (MSFT 0.75%) and Alphabet (GOOG 1.69%) (GOOGL 1.66%). These companies serve billions of people with their products every day. This drives substantial profits, which they can invest in artificial intelligence (AI) to improve their services and widen their competitive moat over the long term.
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Microsoft
Microsoft is a smart stock to consider buying today and holding for the long term. It has 900 million people using AI features across its products. It is experiencing strong momentum across its business, demonstrating its ability to capitalize on the AI boom.
Microsoft is seeing more people engage with AI features in its Microsoft 365 productivity tools. Its Copilot AI assistant has surpassed 150 million monthly active users. This demand is driving higher revenue per user, indicating that they are willing to spend more to use AI features.
Revenue from Microsoft 365 and other productivity tools grew 17% year over year in the recent quarter. Its Azure enterprise cloud business is also sitting on an incredible $400 billion in future commitments.
NASDAQ: MSFT
Key Data Points
While Microsoft is spending aggressively on AI infrastructure to support demand, it should see higher profits down the road. The higher revenue per user in 365 is an important indicator for investors. It shows that customers are willing to spend more for the company's software as it introduces better AI features, which could boost the company's profits.
Over the last five years, Microsoft's net income has nearly doubled to $105 billion. Its competitive position in software makes it a solid long-term investment.
Alphabet (Google)
Alphabet's Google benefits from similar advantages as Microsoft. It has 2 billion users across services like Search, Gmail, and YouTube, leading to more relevant ads that are boosting revenue.
NASDAQ: GOOGL
Key Data Points
Since releasing AI features in Search, Google has seen people ask more questions. This naturally leads to more opportunities to show ads to users. Ad revenue across Search, YouTube, and other services grew 14% year over year in the third quarter of 2025. This compares to 12% growth in Q3 2024 and 11% growth in Q3 2023.
Revenue from Search and other services has improved in each period, underscoring the company's competitive position amid the rise of AI chatbots over the past few years. Strong advertising growth has also boosted its profitability. Alphabet's net income has more than doubled to $124 billion over the last three years.
While ad spending can slow during a recession, as the company experienced in 2022, Google benefits from a growing digital advertising market, which is estimated to roughly double to $1.1 trillion by 2030, according to Grand View Research. Google's AI capabilities put it in a strong competitive position to retain billions of users and capture this opportunity.
