If you've got $1,000 to invest, perhaps the two best stocks to invest right now are in Alphabet (GOOGL 1.66%) (GOOG 1.69%) and Meta Platforms (META 2.52%). With $1,000, you'll be able to pick up one share of each.
The companies operate the two largest digital advertising platforms in the world, and artificial intelligence (AI) has been driving growth for both. Let's take a closer look at why these are two great stocks to buy now.
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1. Alphabet
NASDAQ: GOOGL
Key Data Points
Many investors fear every company is going to be disrupted by AI instead of helped by it, but Alphabet has already helped dispel that notion when it comes to its business. With its leading Gemini AI model and highly regarded custom AI chips, called Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), the company has the most complete AI stack and is now viewed as an AI winner.
Alphabet has infused AI throughout its products, including Google Search, which is helping drive growth. Meanwhile, by having its own custom chips, the company has created a structural cost advantage, as it can train its AI models and run inference more cheaply than competitors. Its TPUs are also adding another potential growth opportunity, as customers are starting to look to deploy these chips through Google Cloud, its cloud computing business.
With a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of around 26.5 times based on analyst 2026 consensus, Alphabet stock is attractively valued given its market-leading positions and growth opportunities.
2. Meta Platforms
NASDAQ: META
Key Data Points
Trading at a forward P/E of just 21 times, Meta Platforms' stock is a huge bargain. The company has been one of the biggest AI winners outside of the infrastructure names, as its embrace of AI has led to superb revenue growth.
Meta has used AI to improve its recommendation algorithm to feed users more of the content they want, which is leading them to spend more time on its apps. This, in turn, also allows Meta to show them more ads. At the same time, the company has introduced AI-powered tools to help advertisers improve campaigns and better target and convert users. This is leading to increased ad prices.
Last quarter, Meta saw its revenue growth climb by 24%, helped by an 18% surge in ad impressions and a 6% increase in ad prices. Meanwhile, it expects its first-quarter revenue to accelerate to 26% to 34% growth.
Meta has a history of monetizing its user base better than any other social media company, and with AI, it's just getting better at it. With the company just starting to introduce ads to its WhatsApp messaging app, which has more than 3 billion users, as well as its newest site, Threads, the company has a long runway of strong growth ahead, making it a great stock to buy right now.
