Attempting to pick stocks that have the potential to double in just a few years is tricky. It can lead investors to pursue investment strategies that involve taking on more risks than are necessary. However, doubling your money in five years is possible if you focus on industry-leading businesses. Investing in competitively positioned companies growing their revenues or earnings by more than 15% annually will put you on course to potentially double your investment within five years.
Here are two strong stocks that fit the description well.
Image source: Shopify.
1. Shopify
Anyone fortunate enough to buy Shopify(NASDAQ: SHOP) stock at the market bottom in 2022 and hold on since then would have tripled their investment at this point, but there's still significant upside potential for new investors. Shopify helps businesses of all sizes open and run online stores, yet the sites it supports still account for only a small sliver of total e-commerce spending.
Consistent with the size of its opportunity, Shopify has been growing at high rates for several years. It posted year-over-year revenue growth of 27% in the first quarter, up from 23% in the prior-year period. This is a good sign that the company is strengthening its position in its market, which raises the prospect of sustainable above-average growth.
Shopify has a lucrative subscription-based business model: Its revenue from subscriptions grew by 21% year over year in Q1 and made up a quarter of total revenue. The rest of its revenue comes from offering other services such as payment processing and shipping to merchants.
The increasing competitiveness of online retail is a huge opportunity for Shopify. Large retailers like Amazon dominate e-commerce. However, over the last 10 years, most cohorts of merchants using Shopify have grown their online sales at faster rates than the e-commerce market as a whole, indicating that Shopify is providing the tools small businesses need to be more competitive.
This impressive record of helping businesses expand is why Shopify will continue to grow over the long term. The total gross merchandise volume of orders on Shopify's platform totaled $74 billion in the first quarter alone. That is an annual run rate of $299 billion, meaning Shopify's clients are currently capturing less than 10% of all online retail spending. Its long-term opportunity is massive.
Analysts expect Shopify's earnings to grow at an annualized rate of 32% over the next few years. Even investors are paying a lower price-to-earnings multiple for the stock in five years, this is more than enough growth to potentially double the share price by 2030.
Image source: Getty Images.
2. Uber Technologies
The ride-sharing market has gotten increasingly competitive in recent years, but Uber Technologies(NYSE: UBER) has demonstrated it is the one to beat. It posted strong growth over the past year, and its growing base of users positions it to deliver great returns to investors.
Last year's momentum has carried over to 2025. Its drivers completed more than 3 billion trips in the first quarter, an increase of 18% year over year. Its revenue grew by 17% on a constant-currency basis to $11.5 billion.
A key factor that has driven the stock to new highs is the company's improving profitability. Its operating profit improved from $172 million in Q1 2024 to over $1.2 billion in Q1 2025. This is a massive turnaround from the losses Uber was reporting a few years ago. Management indicated that growth is being driven by higher trip frequency, which seems to be helping the business better leverage costs and turn a higher profit.
Uber is also benefiting from greater scale. The higher trip frequency reflects a massive user base, with the company reaching 170 million monthly active platform consumers last quarter. That was an increase of 14% over the year-ago quarter.
This large base of customers could prove more valuable as Uber continues to expand its platform with new services. It has over 30 million Uber One subscribers, who get special deals in return for a monthly fee. Uber's delivery services, especially relating to food and retail, are experiencing strong momentum, and it recently signed five partnerships to deploy autonomous ride-sharing vehicles in the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East.
Uber is the No. 1 ride-sharing player in the majority of markets where it operates. It has great-looking financials that should support the stock's rise to new highs in 2025 and beyond. Analysts expect its earnings to grow at an annualized rate of 28% in the coming years. With the stock trading at a reasonable 24 times this year's expected earnings, it could easily double by 2030.
Should you invest $1,000 in Shopify right now?
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John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. John Ballard has positions in Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Shopify, and Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
